Douluo: A Person in Peerless, Fake God Chapter 6

"Mm!"

Su Luoheng nodded heavily, his youthful face unable to suppress his excitement.

"Junran, be careful on the road with our son."

"Rest assured."

"..."

Although she knew there was no difficulty in hunting for a first soul ring, she still couldn't help but urge the father and son, confirming whether their dry rations and supplies were in order, only returning after she had seen them off past the city gates.

To this, Su Junran responded patiently, time and time again, without a hint of annoyance.

Ten kilometers outside of Maple Leaf City, there was a soul beast forest.

Barring any accidents, this was where Su Luoheng would hunt for his first soul ring.

Ten thousand years ago, during the era of the Spirit Hall, in order to facilitate low-level soul masters in hunting soul beasts, they had cooperated with the empire to plan many soul-hunting forests across the continent, some of which even contained powerful ten-thousand-year-level soul beasts.

This Maple Leaf Forest was one of them.

After the Spirit Hall was overthrown, the soul-hunting forests fell under direct state control.

However, the empire did not have enough soul masters to maintain them, and the number of soul beasts in the poorly managed forests quickly plummeted.

By now, they were essentially abandoned.

Nowadays, let alone ten-thousand-year soul beasts, even thousand-year soul beasts were rarely seen inside.

However, this had little impact on Su Luoheng, who only needed a hundred-year first soul ring. At the same time, because the overall strength of the soul beasts in this forest was not high, besides hunting for a soul ring, this also served as the final assessment for his training over the past year.

If nothing unexpected happened, once he entered the forest, everything would depend on Su Luoheng himself.

Unless he encountered a soul beast he could not handle, Su Junran would not step in to assist.

Two days later, Maple Leaf Forest.

The jungle before him was lush and verdant, the trees thick with foliage that blocked out the sun. It was dense and dim; sunlight could not penetrate the canopy, making the entire world appear dark and damp, giving off an oppressive feeling.

A gentle breeze blew past, causing the forest to rustle.

"Luoheng, you remember everything I told you on the way, right?"

"Mm."

After giving these final instructions, Su Junran's figure flickered and vanished.

Seeing this, a trace of envy flashed in young Luoheng's eyes; he wondered when he would be able to be like his father.

But he quickly composed himself, light flickering at his fingertips. The next moment, a pale red, short-sword-style melee soul tool with a blade about half a meter long was held in his hand.

To deal with soul beasts, one naturally needed a handy weapon.

The use of weapons during this trial was also part of the assessment.

He had often used this second-grade soul tool during his daily training, and just like Su Luoheng, this was its first real combat experience.

It was more than enough to deal with hundred-year soul beasts.

"Hoo..."

Su Luoheng gripped the short sword and stepped slowly into the dense jungle.

Although the dense soul beast forest appeared calm on the surface, his keen senses could detect the aura of danger lurking behind it; this forest was far from as peaceful as he had imagined.

As he ventured deeper, the air became increasingly fresh.

After all, this was his first time entering a soul beast forest, and after a brief moment of tension, Su Luoheng's mood turned to excitement.

After a full year of systematic training and waiting, the time had finally come to test his training results and hunt for his soul ring.

Thinking of this, Su Luoheng felt his blood boiling, his eyes unable to hide his fervor and anticipation.

In his excitement, he couldn't help but quicken his pace, gripping the short sword in his hand, eager to fight a soul beast, obtain his first soul ring, and become a true soul master.

Soon, Su Luoheng finally spotted his first soul beast: a Wind Bell Bird with about thirty years of cultivation.

But before the eager young Luoheng could make a move, the alert Wind Bell Bird had already flown off into the distance.

His first attempt at an attack had failed.

However, the one thing a soul beast forest never lacked was soul beasts.

Learning from the failure with the Wind Bell Bird, he began to pay attention to concealing his own aura.

Soon, Su Luoheng saw other soul beasts as well.

But the cultivation of the soul beasts on the outskirts was too weak; basically, they could be dealt with in a single strike, which failed to serve as a proper test of his strength.

As he ventured deeper into the forest, the woods became increasingly quiet.

It was so quiet that one could barely hear a sound; even the chirping of insects and birds was absent.

Su Luoheng's expression grew increasingly grave, for in the forest, silence was synonymous with danger.

If there were any noise at all, it would surely be a powerful soul beast.

Although Su Luoheng was seeking a suitable opponent, he still had to ensure his own safety until he could identify the soul beast.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

Narrowing his eyes, he spotted the soul beast a hundred meters ahead!

A leopard with a well-proportioned build, about a meter in length, and radiating a faint purple glow was foraging. As Su Luoheng discovered it, it also discovered him, a flash of bloodthirsty killing intent flickering in its dark purple eyes.

"Shadow Leopard."

Su Luoheng was no longer the ignorant boy who had just awakened his martial soul.

Over the past year, he had extracted a wealth of experience from his old father, the most important of which was the identification of soul beasts.

The Shadow Leopard was extremely fast and was considered a rather troublesome type of soul beast in the forest.

Its cultivation was calculated based on its body length and the depth of its shadow markings. The Shadow Leopard before Su Luoheng was a meter long, and with only a faint layer of purple light on its body, its cultivation should be around sixty years.

It was just right as an opponent for himself.

Su Luoheng gripped the short sword in his hand, his eyes burning with intensity.

