Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 27 A Successful Soul Hunt

The next morning, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong strolled side by side on a road far from the Sea God Lake.

Since Wang Dong didn't speak, Huo Yuhao naturally didn't either, and both of them quietly completed the journey.

Both of them were headed to the gate of Shrek Academy, but Wang Dong was going back to his sect, while Huo Yuhao was going to participate in the Soul Hunting event.

"See you next month." After waving to Wang Dong, Huo Yuhao didn't linger and walked directly towards the leader of the Soul Hunter Squad.

This Soul Hunt was led by a powerful attacker with a mutated Martial Soul, the Flaming Lion King, and a Soul Saint with a Soul Power of Level 73. In addition to Huo Yuhao, three other students also participated in this Soul Hunt.

Although only the top three teams in the freshman assessment are qualified to request Shrek Academy to send teachers to help with soul hunting for free.

However, other students can join the Soul Hunting Team by paying a certain amount of Gold Soul Coins. This is also a common practice for students to obtain Soul Rings, since the benefits and risks of Soul Hunting are both present.

Compared to unorganized hunting teams, Shrek Academy, with its more prestigious reputation, is naturally more reliable, which is why Shrek Academy's fees are often much higher.

Within the inner academy, to gain the assistance of teachers and elders in soul hunting, aside from exceptional talent and special favor, ordinary students need to accumulate contributions through their daily tasks.

Looking at Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong seemed to want to say something, but he only waved his hand and said softly, "Goodbye." Then he turned around and left as if he were fleeing.

Witnessing this scene, the Soul Saint expert didn't say much. He was also a teacher in the inner academy, and he was used to seeing students who were close to each other parting ways.

After scanning the group, the Soul Saint expert spoke up: "My name is Lie Yong, you can call me Teacher Lie. I'm sure Director Du has already shown you my information, so I won't go into any more detail."

"Hunting souls has always been risky, and even though we are heading to the outer edge of the Star Dou Great Forest this time, we must not be careless."

"In the complex and intricate forest environment, even I, as a Soul Saint, cannot guarantee that I will return safely every time."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "If you're worried, you can leave now. Once you enter the Star Dou Great Forest, it will be too late to regret it."

"I won't take action against ordinary soul beasts that have been around for ten years or have just broken through a hundred years. I'll leave them to the four of you to deal with. I'll only take action against soul beasts with a cultivation level of five hundred years or more."

"Any other questions?"

All three students shook their heads, indicating that there was no problem. Huo Yuhao didn't say anything more. In any case, if something unexpected happened, the most unlucky one would definitely not be him, who was the best prepared.

"Alright, all three of you are level 20 Soul Masters. This time we're going to acquire your second Soul Ring. Let's exchange information about your Martial Souls and Soul Skills to avoid any unexpected situations during the battle."

The other three briefly introduced their martial spirits.

The two possess two weapon spirits, one a shield and the other a bow. They are defensive and agile attack type battle spirit masters, respectively. Their first spirit skills are a spirit skill that uses the spirit itself to deflect force and block, and a wind-attribute arrow attack with extremely high speed.

The last person is quite special. His martial soul is the support-type beast martial soul, the Mad Queen Bee, and his first martial soul is a group-enhancing soul skill.

With her current soul power, she can provide a speed boost for up to five soul masters for a maximum of ten minutes. The strength of the boost depends on the soul master's physical attributes and is not a particularly powerful soul skill.

"Hmm, a defense-type, agility-type, support-type, and control-type setup should be fine for dealing with most soul beasts. Alright, since there are no problems, let's set off now."

Immediately, Lie Yong led four twelve-year-old students toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

Along the way, due to the different paces and physical strength of the three, it still took them several days to reach the outer edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Upon seeing the familiar signpost, Huo Yuhao's expression turned serious; further in was the place he had transmigrated from.

Although he ultimately escaped unharmed, the panic he felt when he first transmigrated was still fresh in his memory. However, he had now adapted to this world and was no longer at a loss for what to do in such unexpected situations.

Before entering the Star Dou Great Forest, Huo Yuhao had already activated the most basic form of the Eye of Truth.

Through his Eye of Truth, he observed various traces in the forest, which allowed him to lead his team to avoid those spirit beasts that were not their hunting targets but were more difficult to deal with.

