Seeking

In this environment, the Vine Snake Flower is not a rare species.

Xu Bai and Diyi had only been wandering through this forest for a little over ten minutes when they found a patch of Vine Snake Flowers.

Looking from afar, they truly resembled giant snakes coiled around the trees.

However, that group of "giant snakes" were not Datura Snakes, but rather a different, less toxic variety of Colorful Spectacled Cobra.

Xu Bai only took one glance before shaking his head, signaling for Diyi beneath him to go look elsewhere.

Diyi hesitated for a moment, reluctantly pulling its gaze away from the group of Vine Snake Flowers.

Just now, it had only smelled the scent of tea and not the fishy sweetness; although it wasn't what the Beast Tamer had mentioned, if those snakes were chopped into segments and either braised or fried by the Beast Tamer, it felt the taste would surely be excellent.

It was a pity the Beast Tamer wouldn't allow it...

After wandering around for a long time, the man and beast discovered quite a few more Vine Snake Flowers, their disguises varying in every way imaginable.

Among them, they encountered two groups disguised as Datura Snakes, but they were only two or three meters long; even if they were real, their age would only be two or three hundred years, clearly not the four-hundred-year-old one from the original story.

Time ticked away bit by bit, and seeing that the sky was about to turn dark, Xu Bai still hadn't found the Datura Snake that had nearly completed the achievement of soloing the Sea God.

Could it be that the plot is the novel version...

Xu Bai felt anxious; if it really were the novel version, then his plan might not be executable.

Although the Soul Hunting Forest wasn't considered large, that was only in comparison to the medium-sized Soul Beast gathering place that was the Hengduan Mountain Range.

After all, no matter what, this Soul Hunting Forest was still a forest capable of sustaining hundred-year or even thousand-year Soul Beasts.

Trying to find a four-hundred-year-old Datura Snake or two specific people in its outer perimeter was, if not finding a needle in a haystack, at least extremely difficult.

More importantly, there was a half-day time limit; if he could actually find it, it would truly be a miracle from the heavens.

If I miss this opportunity, the only way to safely obtain Tang San's blood later will be to honestly grind for favorability.

Xu Bai rubbed his brow, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Rather than that, he might as well take the risk and head to the Sunset Forest or the Star Dou Great Forest; it wasn't for any other reason, but mainly because there wasn't enough time.

In three months, Little Blue would reach the conditions for its third rebirth; it was impossible to max out Tang San's favorability in three months without appearing suspicious.

"No choice, let's keep looking. If it really is the novel plot, then I'll accept it!"

Xu Bai sighed softly and continued to search with Diyi.

Fortunately, hard work pays off; just as the sky was turning from dusk to dark, Xu Bai finally found two Vine Snake Flowers disguised as four-hundred-year-old Datura Snakes.

The corners of Xu Bai's mouth curled up: "Diyi, release your aura, let's go over and take a look."

"Ao!"

Diyi nodded, directly letting out a tiger's roar that shook the forest, releasing the aura of an eight-hundred-year Soul Beast without reservation.

The chaos he had imagined did not occur; instead, after Diyi's tiger roar, the forest, where one could occasionally hear the chirping of insects and birds, instantly fell into a deathly silence, so quiet that a falling needle could be heard.

"Not bad, Diyi, I didn't expect you to have such an aura." Xu Bai clicked his tongue in wonder. He had originally thought Diyi's aura would scare away the surrounding weak Soul Beasts, but he hadn't expected it to scare them so badly that not a single one dared to move.

Diyi held its head slightly high; although it didn't reply, anyone could see its pride at this moment.

It walked slowly, and after only a few steps, a faint light suddenly appeared not far away.

Xu Bai couldn't help but look over, only to discover that the source of the light was a white soul ring, and beneath the soul ring, a small rodent-type Soul Beast was curled up.

"Was it... scared to death?"

He raised an eyebrow, silently complaining to himself; it seemed he had underestimated the bloodline suppression between Soul Beasts.

Upon reaching them, aided by the faint light from the horizon, Xu Bai could clearly see the two Vine Snake Flowers trembling.

"Do cold-blooded animals feel fear too?"

He shook his head slightly and pressed his hand directly onto one of them.

The next moment, the Manual in his mind changed, and the Manual recorded another Soul Beast.

"It seems the plot is most likely the manga version..."

Xu Bai glanced at the Manual and, upon discovering that the newly recorded Soul Beast was indeed a Datura Snake, he felt relieved and said:

"The bait has been found, now we just wait for the fish to take the hook. Let's go, we'll come back in two days."

We're leaving just like that?

Diyi was puzzled.

"The target has been found, do you want to stay here?" Xu Bai retorted.

Diyi was silent for a moment, then whispered: Beast Tamer, I meant, shouldn't we eat something...

Eat something?

Eat what?

Xu Bai was stunned, and soon noticed that Diyi seemed to be staring at the "Vine Snake Flower" in front of it, staring so hard that the "Vine Snake Flower" was almost shaking into a blur.

"No way, you aren't planning to eat it, are you?"

Xu Bai's eye twitched, and he raised his hand to slap Diyi on the head: "Diyi, this thing is poisonous; you really aren't picky about anything at all."

"Poisonous? Then forget it."

Diyi's eyes flashed with disappointment. He stepped back nonchalantly before curiously asking, "If we find it, we'll leave, but what if it runs away?"

"Rest assured, a Datura Snake in its weakened state won't run around unless its life is in danger."

Xu Bai adjusted his non-existent glasses and spoke with absolute certainty.

Two days later, in the afternoon, the sun was shining brightly.

Inside the Soul Hunting Forest, Xu Bai, who had climbed over the wall to get in, lay on Diyi's back like a shepherd boy, his eyes half-closed and drowsy.

Diyi strolled through the forest, feeling reluctant; with such lovely sunshine, it wanted to nap in the sun too.

At one point, a loud "boom" suddenly erupted in the distance, startling a large flock of birds into flight.

"It's finally here..."

Xu Bai snapped his eyes open and sat up. "Let's go, Diyi, let's go check it out!"

Diyi's gaze sharpened. It nodded and sprinted toward the source of the sound.

Before long, the man and the beast arrived in the vicinity.

Then, a foul stench hit them.

Xu Bai had been prepared and held his breath immediately.

Diyi, however, was not so lucky; it took a deep, heavy whiff and nearly vomited on the spot.

It stinks! Beast Tamer, something took a massive dump here. How about we just leave...

Diyi stopped in its tracks, its tiger face filled with disgust.

"I know..."

Xu Bai replied offhandedly, his gaze fixed intently on two figures—one large and one small—plus the shadow of a snake.

The larger one was a middle-aged man with white hair, wearing a knit cap and a monotonous black-and-white outfit. Most importantly, he was cradling a yellow, dog-like creature in his arms.

The smaller one was fair-skinned with rosy lips, clearly just a young boy. He wore the standard-issue Notting Academy cloak, though through the gaps in the fabric, one could see his clothes underneath were quite tattered.

The snake shadow was naturally the Datura Snake, which was currently chasing the pair with a furious expression, nearly disappearing from sight.

Interesting. It's the manga version of Grandmaster. It seems the world I've transmigrated into is the manga version of Douluo Continent through and through.

Xu Bai whispered to himself, patted Diyi, and said, "Diyi, let's follow them."