Setting Out for the Star Dou Forest

Hunting Soul Beasts was no simple matter, even with two Seven-Ring Soul Sages, Zhao Wuji and Flender, accompanying them.

They had to find Soul Beasts suited to them, and there was no telling how long it would take to find their targets. That depended on luck as well.

This time in particular, Dai Mubai was not adding one Soul Ring, but three, so it would take even longer.

They therefore had to prepare to spend a considerable amount of time in the Star Dou Great Forest, making it necessary to purchase provisions in advance.

Although there were towns near their destination that had grown up around Soul Beast hunting, where they could buy more supplies,

prices in those towns were different from those elsewhere and generally much higher. Flender, the ever-shrewd and stingy academy dean, would not allow himself to be taken for a sucker.

The place Dai Mubai and the other two were going to hunt Soul Beasts was the Star Dou Great Forest, one of the three most famous Soul Beast habitats on the Douluo Continent.

The Star Dou Great Forest was almost as large as the entire Balak Kingdom, stretching across the borders of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire.

Two-fifths of it lay within the Heaven Dou Empire, and the remaining three-fifths within the Star Luo Empire. It was a vast primeval forest with complex terrain.

There were wetlands, swamps, and so on. Countless Soul Beasts lived there, and the closer one got to the center of the forest, the stronger they became. Legend had it that even Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts lived inside.

Dai Mubai, who had read the original work and knew the plot well, understood that this was not a wind out of an empty cave. There really were Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in the core region of the Star Dou Forest.

There were even Ferocious Beasts older than a hundred thousand years, not just Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

Any Soul Master who was strong enough and lucky enough could generally find the Soul Ring best suited to them in the Star Dou Forest.

The Star Dou Great Forest lay between the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, as well as at the very center of the Douluo Continent.

The village where Shrek Academy was located lay in the distant outskirts of Suotuo City, while Suotuo City was on the Lima Plain, known as the granary of the Balak Kingdom, which was a vassal of the Heaven Dou Empire.

The Lima Plain lay west of the Star Dou Great Forest. The two were neither especially far apart nor particularly close.

Even though Dai Mubai, Flender, and Zhao Wuji traveled without pause, dusty and weary from the road, it still took them three days to reach their destination, the Star Dou Great Forest.

Since they had already bought enough dry rations and drinking water to last a month in Suotuo City, as well as medicine for emergencies...

Dai Mubai and the other two did not stop in the towns outside the Star Dou Forest to rest or buy supplies. Instead, they entered the Star Dou Great Forest directly.

"Mubai, what Soul Beasts are you planning to hunt for your First and Second Soul Rings?"

They had not come to the Star Dou Great Forest for training, but purely to hunt Soul Beasts and add Soul Rings.

So after they entered the forest, Dean Flender asked Dai Mubai directly about his target Soul Beasts.

Dai Mubai came from the Star Luo Imperial Family, and his Martial Soul was the imperial family's inherited Martial Soul.

For a major power with an inherited Martial Soul like that, the family would have a corresponding legacy worked out through the trials of countless generations.

It would specify what Soul Rings and Soul Skills the Martial Soul needed, and which Soul Beasts could produce them.

Dai Mubai himself knew this well, so even as his teacher, Flender had no intention of taking it upon himself to pick Soul Beasts for him.

Flender had thought of this, and so had Dai Mubai.

The White Tiger Martial Soul inherited by the Star Luo Dai Family was an incomplete form of the divine-grade Martial Soul, the Evil-Eyed White Tiger Holy King.

It was not the Geng Metal White Tiger Holy Beast he knew from his previous life, one of the four poles of heaven, the four divine beasts, which bore the power of Geng Metal and presided over slaughter.

Although the White Tiger of the Douluo World, the Evil-Eyed White Tiger Holy King, also loved fighting and was likewise suited to a path focused on slaughter,

a path of commanding the metal element of the five elements and wielding the power of Geng Metal might not suit the White Tiger, the Evil-Eyed White Tiger Holy King, Martial Soul.

That was because this White Tiger was not that White Tiger.

Since the White Tiger Martial Soul inherited by the Star Luo Dai Family had a fixed combination for its first three Soul Rings, he had no intention of trying any fancy tricks or being clever and insisting on some innovation.

In the original work, his predecessor's first three Soul Rings and Soul Skills were:

First Soul Skill: White Tiger Protection Barrier

Second Soul Skill: White Tiger Fierce Light Wave

Third Soul Skill: White Tiger Vajra Transformation

These three Soul Skills covered defense, ranged attacks, self-enhancement, and close combat. Overall, they were already quite comprehensive.

Dai Mubai was satisfied with these three Soul Skills and did not want to change them.

If he were to make any changes, in his view, he would at most take into account the spiritual talent gained after the White Tiger Martial Soul was completed and promoted into the Evil Eye White Tiger Martial Soul.

Ensuring that this talent did not go to waste would be enough.

There was no need to change anything else.

Especially now that he had Twin Martial Souls, giving him much more room for error than before.

Even if he ruined his First Martial Soul through cultivation, he still had his Second Martial Soul, the Demonic Weapon Tiger Soul.

So, in response to Flender's question, Dai Mubai immediately answered:

"Dean Flender, if possible, I still want to hunt the same Soul Beasts as before for the first two Soul Rings of my Evil Eye White Tiger Martial Soul."

"But their ages need to be changed a little."

Flender had expected Dai Mubai to hunt the same Soul Beasts as before, so he was not surprised to hear it.

But when Dai Mubai said the Soul Beasts' ages needed to be changed a little, a hint of puzzlement appeared on Flender's otherwise calm face.

"Change their ages a little?"

"Mm." Dai Mubai nodded and looked seriously at Flender and Zhao Wuji.

"Dean Flender, Teacher Zhao, I still want to hunt the same Soul Beasts as before for my First and Second Soul Rings, but this time I don't want hundred-year Soul Beasts. I want thousand-year Soul Beasts."

"If possible, I want an Iron-Armored Tiger around 2,500 to 3,000 years old for my First Soul Ring, and a Holy Light Tiger around 5,000 to 7,000 years old for my Second Soul Ring."

Unlike before, when he had been at the academy and worried about prompting all the teachers to try to dissuade and oppose him, now that he had come to the Star Dou Great Forest, Dai Mubai no longer kept anything hidden.

He stated his thoughts and requirements directly.

"What?! Mubai, kid, have you gone mad? You want your First Soul Ring to be at the thousand-year level, and one that's 2,500 to 3,000 years old at that!"

Both Zhao Wuji and Flender were given a huge fright by Dai Mubai's request.

Flender in particular was close friends with Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang and was both very familiar with and firmly convinced of the Grandmaster's theories.

According to the Grandmaster's theory, the maximum age of a Soul Master's First Soul Ring was 423 years. A high-grade Martial Soul and a strong physique could raise that limit a little, but no matter what, it could not exceed 500 years.

Now Dai Mubai not only wanted to add a Thousand-Year Soul Ring, but one 2,500 to 3,000 years old. At its upper limit, that was six times the standard recorded in the Grandmaster's theory.

How could Flender not be shocked, or wonder whether Dai Mubai's Martial Soul Mutation had damaged his brain?