Setting out! The Heaven Dou Mountains! (Please invest! Please send recommendation votes! Please send monthly votes!)

After the physical examinations were over.

"Xu'er, rest for the night. Tomorrow, I'll have your Third Great-Granduncle and Sixth Granduncle take you to obtain your second soul rings," Qin Tianji said.

"All right, Great-Grandfather." Qin Xu nodded, then asked, "Do I have to go along too?"

"Yes!" Qin Tianji said helplessly. "If you're willing to lower your standards, you don't have to go. I've prepared a twenty-five-hundred-year-old Dragon Vein Troll for you in the Dragon Soul Forest. Do you want it?"

"What time are we leaving tomorrow?" Qin Xu asked immediately.

"After breakfast."

Leaving those words behind, Qin Tianji turned and left. Barring any surprises, he was probably off to find Bai Jian and Qin Feng to give them instructions for tomorrow.

Qin Xu looked at Vielvi, Xue Zhao, and Ye Guyi. "Let's go. I'll help you pick out somewhere to stay first, then show you around the palace."

"Yay!" Vielvi cheered. "I've been interested in the Black Dragon King's Palace for ages. My dad said this used to be my... the empire's imperial palace a long time ago. Later, the empire moved its capital to Heaven Dou City, so the founding emperor bestowed it on the Black Dragon King, and it became the Black Dragon Duke's residence."

"Really?" Ye Guyi's eyes widened. Hearing such a secret for the first time left her rather excited. "Back in Yulong City, I often heard old people say the Heavenly Soul Founding Ancestor and the Black Dragon King were actually lovers. Could that be true?"

"Lovers? Weren't they both men?" Xue Zhao looked a little confused.

"Yiyi, what nonsense are you talking?" Speechless, Qin Xu reached out and pinched Ye Guyi's little cheek. "Making up stories about my ancestors right in front of me? You've really got some nerve!"

"Exactly! You've really got some nerve!" Vielvi reached out too, pinching Ye Guyi's other cheek with a sinister little smile. "Yiyi, if outsiders heard you say that, you could lose your head!"

"I was wrong! I was wrong! Have mercy! I won't talk nonsense again!" Ye Guyi begged.

The four of them went off, laughing and playing.

The next day.

A luxurious carriage left Yongdu City. Four tall horses ran swiftly and steadily over the earth, the carriage they pulled following without the slightest sway as they headed toward the Heaven Dou Mountains.

The carriage bore a crescent-moon crest. All four horses were top-quality hornscale horses, while the carriage itself was the latest soul-tool model, equipped with excellent defenses. Clearly, only great nobles or major powers were entitled to use a carriage outfitted like this.

The crescent-moon crest had already revealed its ownership: this carriage belonged to the Radiant Moon Earl's family.

A sturdy old man drove it. Inside were two elders and four youngsters: an old man and an old woman, along with a boy and three girls.

They were none other than Qin Xu's group. Naturally, the four youngsters were him, Vielvi, Xue Zhao, and Ye Guyi, while the two elders were Army-Breaking Douluo Bai Jian and Wisdom Douluo Ya Yun. This was Qin Xu's first time seeing Wisdom Douluo since school began. The old woman seemed to be quite the homebody.

Demon Dragon Douluo Qin Feng was the one driving outside.

The carriage they were using belonged to Zhang Lexuan. The palace carriages were too conspicuous, so Qin Xu had requisitioned this one bearing the Radiant Moon Earl's family crest. It was neither too flashy nor excessively understated, and it was comfortable enough to spare them the exhaustion of travel.

"Have you two little girls thought about which soul beasts you want for your soul rings?" Bai Jian asked Xue Zhao and Ye Guyi.

"No," Xue Zhao answered without hesitation. "Any ice-attribute soul beast suits me. There's no need to think about it beforehand."

"Oh, so confident! Hahaha, excellent! I've got high hopes for you!" Bai Jian laughed heartily, then turned to Ye Guyi.

"As for me, light-attribute soul beasts are naturally my first choice." Ye Guyi sat perfectly straight and spoke seriously. "It would be even better if they had solar symbolism."

This was Qin Xu's suggestion. Relying solely on absorbing solar essence to restore the missing sun in Ye Guyi's martial soul would be far too slow. If they approached it through soul rings instead, absorbing rings from soul beasts with solar symbolism, or even solar power, they should be able to speed up the restoration.

However, soul beasts with solar symbolism had always been scarce, and those that wielded solar power were rarer still. They also needed to possess a light or sacred attribute, with an age that met Ye Guyi's requirements. The difficulty of finding such a soul beast was easy to imagine.

They could only leave it to fate.

