Suotuo City Lantern Festival, Oscar the Sausage Seller!

The next day, a carriage left Notting City and headed toward the Star Dou Forest.

Although he was traveling under the identity of Xue Qinghe, there was no need to bring along an honor guard just to hunt Soul Rings.

Besides, Xue Qinghe had yet to become the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire.

Thus, Xue Qinghe traveled light for this Soul Ring hunt. The most important thing was simply having Pufferfish Douluo and Snake Lance Douluo at his side.

Luo Fan and Xue Qinghe chatted casually in the carriage.

Though he was only six or seven years old, he was still a transmigrator. A few jokes from his previous life were enough to make Xue Qinghe burst into laughter.

Outside the carriage, Pufferfish Douluo and Snake Lance Douluo exchanged glances when they heard Xue Qinghe laughing inside once more.

How long had it been since the young master had laughed so freely after infiltrating Heaven Dou City?

More importantly, it was fortunate that he was currently only impersonating the second prince, so he had not yet attracted too much attention!

Once he had established himself over the next two years and arranged for the eldest prince to "accidentally" die, the young master should be able to become the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire in due course.

By then, with countless eyes fixed on him, he would surely have to tread on even thinner ice, wouldn't he?

"Your Highness, it's getting late. There happens to be a small town up ahead!" As the sun set, Snake Lance Douluo offered a reminder.

Xue Qinghe lifted the carriage curtain for a look, then nodded, indicating that they would rest in the town for the night!

After booking a room, Luo Fan hurriedly created his Wood Clones. They sat cross-legged throughout the inn room, making the most of their time to cultivate Soul Power!

After all, he was already on his way to the Star Dou Forest, yet his Soul Power was still one final step away from breaking through to Level 20.

He even released twenty Wood Clones at once in hopes of reaching sufficient cultivation before arriving at the Star Dou Forest, pushing his cultivation at an overloaded rate.

When Luo Fan got up the next day, his Soul Power had surged considerably thanks to twenty times the cultivation speed!

But at the same time, the dark circles beneath his eyes had become terribly severe, making him look like he had stayed up all night doing something shady.

When the carriage set off again, Xue Qinghe saw how exhausted Luo Fan looked, yawning nonstop, and could not help asking, "Brother Luo Fan, didn't you rest well last night? Look how sleepy you are!"

"Brother Qinghe, I was cultivating last night, so I didn't rest well," Luo Fan answered.

"You really are something. Even if you're cultivating, you can't sacrifice your rest time, can you? It's far too harmful to your body!" Xue Qinghe said, shaking his head.

"It's fine. I just need to rest a little during the day. Before we reach the Star Dou Forest, I also want to see whether I can break through to Level 20. Then I can take the opportunity to hunt my second Soul Ring as well!" Luo Fan replied.

"Brother Luo Fan, you're almost Level 20 already?" Xue Qinghe stared at Luo Fan in surprise.

Although he had long learned from intelligence reports that Luo Fan had asked about the Void Escape Beast, presumably to prepare for his second Soul Ring.

He had originally thought Luo Fan would need several months, perhaps even half a year or more!

But now, it seemed he had completely misunderstood?

Luo Fan was about to break through soon!

"Brother Qinghe, you're already Level 30. You're also one of the continent's top geniuses!" Luo Fan praised him in return.

Level 30 at the age of twelve was indeed the mark of a top genius.

After all, Shrek Academy claimed to admit only monsters, yet its requirement was merely reaching Level 21 or above by age twelve.

Xue Qinghe was already Level 30. Once he successfully obtained a Soul Ring, he would be Level 31!

Though that was only ten levels higher.

The higher one went, the harder it became to level up!

The value of Levels 21 through 30 was several times greater than that of Levels 11 through 20.

"No matter how talented I may be, I was still far inferior to you at your age!" Xue Qinghe did not take Luo Fan's praise to heart. His words clearly came from the bottom of his heart.

After traveling for several days, that night Luo Fan once again created twenty clones to cultivate Soul Power in the room, nearly filling the entire place.

He had been trying out twenty clones lately, and he truly felt exhausted every following morning!

But he could rest for the whole day in the carriage.

In order to break through to Level 20 as soon as possible, it was acceptable to turn day and night upside down for a while.

Knock, knock, knock~

Just as Luo Fan was cultivating in his room after dinner, there came a sudden knock on the door. At the same time, Xue Qinghe's voice sounded from outside. "Brother Luo Fan, are you in there? I heard there'll be a beautiful Lantern Festival in Suotuo City tonight. Want to go take a look?" (PS: Check the map inserted in Chapter 20. The route from Notting City to the Star Dou Forest does indeed pass through Suotuo City.)

Luo Fan opened the door and nodded. "Sure, let's go take a look together!"

"Gasp, Brother Luo Fan, why are there so many of you in there!?" Luo Fan's main body had agreed to go see the Lantern Festival, but when Xue Qinghe saw the twenty Wood Clones inside, all sitting cross-legged and cultivating, he could not help drawing a sharp breath.

"Brother Qinghe, these are all from my Clone Technique. They can help me cultivate Soul Power," Luo Fan explained casually.

Xue Qinghe might look shocked by the sheer number of Luo Fan's Wood Clones, but Luo Fan knew perfectly well that Xue Qinghe must have already had the Spirit Hall Branch in Notting City investigate him thoroughly. That was why Xue Qinghe had been willing to detour through Notting City to meet him, right?

After the two left the room, Xue Qinghe naturally asked Luo Fan about the Wood Clone Technique.

Luo Fan had no intention of hiding it. He explained that once the Wood Clones finished cultivating, both their gains and fatigue would return to him.

"So that's why you're so exhausted during the day, Brother Luo Fan. You have twenty times the cultivation speed, but also twenty times the fatigue!"

"I advise you to take it easy with this. If you reach Level 20 a little later, then so be it. When the time comes, I can wait for you a few more days by the Star Dou Forest!" Xue Qinghe looked somewhat distressed over Luo Fan having to bear twenty times the fatigue.

"Don't worry, I know my limits. I won't truly hurt myself," Luo Fan said, shaking his head.

The two chatted as they walked along the streets of the city.

Sure enough, the city seemed to be holding some sort of event that night. Beautiful lanterns were everywhere, and although the sky had already gone dark, the city remained incredibly lively!

"Hello, you two... would you like to buy two grilled sausages?"

At that moment, a boy who looked around eight or nine years old approached Luo Fan and Xue Qinghe timidly. His features appeared rather mature for his age, and he even had some stubble on his face as he spoke!

"No need, thank you..." Xue Qinghe shook his head after glancing at the tray holding more than a dozen grilled sausages.

Was that a joke? In truth, he was the young master of Spirit Hall, and on the surface, he was also a prince of the Heaven Dou Empire. Would he casually buy and eat food of unknown origin from a roadside stall?

"Oh..." Hearing Xue Qinghe's refusal, the child nodded in disappointment.

"Wait!" However, Luo Fan suddenly called out to stop the boy selling grilled sausages.

The boy turned around in delight.

"What's your name?" Looking at the boy's face, which did not match his age at all and even had stubble, Luo Fan found him extremely familiar and asked.

"My name is Oscar!"

The eight- or nine-year-old boy answered.