Meanwhile, Lie Yong sat in the center of the group, keeping an eye on everything around him and sensing the aura of the surrounding soul beasts.

Although they only operate in the outer areas of the Star Dou Great Forest, there is still a possibility of encountering thousand-year-old soul beasts, and soul beasts of this level are definitely not something a one-ring soul master can handle.

However, Lie Yong glanced at Huo Yuhao, who was calmly guiding the group from the back, and nodded to himself.

Although nominally a Soul Hunting event, each Soul Hunting team's instructor also has the responsibility of scoring the students participating in the Soul Hunting event.

This is to identify special trainees who may not have an advantage in head-on arena combat, but are better suited to unexpected environments like the wilderness.

"The other three performed unremarkable, but this student named Huo Yuhao has excellent observation skills. Even without activating his soul skill, he has such keen observation abilities; no wonder he's a core student of the first year."

"Not only in arena battles, but also in the wild, he's remarkably calm and composed. Hmm, not bad."

Not long after they started walking, the group was lucky enough to encounter their first target spirit beast.

A tiny bird, no bigger than a palm, was flitting among the flowers. Judging from the appearance, these flowers were about five hundred years old and were the blooms of a plant-type soul beast called the Wind Chime Grass.

The little bird circling above it, collecting nectar, is a wind-attribute soul beast known for its speed—the Sonic Hummingbird.

Moreover, judging from its appearance, its cultivation level should have just broken through five hundred years, which is just right for the level 20 agility-type soul master in the team. The soul master was also excited to see a soul beast that suited his taste.

Seeing this, Lie Yong waved his hand, preventing the students from rushing forward. Instead, he directly entered the state of Martial Soul Possession, but at this moment, he controlled and concealed his aura very well.

Only the right arm transformed into a crimson lion's paw. Immediately afterward, a crimson palm print struck the Sonic Hummingbird, knocking it unconscious with just the right amount of force.

Then, with a sudden, feigned clench of his right palm, the palm print circled around and pulled the stunned Sonic Hummingbird back.

At this moment, accompanied by the Soul Saint's scorching soul power, although it did not kill the sonic hummingbird with only five hundred years of cultivation, the hummingbird was covered in wounds, with burn marks all over its body, and it was obviously not long for life.

Whether it's the control of martial spirits or the application of soul power, the experience and skills of this Soul Saint leading the team are far beyond what the first-year students can match.

Huo Yuhao, on the other hand, focused on the circulation of soul power within the Soul Saint's body and the meridians it traversed when the Soul Saint controlled his Martial Soul to unleash a Soul Power Palm Print, and memorized it.

The student whose martial soul was a bow-type weapon martial soul quickly went up to finish off the incapacitated soul beast and then began to absorb its soul rings.

Under Lie Yong's protection, the absorption process went very smoothly. Although this Sonic Hummingbird was not at its maximum age, it was very suitable for the attributes and type of this Soul Master's Martial Soul.

Lie Yong nodded and said calmly, "Let's continue."

Then, with an air of superiority, he stood with his hands behind his back and led the group of students on a continued journey through the forest.

It seemed that good fortune was on Huo Yuhao's side, because before nightfall, another target soul beast came into their view.

A giant tortoise, enormous in size, covered in hard rocky skin and with a thick shell, appeared before everyone.

The giant tortoise moved slowly and did not react much even when it saw unfamiliar humans; it simply retracted all its exposed body parts into its shell.

"Rock Turtle, does anyone here know its exact cultivation level and age?" Lie Yong wanted to test everyone present, so he asked.

While the other three were still recalling, Huo Yuhao spoke up directly: "The way to identify the cultivation level of the Rock Turtle is through the shell on its back."

"The shells of rock turtles less than a thousand years old are yellowish-brown. Every ten years, some of the rock formed by the shells on their backs will merge together. Originally, there were ten pieces."

"For every hundred years that a person's cultivation level increases, a piece of their tortoise shell will merge into the other tortoise shells, until they eventually become one, solid as rock without any gaps, and thus become a thousand-year-old soul beast."

"And each of the six plates on the back of this rock tortoise has seven lines, so its cultivation period is about 670 years, with an error margin of no more than 30 years."

