Steady Growth, a Stream That Runs Long

With almost everyone in the team injured, Su Lin abandoned his plans to stay in the Soul Hunting Forest and grind experience. A few days more or less would hardly make a difference anyway, so he simply returned to Rhode Town to rest for a while, giving himself time to properly study Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

They stopped and started along the way, and by the time they reached the entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest, it was broad daylight.

A sizable market stood at the entrance, with stalls of all sizes lining both sides of the bluestone road. Hunters and Soul Masters wove through them, while vendors' calls and the sounds of haggling rose and fell.

When Su Lin's group emerged from the forest passage, they attracted little attention at first. Plenty of teams passed through the entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest every day, and coming out covered in dust and dirt was nothing unusual. Quite a few Soul Master teams even emerged missing arms or legs. The nearby vendors merely glanced at them before returning to their business.

Until the two enormous bodies on the drag sled were exposed to the morning sunlight.

"Is that... a Night Shadow Ghost Wolf?"

"With that size, it must be a wolf king, right?"

"Good grief, the one beside it isn't small either. It looks at least five hundred years old."

"That wolf king must be eight hundred years old, right? Nine hundred? That's practically a Soul Elder's hunting target. Does this team have a Soul Elder?"

Cries of surprise rang out one after another. The Soul Masters and stallholders on both sides of the street all turned toward Sean at the front of the group. Seeing his upright posture and cold expression, they assumed he was a Soul Elder expert who kept his strength hidden. Their eyes instantly filled with greater awe, and even the noisy hawking dropped by half. The merchants behind their stalls unconsciously straightened their backs and put on ingratiating smiles.

A few young Soul Masters even involuntarily stepped half a pace toward the roadside and lowered their heads slightly in greeting, as though meeting a senior.

A Soul Elder was someone who ranked among the powerful even in Nuoding City.

Bathed in those awed gazes, Sean unconsciously straightened his back further. Unfortunately, his injuries were simply too severe. The slightest movement sent tearing pain through every wound. Anyone else might have been rolling on the ground in agony, but who was Sean? To avoid breaking character, he forcibly held it all in.

Only when they returned to the residence, at almost the very instant the courtyard gate closed, did Sean's back slump. He bent over as though his entire skeleton had been pulled out, his large, thick hand clamped tightly over the wound on his abdomen. He bared his teeth and sucked in cold breaths, his expression twisting into a bitter melon face.

"Hiss... ow! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Why put yourself through that..." Su Lin shook his head and clicked his tongue twice. He returned with Xiao Wu to their room in the main building, took out the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track manual, and spread it on the wooden table by the window to study it carefully.

At first, Xiao Wu leaned her head over to take a few looks with him, but the pages were filled with dry footwork principles and movement tricks, nothing but lines and text from beginning to end. Before long, she grew bored and simply rested her chin on Su Lin's shoulder, gave a great, bored yawn, and narrowed her eyes for a nap.

"Want to go back and sleep for a bit?" Amused, Su Lin put down the manual and gently poked her soft cheek.

"No." Xiao Wu pouted and nuzzled her head against his shoulder, her voice soft. "The room next door is too empty. Staying there alone is boring. Just let me lean on you for a while. Keep reading."

It was not that she was being fussy. Although the academy dormitory was cramped, it was packed with furniture. The bedroom in this residence was as large as two dorm rooms. Its furnishings were exquisite, but it felt empty, and she simply found it uncomfortable to stay in.

"All right," Su Lin answered gently. He pulled over the quilt from the foot of the bed, draped it over Xiao Wu, and went back to reading.

Xiao Wu stayed quietly in that position, her breathing gradually becoming steady and deep. She had probably drifted off while leaning on his shoulder. Most of her body slumped against him, its soft warmth seeping through their clothes.

"She certainly sleeps soundly."

An hour later, having more or less memorized all the Soul Power circulation routes and methods of exerting force, Su Lin closed the manual with one hand. He glanced sideways at Xiao Wu, who was sleeping soundly on his shoulder, and shook his head helplessly.

Xiao Wu rested the side of her face on his shoulder, breathing evenly in deep sleep. Her long eyelashes drooped, casting a small patch of shadow beneath her eyelids, and the corners of her mouth curled slightly upward, as though she were dreaming of something delicious.

Watching the sleeping girl's profile, he could not help feeling another twinge of envy. The advantages of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast taking human form truly were uniquely blessed. Before level seventy, there was no need to endure arduous meditation. Soul Power grew naturally with age, and even Soul Rings did not require risking life and limb to hunt for them. They unlocked automatically upon reaching the required level.

Xiao Wu's first four Soul Skills, in particular, were outrageously absurd.

What did it mean to have a first Soul Skill that boosted Eight-Stage Throw by a percentage, a second Soul Skill that activated without recovery lag and inflicted hard crowd control, a third Soul Skill that allowed multiple dashes at extremely little cost, and a fourth Soul Skill that blocked every attack below god level for three seconds?

There was truly no pretense whatsoever. She was purely a mechanics monster. By comparison, no matter how flashy anyone else's skill kit was, it seemed rather unremarkable.

Knock, knock, knock!

A little while later, someone knocked on the door. Only then did Xiao Wu start awake. She rubbed her eyes groggily and sat up, taking quite some time to come to her senses. Then she spotted the large, dark patch of drool soaking Su Lin's shoulder, and her little face flushed red all the way to her ears.

"How long was I asleep?"

"A little over two hours." Su Lin moved his shoulder, which had long since gone completely numb, and poked Xiao Wu's forehead in amusement before walking over and opening the door.

Outside, Sean stood behind a serving trolley. Thick white bandages wrapped his abdomen, with faint reddish bloodstains seeping through their edges. When the door opened, he hurriedly smiled and pushed the trolley inside. "Young Master Little Lin, Miss Xiao Wu, it's time for lunch."

Su Lin stepped aside to make room. Seeing how stiffly Sean still moved his waist and abdomen, he could not help frowning. "Uncle Sean, for little things like this, you only need to call us. We can go downstairs and get it ourselves. You're hurt this badly. Why aren't you resting properly?"

"They're only flesh wounds. I've already applied medicine. It's nothing." Sean waved a hand and nonchalantly set the dishes from the trolley on the table one by one.

Four dishes and a soup, all steaming hot. There was meat in sauce, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and a pot of bone broth stewed until the meat was falling apart. Clearly, they had been specially prepared.

"How are those three badly injured men? Nothing serious, right?" Su Lin pulled out a chair for Xiao Wu to sit down, then turned to ask.

"Rest assured, young master. The doctor in town examined them carefully. None of their vital areas were injured. It's all flesh wounds and exhaustion. With a month or so of proper rest, they'll recover completely, with no lingering problems."

Su Lin nodded. He breathed a sigh of relief, yet could not help smiling bitterly inwardly.

This was only the first day of training. Wasn't this opening a little too disastrous?

Could he really have a bit of a protagonist halo, running into trouble wherever he went?

With that thought, he ultimately decided to prioritize safety in the training ahead. He would stick to the areas with three-hundred- to five-hundred-year-old beasts and stop venturing rashly deeper.

It was only a difference of a few experience points, after all. There was no need to gamble with their safety.

Steady growth, like a small stream that flowed on and on, was the way to last.