He was determined to kill this leopard!

The Shadow Leopard regarded him as prey, but was he not also treating it as a whetstone?

Su Luoheng did not rush to engage, instead standing his ground and waiting.

Although the Shadow Leopard's attack power was not high, its speed was incredibly fast. If he wanted to slay it, he had to seize the right moment; blind attacks would only waste his stamina and cause him to fall into its rhythm.

"Awoo!"

After all, the Shadow Leopard was under a hundred years old and had not yet developed high intelligence.

Seeing the human opposite him refrain from attacking for so long, its bloodthirsty bestial nature became difficult to suppress.

With a low growl, the Shadow Leopard dug its four paws into the ground and transformed into a streak of purple light, pouncing before Su Luoheng in the blink of an eye.

Su Luoheng reacted quickly.

His muscles tensed, and he held the hilt of his sword with both hands, blocking horizontally in front of him to parry the Shadow Leopard's claws. However, the powerful impact still forced him to retreat several steps before he could stabilize his stance.

Seizing this opportunity, the Shadow Leopard pounced again.

This time, its speed increased sharply. Soul power coated its dark, shadowy claws, and a cold glint bore down directly toward Su Luoheng's face.

Although he was aware of the Shadow Leopard's abilities, its actual speed still took him by surprise.

However, Su Luoheng's movements were even faster.

He shifted his feet to easily evade the Shadow Leopard's sharp claws, simultaneously bending his knee and snapping his leg in a side kick that struck the beast's abdomen with force. The sheer impact sent it crashing into a tree trunk with a loud thud.

"Awoo—"

The pained Shadow Leopard let out a frantic roar.

But before it could attack again, Su Luoheng, who had been standing by, was already poised and ready.

As soul power was injected into the blade, the dark red sword glowed brilliantly. He swung the blade from top to bottom, unleashing a crescent-shaped light blade at his target.

With a muffled bang, the roaring stopped abruptly. The soul power attached to the light blade exploded, and the Shadow Leopard's body dissolved into a spray of blood and gore that rained down.

A pure white soul ring rose above the scattered remains.

The light on the short sword slowly faded; Su Luoheng's first formal battle had concluded successfully.

Although the Shadow Leopard's strength was not great, this battle had benefited Su Luoheng immensely, making him deeply realize the difference between training and actual combat, and how to truly bring his own strength into play.

In the previous battle, a great deal of soul power had been wasted.

If he were to do it again, he could reduce his soul power consumption by at least ten percent.

The bloody scent of the soul beast's corpse would attract other soul beasts, so Su Luoheng did not linger long and set off once more.

As he ventured deeper into the forest, he encountered more soul beasts.

Su Luoheng's target for challenges also rose from ten-year soul beasts to hundred-year soul beasts.

In actual combat, the experience from his daily training quickly coalesced into mastery. Su Luoheng's control over his power became increasingly adept, and with his soul tool in hand, even ordinary hundred-year-level soul beasts were no match for him.

The day passed quickly.

In total, Su Luoheng had hunted four soul beasts under a hundred years old and three hundred-year-level soul beasts.

Although he had not encountered a soul beast suitable for him to absorb, he was already satisfied with the experience gained from today's trial. A suitable soul beast would be found sooner or later, but actual combat experience could not be replaced by training.

The sky had gradually darkened.

Su Luoheng found a relatively open area and lit a campfire.

After eating some of the dry rations he had prepared, he began to summarize the combat experience he had gained throughout the day.

Every century-old soul beast made him realize his own shortcomings.

The Iron-Armored Rhino left the deepest impression.

At the time, he had been brimming with confidence after defeating two century-old soul beasts in a row and challenged it.

In the end, its formidable defensive power left Su Luoheng in despair.

Fortunately, the creature's movement speed was not fast, which allowed him to find an opportunity to shake it off.

Perhaps because he had not encountered any real danger all day, Su Luoheng was no longer as vigilant toward the Soul Beast Forest as he had been before.

He completely failed to notice a dark shadow lurking in the shadows that had already infiltrated the camp. It lay silently in the grass, its scarlet eyes flickering with a cold, sinister light, staring fixedly at Su Luoheng's tent, ready to strike at any moment.

Inside the tent, Su Luoheng had already begun to meditate.

The essence of heaven and earth transformed into pure soul power, continuously merging into his body.

"Hiss~"

At the same time, the dark shadow seized its chance and lunged forward. Its speed was like a bolt of lightning tearing through the air, far surpassing the Shadow Leopard from that morning!

The tent was torn apart in an instant.

The moment the ink-black figure appeared, it stirred up a strong, foul stench.

Su Luoheng, still in the midst of meditation, was jolted awake!

Fixing his gaze ahead, he saw a serpentine soul beast that had ripped through the tent, its blood-red maw wide open to reveal sharp fangs. Thick, viscous, crystalline saliva dripped from the corners of its mouth, and its hideous, terrifying tongue flickered in and out, its eyes radiating a cruel, bloodthirsty light. Judging by the luster of its scales and its body length, it was at least two hundred years old.

A Black-Striped Viper!

Su Luoheng couldn't help but curse his own carelessness; he had actually neglected the possibility of a soul beast attack while in the Soul Beast Forest.

However, now was not the time for regret, as the Black-Striped Viper was already lunging toward Su Luoheng to bite.