Hunting Begins!

After saying that, Xue Qinghe took out a token containing a peculiar current of energy.

Zhou Tao accepted the token and saw that the character "Xue" was engraved upon it.

"Take this token to Heaven Dou Royal Academy and find the three education committee members. They will arrange your enrollment."

Zhou Tao nodded, his expression calm, though inwardly he was overjoyed. He had finally obtained his ticket into Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

"Then many thanks, Brother Xue!" Zhou Tao accepted the weighty token and placed it inside his Soul Tool.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two parted ways.

Zhou Tao was headed for Sunset Forest, while Xue Qinghe had just left Sunset Forest and was returning to Heaven Dou Imperial City.

Watching the luxurious carriage disappear into the distance, Zhou Tao's eyes filled with amazement.

"As expected of Qian Renxue. She really looks convincing when impersonating the Crown Prince."

"If I hadn't known the truth, I would probably have been fooled by her superb acting."

"Sure enough, every outstanding politician is an outstanding actor."

This chance encounter with Qian Renxue left Zhou Tao with an even deeper impression of her.

Not long afterward, he left the area and headed to Sunset Forest to hunt Spirit Beasts.

Half an hour later.

Inside the luxurious carriage.

"Your Highness, that kid named Zhou Tao has exceptional talent. If you wanted to recruit him, you could have simply said so."

"After all, few Spirit Masters can refuse such wealth and glory."

Snake Lance Douluo appeared soundlessly beside Xue Qinghe. He had secretly followed Zhou Tao for quite some time, intending to investigate his background. Only after finding nothing unusual had he returned to the carriage.

"Talents like him are often people who pursue freedom. Trying to bind him with wealth and glory will not win his heart."

"What I want is his heart."

Xue Qinghe had not seen such a free-spirited young man in a long time, and admiration began to stir within her.

If she had not grown up in the palace, perhaps she too could have wandered the world so freely.

What Zhou Tao possessed was exactly what she envied.

Xue Qinghe did not want to use power and authority to make Zhou Tao submit. She wanted to use her own charisma to make him submit completely.

"Uncle Snake Lance, send someone to notify Heaven Dou Royal Academy. Tell the three education committee members to take good care of him."

Xue Qinghe instructed.

"By your command. Your Highness, should we send someone to investigate him?"

Snake Lance Douluo asked.

"Investigate him. And while you're at it, look into Yu Xiaogang from Notting Academy as well. I seem to remember him."

Xue Qinghe searched her memories. There seemed to have been such a person.

"This man was Yu Xiaogang, the one who stole Spirit Hall's Martial Soul research materials back then."

"He even deceived the Pope and nearly caused Spirit Hall's top-secret documents to be leaked."

"It is said that he is a useless Spirit Master. After leaving Spirit Hall, he used Spirit Hall's knowledge to cobble together a set of Martial Soul theories and boast about them everywhere, but we suppressed him in secret."

Snake Lance Douluo remembered this man very clearly.

He laid out all of Yu Xiaogang's disgraceful deeds.

"So it was him?"

"That thief of a Spirit Master?"

Xue Qinghe did have some impression of him.

After all, he was the Spirit Master who had deceived her mother.

"Then investigate what he has been doing recently."

"That man really causes trouble everywhere he goes. He nearly ruined a talented Spirit Master."

Xue Qinghe murmured.

Outside Sunset Forest.

Zhou Tao rested temporarily in a nearby town.

After meditating for a while, he finally recovered his Soul Power and then entered Sunset Forest.

Sunset Forest was one of the three great Spirit Beast gathering grounds of Douluo Continent.

Though it could not compare to Star Dou Great Forest, it truly had many thousand-year Spirit Beasts, more than enough for Zhou Tao's needs.

The moment he entered the Spirit Beast Forest, Zhou Tao felt the wild aura permeating every corner of it.

The air was thick with the mingled stench of rot and dampness.

Many dangerous Spirit Beasts lurked within, and Zhou Tao remained vigilant at all times to avoid being ambushed.

This time, he was searching for a Spirit Beast known as the Lightning Devouring Savage Bear.

This Spirit Beast was a mutant among bear-type Spirit Beasts. It was renowned for its strength and possessed formidable defenses.

Combined with its ability to control lightning-element power, it also had remarkable speed.

This gave the Lightning Devouring Savage Bear a fearsome reputation throughout Sunset Forest.

Just imagine it: as an ordinary Spirit Master, what would it feel like to face a massive creature with an incredibly powerful body, muscles and bones like steel, and terrifying speed?

Absolutely suffocating.

Thus, a thousand-year Lightning Devouring Savage Bear possessed the combat strength of an ordinary ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast.

Even in Sunset Forest, Lightning Devouring Savage Bears were tyrannical rulers and generally lived in the forest's core region.

Zhou Tao had learned this after gathering some information.

Fortunately, Lightning Devouring Savage Bears really did exist here.

It was not as though Zhou Tao had no way to deal with this kind of Spirit Beast.

Sunset Forest was enormous. After wandering through it for half a day, he had yet to reach the core region of the Spirit Beast Forest.

He simply contacted Ah Yin, the Blue Silver Emperor.

"Ah Yin, can you sense the location of the Lightning Devouring Savage Bear?"

Ah Yin, the Blue Silver Emperor, could use the ever-present Blue Silver Grass network to find the bear. That was far better than wandering aimlessly through Sunset Forest.

If he happened to run into a Lightning Devouring Savage Bear without any preparation, encountering such a terrifying giant beast would be rather frightening.

Zhou Tao never fought an unprepared battle.

He was a commoner Spirit Master, not a fake commoner Spirit Master like Tang San, who always had cheats whenever he went hunting.

He could only rely on himself. He had no cheats to rely on.

Therefore, he had to plan everything carefully.

Steady and sure, advancing step by step.

The Blue Silver Emperor extended supple Blue Silver Grass and connected it with the surrounding grassland.

Streams of blue Soul Power flowed in from every direction, carrying converging pieces of information.

Zhou Tao took the opportunity to sense the immense amount of information coming through, searching for the Lightning Devouring Savage Bear's location.

Half an hour later, within a vast consciousness of Blue Silver Grass, he finally found the image of a giant bear covered in crackling lightning.

It was directly south of the outer perimeter of Sunset Forest's core region.

There seemed to be a great river there, filled with vast schools of fish.

And the Lightning Devouring Savage Bear was waiting in the river valley.

Whenever a large fish surfaced, the great bear would swing out a bear paw as large as a washbasin, seize the fish with one strike, bite it to death, and swallow it whole.

The giant bear's belly was round and full. Clearly, it was thoroughly enjoying this life.

"Found it!"

Joy appeared on Zhou Tao's face.

"Are you really going? This is a Lightning Devouring Savage Bear with the combat power of a ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast."

Ah Yin asked doubtfully.

Generally speaking, hunting this kind of Spirit Beast required high-level Spirit Masters to accompany young Spirit Masters. They would first beat the Spirit Beast half to death, then let the young Spirit Master deliver the killing blow and obtain the Spirit Ring.

As for Zhou Tao, he was alone.

Facing Ah Yin's doubts, Zhou Tao merely shook his head. "Don't worry. I have my own plan."