Into the Forest, a Parasitic Web

The iron gate had barely opened when Tang San caught a scent of damp earth mixed with blood.

Yu Xiaogang raised a hand to stop him. He scanned the forest before saying quietly, "Stay close to me once we're inside. Even the outskirts are no place for a child to play."

Tang San nodded, his hand already resting on the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridge. "I understand, Teacher."

Yu Xiaogang took a small bottle from his waist and sprinkled powder over Tang San's cuffs and trouser hems. "Insect repellent. It'll keep most low-level poisonous insects away, but don't expect it to save your life."

Tang San looked at the powder. "Soul Beasts are afraid of this?"

"Most Ten-Year Soul Beasts will avoid it. Hundred-Year Soul Beasts might not."

As Yu Xiaogang finished speaking, Soul Power surged beneath his feet, and a round, plump beast appeared on the ground.

Luo Sanpao wagged his short tail. The moment he emerged, he thrust his nose toward the depths of the woods and let out a low whine.

It was Tang San's first close look at Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul. Showing no contempt, he asked earnestly, "Teacher, can Luo Sanpao scout ahead?"

Yu Xiaogang looked a little uncomfortable, but he nodded. "He has a good nose. He can warn us when danger is near."

Ji Yuan was hidden in a compartment inside the sole of Tang San's shoe. Hearing this, he spread his dark-red roots outward along the worn fabric.

Warn them?

Then he could bark when he was supposed to—and keep quiet when he wasn't.

Tang San stepped into the forest, his soles pressing into the soft, damp earth. Ji Yuan immediately released the Spores he had kept gathered for so long.

Invisible specks slipped through the seams of the sole and burrowed into blades of grass, holes in the mud, and rotting tree roots.

Every time they covered another stretch, Ji Yuan left a fresh batch behind.

This wasn't a path.

It was his web.

Tang San asked softly, "Teacher, why does it smell so strongly of blood here?"

Yu Xiaogang glanced at the nearby bushes. "People hunt Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest every day. No one clears away every corpse, so the smell of blood never leaves the outskirts."

Tang San looked ahead, a Hidden Weapon ready inside his sleeve. "That must attract Soul Beasts."

"It does. That's why we shouldn't stay in one place too long."

Yu Xiaogang had barely finished speaking when Luo Sanpao darted to the side and barked twice at a clump of grass.

Tang San immediately raised his hand, and Blue Silver Grass emerged from his palm.

Several dead Solitary Bamboo Rats lay in the grass. Their bellies had been bitten open, their blood had dried, and black insects crawled inside them.

After a closer look, Yu Xiaogang relaxed. "Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo Rats. They've been dead for a while. A larger Soul Beast probably killed them."

Tang San crouched to inspect them. "Can you tell what kind of Soul Beast it was from the wounds?"

Yu Xiaogang was about to answer, but Ji Yuan had already sent the Spores scattered through the mud onto the bodies.

Little vitality remained in them, but to him, even a mosquito was meat.

The Spores slipped into the gaps between bones and drained the lingering souls and the Soul Power left in the flesh.

The bodies soon collapsed, their fur losing its sheen.

Yu Xiaogang was pointing out the bite marks as he explained. "The wounds are torn, and the spacing between the teeth is narrow. It was likely a pack Soul Beast such as a Netherworld Wolf. But these bodies have dried out too quickly, which makes it harder to judge."

Tang San reached out and touched a Solitary Bamboo Rat's fur. "They really have dried out strangely."

Ji Yuan gave a soundless sneer inside the sole.

Strange was good.

The stranger it was, the more they would suspect the forest—not what was underfoot.

Yu Xiaogang stood. "Come on. Don't touch the bodies. Soul Beast corpses often harbor poisonous insects."

Tang San followed him. "Teacher, are Netherworld Wolves dangerous?"

"One alone isn't too hard to handle. A pack is trouble."

"What if we run into one?"

Yu Xiaogang glanced at him. "Retreat first. Fight only if we can't."

Tang San asked no more questions.

Ji Yuan, however, remembered those words.

Retreat?

Tang San could retreat, but the resources couldn't.

As they went deeper, the trees shut out the daylight, and the Soul Power around them grew chaotic.

Batch after batch of Ji Yuan's scouting Spores fell to the ground, extending his senses slowly outward from Tang San's feet.

There were insects in the mud, sap beneath the bark, and decaying bones under the low brush.

These things had once been worthless. In Ji Yuan's hands, every scrap became nourishment.

Tang San stopped midstep.

Ahead, a Variegated Man-Eating Flower stood in the shadows. Its open bloom was packed with tiny teeth and turned slowly toward Luo Sanpao.

Yu Xiaogang pressed a hand to Tang San's shoulder. "Don't go near it. That's a Ten-Year Variegated Man-Eating Flower. Its paralytic toxin isn't strong, but a bite would still be trouble."

Tang San stared at the flower. "Plant-type Soul Beasts attack on their own, too?"

"They do. Most low-age Plant-type Soul Beasts act on instinct. This one isn't even a hundred years old, so its attack range is limited."

