Early the next morning, Feng Lingtian and Feng Xiaotian did not go to the training grounds. The brothers followed the bluestone path behind the academy, passed through the two rows of parasol trees in the faculty residential area, and returned to that familiar courtyard. The gate was open. Bai Qingyin was sitting in a reclining chair beneath the parasol tree, slowly mending a garment in her hands. Hearing the gate move, she looked up, froze for a moment, then put down her sewing and rose.
"What brings you both home together?" Bai Qingyin's gaze moved between her two sons' faces. Feng Lingtian had been away from home for so long that she had been worried all this time. Now, seeing him standing before her unharmed, having grown so tall in the blink of an eye, she felt her eyes redden despite herself.
Feng Lingtian took a small jade bottle from his storage pouch. The word "Mother" was pasted on it, and he offered it to her with both hands. "Mother, these are Meridian-Warming Pills I refined especially for you at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. They can nourish your meridians and ease your old injuries."
Bai Qingyin accepted the jade bottle, her fingers gently stroking the word on its surface as she lowered her eyes and looked at it for a long time. After a good while, she raised her head and reached out to touch Feng Lingtian's face. She said nothing; her eyes merely reddened again.
Feng Xiaotian then took a small jade bottle from his storage pouch, with the word "Father" pasted on it. "These are Soul-Fortifying Pills, for Father to strengthen his foundation. He's trying to break through to Titled Douluo, and the Soul Power expenditure is enormous. He needs pills to shore up his foundation."
Bai Qingyin took that jade bottle and held it in her hand, looking at her two sons with eyes full of pride.
The mother and her two sons sat around the low table beneath the parasol tree. Bai Qingyin poured two cups of tea and asked how Feng Lingtian had spent his time at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Feng Lingtian picked out a few things he could tell her and gave a brief account. When he mentioned that the Origin-Returning Flaw-Mending Pill he had refined for Shi Yan had cleared the impurities from his bell Martial Soul on the spot, Bai Qingyin's brows lifted slightly. When he mentioned that Su Mei'er's fiery tail had evolved to possess the beginnings of Ultimate Fire, Bai Qingyin gave a soft "Oh," a measure of pleasant surprise in her eyes. Feng Xiaotian listened beside them, adding a few words now and then-the pills his younger brother refined worked very well, Shi Yan's bell projection had become much brighter than before, the Support System's cultivation speed had increased too, and the flames in Su Mei'er's palm could send the temperature of the entire training ground shooting up. Bai Qingyin listened quietly, a faint curve remaining at the corners of her lips throughout.
Feng Lingtian looked at his mother's face. So much had changed in the blink of an eye. Her complexion was a little better than before, and there were a few fewer white hairs at her temples. Feng Lingtian asked whether she was still taking the medicinal baths. His mother smiled and shook her head, saying she was not so delicate and that taking medicinal baths for so long had already been more than enough. Feng Lingtian pressed her about whether all the ingredients in the prescription had been supplied on schedule. His mother glanced at Feng Xiaotian and said, "Your brother brings medicine every few days, more punctually than the steward." Feng Xiaotian quietly drank his tea beside them, pretending he had not heard.
They did not stay long before Feng Xiaotian stood and said he still had to return to make arrangements for Soul Hunting, telling his mother to get some proper rest. Bai Qingyin murmured her assent and saw the brothers to the courtyard gate. She straightened Feng Lingtian's collar, then patted Feng Xiaotian on the shoulder. "Don't push yourself when you're Soul Hunting. Take good care of your younger brother." Feng Xiaotian nodded. After walking a few steps, Feng Lingtian looked back. His mother was still standing beneath the parasol tree, watching them. Morning sunlight filtered through the canopy, scattering flecks of light over her shoulders, and the few newly grown black hairs at her temples gleamed faintly in the light.
When they returned to the training grounds, their teammates had already warmed up. Feng Xiaotian called Zhong Yue aside for a few private words, then turned around, sweeping his gaze over everyone.
"Lingtian and I have discussed who will go Soul Hunting." Feng Xiaotian's voice was not loud, but everyone on the training grounds heard him clearly. "Four of us will go: me, Lingtian, Bai Yu, and Zhong Yue. Bai Yu's Soul Power has already broken through rank twenty, and she needs to obtain her second soul ring. It isn't safe for a Support System soul master to go Soul Hunting alone. She needs someone from the Defense System with her. Zhong Yue, you'll accompany her." Feng Xiaotian glanced at Shi Yan. "Shi Yan has only just broken through, and his Martial Soul hasn't fully stabilized yet. He'll stay behind to consolidate it. Everyone else will remain at the academy and continue cultivating."
"How many days will your Soul Hunting take?" Dugu Bo's voice came from the edge of the training grounds. He leaned against a stone bench, his emerald-green eyes fixed on Feng Xiaotian.
