Don't Be Afraid, Don't Be Afraid. He Won't Find Us.

Xiaoxiao shook her head. "No. My family has people who can help me hunt soul beasts. I just want to gain more experience while I'm young and make more friends. That might help me someday."

(Making friends was just her excuse.)

As Xiaoxiao spoke, she thrust out her chest, which the bandages beneath her clothes had nearly flattened. She was as adorable as ever, like a little girl next door who was always following you around.

"Are you here to hunt soul beasts too? You look about my age. What's your cultivation level?" Xiaoxiao began grilling Jiang Hao about his background.

"I'm not here to hunt a soul beast for a soul ring. My soul power level isn't high enough yet.

"I came here to train, so I also applied for an escort assignment. They'll pay me an extra gold soul coin. I'm best with defense-system soul tools, so I'll probably be assigned to protect you up close."

"Really? Thank you! I didn't expect a soul-hunting team as large as the Thirty-Person Group to hire outside help. I guess even they can be short-handed."

As more people arrived, Jiang Hao's group filled out its ranks.

Five defense-system soul masters seemed to be protecting Xiaoxiao in the middle, though in truth they had gathered around Jiang Hao.

The healing, support-system, and food-type soul masters had already begun boosting their teammates.

In the forest, Baozi Bro held a bun in each hand and brought up the rear with a jaunty stride. "What are you afraid of? Do you think this is some Japanese school flick where someone's always climbing a wall to peek and take secret pictures? There's no skill in that. Here, you do it head-on—and do it hard!

"Come on, take two buns each. If that's not enough, I've got plenty more. Eat your fill."

Just then, the anaconda that had been thrashing on the other side stopped moving. It slowly drew in its body, trying to slip away. Twenty larvae writhed violently inside it. The anaconda was infested with parasites. The group had not been in the forest long before it attacked them.

Jiang Hao struck. Purple mist gathered around his right fist, and one punch shattered it. "This anaconda is older than the limit Xiaoxiao can withstand. Besides, this soul beast wasn't one I was considering.

"Let's keep going. We might find something suitable farther ahead."

With that, Jiang Hao took the lead and cleared a path for Xiaoxiao.

"Brother Jiang, you're so strong!" Xiaoxiao covered her mouth in astonishment. Insect-type soul beasts scattered in every direction, while birds resting in the treetops took flight from Jiang Hao's effortless strike.

After their first encounter with the giant snake, Jiang Hao and the others spent an entire day roaming the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

According to the information Xiaoxiao had provided, she wanted a soul ring for her martial soul from a plant-type defensive soul beast.

If Jiang Hao remembered correctly, Xiaoxiao's first soul skill in the original story was called Cauldron's Tremor. It released soul power as vibrations that slowed enemies trying to approach her.

"Brother Jiang, your body martial soul really is powerful!"

Beside the campfire, Xiaoxiao propped her chin on her hand and watched Jiang Hao roast pieces of snake meat threaded onto a skewer like candied hawthorns. She could not help feeling envious.

"If only my soul skill could give me an effect that strong."

Xiaoxiao gazed at Jiang Hao, lost in thought.

Jiang Hao had no designs on Xiaoxiao, but her martial soul, the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, could turn one cauldron into three separate ones. She could also stack them, combining their power into an enormous, formidable thunderous cauldron.

If she joined his side, could he save a fortune once his clones began learning to refine pills?

Jiang Hao thought back to the martial soul he had seen Xiaoxiao use today. It really was the sort of medicinal cauldron commonly used to refine medicine. Giving it a defensive soul ring would be a waste.

"Xiaoxiao, have you heard that cauldrons like yours are used in soul-tool pill refining? They purify medicinal properties and condense them into pills."

Jiang Hao kept working as he spoke, sprinkling cumin over the large skewer of sizzling, oil-dripping snake meat.

"But isn't that something only the Sun Moon Empire uses?

"And my dad and the others told me those pills can affect your martial soul. You might not be able to cultivate afterward."

Xiaoxiao reacted as though she had heard a vicious curse. She hurriedly shook her head and waved her hands, afraid an unknown soul ring might land on her the next second.

Listening to Xiaoxiao, Jiang Hao gradually understood why a perfectly good medicinal-cauldron martial soul was being used as a defensive brick.

Although attitudes toward soul tools were gradually improving across the Three Original Continents, people still thought poorly of pills refined by soul-tool alchemists.

After all, strength raised by swallowing pills one after another was indeed less solid than the soul power levels ordinary soul masters gained through diligent cultivation.

Their overall speed and physical strength were no match for those of soul masters who cultivated normally, either. Jiang Hao knew this well, so he said nothing. Changing people's minds would be a long road with a heavy burden.

Just then, Banner Bro's voice sounded in his mind. "Main Body Old Rogue, hurry up and find a way to leave. Something's happened over here. I can feel a powerful presence bearing down on me, trying to locate me in the forest."

Elsewhere in the forest, Banner Bro gripped his Soul Banner and ran flat out between the trees. He narrowly evaded two detection spells that would have revealed his position and kept changing direction.

When Jiang Hao received Banner Bro's message, he knew he could not linger any longer.

It seemed his meeting with this future prodigy was fated to end here.

After giving a few quick instructions to the soul masters staying behind to help Xiaoxiao hunt for a soul ring, Jiang Hao left the group.

A pair of wings rose from his back. He darted into the shadows and sped toward Banner Bro.

On the other side of the forest, a glob of mud struck the trunk Banner Bro was hiding behind. "Heh, heh, heh. Found you, kid. Come out now. Don't make this old man come over there, or you'll lose your life."

A sinister cackle echoed through the forest.

Banner Bro tightened his grip on the Soul Banner. Its pole, originally 1.8 meters long, had shrunk to twenty centimeters in fright. "Don't be afraid, my precious. They won't find us."

Banner Bro comforted himself as he stroked the Soul Banner. The undead within it were frightened too. Their usual arrogance was gone, and they huddled inside without daring to move.

The soul spirit—an Undead Creature—that Banner Bro had sent out to search just now had been ground to dust by that person. It could not even revive in spirit.

"Seriously, where did this monster come from? Why did he suddenly set his sights on me?"

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