Douluo Continent has a system, but I don't want to use it.

Chapter 26 Soul Hunting

"Fengyan, the mountains ahead are sparsely wooded, and the rocks have a faint metallic sheen. There might be a Gold-Eating Beast. Let's go take a look."

After searching the Star Dou Great Forest for a week, the two spotted a mountain peak. Fang Tian suggested they go up and take a look.

"Well, let's go up and take a look. I hope it's as you expect," Qiu Fengyan said with a smile.

The two were exhausted after a week of continuous searching. Fang Tian decided that after searching the mountain, regardless of the results, they would leave the Star Dou Great Forest to rest.

Being exhausted in such a dangerous place as the Star Dou Great Forest could easily lead to an accident, so safety should be the priority.

The two searched along the hillside and found many caves dug by the Gold-Eating Beasts. It seemed certain that there were Gold-Eating Beasts here, but they didn't know if any of them were of the right age.

The two searched for another half hour and found several holes of suitable size, where they prepared to release bait.

Although the Gold-Eating Beast often devours metal, its favorite food is actually the Soul Beast termite.

Consuming metal makes the scales on the Gold Eater's body tougher and stronger, while eating termites makes the Gold Eater grow faster.

The two men laid down the bait and waited quietly nearby.

The bait was prepared in advance to make the soul hunting process more convenient and faster.

Half an hour later, a cautious head finally peeked out from a cave.

The Gold-Eating Beast is nocturnal and has a keen sense of smell. It is adept at digging burrows, but moves very slowly. When threatened, it will curl up completely, protecting itself with its scales. It is essentially similar to the pangolin of Earth, even in appearance.

Before long, a gold-devouring beast, about 2.3 meters long and as thick as a bucket, covered in scales, climbed to the bait and began to enjoy its meal.

"System, identify." Fang Tian could naturally tell the age of this Gold-Eating Beast, but with the system around, he still activated it for greater accuracy and to put his mind at ease.

Name: Gold-Eating Beast

Duration: 2305 years

Soul Skills: Iron Armor, Armor Piercing, Digging

Description: A slow-moving, highly defensive soul beast that eats metal and is adept at digging burrows.

Fang Tian confirmed the information and then shut down the system.

"Thump." The gold-devouring beast collapsed to the ground.

The bait we use is specially prepared; the extra amount of sleeping grass, sold at the same price, is incredibly potent and of the highest quality.

"Fengyan, come here quickly! This Gold-Eating Beast is perfect for your martial soul. And it matches the optimal age I calculated, so absorb it quickly." Fang Tian finished packing up the remaining bait and urged Qiu Fengyan to absorb it quickly.

Fang Tian had already explained his theory about soul ring absorption to Qiu Fengyan back in Soto City, and used himself as an example to calculate the maximum number of soul rings she could withstand.

After Qiu Fengyan came out, she did not hesitate for a moment. She immediately summoned her martial soul and plunged her knife into the eye of the Gold Devouring Beast. In a moment, a purple soul ring slowly formed above the Gold Devouring Beast's corpse.

Qiu Fengyan sat cross-legged on the ground and began to absorb the soul ring of the Gold-Eating Beast.

The absorption process was not smooth. During this time, Qiu Fengyan's face was contorted with rage, her whole body trembled, and blood even seeped from her body.

Three hours later, Qiu Fengyan finally absorbed the Gold-Eating Beast's thousand-year soul ring without any major incident and stood up happily.

"Uncle, I successfully absorbed it! The soul skill increases armor penetration by 50%. And I'm level 32 now, a direct increase of two levels. Before, absorbing a soul ring only increased it by one level." Qiu Fengyan told Fang Tian with a face full of joy about her unexpected gains.

"It's possible to absorb a spirit ring beyond the limit, so don't be surprised. You'll encounter this again in the future," Fang Tian explained with a smile.

"Yes! Yes!" Qiu Fengyan nodded with a smile.

Fang Tian actually overlooked one thing: Qiu Fengyan's current meditation method is still the most basic meditation method in Douluo Continent. Otherwise, absorbing the soul ring this time would not have taken so long or been so dangerous.

However, this shouldn't be a problem next time. Once Qiu Fengyan has mastered the Eight Pieces of Brocade from the outside in and unlocked its internal energy circulation path, she can abandon the beginner meditation method from Douluo Continent and use the Eight Pieces of Brocade's internal energy path to cultivate soul power. This is far superior to the meditation method from Douluo Continent.

"Now that you've absorbed the spirit ring, let's go. Let's leave the Star Dou Great Forest and go back to rest."

"Ah, leave? You haven't attached any spirit rings yet," Qiu Fengyan asked in confusion.

"We've been searching here for a week straight, and we're exhausted. Staying in the Starry Sky Forest any longer would be too dangerous. Let's go back and rest before continuing our search," Fang Tian explained to Qiu Fengyan.

"I see. You've thought of everything."

Fang Tian and his companion left the Star Dou Great Forest and rested for three days in a nearby town.

During these three days, Fang Tian realized that he had forgotten something important: he had forgotten about a map before entering the Star Dou Great Forest.

To Fang Tian's shock, however, there was no map of the Star Dou Great Forest for sale in the town. Only powerful forces would bother to draw maps, and even if such a map existed, it was not something an ordinary Soul Master could afford.

Helpless, Fang Tian had no choice but to give up and instead explored the terrain around the Star Dou Great Forest, trying to find an area where the plant soul beasts he needed might live.

Three days later, Fang Tian and his companion had finished their rest and were completely refreshed, heading towards the Star Dou Great Forest with renewed vigor.

Based on his calculations, Fang Tian prioritized searching areas where there might be plant-type spirit beasts like the Sunlight Vine.

Sunflowers typically grow in places with strong sunlight and sparse forests, such as mountain peaks or ridges.

Fang Tian and his companion began their search.

This time, because they had a clear target that wouldn't move, the two searched much faster, finding the target in just three days.

A 3,000-year-old sunflower vine was found on a mountain ridge.

The three-thousand-year-old Sunlight Vine is about twelve meters long. Each segment of the vine has three opposite leaves, which are dark green to almost black. Sunlight is almost entirely absorbed by the vine. After absorbing sunlight, the Sunlight Vine can convert it into soul power or life force, or transform it into a blazing ray of sunlight to attack enemies.

Because the Sunflower Vine can convert sunlight into life force, even if it breaks into several pieces, as long as there are still leaves, it can absorb sunlight and convert it into life force, allowing that piece of vine to grow roots and re-enter the soil, becoming a new Sunflower Vine. Therefore, the Sunflower Vine's vitality can be described as extremely tenacious.

After confirming the age of the Sunflower Vine using the system, Fang Tian directly applied kerosene. Half an hour later, the Sunflower Vine was on the verge of death from the heat.

Fang Tian went up and killed the Sunlight Vine, then sat cross-legged on the ground and began to absorb the Soul Ring.

Fang Tian was already capable of absorbing spirit rings of less than 3,500 years, so absorbing this 3,000-year-old spirit ring was very easy for him, and he finished absorbing it in half an hour.

(End of this chapter)