Three-Eyed Demonic Fox

"Is the target a fox this time?"

"If we can't find a rabbit."

Hearing the conversation between the Nuoding Dean and Jiang Jiu, Xiao Wu blinked.

If Jiang Jiu wanted a Charm soul skill, she would naturally recommend all sorts of foxes to him with great enthusiasm.

It wasn't just leopards; foxes ate rabbits too.

Hmm, now that she thought about it, there were far too many things that could eat Soft Bone Rabbits!

Still, if it was enough to fill all of Jiang Jiu's soul rings, it could be considered a good thing.

After entering the Soul Hunting Forest, the group's originally relaxed atmosphere shifted, and they began to grow vigilant.

However, because they had been here several times already, their mindset was much more relaxed than before.

This was Jiang Jiu's third time in the Soul Hunting Forest, and he was no longer stumbling around in the dark. Since entering, he could name every soul beast he encountered and identify its cultivation level.

Teacher Xiao Wu was great; that went without saying.

Therefore, in terms of soul skill selection, Jiang Jiu was also generously replicating Xiao Wu's combat style.

Charm was inherently a decent control-type soul skill. The brief period of daze it inflicted on the enemy was enough for Xiao Wu and Jiang Jiu to unleash a combo and take them out, although with their current physiques, they could crush opponents of the same rank even with brute force.

On the other hand, Jiang Jiu also valued the mental attributes of the Charm soul skill.

He was on the receiving end of Xiao Wu's Charm every day, and he thought about tempering his mental power. Since Xiao Wu used Charm daily, couldn't he ponder the application of mental power?

If one day he could cast the "Charm" technique using only his own mental power, independent of a soul ring, then he would have succeeded.

In a sense, "Charm" could be considered a shortcut to exploring the application of mental power.

If he couldn't figure it out at the second or third ring, he could delve into it once his soul power and mental power were higher. Having a Charm soul skill and using it frequently would surely give him a better understanding of the existence and operation of mental power than others, right?

Jiang Nannan's gravity control was good, but mental power was the foundation. The trinity of soul power, mental power, and physique was the correct way to fight.

As for whether using Charm felt awkward, it was actually fine.

Charm was just the name of the skill. According to the feedback Jiang Jiu got from being hit by it, he simply froze; it didn't make people look like lecherous fools, let alone cause strange hallucinations or associations.

As for his eyes turning pink, that color light appeared whenever Jiang Jiu activated his martial soul anyway—it was just a "tough guy" color.

"Let's stop here for today."

What Jiang Jiu was looking for was a fox-type soul beast between four hundred and seven hundred years old. The range was much narrower than his first soul ring selection; there was no doubt this hunt would be a war of attrition.

That was why they had brought tents this time, and Tang San's storage soul tool was packed with plenty of food.

Marveling once again at the convenience of storage soul tools, Jiang Jiu began helping to set up the tents.

Setting up the snake-repellent powder was naturally left to Tang San again. With three years of accumulation, the powder Tang San concocted himself was far more effective than what the Nuoding Dean used.

At night, the two adults, the Nuoding Dean and Yu Xiaogang, took turns keeping watch, while Jiang Jiu and the others slept in the tents.

"To think that in such a short time, there will be three Great Soul Masters. They are all genuine little monsters." The Nuoding Dean felt like it was only yesterday that the little guy Jiang Jiu had blocked his path, and in the blink of an eye, he was already at level twenty. What would it be like by the time they graduated?

"Indeed, they all have extraordinary talent, and they are very mature as well."

Yu Xiaogang wasn't in a rush to rest, so he chatted with the Nuoding Dean for a while.

"Mature... Yes. Xiaogang, did you notice the drawing in Jiang Jiu's hand? The writing was clearly done by that little girl. The three of them each have their own strengths."

"Sometimes I wonder, what was I doing when I was nine? It's truly despair-inducing talent, and they work so hard. They're only nine years old."

Yu Xiaogang fell silent, his heart filled with mixed emotions—darkness, struggle, things that could not be spoken aloud.

"Xiaogang, what are your expectations for them?" Suddenly, the Nuoding Dean turned to look directly at Yu Xiaogang.

"I naturally hope for them to do well."

"Is that so? I quite like that kid, Jiang Jiu."

"He is now Tang San's sworn brother."

"Is that so? Sigh."

With a sigh, everything returned to silence.

After several more days of searching, the time they had spent in the Soul Hunting Forest this time already exceeded the sum of the previous two visits.

It wasn't that they hadn't encountered fox-type soul beasts during this period, but they were either too low in age or had already reached the thousand-year threshold.

What to do when encountering a thousand-year fox?

Run, of course. What else, fight it?

Not to mention whether the Nuoding Dean, a tool soul master, could defeat a thousand-year soul beast, even if they could win by working together, Jiang Jiu wouldn't dare risk absorbing it.

Who knew what kind of physical strength was required to absorb a soul ring? What if it required meridian strength? That would be a tragic way to die.

Jiang Jiu couldn't be sure if the growth of his strength also strengthened his meridians.

Until he could quantify the age of the soul ring he could absorb, Jiang Jiu wouldn't mess around. Aside from the ninth black ring, his optimal soul ring configuration was more than enough.

"To think we'd run into such a rare thousand-year soul beast..." Yu Xiaogang panted.

"There aren't many thousand-year soul beasts in this Soul Hunting Forest to begin with; it looks like we've ventured quite deep."

Nuoding Dean's attention, however, remained on Jiang Jiu and the other two.

Not a single one of them is simple.

Even while fleeing, the three of them weren't even flushed or out of breath, completely putting Yu Xiaogang, a level 29 Great Soul Master, to shame.

Jiang Jiu's legendary morning runs weren't just empty talk; judging by his performance just now, he hadn't even exerted much effort. Nuoding Dean had the sinking feeling that he couldn't even outrun the boy himself.

"Xiao Jiu, I think your soul ring might be sorted," Xiao Wu, who had been deep in thought, suddenly spoke up.

"You found something?" So Xiao Wu has been holding out on us.

"Xiao Jiu, did you recognize the species of that thousand-year fox from just now?"

"A Three-Eyed Fox, just over a thousand years old." The Three-Eyed Fox was on Jiang Jiu's hunting list; if he absorbed its soul ring, there was a high probability of gaining a Charm soul skill.

"Correct, but that wasn't just any simple Three-Eyed Fox. Or rather, what's behind it isn't simple."

"Not simple?"

Yu Xiaogang and the others looked over as well.

"Mm, I don't think it's the boss of this territory. The boss is someone else," Xiao Wu said, sharing her conjecture.

Though she called it a conjecture, she was becoming increasingly certain.

"You mean the soul beast I need to hunt for my soul ring is the boss of that thousand-year soul beast?" Jiang Jiu parsed Xiao Wu's logic.

"Exactly!"

Jiang Jiu pondered for a moment, and something clicked.

"A Three-Eyed Demon Fox?"

"Right, that is the most suitable soul beast for you, Xiao Jiu. It's a mental-attribute soul beast, and its age is just right."