Although Mu Yueye had given Xuan Zi a piece of his mind, Xuan Zi showed no displeasure. Instead, he smiled and said to Yan Shaozhe,
"That little brat has quite a personality. I like him. That's the kind of talent Shrek needs: someone who stands up for what's right and isn't afraid of those in power."
Yan Shaozhe smiled, then said to Xuan Zi,
"Yes. Most students would be scared out of their wits just meeting that boy Du Weilun, let alone you. The quality of the students has been getting worse and worse, starting with the outer academy."
Xuan Zi took a swig of wine, then said casually,
"That's for you youngsters to work on. An old fellow like me, with one foot in the grave, can't manage it anymore."
Yan Shaozhe looked at Mu Yueye and sighed.
"Come to think of it, I'm not so young myself. Before long, it'll be their turn. Every new generation replaces the old."
Xuan Zi didn't respond, silently gnawing on his chicken leg instead. Fortunately, the rest of the night was calm, with no further disturbances.
The next morning, Mu Yueye got up and saw faint dark circles under Zhang Lexuan's eyes. He frowned and said,
"Sister Lexuan, didn't you sleep well last night?"
Zhang Lexuan yawned, then said,
"I was a little uneasy. After all, Elder Xuan last night..."
Mu Yueye smiled, then reached out and pinched Zhang Lexuan's cheek.
"Don't dwell on it. Elder Xuan isn't a petty man. What's done is done; there's no need to keep it on your mind."
Zhang Lexuan nodded, then looked deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest. She took a deep breath and said,
"Should we go deeper next, or explore farther around at our current depth first?"
On the surface, Zhang Lexuan was asking Mu Yueye, but she was also seeking the opinions of the two Super Douluo hidden nearby. Between them, the two had spent almost longer in the Star Dou Great Forest than Mu Yueye had spent cultivating.
Their experience in Soul Hunting naturally went without saying.
Yan Shaozhe emerged from hiding, with Xuan Zi following beside him. The two walked over to Mu Yueye, and Xuan Zi said,
"Xiao Ye, hold out your hand."
Mu Yueye glanced at Xuan Zi, but held out his hand. Xuan Zi simply placed two fingers, shiny with grease, on Mu Yueye's wrist.
Mu Yueye frowned and was about to speak when he felt a jolt race from his wrist straight to his dantian. Before he could react, the Soul Power in his body began to defend him and counterattack on its own.
With less than two rings, Mu Yueye was certainly no match for Xuan Zi, but Xuan Zi clearly wasn't trying to use him to assert his authority.
The next moment, the two streams of Soul Power intertwined and grappled inside Mu Yueye's blood vessels. He felt the vessels all over his body alternate between swelling and contracting.
A moment later, Xuan Zi withdrew his hand and nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad, not bad. With Xiao Ye's current cultivation, absorbing a 3,500-year Soul Ring won't be a problem. Let's keep going. There are still Hundred-Year Soul Beasts around here. Apart from that family of Wolf Bandits that wandered in from elsewhere, there won't be any higher-level thousand-year Soul Beasts."
After speaking, Xuan Zi looked deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest and said,
"Let's search deeper in."
As the most experienced person there, Xuan Zi settled the group's course with those words.
After walking for another whole morning, Mu Yueye and Zhang Lexuan stopped to rest by a stream, while Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe kept watch over their surroundings from the shadows.
With Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe standing guard, they felt much more at ease. Even if a Soul Beast suddenly appeared, it would be a test from Xuan Zi, not a real threat to their lives.
The two of them were among the few groups who could feel relaxed in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Still, Mu Yueye remained somewhat nervous. After roasting a fish and sharing it with Zhang Lexuan, he began taking turns with her to rest.
After all, with Xuan Zi involved, the chances of an accident were a little higher.
Just as Mu Yueye leaned against a tree to rest in its shade, Zhang Lexuan suddenly nudged him.
Mu Yueye opened his eyes and saw Zhang Lexuan pointing toward the pool, excitement in her eyes.
Mu Yueye followed her finger and saw a creature with a horse-like outline by the pool.
Its entire body was white, with a long horn on its head that looked like glazed glass. A pair of white wings rested against its sides as it lowered its head like a horse to drink from the stream.
Even this ordinary act of drinking had a noble elegance when performed by the unicorn.
It was as though it were drinking jade dew and celestial nectar rather than ordinary stream water.
Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe also gathered around. Yan Shaozhe couldn't help exclaiming,
"My junior brother's luck is truly incredible. To think he'd encounter a variant that has only a one-in-a-million chance of appearing among Heavenly Dragon Horses."
"What kind of Soul Beast is that?"
Mu Yueye and Zhang Lexuan asked Yan Shaozhe at the same time. Yan Shaozhe replied,
"It's a Holy Radiance Unicorn. According to legend, it's a rare beast that can only possibly be born among the descendants of a Heavenly Dragon Horse whose dragon bloodline has undergone a second mutation, activating the light element in its bloodline and forming a special inner core resembling a light-element crystal."
Yan Shaozhe slowly explained the origins of the Holy Radiance Unicorn, then took a deep breath and said,
"This kind of Soul Beast carries a trace of the power of fortune. Although it can't seek good fortune and avoid disaster like those legendary Emperor Auspicious Beasts, or help the Soul Beasts around it cultivate, it can always make the most correct choice in battle."
Xuan Zi, meanwhile, had been observing the unicorn with narrowed eyes. He sighed and said to Yan Shaozhe,
"What good luck? It's all for nothing. This unicorn is at least five thousand years old. Xiao Ye can't absorb its Soul Ring."
Yan Shaozhe froze at that, then took a closer look. He couldn't help slapping his thigh and sighing inwardly.
The slap startled the Holy Radiance Unicorn. It jerked its head up and met the group's eyes.
The next moment, for reasons unknown, the unicorn leaped into the air and spread its wings. It then pointed the single horn on its head forward and thrust it toward Mu Yueye.
"Courting death!"
Xuan Zi wasn't slacking off this time, so he reacted immediately. He shot up a hand, and a surge of formidable Soul Power formed in front of Mu Yueye.
It immediately pressed the unicorn down in front of him.
Mu Yueye stared at the struggling unicorn for a long while, then turned to Xuan Zi and said,
"Old Xuan, I'm going to try absorbing this unicorn's Soul Ring."
Xuan Zi immediately frowned and said to Mu Yueye,
"My senses can't be wrong. At most, you can absorb a 3,500-year Soul Ring. This is only your Second Soul Ring; 3,500 years is already a very high upper limit for you. This unicorn's horn is so long that it's clearly over five thousand years old."
Mu Yueye said...