Some Things Are Impossible for Some, but Effortless for Others

Three nights later, moonlight flowed like water through the window lattice, spreading a sheet of silver-white across the dormitory floor.

Li Changqing sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes half-closed and his breathing long and even.

Pale golden soul power lingered around him like a thin mist, slowly rising and falling with his breaths. Faintly, an exceedingly dim tower-shaped phantom flickered in and out of view above his head.

Four years of relentless cultivation had brought his control over his martial soul to a state of perfection. Even while cultivating, he could constantly sense every slightest movement around him.

Footsteps came from the end of the corridor, drawing nearer until they stopped outside his door.

Li Changqing slowly opened his eyes. The golden gleam in them flashed and vanished as the soul power around him receded into his body like the tide.

He tilted his head toward the door and said, "Come in. It isn't locked."

The door opened, and Bei Bei strode inside with that smug, self-satisfied grin that said, "I got it done."

He shut the door behind him, crossed the room in a few quick steps, and carefully pulled a palm-sized wooden box from his robes.

The box was jet-black, its surface engraved with intricate patterns. Its material was warm and weighty, clearly no ordinary item.

Bei Bei stuffed the box into Li Changqing's hands and said with a smile, "Here, the thing you wanted. I finally got it for you. You have no idea how much effort it took..."

Hearing that, Li Changqing could only feel speechless inside.

A lot of effort?

You?

Who are you trying to fool?

Still, he did not expose him. He took the box, weighed it in his hand, then opened it directly in front of Bei Bei.

Inside lay a layer of soft dark-red velvet, and at its center rested a dark green pill.

The pill was about the size of a longan, its surface gleaming like jade. Up close, it gave off the faintest medicinal fragrance, crisp and lingering.

Though he had never seen what the Netherworld Sect's Black Tortoise Divine Pill looked like before this—

That did not mean he lacked discernment.

Besides, given Bei Bei and Mu En's status, they would never try to fob him off with a fake. That would simply be beneath them.

He took only one look before closing the lid.

Just as he had expected, treasures that ordinary people could only dream of were no different from everyday objects in the hands of those with power and status.

The world had always been like this.

Some things were impossibly difficult for certain people.

Yet for others, they required no more than the lift of a hand.

Li Changqing put the wooden box into the soul tool he carried with him. His movements were crisp and decisive, without the slightest lingering attachment.

He looked up at Bei Bei and asked, "I've accepted it. When do we leave?"

Bei Bei rubbed his hands together and sat down beside the bed. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Half a month from now. Xiao Ya still has some preparations to make, and I need to finish handling the matters on my end. Leaving in half a month should be about right."

Li Changqing nodded without objection.

To him, it made little difference whether they left sooner or later.

Since he had accepted their benefit, he naturally had to get the job done for them.

"Fine. Half a month from now," he agreed readily.

Seeing that he had agreed, Bei Bei chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "Now that's what I'm talking about! We'll set out early that day and try to finish everything within three days, then rush back the same day."

Li Changqing rolled his eyes. "In your dreams. How can hunting a soul ring be that precise? If we don't run into a suitable soul beast, it wouldn't be unusual to be gone for a week."

Although the Star Dou Great Forest was said to be the largest soul beast forest on the Douluo Continent, where one could generally find a soul beast suited to oneself—

That depended on one's luck not being too bad. Otherwise, there had been plenty of cases where people had no choice but to turn back empty-handed.

Bei Bei scratched his head, thought it over, and realized it made sense. "True... We'll see how things go when the time comes."

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Early that morning, before dawn had fully broken, Li Changqing arrived at the academy gates carrying a simple pack.

Bei Bei and Tang Ya were already waiting there.

Tang Ya wore a neat set of fitted clothes, her long hair tied high. A slender sword hung at her waist, and she looked every bit the valiant heroine.

Her soul power had just broken through Rank 30, and she was brimming with eager excitement, her brows and eyes full of anticipation.

"Changqing, you're here!" Tang Ya smiled and waved when she saw Li Changqing.

As Bei Bei's teacher and partner, she naturally knew Li Changqing.

After all, among the freshmen of their year, Li Changqing had possessed the best talent and highest cultivation. It would have been hard not to know him.

Li Changqing walked over, gave her a once-over, and asked, "Ready?"

"Ready!"

Tang Ya nodded vigorously and said excitedly, "Today, I'm definitely finding a suitable third soul ring!"

Bei Bei smiled and shook his head beside her, reaching out to pat her head. "Don't rush. Suitable soul beasts are hard to come by. We'll take our time looking."

The three said no more and set off along the official road toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

The morning air was cool and damp. Dew still clung to the wild grass by the roadside, refracting specks of light beneath the rising sun.

Layer upon layer of distant mountains lay veiled in thin mist, like an ink-wash painting.

After walking for a while, Tang Ya suddenly seemed to remember something. She turned to Li Changqing and asked, "By the way, Changqing, I haven't seen Ye Guyi or Jiang Nannan lately. Where did they go?"

Without slowing his pace, Li Changqing answered casually, "They took leave. They have matters to handle."

Tang Ya gave an "oh" and did not pursue the matter further.

Though she, Ye Guyi, and Jiang Nannan were all at Shrek Academy, they did not interact much in daily life.

At most, they were acquaintances who had met and shared a few meals.

She had only asked in passing and did not particularly care where they had gone.

The three continued onward, drawing ever closer to the Star Dou Great Forest.

On the distant horizon, an endless sea of dark green forest had begun to come into view. Like an ancient beast lying dormant upon the earth, it exuded a vast, profound aura.

Meanwhile, on another official road dozens of miles away, a youth several years younger than them was also hurrying in the same direction.

The boy was around eleven or twelve years old, small and thin, dressed in coarse cloth garments washed nearly white...

His face bore a resolve and exhaustion no child his age should have possessed, but his eyes were bright, like two burning flames.

"Star Dou Great Forest..."

The boy murmured the name in a still-childish, hoarse voice. "I have to find a suitable soul ring there..."

He clenched his fists and quickened his pace.

On the official road, the two groups traveled one before the other toward the same destination.

The three ahead still did not know that this journey to the Star Dou Great Forest would bring them more than merely a suitable soul beast.