Journey to Sunset Forest!

He had already combed through the outer and middle regions of Soul Hunting Forest. Let alone a thousand-year-old one, he had not even seen a second Blue Silver Grass over five hundred years old.

If he wanted to find something of a higher grade, he could only try his luck in a larger forest farther away.

And he had long since set his sights on a target.

He returned to the room and took out the crude map he had spent a long time drawing from the back of a drawer.

The edges of the paper had worn and curled, while the words "Sunset Forest" marked upon it stood out with exceptional clarity in the morning light.

He had wanted to go there a year and three months ago, but he had not been strong enough.

Now that he was level twenty, both his physique and Soul Power were incomparable to before. Even against a thousand-year Soul Beast, he might not be without a chance.

The things hidden within that forest, whether the Immortal Herbs of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well or high-year Blue Silver Grass, were worth making this journey for.

He folded up the map and tucked it into his clothes, then pushed open the door and stood facing the biting north wind for a moment.

The snow on the streets had yet to fully melt. Several early-rising vendors were setting up stalls beneath the eaves, calling out as they sold steaming buns.

The faint calls of the city guards changing shifts drifted over from afar. Everything was as usual.

He turned around, locked the medical clinic's door, and went to the City Lord's Mansion to request a long leave.

When Alfred heard that he was heading far away, he did not ask much. He merely reminded him, "Stay safe. Go early and come back early."

After leaving the City Lord's Mansion, he paid Renn and Grant a visit. One worked with the city guards, while the other made his living in Soul Hunting Forest. Both were trustworthy acquaintances.

He informed them in advance that the medical clinic might be closed for some time, and that if the city guards had any urgent patients, they could go to the old physician in the city for the time being.

Renn patted his shoulder and told him to go without worry. When Grant heard that he was heading north, he silently copied out a map of Sunset Forest's outer terrain that he had drawn over the years and stuffed it into his hands.

Lan Tian returned to the medical clinic with the two maps, closed the door, and began preparing supplies for the journey.

Dried rations, water skins, a medicine chest, surgical knives, a short dagger, thick cotton clothes, a fire starter, blankets for warmth, and medicinal herbs for first aid.

He packed every useful item into his backpack one by one, then checked it twice more to make sure nothing had been forgotten.

At last, he sat down before the table, spread out a sheet of paper, and wrote a line to hang outside the door: Away seeking medicine, return date uncertain. For urgent cases, please visit Old Chen Medical Clinic.

Once the ink had dried, he hung up the wooden sign, shouldered his pack, locked the door, and left Nuoding City through its northern gate amid the fine snow drifting across the sky.

The north wind drove fine snow into his face. After leaving Nuoding City's northern gate, Lan Tian followed the official road north for roughly two hours as the sky gradually darkened.

He rested at an abandoned roadside tea stall, built a fire to toast and eat his rations, and sorted through the thoughts that had been circling his mind all the way there.

He was level twenty now. Obtaining his Second Soul Ring was urgent.

According to the usual cultivation standards for Soul Masters, most people's Soul Ring configurations consisted of two yellow, two purple, and four black rings. In other words, both the First Soul Ring and Second Soul Ring should fall within the hundred-year range. The usual upper limit for a Second Soul Ring was below a thousand years; exceeding a thousand years counted as absorbing beyond one's level, placing an immense burden on the body and meridians.

But the key issue was not whether he could endure it.

With the strength of his current physique, along with Endless Life as a safeguard, he had a good chance of absorbing a thousand-year Blue Silver Grass Soul Ring of the same origin.

Even if he were injured, he could heal himself. His odds of enduring it were at least eighty percent.

What truly made him hesitate was the consequence of revealing it.

A thousand-year Second Soul Ring was an exceedingly rare sight across the entire continent.

If people discovered that he, a Soul Master with a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, had a four-hundred-year yellow First Soul Ring and a Second Soul Ring that jumped straight to purple, what would they think of him?

No background, no family, no sect to support him. A lone man who had remained obscure in a village before the age of twenty-five suddenly displayed an outrageous configuration that did not even fit two yellow and one purple ring. It would be practically announcing to everyone that he had a secret.

What would Spirit Hall think?

What would those great families think?

Would even passing experts be tempted to capture him and study him?

Lan Tian sat beside the fire and poked at the coals with a branch. The firelight flickered over his face.

He had lived cautiously ever since crossing over because he understood perfectly well that he had no capital to gamble on being discovered.

A Soul Ring configuration could not be concealed forever. As long as he needed to fight, demonstrate his strength, or make a name for himself among Soul Masters in the future, the moment his Soul Rings appeared, nothing could remain hidden.

Therefore, his Second Soul Ring had to be a configuration that looked normal.

The safest plan was this: a four-hundred-year yellow First Soul Ring and a nine-hundred-year yellow Second Soul Ring.

Two yellow rings as a foundation, standard beyond standard. No one would suspect anything upon seeing them.

This would preserve the life-attribute enhancement of Blue Silver Grass from the same origin while avoiding unnecessary trouble due to the wrong color. Moreover, nine hundred years was already the upper limit for a hundred-year Soul Ring. It was only a little short of crossing the thousand-year threshold, so its benefits to him would certainly be substantial.

The crucial point was that he already had experience with a four-hundred-year Soul Ring and knew that absorption from the same origin was almost painless. Nine-hundred-year Blue Silver Grass and four-hundred-year Blue Silver Grass were fundamentally of the same origin, so the difficulty of absorption would not increase exponentially.

As long as its age did not exceed a thousand years, with the strength of his meridians and his reserves of Soul Power, he could completely endure it even if there were some complications.

"Then it's settled."

"Nine-hundred-year Blue Silver Grass, you're the one."

After making up his mind, Lan Tian stirred the fire until it burned brighter and stuffed another piece of dried ration into his mouth.

At dawn the next morning, he set out again. Traveling at his fastest pace for an entire week, he arrived at the edge of Sunset Forest on the evening of the eighth day.

The sight before him was completely different from Soul Hunting Forest.

His first impression of this forest was that it was enormous.

An endless sea of trees stretched out beneath the dusk. Ancient trees towered into the sky, their crowns so dense that even the heavens were tightly obscured.

The scents in the air were more complex and heavy: vegetation, earth, wild beasts, and a faint but ever-present pressure from Soul Beasts all mingled together. Every breath made him feel that the ecological depth of this place surpassed Soul Hunting Forest by far.

He did not rush deeper in. Instead, he found a sheltered hollow at the forest's edge and set up camp. After lighting a fire, eating his fill, and resting well, he did not set out properly until the next morning, when the sky was only beginning to brighten.

After entering Sunset Forest, he moved very slowly.

Searching for high-year Blue Silver Grass could not be done by blindly barging around. He had to judge based on the distribution of vegetation and environmental conditions.

Blue Silver Grass preferred places with plenty of sunlight that were not overly dry,

and generally grew in open woodland clearings or on gentle slopes,

while traces of large Soul Beasts nearby actually made it less likely to survive,

because trampling by hooves and claws was devastating to Blue Silver Grass.

He carefully investigated along the outer region, walking for a while before stopping to scan the surroundings. Only after confirming that he had found nothing would he move on to the next area.