Meanwhile, in a remote corner deep within the Soul Hunting Forest.
Boom!
A deafening explosion suddenly rang out!
A gray bear, two and a half meters tall, with thick brownish-gray hide and a row of sharp stone spines along its back, crashed to the ground.
The bear's body struggled once, as if unwilling to accept its fate.
"Two and a half meters. It should be a Rock Bear around five hundred years old, right?! Its bones are extremely hard throughout its body, but its weakness is too obvious."
Before long, the Rock Bear's massive body gradually stopped struggling, and a Yellow Soul Ring slowly rose from within it. Han Qiu merely glanced at it before turning and walking away.
This was nothing more than a casual test, a mere trial of his mighty blade.
The Rock Bear, a little over five hundred years old, was the third Soul Beast Han Qiu had encountered since entering the Soul Hunting Forest, and the strongest of the three.
Han Qiu shook his head gently.
A five-hundred-year Soul Ring was already quite good for an ordinary person's First Soul Ring, but he had no intention of absorbing it.
During their brief exchange, the Rock Bear had not even managed to force him to use much of his true strength.
Without pausing for a moment, Han Qiu turned and left the area, continuing deeper into the Soul Hunting Forest.
About an hour later, the sky gradually grew dark.
Roar!
A low roar suddenly thundered from the distance!
Wherever the roar reached, the weaker Soul Beasts nearby trembled all over in fright and dropped to the ground, not daring to move.
"That sound..." Han Qiu's body shuddered slightly.
The furious roar had even made him feel a heavy pressure.
A thousand-year Soul Beast!
It had to be a thousand-year Soul Beast!
And no ordinary one, either!
Han Qiu was about to head toward the sound when awoo, another long howl echoed from afar, shaking the mountains and forest. The force of the cry was no weaker than that of the earlier roar!
In an instant, Han Qiu's blood surged.
Good heavens, there were two thousand-year Soul Beasts!
A blazing light ignited in Han Qiu's eyes.
He did not dare hope to absorb two Soul Rings at once, but at least he now had a choice!
He suppressed the excitement surging in his heart and crept forward with the lightest of steps. The farther he went, the clearer the beast roars became, and a heavy pressure spread from up ahead.
Han Qiu leaped up into a giant tree and, sheltered by layers of branches and leaves, focused his gaze on the distant battlefield.
Not far away stood a slender, long-limbed deer-like Soul Beast with fine, silvery-white fur.
Its two antlers resembled curved silver branches, their tines dotted with tiny specks of moonlight. As it walked, the specks drifted down, and its hooves left fleeting traces of moonlight where they touched the ground.
A silver halo now radiated from its whole body as it stared coldly at a massive Soul Beast opposite it!
"Is that a Silver Moon Spirit Deer? Shouldn't this thing be in Moonset Valley in the Star Dou Great Forest? How did it end up here?" A trace of puzzlement crossed Han Qiu's face before his eyes lit up.
According to the brief information he had read while spending the previous day in the academy library, the Silver Moon Spirit Deer possessed both moonlight and Mental Attributes, and could use moonlight to recover.
"The first property of my Martial Soul of Light is purification and healing. If I combine it with its Soul Ring, won't I soar to the heavens?"
"My healing is apparently already top-notch. I might as well develop other abilities. Let's take a look at the other one." Han Qiu turned his gaze to the other Soul Beast, and his heart jolted at the first glance.
It was a lion covered in purple fur, with Soul Power surging around it in a deep, rich purple glow.
"Purple Lightning Mane Lion!"
Han Qiu's scalp went numb.
Though also a thousand-year Soul Beast, the Purple Lightning Mane Lion was as swift as rolling thunder. Most troublesome was its savage instinct to attack, and it could also summon lightning to paralyze its opponents. It was an extremely aggressive Soul Beast.
Judging by the dense fluctuations of purple Soul Power around this Purple Lightning Mane Lion, its cultivation was at least four or five thousand years, if not more!
Over five thousand years...
Han Qiu pondered to himself: Did I have a chance of absorbing its Soul Ring? No, the first question was whether I could even beat this Purple Lightning Mane Lion.
If he could really take down the Purple Lightning Mane Lion, his Martial Soul of Light would presumably receive multiple enhancements. It could not have been a more fitting choice.
But he turned to look at the Silver Moon Spirit Deer and quickly weighed his options: the spirit deer had roughly three thousand years of cultivation and was no match for the Purple Lightning Mane Lion.
His thoughts raced, and Han Qiu soon reached a conclusion: with his current strength, there was no way he could defeat the Purple Lightning Mane Lion head-on. Let alone winning, he would be extraordinarily lucky to escape unscathed.
Although he possessed a golden finger, the Golden Light Mantra, Qi-State Origin-Flow, and the Martial Soul of Light, none of them had yet given him formidable killing power. At his current stage, unlocking his Martial Soul's other forms was simply impossible.
Awoo!
The Silver Moon Spirit Deer let out a low cry, and the wounds on its body slowly healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"In that case, I'll borrow the Silver Moon Spirit Deer's strength." Han Qiu narrowed his eyes slightly, a plan already forming in his mind.
According to the records he knew of, Silver Moon Spirit Deer were exceptionally intelligent. Even before reaching ten thousand years, they developed considerable intelligence.
Just then, the Purple Lightning Mane Lion, more heavily built than the Silver Moon Spirit Deer, threw back its head and let out a deafening roar. It opened its jaws wide, and a bolt of purple lightning crashed down toward the Silver Moon Spirit Deer!
The lightning raced forward at extreme speed!
The Silver Moon Spirit Deer seemed to sense the danger in advance and leaped high to dodge, but the lightning still struck its hind leg. Flesh and hide were instantly charred and mangled, blood gushed forth, and the Silver Moon Spirit Deer let out a heartrending wail.
Whoosh!
While its foe was wounded, it moved in for the kill!
The Purple Lightning Mane Lion's body flashed forward, closing the distance in an instant. It sprang into the air, its sharp claws gleaming with a bone-chilling light in the dim forest!
Enduring the pain, the Silver Moon Spirit Deer twisted and used the last of its strength to roll sideways, narrowly avoiding the Purple Lightning Mane Lion's thunderous claws.
The claws slammed into the ground, sending stones flying and gouging several deep furrows through the earth.
The wound on its hind leg was still smoking, and the lingering numbness from the lightning continued to spread through its blood. Yet its silver eyes remained fixed on the Purple Lightning Mane Lion before it. A faint light flowed over the silver branch-like antlers atop its head, and tiny specks of moonlight gathered in front of it, forming a thin silver moon shield.
Clang!
The Purple Lightning Mane Lion pounced again, slamming heavily into the shield. The silver film of light shuddered violently as cracks rapidly spread across it.
So fast!
The Purple Lightning Mane Lion was so fast that even his naked eyes could barely follow it.
Against a Soul Beast with five thousand years of cultivation, he had no chance of winning a head-on fight with his current strength.
But Han Qiu watched closely and soon noticed something.
The Purple Lightning Mane Lion was already showing signs of fatigue. Presumably, the Silver Moon Spirit Deer's constant self-healing and prolonged struggle had also left it with serious injuries.
Wasn't this the paladin fighting style? As long as you couldn't kill me in one hit, I'd wear you down bit by bit.
Han Qiu looked down at the battlefield, a faint smile slowly curling his lips.
The opportunity had come.
"Little deer, little deer, you have to pull yourself together!"
Han Qiu, hiding in the tree, opened his palm, and a milky-white light bloomed in his hand.