Hearing this, Lou Gao's brows bristled, and his temper rose a little.
"What do you mean, brat? Don't tell me you think I'm too old to hunt a mere Hundred-Year Soul Beast?"
"No, I never meant that. Senior, you're a mighty Soul Saint. With your help, I'd naturally get twice the results with half the effort, but I've been Soul Hunting for seven years now. Even without anyone assisting me, I can obtain my Second Soul Ring alone."
Lou Gao did not take those words to heart. He still firmly held to his own idea.
"Since you admit I'm strong, I'll reluctantly make the trip with you and help you obtain your Second Soul Ring."
Just as Long Qianming was about to speak and refuse his help, Lou Gao shot him a cold look.
"That settles it! It's been ages since I last left Gengxin City. This is a good time to get out and stretch my legs. With my help, you'll definitely secure your Second Soul Ring in under three minutes."
A flicker of secret delight crossed Lou Gao's eyes. While helping Long Qianming hunt for his Second Soul Ring, he could take a look at his strength.
At that thought, Lou Gao asked curiously once more, "Do you have a Soul Beast in mind, brat? If not, I can offer you a few suggestions."
"S-Senior, I'd like to choose a lesser dragon Soul Beast with darkness as its primary attribute and a little fire as well."
Faced with Lou Gao's extraordinary determination to help him obtain a Soul Ring, Long Qianming truly had no way to refuse. He explained what he wanted for his Second Soul Ring.
After three years of consuming meat from darkness- and earth-attribute Soul Beasts, the earth aspects of Long Qianming's spleen and stomach had not reached perfection, but he had already trained them to major accomplishment.
Thus, for his Second Soul Ring, he would choose a Soul Beast with darkness as its primary attribute and fire as its secondary attribute. His body tempering could then officially enter its next stage.
"Why are your Soul Hunting requirements so demanding? Darkness, fire, and a lesser dragon on top of that? That sort of Soul Beast is extremely hard to find."
Hearing Long Qianming's requirements, Lou Gao could not help sighing. Most Soul Beasts possessed two or even multiple attributes. Finding a Soul Beast with both darkness and fire attributes would not be particularly difficult.
But adding the requirement that it be a lesser dragon made the search harder upon harder.
Even in the Star Dou Great Forest, lesser dragon Soul Beasts, let alone true dragons, were extremely rare, and their strength far surpassed Soul Beasts of the same rank.
Still, he had already agreed. No matter how hard it was to find, he had to find one! Lou Gao spoke with feigned ease.
"That's nothing. Isn't it just a slightly unusual Soul Ring? In my younger days, I traveled the entire continent. Would I be afraid of failing to find a lesser dragon Soul Beast with slightly unusual attributes?"
"Come on. It's still early, so let's hurry and set off."
After giving Si Long and his three fellow disciples instructions about a few miscellaneous matters, Lou Gao hurriedly pulled Long Qianming out of Gengxin City.
The two rode in a carriage through the Forging God Mountain Range, heading south toward the Earth Dragon Mountain Range.
A month and a half later, they finally caught sight of the distant Earth Dragon Mountain Range. Standing on ground awash with hot currents, Long Qianming felt as though his entire body would evaporate. He looked out into the distance.
Green trees grew sparsely across the Earth Dragon Mountain Range, and barren yellow soil lay exposed on the surface, making the entire mountain formation look like a sleeping earth dragon.
More than a dozen dormant volcanoes were scattered like stars across the head, middle, and tail of the "earth dragon," forming a unique landscape of hot currents and magma.
Earth Dragon City was one of the few fortified cities near the Earth Dragon Mountain Range. Although it lay in the barren southernmost region of the Star Luo Empire,
its unique geographical location meant that large quantities of volcanic minerals were sold within the city. As such, it had become the second-largest mining city, behind only Gengxin City.
After entering the city, the two first rested for a day. Once they were fully refreshed and night began to fall, Lou Gao led Long Qianming toward the Earth Dragon Mountain Range.
"Long brat, the trees in this mountain range are sparse. The farther in you go, the hotter it gets, and the Soul Beasts grow more irritable too. You'd better be careful."
"Senior, I have Xiao Tian scouting ahead. If there's danger, I'll notice immediately. You're only a support Soul Master without much attack power, though, so just stay behind me. I can keep you safe."
At those words, Lou Gao's face turned livid with anger. That was simply turning heaven and earth upside down! Did a dignified Soul Saint like him need protection from someone who was not even a Soul Grandmaster yet?
Still, he was Lou Gao, president of the Blacksmith Association. Surely he could not stoop to arguing with a child!
Suddenly, when they had ventured about half a kilometer into the mountain range, Xiao Tian stared warily ahead and let out a few low growls.
Before Long Qianming could step forward to check what Soul Beast it was, Lou Gao had already used his Soul Saint-level spiritual power to learn its basic information.
"Brat, there's no need to look. That Soul Beast is only a hundred-year-old Hellfire Demon Wolf, not a lesser dragon Soul Beast."
"Understood. Xiao Tian, let's go!"
Without disturbing the Hellfire Demon Wolf, the two humans and one beast continued exploring deeper into the mountain range.
Their journey was peaceful enough, with no blind fools of Soul Beasts suddenly jumping out at them.
Much of that was thanks to Lou Gao's presence. Although his Martial Soul had a fatal flaw, his immense spiritual power and the imposing pressure he released as a Soul Saint did indeed make him an excellent choice for searching for Soul Beasts.
Time passed, and a month went by in the blink of an eye. Long Qianming and Lou Gao had searched nearly half the Earth Dragon Mountain Range, yet they had failed to find a single lesser dragon Soul Beast with the right attributes.
However, just as they were nearing the end of exploring another dormant volcano as usual, they detected the sound of a violent collision.
Lou Gao looked into the distance, his spiritual power spreading rapidly toward the source of the collision. In an instant, delight appeared on his face.
"Long brat, you're in luck this time. On a flat stretch of volcanic ground just half a kilometer away, two lesser dragon Soul Beasts are locked in battle."
After a month of fruitless searching, Long Qianming finally broke into a brilliant smile at those words. He eagerly ran toward the Soul Beasts, asking as he went,
"What exactly are those two lesser dragon Soul Beasts?"
"One is a Black Hell Dragon Bear, and the other is a Black Flame Earth Dragon Python. That Black Flame Earth Dragon Python has precisely the attributes you want."
Lou Gao explained with his brows tightly knitted.
But in the next moment, he shook his head repeatedly, hurried after Long Qianming, and stopped him, urging,
"Brat, from my rough assessment, that lesser dragon is already over a thousand years old. It isn't suitable for your Second Soul Ring."
"How about we choose a seven- or eight-hundred-year-old Soul Beast that isn't a dragon instead?"
"No, I want that python. My Martial Soul must absorb dragon-type Soul Beasts."
Long Qianming explained quietly as he ran forward, then lay prone more than five hundred meters from the two Soul Beasts.
He carefully examined the two Soul Beasts, especially the Black Flame Earth Dragon Python, which was gradually gaining the upper hand in the fight.
The more Long Qianming looked at the Black Flame Earth Dragon Python, the more satisfied he felt.
"This Black Flame Earth Dragon Python is over fourteen hundred years old. Very good."