"Ahem, isn't our reputation already impressive enough?" Lin Tian coughed twice and looked at Lu Yu, his face full of embarrassment.
Lin Tian had entered Soul Fighting matches at the Soul Fighting Arena under the alias "Great Sage Who Surpasses Heaven" at the Narvis Soul Fighting Arena's behest. Now, standing before Lu Yu, the "Great Sage Equal to Heaven," he could not help feeling a little embarrassed.
"Ah! What's the big deal?"
Lu Yu got up, plopped down beside Lin Tian, and threw an arm around his shoulders.
"When we become Titled Douluo in the future, your title can be 'Surpasses Heaven,' and mine can be 'Equal to Heaven.' How about that?"
At the words "Titled Douluo," the embarrassment vanished from Lin Tian's face, replaced in an instant by excitement. That was a Titled Douluo, the pinnacle every Soul Master spent a lifetime pursuing!
Once the excitement passed, reason gradually returned. Lin Tian sighed, his voice tinged with dejection.
"Becoming Titled Douluo is still a long way off for us. It's too early to talk about it!"
"That's where you're wrong. If you don't have a dream in life, how are you any different from a salted fish!?" Lu Yu gave Lin Tian's shoulder a gentle pat, not feeling at all that becoming a Titled Douluo was far beyond his reach.
Lin Tian smiled but did not respond. Having made it this far as a pawn others used to test their opponents, he knew full well how distant and unattainable the rank of Titled Douluo was.
"What are you planning to do next, then? Enter a two-person Soul Fighting match?" Lin Tian asked.
"There's no rush. I'll talk about that after I've hunted down my Second Soul Ring!" Lu Yu waved a hand, in no hurry at all.
"If you're going Soul Hunting, I can come with you! With my strength, and if I call on two more Soul Grandmasters, getting a Hundred-Year Soul Ring will be no trouble at all."
Lin Tian thumped his chest, confidence showing on his face.
"There's no need. I've already contacted a Soul Hunting team to help me find my Second Soul Ring. I'll ask them tomorrow if they've found one."
Lu Yu shook his head and declined Lin Tian's kind offer. He looked out the window; the moon was high in the sky.
"It's getting late. Come on, my treat. Let's have a proper celebration today and welcome you to..."
Lu Yu stopped there, feeling that something was missing.
Lin Tian reacted much faster. He turned to Lu Yu. "It won't always be just the two of us, will it? Shouldn't we give our faction a name!?"
Only a moment ago, Lin Tian had been a pawn used to test opponents, so he knew how important a faction was. Even if it had only four or five big and little cats, they could still help one another and avoid being looked down on everywhere they went.
"A name, huh?" Lu Yu murmured, rubbing his chin.
He turned to look at Great Sage on his shoulder and thought of his Second Martial Soul, the Ruyi Staff. Those two Martial Souls were far too distinctive.
Lu Yu grinned and turned to Lin Tian. "From now on, we'll be called 'Flower-Fruit Mountain'!"
Lin Tian muttered "Flower-Fruit Mountain" under his breath and thought it had a nice ring to it. "Then you'll have to find a mountain with flowers and fruit to use as our base someday."
Lu Yu gave a mysterious smile, a trace of cunning flashing in his eyes. "Don't worry, I guarantee you'll be satisfied! I'm sure you won't find a second place like it on the whole continent!"
Lu Yu had naturally thought of the split hotpot. Making the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well the base of Flower-Fruit Mountain would not only suit the name, but also provide a steady stream of cultivation resources in the future.
Lin Tian looked at Lu Yu skeptically. "I haven't traveled much to gain experience, but I've seen quite a few good places. If yours really won't do, I can pick one for you."
"Relax. If you're not satisfied with that place, I'll believe you've seen somewhere better."
The two chatted and laughed along the way, soon arriving at a restaurant. Two complete strangers had formed a friendship because of a single Soul Fighting match.
