Feng Qingxuan watched Lin Yuan and Bai Yu's figures disappear into the depths of the dense forest until the lingering sound of the Wind Chime on Bai Yu's wrist completely dissipated in the wind before turning around.
"First objective achieved." His voice deepened. "Next, it's my turn."
"It should have been your turn long ago." Dugu Bo cracked his neck. "Taking the younger generation hunting is so boring. I've been holding back all this way, just waiting to loosen up my muscles."
Chen Xin didn't reply, but merely raised her eyelids slightly, her gaze sweeping over the layers of treetops above the dense forest, landing on a dark area further away where even the light seemed to be swallowed up.
The four continued to advance into the core area. The deeper they went, the thicker and denser the ancient trees became.
The dense, dark green overhead was no longer obstructed; instead, scattered gaps appeared, through which sunlight poured down, casting bright beams of light onto the humus-covered ground.
The soft, humus-rich soil beneath your feet sinks slightly when you step on it, as if you're walking on some kind of living thing that's slowly breathing.
Dugu Bo walked at the front, constantly releasing the poisonous breath of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor to dispel low-level Soul Beast. The playful expression on his face was gone, replaced by a hunter's focused concentration.
Chen Xin remained in the middle, his right hand slightly outstretched.
Feng Qingxuan walked at the back, clutching a Origin-Replenishing Pill in his hand, ready to replenish his Soul Power at any moment. His Martial Soul was the Gale Demon Wolf, Wind Attribute Agility Attack System, skilled in speed and flanking attacks.
However, against Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the speed advantage is negligible. He can only rely on the gaps created by Sword Douluo's direct restraint and the openings created by Dugu Bo's poison control—as well as the three Yang-Restoring Pill that Feng Lingtian stuffed into the bottom of his medicine pouch before leaving.
After walking for about an hour, Dugu Bo suddenly stopped and raised his right hand.
Ahead lay a vast forest clearing, several times larger than any clearing they had encountered before. The clearing was devoid of trees, consisting only of jagged boulders and waist-high weeds.
The sunlight poured down without any obstruction, illuminating the entire open space—in the core area of Star Dou Great Forest, any place without tree canopy shade was either leveled by some force or was the territory of some being.
But what truly made Dugu Bo stop was not the terrain.
On the trunk of an ancient tree at the edge of the open space, there are three parallel claw marks, extending from the roots to the crown, which is three zhang (approximately 10 meters) above the ground, as if it had been carelessly scratched by some huge claw.
The wood around the claw marks had turned black and hardened, and a faint trace of Soul Power fluctuations remained at the cracks—not the remnants of Soul Beast after its death, but living Soul Power that was still slowly flowing.
" Chen Xin," Dugu Bo lowered his voice, "Come and take a look at this."
Chen Xin walked to the ancient tree and gently pressed his hand on the claw marks. As his fingertips touched the blackened wood, a very faint hum suddenly rang out in the air—the sword intent of the Seven Kill Sword came unbidden, flashing past his fingertips.
"Ten thousand years." Chen Xin withdrew his hand. "It's a power-type claw mark. It wasn't intentionally left; it just casually touched it as it passed by."
Dugu Bo squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil from the edge of the open space, and brought it close to his nose to smell it.
"The ground smells faintly of sulfur," he said, tossing the soil back down. "It's not a natural sulfur vein; it's the residue of Soul Power scorching it. There's only one thing that can produce a sulfurous smell from soil through Soul Power —a 100,000-year-old Titan Giant Ape."
"Go around it," Feng Qingxuan said.
Dugu Bo nodded, straightened up, and patted the dirt off his knees. "Then let's continue northwest. The terrain is open over the windy pass on the ridge, Wind Attribute Soul Beast love to build their nests in such places."
Chen Xin didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly.
The four of them silently crossed the edge of the clearing and disappeared back into the shadows of the dense forest. Only after the clearing had completely disappeared behind the tree canopy did Feng Qingxuan slowly exhale, discovering that his back was soaked with cold sweat.
The group continued moving northwest. The woodland gradually rose, becoming a gently ascending ridge. The humus underfoot was replaced by gravel and exposed rock, and the air became dry and cold.
The wind began to blow—a strong, relentless gust that swept in from above the ridge, whistling sharply as it cut through the cracks in the jagged rocks.
Feng Qingxuan stopped and closed his eyes. A tremor ran through his Gale Demon Wolf Martial Soul —the wind on this mountain ridge was strange. It wasn't flowing freely, but rhythmically, as if it were being pulled by something.
"It's nearby." Feng Qingxuan opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on a cluster of rocks at the highest point of the mountain ridge.