"Mm, a clear goal. Excellent! I've got high hopes for you too!" Bai Jian praised her, his expression full of approval.

Qin Xu smiled. This Third Great-Granduncle of his really had... a way with people!

"Old Bai, if you've got nothing to say, you can stay quiet. There's no need to force it!" Ya Yun glanced at Bai Jian, a trace of distaste in her voice. "Don't you find that awkward?"

"Awkward?"

Puzzled, Bai Jian looked at Qin Xu, Xue Zhao, and Ye Guyi. Qin Xu and Ye Guyi immediately shook their heads, so he said, "Little Ya Yun, I've told you before: get out more. Don't spend all your time cooped up at home alone. How boring is that? Look how badly your social skills have deteriorated. Even a normal conversation feels awkward to you. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"You..." Ya Yun glared at Bai Jian in annoyance. Qin Xu thought she would keep arguing, but the very next moment, her anger unexpectedly turned into a smile. "Forget it. I won't quibble with you, lest people accuse me of bullying the elderly!"

"Heehee!" Sitting beside Ya Yun, Vielvi covered her mouth and giggled.

Qin Xu felt rather helpless too. These two elders bickered whenever they met, like a pair of children, leaving him at a loss for words.

Fortunately, both elders knew where to draw the line. Their barbs never went beyond their lips or entered their hearts, and there was no genuine conflict between them. Otherwise, Qin Tianji would never have felt comfortable sending them together.

Qin Feng drove the carriage onward.

The Heaven Dou Mountains were a vast mountain range running from northwest to southeast, beginning at the Far North Ice Plains in the west and reaching into the Dou Ling Empire in the east. They spanned nearly ten provinces across the Heavenly Soul and Dou Ling Empires, their branching ranges spreading far and wide to form the mountainous, hilly terrain of the continent's north.

Once the sacred mountains of the Heaven Dou Empire and the source of its name, the Heaven Dou Mountains boasted a highest summit, Heaven Dou Peak, that stood a full twelve thousand meters tall. It was said that anyone who climbed it could stand level with the heavens and pluck the stars, hence the name Heaven Dou.

However, despite the Heaven Dou Mountains' vast extent, relatively few soul beasts lived there, far fewer than in gathering grounds such as the Star Dou Great Forest and the Far North Ice Plains. The reason was not hard to guess: with the ice plains to the north and the great forest to the south, these mountains naturally held less appeal for soul beasts.

Qin Xu's group was heading for a branch of the Heaven Dou Mountains in Tianxing Commandery. Entering the range from there and traveling several hundred li deeper would bring them to a large area of soul beast activity, home to many different species. Its proximity to the Far North Ice Plains also meant that soul beasts from the Far North often wandered over.

In theory, it could meet all four youngsters' needs.

Green Mountain Town was a small soul master town on the outskirts of the Heaven Dou Mountains' outlying ridges in Tianxing Commandery. It had formed as a supply point because soul master groups and soul-hunting teams stayed there year-round. Its permanent population exceeded a thousand, with only a handful of ordinary people; almost everyone else was a soul master.

When the carriage bearing the Radiant Moon Earl's family crest entered Green Mountain Town, it caused no stir. Those who saw it merely glanced over before turning their attention elsewhere. Noble carriages like this appeared almost every few months, so there was nothing unusual about it.

However, the carriage did not stop in town and instead drove straight into the mountain pass, sparking some discussion and curiosity. Anyone bold enough to drive a carriage directly into the mountains was either a reckless greenhorn or genuinely powerful. Conversations filled with envy or mockery arose in the town's taverns.

The carriage stopped briefly about ten li from the entrance. Someone emerged from the mountains and hurried toward it.

"My lord, here is the latest intelligence on soul beast sightings and distribution," the man said.

"Thank you for your hard work. Go back, collect your reward, and take some leave." Qin Feng accepted the documents the man handed him, leafed through them, and nodded.

"I'll take my leave." The man quickly disappeared.

The carriage set off again.

"Uncle Bai, Your Eminence Wisdom Douluo, let's check those Dragon Vein Troll territories first. We'll help Xu'er hunt for his second soul ring, then get Wei'er hers," Qin Feng called through the window to Bai Jian inside. "After all, finding soul rings for the other two girls will depend on luck."

"All right." Bai Jian nodded.

"That works," Ya Yun replied.

"Sit tight! I'm picking up speed!" Qin Feng called, snapping the reins in his hands. The four hornscale horses immediately broke into a gallop.

The mountain road was rough and riddled with potholes, but under Qin Feng's control, the carriage remained remarkably steady, as though traveling over level ground. Inside, Qin Xu and the others felt none of the jolting and continued chatting and resting as usual.