The Target Was...

"Wait, kid..."

Under Ye Fan's puzzled gaze, Su Yuntao glanced at Sisi in the distance, leaned toward Ye Fan's ear, and spoke conspiratorially.

"Here's a word of advice: when it comes to finding a girlfriend, start young and build your relationship properly.

Protect her when you go to the Soul Hunting Forest. Don't back down when danger comes, don't rush things, and ask her now and then if she's tired..."

As he saw it, if this little girl was willing to accompany Ye Fan somewhere as dangerous as the Soul Hunting Forest, they had to be very close.

Since that was the case, he felt he needed to teach the boy a thing or two so he wouldn't go down the wrong path.

Having to take care of himself at his age was a miserable business.

Ye Fan opened his mouth, giving Su Yuntao a rather strange look.

He'd thought Su Yuntao had something useful to tell him.

And this was it?

A single dog with a wealth of romantic experience, trying to teach someone else.

All that experience, yet he still hadn't won over the woman outside...

There was only one explanation.

That woman wasn't interested in you, Brother Tao.

Still... faced with Su Yuntao's well-intentioned advice, Ye Fan refrained from stabbing him where it hurt.

He merely gave a perfunctory reply. "Don't worry, Master Su. I will."

As for what would happen in the future, who could say for sure?

Standing at the entrance to the Spirit Hall, Ye Fan beckoned to Xiao Wu.

"Let's go, Xiao Wu."

"Okay!"

Xiao Wu answered cheerfully and followed him.

Although the woman beside her had given her candy, the perfume she wore was so pungent that Xiao Wu could hardly stand it.

Seeing this, Sisi watched Xiao Wu leave with a regretful look and complained.

"Such an adorable little girl. Feels like a pig's about to root up this tender cabbage..."

"Sisi, that boy has quite a bit of talent. Given time, he'll definitely have a better life than we do..."

Su Yuntao came to Sisi's side, summoned his courage, and reached for her hand.

But Sisi slapped his hand away and said mercilessly, "Get lost. Why aren't you working? Are you waiting to have your pay docked?

If they dock all of that measly salary of yours, you'll be worse off than that boy."

Knowing someone else would do well yet still refusing to work harder lowered this man's standing in her eyes another few notches.

With that, she swayed her hips and left.

Who knew when she would get to see that little girl again?

Su Yuntao looked at Ye Fan, who had already gone far away with Xiao Wu, then at Sisi, who was leaving him behind...

He suddenly realized that he seemed to be the clown all along.

With the warrant in hand, Ye Fan and Xiao Wu soon entered the Soul Hunting Forest.

At that moment, the two of them were lying in the grass.

Ahead of them, two ten-year soul beasts were playing percussion.

The two people in the grass each had their own concerns.

Though they were looking ahead, neither had their mind on those two soul beasts.

Xiao Wu was thinking about how to tell Ye Fan that she needed to condense her soul ring.

After all, this bastard kept playing dumb, and she couldn't reveal that she could hear his thoughts...

Meanwhile, Ye Fan was considering which direction to take in his search for soul beasts.

The strongest known soul beast in this Soul Hunting Forest was undoubtedly the Mandala Snake that Tang San would absorb.

He was wondering whether to interfere with them a little and have Tang San absorb a different soul ring instead.

Let me have all the experience to myself!

In terms of fighting strength alone, he and Xiao Wu weren't much to look at here.

Every so often, he had to renew the Word Spirit suppressing Xiao Wu's aura.

In other words, his soul power would drop a notch at regular intervals.

He had to time things carefully and couldn't recklessly start a fight before his soul power had fully recovered.

After all, soul beasts weren't just lone wolves. There were wolf packs, too.

At present, Ye Fan's soul power reserves simply weren't enough.

Ten uses of Word Spirit in quick succession were his limit.

That would rapidly drain his soul power dry, and that was assuming the optimistic scenario where every Word Spirit came true.

If they encountered more than ten soul beasts and were surrounded before he could clear them out, the two of them would meet their end here.

But if he found Tang San and his companion... he'd have free muscle.

Before that, he still needed Xiao Wu to absorb her soul ring first.

He had to come up with a reason to give Xiao Wu an opportunity to absorb her soul ring...

Their thoughts gradually converged.

"Um..."

"Ye Fan."

They spoke at the same time, then both froze.

"You go first."

Ye Fan extended his hand toward Xiao Wu in a little ushering gesture, giving her the floor.

At his words, Xiao Wu suddenly put on a pained expression, bending over and clutching her stomach.

"I... my stomach's feeling a little upset. I need to go to the bathroom..."

As she spoke, she even made a show of groaning a couple of times.

She was trying to make herself more convincing.

"..."

Ye Fan raised an eyebrow.

This silly rabbit had spent all that time thinking, and this was the excuse she'd come up with to get rid of him?

Xiao Wu watched Ye Fan out of the corner of her eye and rubbed her nose, without the slightest qualm about making a fool of him.

Because...

She really was treating Ye Fan like an idiot~

Xiao Wu had figured it all out.

Since Ye Fan knew everything anyway, why should she rack her brains coming up with an excuse?

She only needed to toss out any old reason, and Ye Fan ought to understand!

Then he could let her get on with it.

Otherwise... her future self definitely wouldn't have a good life!

If Ye Fan had known what Xiao Wu was thinking, he would surely have exclaimed, Holy shit!

This silly rabbit had actually developed a brain!

Seeing Xiao Wu like this, Ye Fan could only wave her off with a look of distaste.

"Go on, go on. Stay away from me. It'd be even better if you happened to pick up a soul ring while you're at it. Save us some trouble..."

"Hehe, who knows? Sister Xiao Wu has always had great luck.

Remember to wait for me. I'll be back soon!"

With that, Xiao Wu darted away, reached a small hill in a few bounds, and disappeared.

The rabbit was about to start making her burrow.

Ye Fan let out a relieved breath. He had originally intended to suggest they split up to search for soul beasts, giving Xiao Wu a chance to be alone.

He, too, got moving.

Nearby, he found a thick, sturdy tree whose canopy blotted out the sky and sun, then climbed up its trunk.

As the saying went, the higher you stood, the farther you could see.

Once he secured the high ground, he could watch the movements around him.

Of course, he wasn't doing this to watch Xiao Wu and investigate whether she'd actually gone to the bathroom.

Ye Fan was surveying the nearby terrain and soul beasts.

And...

Checking whether he could find Tang San and Yu Xiaogang.

Those two would be spending the night in the Soul Hunting Forest, so there was no way they would find what they wanted that quickly.

He still had a chance.

An excellent hunter had to be able to endure solitude.

Time had never been his enemy.

Less than an hour passed, and Ye Fan was still patiently observing the forest.

Just then.

Awoooo!!

Waves of wolf howls carried over from the distance.

Ye Fan instantly went on alert and reached back to take down the Compound Bow and Arrows strapped behind his backpack.

There was something unusual about those howls.

It sounded as though... they were hunting!