Two days later.
A town on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
As the last supply stop for Soul Masters before they entered the forest, the town drew all manner of merchants, mercenaries, and Soul Hunting teams from various academies year-round.
Taverns, teahouses, and smithies packed both sides of the broad, even stone-paved streets, and the clamor never ceased.
Xiao Xuan paid his fare and jumped down from the carriage with a light cloth bag on his back, just in time to spot another group arriving in town.
They were a group of young women in aqua-blue uniforms, each with a pretty face and a light step. Delicate wave patterns were embroidered on their hems: they were students of Skywater Academy.
At their head was a middle-aged female teacher with a gentle, composed bearing. She counted the members of her party with a serious expression.
The group did not linger in town. Led by their teacher, they headed briskly and directly toward the entrance to the forest.
Xiao Xuan looked away and smiled to himself.
Prestigious academies had high-level Soul Masters to protect them, so they were naturally full of confidence. But he was all alone for now, and he had to put caution first.
Xiao Xuan took several leisurely turns around the town's main street.
First, he ducked into an herbal medicine shop and bought several bottles of powder to repel poisonous insects and some hemostatic powder.
Next, he visited a dry-goods shop and bought several jin of chewy, filling, high-energy dried meat.
Finally, he went to a smithy and stocked up on sturdy climbing hooks and ropes, as well as waterproof flint, just in case.
When venturing into the wild alone, every extra precaution improved one's odds of success.
After organizing all his supplies in the storage cloth bag he carried, Xiao Xuan strode into the midday breeze and officially crossed into the vast expanse of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Tall, dense ancient trees rose from the ground, their canopies blotting out the sky. Sunlight filtered through layers of branches and leaves, casting dappled patches of light.
Xiao Xuan pulled from his robes a beast-hide route map his father, Xiao Wuyong, had commissioned a mercenary group to draw. He carefully checked it, tracing the dark red ink with his finger.
The two wild Thousand-Year Lone Bamboos were not in the perilous and unpredictable core region, but hidden in a remote gorge at the outer edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The terrain there was rugged, and Soul Beasts were relatively sparse, making it just right for him to make his move.
Following a trail along the edge of the woods, Xiao Xuan raised his vigilance to its highest.
Along the way, he relied on his exceptional perception to deftly avoid several highly territorial Hundred-Year Soul Beasts, without once breaking his stride.
After traveling for more than two full shichen, the dense forest ahead gradually fell away, revealing a narrow, secluded rocky gorge stretching across his path.
Steep cliffs flanked the gorge entrance, their faces as sheer as if carved with blade and ax. A cool mountain wind swept through, howling with a low, mournful wail.
Xiao Xuan took a deep breath and edged his way inside, keeping close to the slick rock wall as he cautiously explored.
Loose stones covered the gorge floor, and moss grew in thick patches, lending the surroundings an extraordinary serenity.
After wandering for another half a shichen or more in the depths of the gorge, Xiao Xuan suddenly stopped. His gaze swiftly locked onto a precipitous rock face several dozen meters ahead.
There, wedged between cracks in the steep, shaded rock, were two strange, tall bamboos growing side by side.
Their stalks were as thick as the mouths of large bowls and stood about two zhang tall. Their entire bodies gleamed with a warm, deep, dark-green luster, while rings of vigorous pale-cyan light faintly flowed around their joints.
They were the very targets he had waited three long years for-the wild Thousand-Year Lone Bamboos!
What was more, their appearance made it easy to see that both Lone Bamboos were just over a thousand years old, so using them to synthesize a Four-Star Lone Bamboo would not waste any excess years.
A smile spread across Xiao Xuan's lips.
Some might wonder why the two Lone Bamboos grew in cracks in bare rock, but Xiao Xuan knew perfectly well.
All things possessed spirits, and Plant-type Soul Beasts over a thousand years old had long since developed basic intelligence.
