The Hellish Training Camp Begins

Meng Yiran glanced at Dai Chengqian, raised her hand, and spoke while holding back a laugh:

"How about... the Star Luo Goddess Team?"

"Get lost," Dai Chengqian snapped, his face darkening.

"What's wrong with goddesses? It's not our fault our team has so many beauties.

Apart from a rough brute like you, we're all gorgeous girls.

Now I seriously suspect you deliberately picked female Soul Masters as your teammates."

The other girls looked at Dai Chengqian and burst out laughing.

"Ahem, that's just a coincidence."

After offering that explanation, Dai Chengqian looked at the others and said:

"Seriously, could you come up with a proper name?"

At his words, they lowered their heads and began thinking.

A few minutes later, each of them had come up with several names.

Dai Chengqian listened, his brows bunching into deep furrows.

"Do any of you know how to name anything? The Rouge Rift Team, the Thunder Team, the Tiger Roar Team... they sound awful."

Dai Chengqian waved a hand and said:

"Forget it. Let me give us a name with some real swagger.

I've already decided. We'll be called—the Black Rose Team!"

The girls: ...

And so, overriding every objection, Dai Chengqian took them to the Star Luo Royal Academy to register the Black Rose Team.

They registered their team as students of the Star Luo Royal Academy.

In principle, as academy students, they were supposed to study there.

But the academy's instruction fell far short of Dai Chengqian's training requirements.

His goal was to take first place in the Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament, and ordinary training offered only limited growth.

His teammates had to undergo truly hellish training to improve quickly.

So after registering the team, Dai Chengqian used his connections to secure leave for them, and they left the academy.

In the days ahead, he planned to have the two Titled Douluo, Qingyue Douluo and Dugu Bo, instruct everyone together.

Before the qualifiers arrived, he wanted the team to undergo hellish training and raise its fighting strength by a huge margin.

They rested in Star Luo City for a day.

Dai Chengqian prepared a convoy and took everyone toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

On the road, Dugu Yan grew curious about the training and asked Dai Chengqian:

"Sixth Prince, could you tell us a little about what this hellish training involves?"

Hearing Dugu Yan's question, Zhu Zhuqing, Zhu Zhuyun, and Meng Yiran all looked at Dai Chengqian. Clearly, they were curious too.

Asuya, meanwhile, seemed entirely uninterested and rummaged through the dried meat in her pocket.

Ye Lingling sat motionless beside Dugu Yan, her face covered by a black veil.

Dai Chengqian realized that since she had joined the team, he had barely heard Ye Lingling say more than a few sentences.

Dai Chengqian looked everyone over and said:

"I don't know whether you've noticed, but right now, we don't look like a team at all.

The reason is simple. Our team has only just formed, and we don't know one another well enough yet.

If we entered a team battle together right now, I'm certain we'd lose miserably.

The first exercise in our hellish training was designed to address that. I want everyone to get familiar with one another quickly.

It's simple. The seven of us will split into three groups and take paid Soul Hunting commissions. The targets must be thousand-year Soul Beasts at minimum.

If a group has a Soul Master above rank 38, such as Zhu Zhuyun, it must take commissions for Soul Beasts at least two thousand years old.

Each group will complete three Soul Hunting commissions. Then we'll reshuffle the groups and take another three commissions.

The first exercise will end once everyone has teamed up with every other member.

Only then will we begin the second part of our hellish training."

After hearing what the first exercise involved, Meng Yiran said in some surprise:

"When we take paid Soul Hunting commissions, we can't kill the Soul Beasts.

The aim is to beat them until they're barely alive, then hand them over to the clients who hired us.

The individual fighting strength of our team members varies.

If two of the weaker members team up, this task will be very difficult."

Zhu Zhuyun nodded, looked at everyone, and said:

"As far as I know, professional Soul Hunting squads taking commissions in the Star Dou Great Forest have at least five members, while we'll have two.

So, girls, Yiran is right. This task is actually quite difficult.

Be careful out there, everyone. Don't let your guard down."

The corners of Dai Chengqian's mouth curved upward as he said:

"If there wasn't any difficulty, what would be the point?

This first exercise is just an appetizer. The harder ones are still to come."

The convoy stopped just before reaching the Star Dou Great Forest.

Dai Chengqian handed everyone the masks he had prepared in advance, then began assigning the groups.