The wind there is the strongest, the howling the sharpest—and the wind direction is not the same as in other places.
The winds in other places blow from north to south, but the winds around that rocky forest swirl around.
Dugu Bo also sensed it. A faint yet undeniably present aura of Soul Power began to permeate the air—not the brute force of the Titan Giant Ape with its sulfurous smell, but a lighter, sharper trace.
" Wind Attribute, 100,000 years." Chen Xin suddenly spoke. His right hand was already closed with five fingers, and silver light flowed from his fingertips. The sword intent of the Seven Kill Sword condensed into an extremely thin blade of light in his palm.
Feng Qingxuan took a deep breath, reached into his robes, and touched the smooth surface of the three Yang-Restoring Pill at the bottom of the medicine pouch with his fingertips.
Li Ji found the leeward side of a boulder at the edge of the rocky forest, quickly set up a supply point, and carved a conspicuous diamond-shaped mark on a nearby tree trunk.
He had been doing this ever since he entered the forest—hiding some dry food and water at intervals and carving marks on tree trunks, which served as both markers to prevent getting lost and lifelines for retreat.
After doing all this, Li Ji released his Martial Soul – Wind Cake.
A pale blue light condensed in his palm into several palm-sized discs, with faint wind patterns flowing across their surfaces.
He whispered the soul incantation, and with a flash of light, the Wind Breath Cake and the Restoring Wind Cake took shape.
" Wind Breath Cake speed things up, Restoring Wind Cake back to life." Li Ji handed the cakes to the three men. "I'll retreat ten miles now. Once you're done fighting, set off the signal fireworks."
The three of them took the cakes and swallowed them in a few bites.
Feng Qingxuan immediately felt a warm current spreading through his meridians, and his feet suddenly felt lighter.
Li Ji said no more, turned around and quickly retreated back the way he came, disappearing on the other side of the ridge in a few breaths.
Dugu Bo took out the dark green porcelain bottle from his pocket, uncorked it, and evenly applied the thick venom to his hands.
That was his trump card—the venom of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor, each drop capable of rendering a ten -Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast incapable of movement within three breaths.
"Let's go." Feng Qingxuan gripped the hilt of his sword and took the lead towards the rocky forest.
The closer you get to the rocky forest, the stronger the wind becomes. The strong wind carries pebbles and dry branches that sting your face.
The Gale Demon Wolf Martial Soul within Feng Qingxuan emitted a low growl—not of fear, but an instinctive tremor upon encountering a top-tier being of the same attribute.
In the center of the stone forest is a sunken natural stone pit, the bottom of which is filled with gravel and dried animal bones. And in the very center of the stone pit, a huge figure is slowly rising from its slumber.
It is slightly smaller Titan Giant Ape, but its long limbs and streamlined body exude a completely different sense of oppression—not the crushing power, but the absolute advantage of speed.
Its fur was silvery-gray, shimmering slightly in the wind, its four paws glowed with a pale blue light, and a row of sharp, knife-like bone spurs stood upright on its back.
What's most unsettling are its eyes—the whites are pale blue, but the pupils, like the eye of a storm, swirl with a bottomless, dark gray.
It is Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Hurricane Wolf King.
The moment it stood up, all the surrounding rubble was swept into the air by an invisible force, forming a rotating wall of wind around it.
The wind howled as if a thousand blades were drawn from their sheaths at the same time, and the ground cracked open with fine fissures as it was cut by the wind.
Dugu Bo was the first to move. His figure transformed into a dark green afterimage, not rushing straight at the Hurricane Wolf King's face, but instead circling around to the flank.
The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Avatar in mid-air, its dark green poisonous mist condensing into a gigantic serpent shadow that snapped at the Hurricane Wolf King's left hind leg.
At the same time, Chen Xin's Seven Kill Sword appeared in his hand—the sword was as thin as a cicada's wing, yet it devoured all the light around it.
Chen Xin's figure flashed and appeared to the right front of the Hurricane Wolf King. The Seven Kill Sword slashed down diagonally, blocking the attack route of its right palm.
Feng Qingxuan did not make a move. He lowered his body and unleashed the speed of the Gale Demon Wolf to its limit, moving almost close to the ground.
He was observing the movement pattern of the Hurricane Wolf King —although the Wolf King's wind wall covered its entire body, there would be a very brief gap in the wind wall with each step it took.
That gap was his opportunity.
The Hurricane Wolf King let out a deep roar, the sound waves shattering the surrounding rocks into powder. It raised its right palm, about to strike Chen Xin —but at that very moment, a crack half a palm's width appeared in the wind wall where its right palm had been raised.
Feng Qingxuan moved.