Hunting Target! The Titan Giant Ape Appears

Star Dou Great Forest.

As soon as he stepped into the forest, Su Changge's vision was obscured by ancient trees that blotted out the sky.

The space he occupied felt severed from the outside world, plunged into absolute, deathly silence.

If not for the occasional cries of soul beasts echoing from deep within the forest.

That dark, oppressive atmosphere was enough to drive a person mad with loneliness.

Coating his entire body in the residual excrement of soul beasts, Su Changge crouched in the undergrowth, staring at the soul beasts passing by.

This was a common technique for civilians to avoid wild beasts; though filthy, it was highly effective.

Clutching a dagger quenched in over a dozen types of toxins, Su Changge rapidly sifted through the hundred-year soul beasts he knew in his mind.

Over the past ten years, he had asked Yu Xiaogang countless times which soul beasts were suitable as the first soul ring for a Goblin cub martial soul, but... Yu Xiaogang had never responded.

Things had come to this; he could only rely on his own judgment... and intuition now.

The Goblin race has too many drawbacks in the early stages. In terms of attack, defense, and support, they are nearly zero compared to similar martial souls and soul beasts. Furthermore, their physical flaws are too severe, making it difficult to provide effective combat power boosts to a soul master.

To mitigate the early-stage weaknesses of the Goblin martial soul, the first soul ring must be hunted from a soul beast with a powerful physique. The best would undoubtedly be dragon-blooded or ancient remnants, but such soul beasts are rare and hard to find. Aside from the protagonist group, I doubt anyone has that kind of luck.

The second choice is undoubtedly the bear, tiger, lion, ape, or python—soul beast races with powerful bodies and terrifying combat strength. Even if the hunted soul beast's age is insufficient in the early stages, one can compensate for early-stage defects by increasing the soul ring's age through other means later on.

The third...

The options in Su Changge's mind flashed by one after another, and he ultimately set his sights on the second choice.

When it came to the bear, tiger, lion, ape, and python races, the most famous were undoubtedly the Titan Giant Ape, Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, Golden Nine-Headed Lion, and Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python.

Among these soul beast races, records indicated that every one of them had members reaching over a hundred thousand years, or even king-level existences.

Their potential ceiling was ridiculously high.

Of course, these powerful races, even the most common ones, almost all lived in the mixed or core areas of the Star Dou Great Forest. Whether he could encounter them on the periphery was another matter entirely.

"Night has fallen."

After continuing for several more hours and seeing starlight filter down, Su Changge immediately ceased all movement.

He found a patch of jungle near a mud pit and buried himself within it.

Late at night, the forest was a paradise for predatory soul beasts.

For a weakling like him, the moment he made even the slightest sound, only death would await him.

"Boom!"

The next morning, Su Changge had barely dozed off when he was jolted awake by a sudden explosion.

Over there, there are fluctuations of soul skills, and... that sound is a tiger's roar.

Determining the direction, Su Changge gritted his teeth and crept toward the source of the blast.

Wealth is sought in danger; at the very least, he had to gather intelligence on that tiger-type soul beast.

After sneaking for about a kilometer, Su Changge arrived at the scene.

In the clearing ahead, four soul masters were surrounding a giant ink-green tiger, while a child of about ten years old stood on the periphery.

"Shadow Ghost Tiger!"

After identifying the giant tiger, Su Changge's interest waned significantly.

While this shadow-type soul beast had some merits in combat, its weaknesses were too obvious.

Once it encountered holy light or fire-attribute soul skills, it would be left completely defenseless.

Under Su Changge's gaze, the Shadow Ghost Tiger took several low-level soul skills head-on and completely lost its ability to fight; its abdomen was bleeding profusely, and it lay unconscious from severe injuries.

"Scan the Shadow Ghost Tiger's vital signs."

"Position 3, keep observing. Ensure the Shadow Ghost Tiger cannot pose a threat to the client."

"Position 4, prepare healing skills. Be ready to respond to any emergencies."

That soul master squad over there... they're actually this professional!!!

Watching the four soul masters perform such risk-mitigation maneuvers after knocking down the Shadow Ghost Tiger, Su Changge's pupils dilated repeatedly.

These guys provided professional service indeed.

Even those soul masters from the academies probably couldn't reach this level of risk management, right???

"Position 2 confirms danger eliminated."

"Position 3 confirms safety!"

"Position 4 is ready."

Following the sequence of reports, the lead soul master trotted over to the ten-year-old child, wearing a fawning smile. "Respected client, all danger has been eliminated. This Shadow Ghost Tiger is now yours. You may go ahead and kill it to absorb the soul ring."

"Ah... oh, okay. Thank you, thank you all."

The child seemed to have just snapped out of his fright, replied, and pulled a short sword from his waist, stumbling toward the unconscious Shadow Ghost Tiger in a panic.

Squish.

The short sword pierced the throat.

The Shadow Ghost Tiger's aura dissipated completely, replaced by a yellow spirit ring rising from the tiger's corpse, radiating a dazzling brilliance.

However, what made the four spirit masters' scalps tingle was that the kid, after touching the spirit ring with both hands, froze in place and looked at them with a helpless expression.

"Damn it, we couldn't be that unlucky, could we?"

The leader of the spirit masters muttered, slapping his forehead with a look of utter despair.

"U-um, this spirit ring is three hundred and ninety years old, which exceeds the limit of what I can currently absorb..."

"But rest assured, I am very satisfied with your service. I can pay more—double, triple, whatever it takes, as long as you help me hunt a suitable hundred-year tiger-type spirit beast."

"Pay more?"

The four spirit masters seemed to have been triggered by a special switch; their expressions shifted in unison, turning into masks of sycophancy.

"Oh, my noble employer, why didn't you say so earlier if you could pay more?"

"If you had mentioned it sooner, I would have treated you to a full-service foot bath... Come, let's keep moving. According to the outer region map, there are more tiger-type spirit beasts ten miles ahead."

"Brothers, we must ensure you return home completely satisfied."

Over the next few days, Su Changge encountered no fewer than ten soul-hunting mercenary squads in the outer region and gathered quite a bit of intelligence on the spirit beasts there.

Fortunately, because he kept his distance, Su Changge did not attract the attention of these mercenary squads.

Before he knew it, Su Changge had ventured a hundred miles deep, reaching the core of the outer region.

"According to the intelligence revealed by those soul-hunting squads, this should be the area where the Titan Giant Ape once appeared."

Su Changge gave it his all to climb to the top of the thickest tree within hundreds of meters, hiding himself beneath the dense foliage, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings like a blade.

After waiting for several hours, Su Changge felt a ground-shaking tremor beneath his feet.

At the edge of his vision, a Titan Giant Ape over nine meters tall vaulted over the low-lying jungle and headed in his direction.

"Damn it, why didn't those damned spirit masters mention the age of this Titan Giant Ape!"

"Standing over eight meters tall, this Titan Giant Ape is at least three thousand years old."

"The poison I have on hand probably isn't even enough to make it yawn."

Su Changge's face turned green, matching the color of his own martial spirit, as he pressed his body down, terrified that leaking even a sliver of his aura would make him a crunchy snack for the Titan Giant Ape.