"Well, there are no other spirit beasts around, so I'll leave this giant tortoise to you. I'll keep watch for you." Lie Yong nodded in satisfaction and then said.

Rock turtles are timid by nature and always defend themselves when facing predators. Their innate soul skill is shell shattering, which allows them to reduce the attacks of predators by breaking a line on their rocky shell.

The intensity of the attack reduction increases linearly with the total number of shells. Even a Rock Turtle with only one shell that has undergone metamorphosis has outstanding defensive capabilities, even among thousand-year-old soul beasts.

Therefore, although the Rock Turtle itself has no offensive capabilities, there are not many soul beasts in the world of soul beasts that would choose the Rock Turtle, a tough bone that cannot be chewed, as prey. So the Rock Turtle's greatest natural enemy is the defensive soul master who covets their innate soul skills.

With a series of clanging sounds, accompanied by the scraping of the skin by a group of soul masters, only one layer of the shell on the rock tortoise's back was broken, and the remaining six tortoise shell patterns seemed to be mocking everyone.

In fact, Lie Yong's purpose was to let the archery weapon spirit master who had just obtained his second spirit skill practice. After all, the second spirit skill that had just been obtained needed to be tested in actual combat.

The Rock Turtle, with its strong defense and lack of aggression, is naturally the perfect target.

Seeing everyone except Huo Yuhao, who hadn't attacked at all, Lie Yong waved his hand and simply used the most basic martial soul possession technique again.

He then smashed the remaining shell of the Rock Turtle with absolute force, revealing the Rock Turtle's vulnerable and severely injured body.

"Alright, finish them off. This place is pretty good. The rest of you, find a spot nearby to set up camp and prepare for the night." Lie Yong waved his hand and said to the shield-wielding soul weapon master who was strutting up with a low-level melee soul tool in hand.

As the night passed, four trainees took turns keeping watch, while Lie Yong would only intervene when a trainee was in danger.

Although the Star Dou Great Forest wasn't very safe at night, Huo Yuhao's choice of location meant he didn't encounter anything particularly unusual that night.

In the following days, the group also found a suitable spirit ring for another spirit master whose spirit was the beast spirit, the Mad Bee Queen.

Coincidentally, this spirit ring was produced by a six-hundred-year-old Mad Sound Bee Queen, which is the original source of the martial soul, making it a top-notch choice.

"Yes, we've already traversed almost the entire outer perimeter of the Star Dou Great Forest. Further ahead lies the mixed zone, which is where spirit-attribute soul masters face more trouble."

"After all, spirit-attribute spirit beasts are rare, and most spirit-attribute spirit beasts live alone, making them difficult to find."

Lie Yong glanced at Huo Yuhao and continued, "However, since the academy promised to do its best to obtain the most suitable spirit ring for you, it will not go back on its word. Let's go back to the city to rest first, and then I will take you deeper into the mixed zone."

Upon hearing this, the other three had no objections. After all, they had already obtained their desired spirit rings and naturally did not want to take any more risks by lingering in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Huo Yuhao nodded. In fact, he had already learned from Tianmeng Ice Silkworm about a suitable place for a soul beast to live in not long after he arrived.

That was the territory of the Big-Headed Spirit Ape. Although that area was located on the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest and the mixed zone, it was also one of the routes that Huo Yuhao and his group could choose to return to Shrek City at this time.

This is also the result of Huo Yuhao constantly modifying the route and guiding the enemy during the Soul Hunting Operation in the past few days.

"Alright, let's head back to the city first. Maybe we'll get lucky and encounter a suitable soul beast on the way back." Huo Yuhao didn't refuse, but instead led everyone towards the area where the big-headed spirit apes gathered.

On the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, these big-headed spirit apes are considered a relatively powerful group. Coupled with their spiritual attributes and gregarious characteristics, the strength of this group is far beyond that of ordinary solitary spirit beasts.

This information was obtained by Tianmeng Ice Silkworm when it used its spiritual power to suppress the outer perimeter of the Star Dou Great Forest during its fusion with Huo Yuhao. In just under a year, such a large group of Big-Headed Spirit Apes should not have disappeared so easily.

(End of this chapter)