Unlike the muddleheaded Blue Silver Grass that anyone could trample underfoot, they knew to drive their roots deep into rock crevices that were easy to defend and hard to attack, keeping large herbivorous Soul Beasts from feeding on them.
Xiao Xuan wasted no more time and walked straight toward the rock face.
Sensing a stranger approach, the branches and leaves of the two Thousand-Year Lone Bamboos began to tremble violently!
Hum-!
Two waves of pale-cyan light suddenly flared from the bamboo stalks, and their outer skins rapidly took on a hard, grayish-white texture!
Immediately afterward, several supple, slender side branches above, like long whips of tempered steel, lashed viciously down at Xiao Xuan's face with a piercing rush of wind!
This was the innate ability they relied on to protect themselves, an attempt to force the intruder back.
"You've got quite a temper."
Xiao Xuan smiled faintly and closed his right hand around empty air. His own Three-Star Lone Bamboo slid silently into his palm.
Facing the thorny branches whipping toward him, Xiao Xuan gave his wrist a slight twist, and the spear traced a sharp crescent of light through the air!
Whoosh!
Schlick!
The powerful sweep sliced the branches and leaves filling the air to shreds!
Xiao Xuan pushed off and shot into the air like an arrow loosed from a bow. The spear tip in his hand flashed with a dazzling sharpness as he brought it down in a precise cut at the base of the Lone Bamboo on the left!
Crack!
The crisp sound of breaking rang through the gorge.
The tough bamboo stalk offered scarcely any meaningful resistance against Xiao Xuan's Three-Star Lone Bamboo and was severed cleanly at the base on the spot.
Xiao Xuan swept out his left hand and caught the first falling thousand-year-old bamboo firmly under his arm. Using the recoil, he lightly kicked off the rock face and turned toward the right!
Sensing an immense crisis, the remaining Thousand-Year Lone Bamboo blazed with cyan light. Its outer defensive layer forcibly thickened severalfold as it tried to withstand the strike by hardening itself.
Xiao Xuan's gaze was cold and clear as he drove the spear straight down from above!
Clang-crack!!
Against the principles of exerting force in Xiao Xuan's mastered spear technique and his tough spear tip, the hardened defense the Thousand-Year Lone Bamboo took pride in was as fragile as thin paper. It was cut in half at once, breaking free of the cliff crevice and falling straight down!
Xiao Xuan landed steadily and reached out with his right hand, catching the second severed bamboo in a firm grip.
Feeling the vigorous life force that still lingered at the broken ends of the two Lone Bamboos, Xiao Xuan let out a long breath, not daring to waste a moment.
According to the system's rules, the spirits of plants used as the primary synthesis materials had to retain their fundamental vitality. Once their life force was completely extinguished and they became lifeless, withered wood, they could no longer be synthesized.
That was also the fundamental reason he had previously been unable to collect them from so far away.
Xiao Xuan gripped a fresh section of Thousand-Year Lone Bamboo in each hand. At the same time, he turned his thoughts inward and fully locked onto the Hair Crystal in his robes within his sea of consciousness!
Activate Three-in-One Fusion of All Things!
Boom!
The instant the words fell, a violent gale suddenly erupted in the air!
The two Thousand-Year Lone Bamboos in Xiao Xuan's hands instantly disintegrated under the system's mighty power, turning into two immense, dense streams of verdant life essence that roared back into Xiao Xuan's Martial Soul!
At the same time, the Hair Crystal in his robes also turned into a streak of light and poured into it!
The three halos of light overlapped and compressed layer upon layer before Xiao Xuan, until they finally drew together and settled into stillness.
[Ding!] [Three-in-One Fusion of All Things complete! Primary materials fused successfully! Extraction of the auxiliary material "Tabular Crystal" trait complete. Perfectly applying it now!] [Congratulations, host! Martial Soul Fusion and star-rank advancement successful. Obtained-Four-Star Lone Bamboo!] [Obtained exclusive additional passive trait: [Armor Piercing]. Ignores the target's defense when attacking!]