The next morning, sunlight streamed through the window onto Lu Yu's face. He rolled over and rubbed his throbbing temples. He really had drunk a little too much in his excitement the night before.
After lying there for quite a while longer, Lu Yu slowly climbed out of bed and washed up. He took the still-drowsy Great Sage with him and hired a carriage bound for the Star Dou Great Forest.
It was nearly afternoon by the time Lu Yu arrived at the market outside the Star Dou Great Forest.
Lu Yu walked straight to the building with the "Wild Wolf Soul Hunting Team" sign and knocked lightly on the door. Before long, the simple wooden door creaked open.
A burly middle-aged man stepped out. "Oh, it's you!"
Lu Yu nodded and followed the man inside.
"Have you found the Soul Beast I wanted?" Lu Yu cut straight to the question without wasting words.
On his second day in Suotuo City, Lu Yu had come to find a Soul Hunting team outside the Star Dou Great Forest and asked them to help him search for the Soul Beast Su Yuntao had mentioned, the Sky-Flying Centipede.
"We did find one, but you know how rare this kind of Soul Beast is. It cost us quite a bit of manpower and resources, so as for the price..."
The middle-aged man rubbed his fingers together, making his intentions plain as day. Lu Yu could have the information about the Soul Beast, but he would have to pay more.
"I'll give you another three hundred Gold Soul Coins. That's already far too high a price for a Ten-Year Soul Beast!"
Lu Yu glanced at the middle-aged man. He was not short of money now, but he did not want to be fleeced for nothing, so he offered a suitable reminder.
The middle-aged man also knew when to quit while he was ahead. Three hundred Gold Soul Coins exceeded his expectations, so he waved for Lu Yu to follow.
"Come with me! We've already caught the Soul Beast and brought it back for you!"
Behind him, Lu Yu raised an eyebrow and cursed inwardly, but followed helplessly all the same. The Soul Beast had been delivered right in front of him; he could hardly refuse it now!
When they reached the backyard, they saw an iron cage a meter tall. Inside was a centipede about seventy centimeters long, pitch-black all over without a trace of any other color.
Lu Yu counted the Sky-Flying Centipede's segments. There were nine in all. They had actually caught one right at the maximum age limit, and Lu Yu immediately felt he had cursed them too soon.
"Take a look. Is this the Soul Beast you wanted?" The middle-aged man pointed at the centipede in the cage and looked at Lu Yu.
Lu Yu recalled the information he had looked up and carefully compared it once more with the centipede before him.
"That's right, it's the Soul Beast I wanted!"
With that, Lu Yu turned and went over to a table. With a thought, three hundred Gold Soul Coins appeared on it.
"Here are three hundred Gold Soul Coins. Count them!"
At the sight of the Gold Soul Coins appearing out of thin air, a trace of greed appeared in the middle-aged man's eyes. It was not greed for the coins themselves; they were money he was owed.
What the middle-aged man coveted was the way the coins had appeared. There was only one explanation for something appearing out of thin air: the child before him had a Storage Soul Tool.
Lu Yu also noticed the greed in the middle-aged man's eyes and instinctively touched the Storage Soul Tool on his finger. He did not panic in the slightest. If the man had any ill intentions, Lu Yu would immediately summon the Ruyi Staff and have Great Sage hit him with it.
The first blow would strike his head to stop him from thinking, the second his mouth to stop him from calling for help, and the third his legs to stop him from running away.
In the end, the middle-aged man took a deep breath and suppressed the greed in his heart. He had been able to establish himself here safely because he had always remembered: "Take what you should, and don't even think about what you shouldn't."
"Are you taking it away, or absorbing it here?" the middle-aged man asked Lu Yu, coming back to his senses.
"Here, then. It would be troublesome to take one this big away," Lu Yu said, looking at the Sky-Flying Centipede's size.
The middle-aged man nodded, put away the Gold Soul Coins on the table, and turned to leave the backyard.