Thoughts on the First Soul Ring, Yu Xiaorou's Wisdom.

As he spoke, he flexed his wrists, his knuckles cracking loudly. His face was full of eager fighting spirit.

"Forget about fighting."

Su Yang merely smiled, unhurriedly reaching into his clothes and pulling out something—a carrot.

The carrot was longer than his entire palm, its orange-red skin glossy and fresh with clinging dirt, giving off a sweet, crisp scent.

Xiao Wu's sense of smell was exceptionally sharp, and he was drawn to the carrot almost instantly. He stared fixedly at the carrot in Su Yang's hand and involuntarily swallowed.

"This is..." His voice trembled slightly.

Su Yang raised the carrot before him and gave it a shake. "No hidden meaning. I just figured that since we'll be sharing a dorm for six years, we should share food and drinks from now on."

He paused, stressing his next words. "This carrot was carefully selected from the biggest vegetable market in Notting City—the finest one on the whole street. Look at the color, the size, and the freshness. The owner said it was pulled from the ground just this morning. It cost me fifty copper soul coins."

He said it without batting an eye. Of course, the money had come from the allowance Yu Xiaorou gave him.

As a guest instructor at Nording Academy, that amount was less than pocket change to her. Besides the carrot, Su Yang had also bought a jar of pickled radishes.

Xiao Wu's eyes went wide.

He stared unwaveringly at the fresh, tender carrot, his Adam's apple bobbing with loud gulps.

As the reincarnation of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit, the thing he found most impossible to resist in this life was the temptation of carrots.

"You... you mean, if I follow you... there'll be all the carrots I want?" Xiao Wu's voice began to tremble. Most of his arrogant air had vanished, replaced by an earnest longing.

At just the right moment, Su Yang took out the jar of pickled radishes. The instant he opened it, a sweet, sour, spicy fragrance wafted out. Xiao Wu took a deep breath, nearly drooling from the corner of his mouth. His eyes shone, as though his soul were about to be hooked away.

Su Yang held the carrot out to him. "Follow me, and you can have as much of this stuff as you want."

Xiao Wu swallowed, hesitated for about half a second, then made an incomparably decisive choice.

He snatched the carrot and devoured it in a few bites. Then he grabbed the jar of pickled radishes, seized a piece, and stuffed it into his mouth. He narrowed his eyes in bliss and chewed with a look of utter intoxication.

"Mmm... delicious! So delicious!!" Xiao Wu said indistinctly as he chewed. "Boss! You're my boss from now on! If anyone dares bully you, I, Xiao Wu, will be the first to object!"

[ Ding—Xiao Wu's Favorability +40. Current Favorability: 50 (Kindred Spirits) ]

Su Yang's mouth twitched. A single carrot and a jar of pickled radishes had raised his favorability by forty points?

If he brought over a pot of carrot and pork rib soup every night, wouldn't Xiao Wu take off on the spot? This guy's mouth was ridiculously easy to win over.

But on second thought, Su Yang decided this was just fine. He had won himself a bodyguard with barely any effort, using just one carrot. What a bargain.

"Since you recognize me as your boss, follow me and work hard from now on." Su Yang patted Xiao Wu's shoulder, putting on a brotherly air. "I eat meat, and you drink soup... No, that's wrong. If I eat meat, you eat meat too. There'll be all the carrots you want, understand?"

"Understood, Boss!" Xiao Wu beamed and immediately stuffed another pickled radish into his mouth.

Tang San, watching from not far away, felt as though he were about to grind his teeth to pieces.

He looked at the carrot Xiao Wu had gnawed clean, then at the muscle definition that had not yet fully faded, and finally thought of the "Xiao Wu" he had worshipped as a goddess for two lifetimes...

The corners of his mouth twitched violently, his features twisting into a knot as though he had swallowed seven or eight green lemons all at once.

Was this really Douluo Continent? In the memories he had treasured across two lifetimes, the girl in pink who sang beneath the moonlight, the person he had pursued bitterly for an entire lifetime, had turned into the muscular youth before him, munching pickled radishes and calling someone "Boss"?

