Lecherous Three Scoundrels

To be honest, Ning Chen did not really agree with Flender's teaching philosophy.

The so-called policy of cultivating only monsters was, in reality, simply recruiting only soul master geniuses—top-tier geniuses at that—and training them.

It was an extremely lazy and shameless method of education.

The collapse of the myth surrounding a certain water-based model in his previous life had undoubtedly proven one thing.

Beneath that education model, which had been praised as almost divine, lay naked talent crushing everything else.

It was not the school that made geniuses; it was geniuses who made the school.

Present-day Shrek, like that certain school back then, had actually fallen into the same educational trap.

In this soul master world where strength reigned supreme, the crushing advantage of talent was even more blatant and cruel.

Those with high talent, like the Shrek Seven Devils, would mostly become high-level soul masters in the end as long as they kept cultivating, even without so many fortunate encounters.

Those with low talent, like Yu Xiaogang, only broke through to level twenty-nine at fifty. Without that Ninth-Rank Purple Ganoderma Tang San had given him, he would have remained a Grand Soul Master for life.

So, had Flender cultivated those monstrous geniuses, or had those monstrous geniuses validated Flender's educational philosophy?

It seemed that only the latter was true.

The world of soul masters was, in the end, a world of geniuses and a world of the strong.

Driving his horse, Ning Chen reached Soto City after roughly seven or eight days.

Known as the granary of Barak, Soto City was no less bustling and prosperous than Barak City.

Shops lined both sides of its broad streets, while pedestrians, carriages, and horses flowed endlessly through them.

As one of the Barak Kingdom's wealthiest cities, its commercial atmosphere was even stronger than that of the royal capital.

Although Ning Chen was quite interested in Soto City, he did not linger. His most important goal was still to travel to the Star Dou Great Forest and hunt for a soul ring.

He found a fairly decent inn in the city, stayed the night, ate a good meal, and brought himself into peak condition.

Early the next morning, he left Soto City and continued southeast, toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

After another two or three days, Ning Chen finally approached the Star Dou Great Forest.

There was no way he could enter the Star Dou Great Forest with a carriage, so in a nearby town, Ning Chen directly sold the carriage and horse at a low price.

He then traveled light and headed toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

To avoid trouble along the way, Ning Chen took the Azure Wood Puppet from his spatial barrier and resumed the outfit he had worn in the Soul Hunting Forest near Barak City.

After an entire morning of travel, he finally reached the entrance to the Star Dou Great Forest.

The Star Dou Great Forest was countless times larger than the Soul Hunting Forest near Barak City.

Yet similarly, there was a marketplace before the entrance to the Star Dou Great Forest where soul masters could rest and eat.

Because of the enormous number of soul masters coming and going, the marketplace had gradually developed into something resembling a small town.

Shops stood everywhere. There were not only places to eat and rest, but also stores selling all kinds of weapons, armor, and even various potions.

Without exception, nearly all of them were related to soul masters hunting soul beasts.

Ning Chen had long stored enough supplies in his ring storage soul tool, so he did not stop as he passed through the town and entered the Star Dou Great Forest directly.

The Star Dou Great Forest had existed since ancient times, and towering ancient trees filled every corner of it.

The trees on the forest's outskirts were nearly wide enough for two people to wrap their arms around. Though they were not plant-type soul beasts, they would still have been exceedingly precious and valuable timber elsewhere.

But almost everyone who dared enter the Star Dou Great Forest was a soul master, and no one had any interest in ordinary trees like these.

Ning Chen was naturally the same.

After entering the Star Dou Great Forest, Ning Chen took out the map of its outer region that he had bought in Soto City.

An enormous number of soul masters entered and left the Star Dou Great Forest every day, so maps naturally made their way out.

Ning Chen's target was only the thousand-year soul beasts living in the forest's outer region, so an outer-region map was more than sufficient.

The Star Dou Great Forest was thick with overlapping shadows of trees and dense vegetation. Without familiarity with the paths or a map, it was impossible to move even a step.

Following the map, Ning Chen controlled the Azure Wood Puppet to clear the way ahead while taking the level-two soul tool, the Fierce Slash Blade, from his ring and gripping it in his hand.

Combined with the Earthguard Armor against his body and the Wind-Chasing Boots on his feet, he finally felt somewhat safer.

The Star Dou Great Forest was far larger than the Soul Hunting Forest in the Barak Kingdom, but one could still occasionally encounter soul masters who had come to hunt soul beasts.

Thanks to his Great Perfection Nine Yang Divine Skill, Ning Chen's six senses were far sharper than his Soul Power realm would suggest.

Whenever he spotted flickering, leaping figures amid the dense forest, he would avoid them from afar.

His strength was insufficient, and this was simply unavoidable.

Yet despite doing his best to avoid the soul masters he encountered, Ning Chen was still targeted.

Ning Chen himself had only level-twenty Soul Power. Although the Azure Wood Puppet possessed strength equivalent to a Soul Elder, it excelled at defense and lacked offensive power, making it unsuitable for fighting others.

Moreover, Soul Elder-level strength was nothing within the Star Dou Great Forest.

Sensing someone following him, Ning Chen cursed inwardly. With a thought, the Azure Wood Puppet vanished as he stored it within the spatial barrier of the Myriad Realms Roulette.

He deliberately chose a narrow path thick with trees. At a bend, he directly activated Wind-Chasing, the attached spell of the Wind-Chasing Boots.

His speed instantly soared. In the blink of an eye, his figure had vanished into the depths of the forest, leaving no trace behind.

Several seconds later, three figures appeared where Ning Chen had disappeared.

Fine sunlight filtered down, revealing the faces of the three men.

All three were in their thirties or forties.

The man in the middle had dark skin and a short build. He wore a yellowed shirt and filthy trousers with a hole in them. As his eyes shifted, an air of wretched cowardice naturally emanated from him.

He looked around, but there was not a single person in sight. Confused, he said, "Strange. That brat's aura was clearly not strong, so how was he faster than us?"

The man on the left was tall and had long hair hanging loose over his shoulders, though his eyes were so narrow that they were little more than slits. He spoke to the man in the middle, and his voice was unexpectedly magnetic.

"Forget it, Bule. We came to hunt your fourth soul ring. Business comes first."

The man on the right was so gaunt that he was almost nothing but bones. He also spoke up. "Yeah, Bule. Hurry up and hunt the soul ring so we can get back quickly. My Little Taohong is still waiting for me."

Faced with their advice, the short man called Bule regretfully waved his hand. "What a pity. I saw in town that brat had a soul tool ring. He was definitely a fat sheep, yet the meat that was already in my mouth got away! Forget it, Old Goose, Tianya, let's go. We'll handle business first."

The three figures then vanished into the dense forest and left in the opposite direction.

If Ning Chen had remained where he was and overheard their conversation, he would certainly have recognized them as Soto City's famously lecherous three scoundrels.

Bule in particular was a ruthless man who had unlocked the Roast Chicken Achievement.