Setting Off for Sunset Forest

Upon hearing this, Xue Qinghe slowly loosened the fingers clutching her sleeve, and the furrow between her brows finally eased.

She walked over to Zhang Fei and patted him on the shoulder. "Xiaofei, you've rendered a great service this time."

Porcupinefish Douluo beside them wore an equally shocked expression. "Brat, you really guessed right."

Xue Qinghe curved her lips into a smile and removed a ring from her hand, holding it out to Zhang Fei.

The ring was silver-gray, its surface smooth and unadorned. It felt warm to the touch and glimmered with a soft sheen.

She placed the ring in Zhang Fei's palm. "This is the storage ring I use myself. It has thirty cubic meters of space. I'll give it to you as a reward for now."

Zhang Fei lowered his head to look at the ring in his palm. The inner surface still retained the warmth of her fingertips.

Before he could speak, Xue Qinghe continued, "Also, I'll reward you with a spirit bone later. Is there anything you want?"

Zhang Fei's eyes lit up. He looked up at her seriously. "Your Highness, can I... ask you for something?"

"Go ahead."

"I want a storage soul tool that can hold living creatures."

"A storage soul tool that can hold living creatures?" Xue Qinghe raised a brow. "Those are rather rare."

"But don't worry, I'll remember it. Tomorrow, I'll look through the royal treasury. If there's one, I'll give it to you along with everything else. If there isn't, I'll have the Heaven Dou Auction House keep an eye out for one."

After saying that, Xue Qinghe turned and returned to the desk, sitting down as her expression regained its usual calm.

She swept her gaze over the three of them, lowering her voice. "The matter of the whale glue must remain absolutely confidential. No one else can know. Only the four of us."

The three nodded in unison.

Zhang Fei immediately returned to his room to change. His short robe was still smeared with black, cottony impurities, making him feel terribly uncomfortable.

That night, She Long came to Zhang Fei's residence and began teaching him Spirit Hall's advanced meditation technique.

"Close your eyes. Feel the circulation of soul power and guide it to your dantian..."

She Long instructed him patiently.

Spirit Hall's advanced meditation technique differed from the basic meditation techniques circulating outside. Its cultivation efficiency was significantly improved, and the route soul power traveled through the meridians was far more refined, providing much greater benefits than ordinary meditation techniques.

Zhang Fei sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes closed as he felt the warm energy slowly travel along its designated path.

Having never learned any martial arts techniques in his previous life, he found it incomparably miraculous.

For the next five days, he consumed a piece of thousand-year whale glue every day, then soaked in an ice barrel for half an hour.

The first three times had the most obvious effects. Each time, he could feel his muscles and bones being tempered anew.

Starting on the fourth day, the improvement gradually weakened.

By the fifth day, the whale glue's effect had become negligible.

After climbing out of the ice barrel for the last time, She Long inspected him as usual, then nodded in satisfaction. "Xiaofei, your physique is now roughly approaching the strength of a Soul Elder. But to be safe, your first soul ring still shouldn't go directly to a thousand years. An eight-hundred-year soul beast is the safest choice for you right now."

Zhang Fei nodded.

He had calculated it clearly. One piece of thousand-year whale glue could raise his soul ring absorption limit by roughly a hundred years, and the last two pieces had not provided much improvement.

Five pieces had raised it by around four hundred years. Added to his original foundation, he was indeed almost at the eight-hundred-year threshold.

A thousand-year soul ring? Forget it. Zhang Fei was not that greedy. Steady progress was the proper path.

Xue Qinghe's rewards also arrived one after another over the next two days.

One was a green gourd the size of half a palm, emerald throughout.

It was a storage soul tool capable of holding living creatures. Its internal space was only around a dozen cubic meters, not particularly large, but enough.

When Zhang Fei received it, he nearly laughed out loud. Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, immortal herbs, wait for me.

A spirit bone had also been delivered along with the gourd: a forty-thousand-year strength-type right arm bone that glowed with an earthy yellow light.

Of course, Zhang Fei would never absorb this spirit bone.

His goal was a full set of hundred-thousand-year spirit bones. Otherwise, he would be letting down the prestige of living a second life.

Zhang Fei put away the spirit bone, considering finding a suitable chance to give it to his grandfather in the future.

She Long's equipment was honestly a little shabby. His fifth soul ring was purple, and he was looked down upon wherever he went. The old man needed a bit more confidence.

The night wind blew past the window lattice, and the side courtyard fell quiet.

Zhang Fei sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes closed as he circulated the advanced meditation technique, only falling into a deep sleep late into the night.

The next day, before dawn had fully broken, the eastern horizon had only just turned pale.

She Long hauled Zhang Fei out of bed.

"Wake up. We're leaving."

Zhang Fei groggily opened his eyes, rolled out of bed, and hastily pulled on his clothes.

She Long patted his shoulder. A gentle current of soul power enveloped them both, and with a flash, they silently swept out of the Crown Prince's Residence.

The two left Heaven Dou City through the southern gate and flew southwest.

Zhang Fei was tucked beneath She Long's arm. Wind howled past his ears as cities and fields rapidly receded beneath his feet.

Sunset Forest was the second-largest wild soul beast forest on Douluo Continent. Located southwest of Heaven Dou City, it was only two or three hundred li away. At the flying speed of a Titled Douluo, they could reach it in less than an hour.

When an endless sea of green came into view, they had arrived at Sunset Forest.

Viewed from above, it was a vast, boundless forest. The trees were unimaginably tall, their dark green canopies layered atop one another and stretching all the way to the distant horizon.

She Long slowed down and gradually descended, finally landing in a woodland clearing on slightly elevated ground.

The moment his feet touched the soft layer of humus, Zhang Fei could not help taking a deep breath.

The air in the forest was completely different from that of Heaven Dou City. It carried the dampness of soil, the faint sourness of decaying leaves, and a certain wild scent that instinctively put one on guard.

She Long withdrew his soul power and patted Zhang Fei's shoulder. "From here on, we'll walk."

Zhang Fei nodded.

He understood She Long's intention. He had been pampered in luxury all this time, and aside from the things he had learned from books, he possessed virtually no actual combat experience.

Without trudging through mud and pushing through the forest himself, he could never become a true powerhouse by cultivating behind closed doors alone.

She Long walked ahead, condensing that blue-violet Serpent Spear in his right hand. Its spearhead gleamed with a chilling light as he casually swept aside obstructing vines and low-hanging branches.

"Stay close. Don't stray farther than three steps from me."

Zhang Fei stayed right at She Long's side, practically brushing against the hem of his grandfather's clothes.

To be honest, Zhang Fei was a little nervous. Though he had been in Douluo Continent for three years, he had never seen a real soul beast before.

Even the crack of an occasional dry branch beneath his feet made his heart tense.

The two slowly made their way deeper into the forest. After She Long pushed aside a vine, he asked, "Xiaofei, have you thought about what you want for your first soul ring?"

Zhang Fei, who had read the original novel, had long considered this question.

Beast Martial Souls differed from Tool Martial Souls. They emphasized bloodline accumulation.

To make it in Douluo Continent, what mattered was background, cultivation resources, and Martial Soul bloodline.

If you didn't have a Body Martial Soul, why struggle to train your body so desperately? Evolving your bloodline was the proper path.

Of course, this was also Zhang Fei's lazy self-justification, and it was not advisable. Even with whale glue, he would still need to exercise occasionally in the future.