Morning in the Star Dou Great Forest.
In a cleared temporary campsite.
Tang San crouched on the ground, watching the lively Xiao Wu before him, his brows tightly knitted as though he had encountered an unsolvable problem.
Just moments earlier, a powerful surge of Soul Power had erupted from Xiao Wu.
Immediately afterward, three Soul Rings, one yellow and two purple, had slowly risen from beneath her feet.
The purple Soul Rings shone brilliantly.
Their color was even deeper than that of ordinary Thousand-Year Soul Rings.
Clearly, their age had already exceeded two thousand years.
"Xiao Wu, you..."
Tang San swallowed, pointing at that purple Soul Ring as he asked in a strained voice:
"When did you go hunting Soul Beasts?"
Tang Tian leaned against a nearby tree trunk, watching the scene with the hint of a smile without interrupting.
Xiao Wu blinked her large, limpid eyes.
She looked at Tang San with an innocent expression that even held a trace of "you're so silly":
"Oh, San, would you believe this coincidence?"
She spread her hands.
Her tone was as light as if she were talking about having carrots for breakfast:
"While I was keeping watch last night, I happened to see a two-thousand-year soul beast."
Xiao Wu gesticulated animatedly. "It looked so dim-witted. It ran straight into a tree nearby and collapsed beneath it."
Tang San: "..."
The corner of Tang San's mouth twitched even harder. "It crashed into it and died?"
"Yep!"
Xiao Wu nodded with complete conviction:
"I saw its Soul Ring floating out, so, in the spirit of not letting anything go to waste, I went ahead and absorbed it."
"Who knew this soul beast would suit me so well? Absorbing it didn't hurt at all, and it was over in a flash!"
After speaking, she