Feng Xiaotian said, "We're planning to go to the Heavenly Wind Mountain Range. The round trip should take about three or four days. We go there often, so we're fairly familiar with it."
After hearing this, Dugu Bo fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. He took a map of Sunset Forest from inside his robe, spread it on the low table, and circled several areas with his finger. His finger stopped over a dense woodland just left of the map's center, and he spoke slowly. "Sunset Forest would be better. I spent decades there. I have a good idea of where suitable Soul Beasts can be found and roughly how old they are. This area is the habitat of ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts, and this area has a dense population of thousand-year Soul Beasts. This ring around the outskirts suits Bai Yu." Dugu Bo pushed the map toward Feng Xiaotian. "Lingtian knows where the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is. If you run into something you can't handle in there, run that way-the poisonous miasma there was laid by me. Ordinary Soul Beasts don't dare approach it. As for those mercenaries who don't know what's good for them, they dare even less."
Feng Xiaotian accepted the map and lowered his head to study the circles marked in cinnabar ink. He fell silent for a moment, then cupped his hands. "Many thanks, Senior."
Dugu Bo snorted and turned his head away. "Don't be so quick to thank me. It's not you I'm concerned about-it's those Immortal Herbs I feel sorry for. They grew in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for hundreds of years, only to be refined into pills by this brat. If you die in there, those Immortal Herbs will have gone to waste."
Su Mei'er leaned against a wooden post, the corners of her lips curving slightly as she murmured, "You're clearly concerned about them, Senior."
Dugu Bo opened one eye to glance at Su Mei'er, then closed it again. "Get that tail of yours properly trained first."
Su Mei'er raised her brows and said nothing, but the curve of her lips deepened.
Feng Xiaotian turned to Dugu Bo and was about to speak. Before Feng Xiaotian could finish, Dugu Bo waved a hand. "All right, all right. I know what you're going to say." He leaned against the stone bench, folding his arms and closing his eyes. "I haven't taught many people in my life. But I am rather interested in seeing how far you youngsters who've taken those pills can go from here. Even if you didn't ask, I would stay to watch."
Feng Lingtian and Feng Xiaotian exchanged a glance, then turned and headed out of the training grounds. Zhong Yue quickly caught up with Bai Yu. Upon reaching the entrance, he looked back and waved at Shi Yan. Shi Yan stood in the middle of the training grounds, the wind markings on the back of his hand still glowing faintly. He raised his hand and clenched his fist in Zhong Yue's direction.
The four had just reached the entrance when Dugu Bo's voice suddenly came from behind them.
"Don't disgrace me."
Feng Lingtian paused in his stride, the corners of his lips lifting slightly, but did not look back.
After the four left the academy, Feng Xiaotian hired a carriage, and they headed north. The carriage jolted along the main road for a full day and night. At dusk the following day, the edge of Sunset Forest finally appeared at the far end of their view. Withered old trees leaned crookedly in the twilight, a few blackened, highly poisonous mushrooms scattered around their roots. Farther in, the depths of the dense forest were already as dark as midnight.
Feng Xiaotian glanced at the sky and raised a hand to signal everyone to stop. "We'll spend tonight outside the forest and go in tomorrow morning. This forest isn't like the Heavenly Wind Mountain Range. Going in blind in the dark would be too risky."
Zhong Yue nodded, unloaded their baggage from the back of the carriage, and spread out the sleeping bags beside a flat rock. Bai Yu sat by the fire, the wind chime on her wrist gleaming faintly in its light. Feng Lingtian unfolded the map Dugu Bo had given them and examined the areas circled in cinnabar ink once more by firelight. Feng Xiaotian scattered a ring of beast-repelling powder around the campsite and checked the surrounding bushes again before sitting down beside the fire.
As the night deepened, the campfire burned down to dark-red embers. It was Zhong Yue's turn to take the last watch. He tossed two dry branches into the fire, sending sparks splashing up before they slowly settled again.
The wind changed in the latter half of the night. The breeze that had been blowing out of the forest abruptly stopped, followed by an extremely faint, sickly-sweet, bloody scent welling out from deep within the woods, as though something were breathing. Zhong Yue's hand froze. He stared into the dark forest, his pupils contracting slightly.
Something was moving deep in the woods. It was not the wind, nor branches swaying-it was footsteps. Extremely heavy, extremely slow, like a massive beast pacing several dozen zhang away, each step making the ground tremble faintly. The wind chime on Bai Yu's wrist suddenly swayed on its own, giving an exceedingly soft chime.
Zhong Yue silently pressed his hand against the tortoise-shell projection. Holding his breath, he stared into that darkness for a long time. Those emerald-green slit pupils never appeared again, but that sickly-sweet, bloody scent lingered around the campsite until the first streak of fish-belly white appeared on the horizon.