Yu Xiaogang took two steps forward, intending to continue his lesson. "Look at the rim of its bloom. The darker the color, the more mature its poison sac. If you study Plant-type Soul Beasts later, you must examine the roots and poison sac first."

By then, Ji Yuan's roots had already burrowed into the mud beneath the sole.

He did not need to get close to the bloom.

The root was its lifeline.

Several thin, dark-red tendrils wound through the earth and reached the flower's roots. They pierced them gently.

The Variegated Man-Eating Flower's bloom was still turning when it suddenly drooped.

Yu Xiaogang's words caught in his throat.

Tang San saw it too. Puzzled, he asked, "Teacher, why did it wither?"

Yu Xiaogang hurried forward but stopped at a safe distance. He lowered his gaze to inspect the roots. "It shouldn't have. Variegated Man-Eating Flowers are tenacious, unless insects had already hollowed out the roots."

Tang San looked at the soil. "Can the insects here eat Soul Beasts?"

Yu Xiaogang frowned. "It's possible, but uncommon."

Ji Yuan had already drawn out the trace of paralytic toxin in the flower's roots.

Once the toxin entered his body, he did not spread it through himself. Instead, he sealed it along the edges of his leaf veins, letting his grass body try to adapt.

Inside the sole's compartment, faint dark-purple lines appeared within his dried wooden thorn, then faded as he suppressed them.

Looking at the withered flower, Tang San said quietly, "The Soul Hunting Forest is more complicated than I thought."

Yu Xiaogang looked a little embarrassed, but he quickly replied, "That's why I told you to observe and remember. Theory isn't fixed; it must change with the environment."

Ji Yuan almost laughed.

Well said.

He could even talk his way around a mistake. This tool was worth even more than I thought.

Near dusk, Yu Xiaogang chose a clearing.

He took out snake repellent and had Tang San scatter it around the perimeter, then sent Luo Sanpao to sniff his way around the clearing.

As Tang San scattered the powder, he asked, "Teacher, aren't we going any farther today?"

"Traveling at night is asking to die."

Yu Xiaogang took out their dry rations. "Soul Hunting isn't a race. Survive first; then think about Soul Rings."

Tang San accepted the food. "What if we can't find a suitable Soul Beast tomorrow?"

"We keep looking."

Yu Xiaogang looked at him. "Your First Soul Ring will affect you for the rest of your life. Better to take our time than choose carelessly."

Ji Yuan withdrew most of the Spores he had sent out, leaving only scouts around the perimeter.

He had absorbed plenty of scattered vitality. His awareness now reached much farther than it had before they entered the forest, and every crawling insect and stirring blade of grass nearby sent a signal back to the sole.

Tang San sat cross-legged and began circulating the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Ji Yuan helped himself to a portion of the newly generated inner energy at the edges of Tang San's meridians.

Tang San's brow tightened slightly, and his cultivation slowed.

Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang asked, "Feeling unwell?"

Tang San opened his eyes. "Maybe it's from walking all day. My meridians feel a little sluggish."

Yu Xiaogang handed him a waterskin. "Don't push your cultivation tonight. Forcing a breakthrough when your body is exhausted can leave hidden injuries."

Tang San took the waterskin. "Don't worry, Teacher. I know my limits."

Ji Yuan scoffed soundlessly.

You know your limits?

I decide your limits.

Night deepened. Luo Sanpao lay beside Yu Xiaogang, though his ears never stopped twitching.

Tang San stayed awake, leaning against a tree as he leafed through an illustrated guide to Soul Beasts and asked Yu Xiaogang questions now and then.

"Teacher, is a Datura Snake really suitable for Blue Silver Grass?"

"Yes, but it can't be too old."

"What if we find one around four hundred years old?"

Yu Xiaogang's hands stilled over the medicine bottles he was sorting. "Don't gamble with your life."

Tang San closed the guide. "I was only asking."

"Don't even ask."

Yu Xiaogang stared at him. "Tang San, you're talented, which is all the more reason not to rush. A genius who dies trying to get his First Soul Ring isn't even worth a joke."

Tang San fell silent for a while. "I'll remember that."

Ji Yuan listened and slowly tightened his roots.

Four hundred years.

That number was just right.

Any weaker, and it wouldn't be enough to eat.

Any stronger, and the blood bag might break.

In the latter half of the night, the insects in the forest suddenly grew quiet.

The outer Spores sent back urgent ripples. Tiny insects were burrowing deeper into the mud, and birds on the branches had stopped moving from perch to perch.

Ji Yuan immediately stopped absorbing anything and suppressed his presence within the wooden pad inside the sole.

Luo Sanpao, who had been lying down, suddenly raised his head and barked anxiously at the bushes.

Yu Xiaogang rolled upright, his expression changing at once. "Tang San, get up! Stay inside the circle!"

Tang San snatched up his short blade, Blue Silver Grass unfurling from his palm. "Teacher, what is it?"

Yu Xiaogang did not answer. He only stared at the bushes in the dark.

The next moment, dozens of pairs of gleaming green eyes lit up behind the grass.