Tang San slowly closed his eyes and took three deep breaths. He felt that he needed to reevaluate this world.

Two days were neither particularly long nor particularly short.

Su Yang had originally thought that, with Xiao Wu's inability to walk away whenever he saw a carrot, raising his favorability rapidly would be easy. Reality proved that he had been too naive.

On the first day, he bought Xiao Wu three carrots, and his favorability rose from 10 to 45.

On the second day, he brought Xiao Wu a jar of pickled radishes along with two fresh white radishes. His favorability rose from 45 to 59. Then it stopped moving altogether.

No matter how he joked around or fed him delicious food, the favorability remained stuck firmly at 59, as though something were blocking it.

Looking at the number 59 on the system panel, Su Yang could not help sighing. Just one more point—one more point and he could break through 60 and claim the reward! Yet this single point was harder to get than the previous forty-nine combined.

Don't rush. Don't rush, Su Yang repeated inwardly. These kinds of strategies require patience and consistency.

"Su Yang."

A gentle female voice came from the dormitory entrance. Su Yang looked up and saw Yu Xiaorou standing in the doorway, dressed differently today.

She wore a light gray trench coat over a white shirt, paired with neat black pants and flat boots. Her hair was tied high in a ponytail, making her look capable and sharp—a far cry from her usual refined, intellectual appearance.

"Teacher?" Su Yang was taken aback.

"If you're ready, let's go." Yu Xiaorou adjusted her glasses, her tone crisp and decisive. "Today, I'm taking you to Soul Hunting Forest to hunt your first Spirit Ring."

Soul Hunting Forest was not too far from Notting City, roughly half a day's journey away. Su Yang followed behind Yu Xiaorou, passing through Notting City's bustling streets and heading north.

On both sides of the official road beyond the city lay broad fields and wasteland. The farther they went, the denser the trees became and the narrower the road grew.

By the time they reached the outskirts of Soul Hunting Forest, the sun had already begun to set. Sunlight streamed through gaps in the canopy, casting mottled patches of light and shadow across the forest floor.

Faint roars from Soul Beasts echoed in the distance, making the forest sound far from welcoming.

Soul Hunting Forest was not particularly large. Compared to those primeval forests spanning thousands of miles, this place was more like a hunting ground enclosed for beginners to level up.

Here, century-old Soul Beasts were already common, while millennium Soul Beasts were apex existences—enough to make most soul masters take a detour.

Yu Xiaorou was clearly a frequent visitor. She led Su Yang skillfully through several hidden paths, occasionally stopping to inspect the plants along the way and the tracks on the ground. Following behind her, Su Yang asked curiously:

"Teacher, what are you looking for?"

"A Soul Beast suited to you." Yu Xiaorou did not turn around. "Your martial soul is plant-type, so theoretically, your first Spirit Ring should be added from a plant-type Soul Beast. Its age must be appropriate. Too low, and it would waste the talent of your Innate Full Soul Power. Too high, and it would exceed the limits of what your body can endure."

She paused, stopping before a cluster of verdant bamboo and patting one of the stalks.

"See this—Lone Bamboo, ten years old. Its defining trait is toughness, making it suitable as a foundational Spirit Ring for a control-type soul master. But it's far too weak for you. I'm only mentioning it to give you an idea."

Su Yang's face darkened. "Teacher, you're not planning to make me absorb this, are you?"

"Of course not." Yu Xiaorou rolled her eyes at him. "The theoretical age limit for a first Spirit Ring is 423 years. That is the standard that has circulated across the continent for over a thousand years. But that standard is calculated based on the physique of ordinary soul masters. You are different."

She turned around and looked seriously into Su Yang's eyes. "You possess Twin Martial Souls. Your Soul Power is more abundant than that of soul masters at the same level, and your physical constitution far surpasses ordinary people's. Therefore, the age of your first Spirit Ring can be pushed somewhat higher."

"My recommendation," she said, raising two fingers, "is between seven hundred and eight hundred years."