Spikehorn Dragon Viper and Emerald Aurora Bird (Seeking Recommendations, Seeking Favorites!)

The dense Soul Hunting Forest stretched vast and boundless, filled everywhere with towering trees and all manner of strange flowers and exotic plants he had never seen before. It was a truly novel sight.

After parting ways with Grandmaster and Tang San, Lin Ye used the Phoenix Dance Six Illusions movement technique to leap from tree to tree.

Along the way, Lin Ye spotted quite a few soul beasts: packs of Nether Wolves, Wind Baboons climbing the trees, Winged Iguanas gliding between the branches...

However, Lin Ye paid no heed to any of the soul beasts he encountered.

The reason was simple: their cultivation years were far too low! Whether Nether Wolves, Wind Baboons, Winged Iguanas, or the other soul beasts Lin Ye had seen—such as Firetail Foxes, Wind Chime Birds, Striped Cats, and so on—hardly any had cultivation exceeding a hundred years! Lin Ye's target was a soul beast around a thousand years old, so these soul beasts, most of which had not even reached a hundred years, naturally failed to catch his eye! Though Grandmaster had said before they separated that the Soul Hunting Forest was not lacking in hundred-year and thousand-year soul beasts.

Yet although Lin Ye had seen several hundred-year soul beasts along the way, they were only two or three hundred years old, far below the minimum standard of eight hundred years that he could accept!

But Lin Ye had always believed in choosing quality over quantity.

Even if they truly proved difficult to find, unless he searched the entire Soul Hunting Forest and found none, Lin Ye would never give up!

Several hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Ye had entered the Soul Hunting Forest near noon. After searching for so long, it was now nearly evening.

At that moment, the dim yellow light of the setting sun spilled from a sky filled with fiery red clouds, shining over the Soul Hunting Forest and dyeing the verdant woods with the hues of dusk.

Night was approaching. After searching all afternoon, Lin Ye was somewhat tired as well.

After casually hunting a sika deer soul beast with an entirely deep-blue body and buds growing from its antlers, Lin Ye made a fire on the spot and simply roasted some meat to fill his stomach.

Then, after placing the remaining deer carcass into the storage space within his jade pendant, Lin Ye rose and prepared to find a nearby stream to drink from and quench his thirst.

Before leaving, Lin Ye looked at the white ring of light nearby that had not yet completely faded, feeling rather strange within his heart.

So this is a soul ring?

Using Phoenix Dance Six Illusions once more, Lin Ye searched the surrounding area and finally found a gently babbling stream.

At the stream, Lin Ye drank some water and quenched his thirst, then prepared to continue searching for soul beasts.

But just as he was about to leave, a disturbance suddenly came from afar.

Standing by the stream, Lin Ye raised his head toward the source of the sound. Under the dim yellow glow of the setting sun, he saw a bird about the size of a person circling in the distant sky, as though it were trying to hunt something.

Seeing the bird soul beast in the distance, Lin Ye's heart stirred.

With such a large body, aside from certain specific avian soul beasts such as eagle-type and condor-type soul beasts, most bird soul beasts of that size would definitely be over a hundred years old—perhaps even five hundred years old.

I'll go take a look! Having made his decision, Lin Ye instantly leaped into the air and used the Phoenix Dance Six Illusions movement technique to race through the Soul Hunting Forest. Before long, he reached his destination.

Standing atop a lush tree, Lin Ye gazed into the distance.

In a dense patch of forest ahead, he saw a giant snake roughly five meters long. Its body was grayish-green with red markings, its belly grayish-brown, and a strange horn protruded from its head. It was coiled up with its snakehead raised, flicking its tongue while staring intently at a large bird in the sky.

The large bird in the sky was over a meter long, with a wingspan nearing five meters. Its body was covered in pale yellow feathers, white feathers grew along its belly, and a jade-like emerald gem rested atop its head.

"Is that... a Spikehorn Dragon Viper, and... an Emerald Aurora Bird?"

Lin Ye was somewhat surprised as he looked at the two soul beasts in the distance.

The Spikehorn Dragon Viper was a powerful, highly venomous serpent soul beast. Its attack power and speed were both exceptional, and it possessed a vicious temperament. Legend had it that this species of snake also carried a thin trace of dragon bloodline.

The Spikehorn Dragon Viper's age could be judged by its length. At ten years old, it could grow to one meter long, and thereafter, its length increased by only four millimeters each year. This Spikehorn Dragon Viper was approximately 5.3 meters long, so it should be more than a thousand years old!

As for the Emerald Aurora Bird, it was a bird species that specialized in feeding on highly venomous creatures. Scorpions, spiders, and snakes were all within its diet.

The reason the Emerald Aurora Bird could prey upon such poisonous creatures was simple: it was innately immune to potent toxins! Its age could also be judged by its body length. From birth onward, its body grew two centimeters every ten years.

This Emerald Aurora Bird was around 1.8 meters long, meaning its cultivation was roughly nine hundred years.

Wait... around nine hundred years?

Lin Ye's eyes suddenly lit up! The soul rings his Nine Spirit Immortal Begonia Martial Soul needed were status-enhancing soul rings.

Besides soul rings that boosted one's strength, there was another particularly special type of status-enhancing soul ring: soul rings that purified negative statuses!

Since the Nine Spirit Immortal Begonia Martial Soul possessed innate healing abilities, Lin Ye had no need to add a healing-type soul ring.

However, the Nine Spirit Immortal Begonia's healing ability had a flaw: it could not remove negative statuses such as poisoning.

When facing someone afflicted by a negative status, Lin Ye did not know how much of the Nine Spirit Immortal Begonia's healing ability would still be effective.

After all, the Nine Spirit Immortal Begonia's healing ability needed to act upon a normal human body in order to function.

But if someone was poisoned, its healing effect would undoubtedly be greatly diminished. Thus, it was necessary for Lin Ye to prepare a soul skill capable of purifying poisoned statuses.

If he could kill this Emerald Aurora Bird before him and absorb its soul ring, then based on the Emerald Aurora Bird's characteristics, there was a high chance that the soul skill granted by Lin Ye's first soul ring would be capable of purifying poisoned statuses!

Watching the two soul beasts battle, Lin Ye began to quietly wait for an opportunity.

There was no need for him to interfere in the battle between the two soul beasts. The Emerald Aurora Bird could fly, after all. If Lin Ye suddenly appeared, he would likely startle it and cause it to fly away.

But if he let the Spikehorn Dragon Viper continue luring in and enticing the Emerald Aurora Bird instead, then once the Emerald Aurora Bird finished probing and prepared to truly hunt the Spikehorn Dragon Viper, the viper certainly would not simply wait for death in the face of its attack.

And once the two soul beasts became entangled, that would be Lin Ye's chance to strike!