Zhu Zhuyun and Meng Yiran formed one group. Asuya, Zhu Zhuqing, and Dugu Yan formed another, while Dai Chengqian paired up with Ye Lingling, whose fighting strength was the weakest.

After assigning the groups, Dai Chengqian told everyone:

"There are plenty of little towns scattered around the Star Dou Great Forest.

In those towns, people who need Soul Rings will post commissions.

Once we've completed three commissions, we'll gather again and reshuffle the groups."

"Understood."

After giving them a few more detailed instructions, the three groups went their separate ways.

He glanced at his teammate, Ye Lingling.

Ye Lingling wore her long blue hair neatly combed. Her eyes were azure, and her regular, well-proportioned features gave her a delicate beauty.

Though beautiful, she was rather aloof.

Her coldness differed from Zhu Zhuqing's.

Zhu Zhuqing had a cool, distant air.

Ye Lingling's demeanor leaned more toward a silent, unapproachable aloofness.

Unless you spoke to her first, she would never initiate a conversation.

She seemed like the sort of person who instinctively hid herself in a corner in everyday life, hoping no one would notice her.

Simply put, her outward aloofness seemed more like a manifestation of her inner social anxiety.

A beauty with social anxiety?

Before I transmigrated, the prettiest girl in my middle-school class—the one I had a crush on—had this same personality, Dai Chengqian thought.

Rubbing his chin, Dai Chengqian spoke first, breaking the silence between them.

"Ye Lingling, your name sounds lovely. Who gave it to you?"

Ye Lingling looked at Dai Chengqian and said softly:

"My grandfather."

Dai Chengqian said, "You're a support Soul Master. When we're out there, protect yourself first, then support me."

Ye Lingling said, "Okay."

Dai Chengqian asked, "Have you ever been to the Star Dou Great Forest?"

Ye Lingling said, "No."

Dai Chengqian asked, "Could you use a few more words when you talk to me?"

Ye Lingling said, "Okay."

As they talked like this, the two gradually grew more familiar with each other.

Still, their conversations remained a pattern of questions and answers: Dai Chengqian would say a sentence, and Ye Lingling would reply with a word or two.

Before long, they entered a town.

The town they had reached was fairly large and crowded.

Shops lined its streets, most selling goods related to Soul Masters.

Without wandering around, Dai Chengqian went straight to the area where Soul Hunting recruitment notices were posted.

The area bustled with activity. There were independent Soul Masters, academy students, and squads that specialized in Soul Hunting and made their living from it.

Picking up a blank sign, Dai Chengqian wrote on it with a pen:

"Lowest Soul Hunting rates in the Star Dou Great Forest!

20 Gold Soul Coins for a two-thousand-year Soul Beast!

30 Gold Soul Coins for a three-thousand-year Soul Beast!"

Once he finished, Dai Chengqian held up the sign and sat down in the area for waiting for clients.

Ye Lingling glanced at his sign without saying anything, then quietly sat behind him.

While Dai Chengqian waited for a client to hire the two of them for Soul Hunting, a group of students in academy uniforms passed by.

One student, as skinny as a monkey, saw what was written on Dai Chengqian's sign and burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, look at this! These two are offering a three-thousand-year Soul Beast for 30 Gold Soul Coins. Is this a joke?"

At the skinny student's words, the others all looked over.

A woman with rather foxlike, seductive features glanced at Dai Chengqian and covered her mouth as she laughed:

"Little boy, neither of you looks very old. Can you even beat a Soul Beast?

And it's so cheap. You're not here to swindle people out of their Gold Soul Coins, are you?

Your parents really ought to keep you in line."

A fat student accompanying them laughed and said:

"Surely no idiot would actually hire them?"

"Hahaha, I doubt it. Anyone looking to hire someone would go to a proper Soul Hunting squad.

These two look even younger than us. Who'd be stupid enough to hire them? That would just be throwing money away!"

Dai Chengqian raised his head and glanced at their uniforms. The words "Lufeng Academy" were written on them.

If he remembered correctly, it was an academy in their Star Luo Empire.

Dai Chengqian was just about to stand up and drive them away.

Suddenly, a girl in a pale pink short skirt, with her pink hair tied in a ponytail, approached Dai Chengqian.

"Hello, I only have five Gold Soul Coins. Could I hire you to help me hunt a Soul Beast?

It's fine if the Soul Beast is a little younger."