The Soul Hunting Forest had been specially established by Spirit Hall over the past ten thousand years.
Soul Beasts were captured from wild gathering grounds such as the Star Dou Great Forest, then kept and bred in captivity for generations.
Most of the Soul Beasts living inside were ten-year or hundred-year beasts; thousand-year beasts were exceedingly rare. Thus, very few Soul Masters above the Soul Grandmaster rank went to the Soul Hunting Forest to obtain Soul Rings.
Moreover, because they had been bred in captivity for generations, most Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest were not as ferocious as those in wild Soul Beast forests.
Of course, there were exceptions.
One example was the Mandala Snake Tang San encountered in the original story. It was not only vicious by nature, but also immensely powerful.
Anyone who was not a Soul Elder above rank thirty would not dare claim they could reliably defeat it.
The Soul Hunting Forest near Spirit City was not far from Spirit Hall Academy.
The convoy carrying the students reached the entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest in less than two hours.
Tian Chen and the others got out of their carriages and gathered around Li Yuan in groups of three, just as they had listened to all sorts of worthless bullshit from school administrators in his previous life.
Of course, unlike in his previous life-
Everyone listened attentively to Li Yuan's explanation. After all, this concerned their own safety.
"All right, that's all. Each group should collect a set of supplies and enter the Soul Hunting Forest."
Li Yuan calmly swept his gaze around before speaking.
Even the weakest teachers at the academy were Soul Ancestors.
With the academy's teachers protecting them, the students generally would not face mortal danger inside the Soul Hunting Forest.
Of course, he had said so much because he hoped his students would avoid danger as much as possible.
A low probability did not mean it would never happen. Teachers could slip up too.
Without the slightest hesitation, Tian Chen collected a set of supplies from the guards and put it into his Soul Tool.
Then he led Li Kai and Zhang Ping straight through the iron fence and into the forest.
He had always been decisive.
Once they entered the forest, all the clamor seemed to vanish. The air was as fresh as Tian Chen had imagined, leaving both body and mind refreshed.
After entering the Soul Hunting Forest, the dozen or so three-person teams headed deeper in, each exploring in a different direction.
From the moment they entered the Soul Hunting Forest, they were no longer classmates, but competitors.
Naturally, they would not act together.
After they parted ways, Tian Chen did not hurry forward. Instead, he silently observed his surroundings.
He gave Li Kai and Zhang Ping a meaningful glance, and all three released their Martial Souls at once.
"Stay close. Don't go more than a meter away from me."
Tian Chen gave the two a solemn warning, holding both claws across his body as he raised his guard.
The golden scales covering his body gleamed coldly in the light reflected from his Soul Ring.
His thick crocodile tail, covered in backward-pointing spikes, tensed. From time to time, its scales made scraping sounds like metal rubbing against metal.
Since Li Kai had not obtained a Soul Ring, he could not use Martial Soul Possession, but his physical abilities had improved considerably after awakening his Martial Soul.
As for Zhang Ping, she looked much more graceful than Tian Chen.
Only her hands transformed into wings densely covered in golden feathers. Other than that, there were no other changes.
Like Tian Chen's, her First Soul Ring was unmistakably a yellow Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
With gentle beats of her wings, she circled above Tian Chen and Li Kai.
"Zhang Ping, watch for Soul Beasts approaching from all sides. Let's find somewhere safe to spend the night first."
Tian Chen immediately made his decision. Having thoroughly studied all sorts of illustrated Soul Beast guides, he knew that quite a few powerful Soul Beasts preferred to roam at night.
Although the Soul Hunting Forest could not compare to large wild Soul Beast gathering grounds like the Sunset Forest and the Star Dou Great Forest-
It was still better to be cautious, just in case.
"Yes!"
At his words, Zhang Ping gently beat her wings and began weaving nimbly through the relatively sparse forest.
The trees in the Soul Hunting Forest were not particularly tall. They did not blot out the sky and sun as those in the Star Dou Great Forest did.
Overall, visibility was fairly good.
After roaming the Soul Hunting Forest like this for half an hour, Tian Chen's group encountered their first wave of Soul Beasts-a small pack of Netherworld Wolves.
They were a very common type of Soul Beast in the Soul Hunting Forest.
Thanks to Zhang Ping's warning, the three had prepared for battle in advance.
There were eight wolf-shaped Soul Beasts in total, each around 1.6 meters long and iron-gray all over. Their eerie green eyes glared fiercely at the trio.
Their fearsome teeth ground incessantly, and foul-smelling saliva dripped from their mouths onto the ground.
Tian Chen exchanged a glance with Li Kai beside him.
He was not about to count on the Soul Beasts showing mercy and letting them go. Naturally, he would strike first to seize the advantage.
"Zhang Ping, keep watch around us. Li Kai and I will deal with them."
"Go."
Before his voice had faded, Tian Chen and Li Kai were already charging toward the eight Netherworld Wolves.
Tian Chen thought nothing of a mere handful of Ten-Year Soul Beasts.
Even Li Kai, who had yet to obtain a Soul Ring, could easily handle one thanks to the boosts to strength and defense his Martial Soul provided. Moreover, his Soul Power had already reached the peak of rank nine.
Tian Chen struck with both claws, killing one with each blow. Then the crocodile tail behind him slammed sideways into the waists of three other Netherworld Wolves.
In an instant, Tian Chen had easily dispatched five Netherworld Wolves.
He had that right leg bone from the Back-Spiked Crocodile King, his top-tier Martial Soul, the Golden Crocodile King, and rank-seventeen Soul Power.
It would have been strange if he could not handle a pack of little ten-year wolves.
After all, even the "Grandmaster" Yu Xiaogang in the original story could use Luo Sanpao to gas a whole pack of Netherworld Wolves to death with one fart.
Watching the five white Soul Rings slowly rise from the wolves' corpses, Tian Chen waved his right hand and dispersed them directly with his Soul Power.
Tian Chen was well aware that the smell of blood would attract more, stronger Soul Beasts.
Intent on ending the battle swiftly-
He helped Li Kai smack another two Netherworld Wolves to death, while Li Kai pierced the remaining one's body with a dagger.
In Tian Chen's view, Li Kai had done reasonably well to kill a Netherworld Wolf on his own without Martial Soul Possession or any Soul Skills.
Tian Chen patted Li Kai's shoulder and called to Zhang Ping in midair.
"All right, Zhang Ping, lead the way. Let's leave this place first, then take our time finding somewhere safe to spend the night."