Lu Mingfei starts from Douluo.

He frowned. Apart from the dean and Tang San, almost no one would knock on his door.

Upon opening the door, a tall figure appeared before them, shrouded in a black robe that faintly exuded the stench of blood.

"Hello, Master, it's been a long time." A deep, hoarse voice rang out.

"It's you!" The master's pupils constricted, his expression changed drastically, and he quickly stepped aside to let the person in.

"It's been over twenty years since we last met," Tang Hao said casually, putting down his hat.

"Haotian Douluo, it has indeed been a long time." Grandmaster said, barely suppressing his excitement. He hadn't expected that after so many years, his idol would look so weathered. "I knew I wasn't wrong, you are Xiao San's father."

“That’s right, I am Xiao San’s father. I’m relieved that Xiao San has become your apprentice.” Tang Hao nodded calmly.

"But what have you been doing lately? Xiao San is still so young, how could you abandon him to take revenge on the Spirit Hall?" Grandmaster stared intently at Tang Hao. Although it had only been half a month, he did have a lot of feelings for Tang San.

"I'm also thinking about his future." Tang Hao shook his head.

"But all I see is you dragging your mistress into the mire or even hell!" Grandmaster gritted his teeth. He had already received news that Tang Hao had destroyed six or seven Spirit Halls and even encountered a hunt.

He already had a blood feud with the Spirit Hall, and now countless Title Douluos across the continent are searching for his whereabouts.

Chapter 16 Planning

Tang Hao looked at the master with a complicated expression and said, "I originally planned to let Xiao San grow up carefree, and then take him home to recognize his ancestors. When I saw him become your disciple, I was actually very satisfied."

"But what happened next was truly a cruel twist of fate," Tang Hao sighed softly.

"You mean the appearance of Xiao Wu and Lu Mingfei, right?" The master had been pondering the purpose of Tang Hao's seemingly crazy actions these past few days.

“That’s right.” Tang Hao nodded: “Originally, Xiao San’s innate full soul power Blue Silver Grass wouldn’t have caused any trouble. Besides, I was very relieved to have you with me. Even with that little girl who became a one-ring soul master early on, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. But Lu Mingfei came along and became the last straw that broke the camel’s back!”

"The appearance of two boys with innate full soul power and a girl who is suspected of having innate full soul power in a small border town like Notting City would be a serious matter even for the current Pope, who would send an envoy to investigate."

“But Xiao San has become my disciple. Out of respect for me, the Spirit Hall would never force or even harm Xiao San.” Grandmaster shook his head. “As for Lu Mingfei and Xiao Wu, what harm is there in letting the Spirit Hall take them away? Xiao San’s safety is the most important thing.”

“You’re right. That kid named Lu Mingfei is naturally insignificant, but Xiao Wu absolutely cannot be discovered by the Spirit Hall!” Tang Hao’s face suddenly darkened.

"Why?" The master's stiff face was full of doubt. He hadn't expected that the root of all Tang Hao's actions was actually this Xiao Wu.

“Because she is a 100,000-year-old transformed soul beast!” Tang Hao said coldly.

The master stood there dumbfounded. A 100,000-year-old soul beast had taken human form! He had only seen a few words about it in the collection of the Spirit City, and originally thought it was just a legend, but he never expected that such a thing would actually happen!

He had no doubt about what Tang Hao said, because that was the only way to explain everything.

The thought of a 100,000-year-old transformed soul beast right under his nose made even a master's heart pound. That was a 100,000-year soul ring and a guaranteed 100,000-year soul bone. If he could absorb them, he could definitely break through to level 29 and gain two 100,000-year soul skills.

However, the master quickly came to his senses, because this was clearly something Tang Hao had prepared for his mistress, and indeed, giving it to his mistress was the best choice.

Tang Hao was very satisfied to see the master quickly regain his composure: "I didn't expect Xiao San to be so lucky. First, he awakened a twin martial soul that is rare in a thousand years, and then he encountered a 100,000-year-old transformed soul beast that fell from the sky. But things probably turn out to be extreme and reversed. Lu Mingfei appeared out of nowhere and overturned my original idea."

"But what does this have to do with your attack on the Spirit Hall branch? You could have easily kidnapped Xiao Wu and locked her up first, or waited for the Spirit Hall people to arrive before striking to silence them and snatch her away, couldn't you?" Grandmaster frowned, believing that Tang Hao's actions had alerted the enemy. Tang San originally had the opportunity to continue his studies peacefully at the academy.

“No, you have no idea. If a transformed soul beast doesn’t want to be captured, no one can get its soul ring.” Tang Hao shook his head and turned around, so no one could see the expression on his face. “My purpose in attacking the Fasno branch was to destroy the latest archives submitted by the Notting City branch. The other branches were just there to confuse the issue. Even if the Spirit Hall discovers something, it will take at least a month to collect, organize, and summarize the records again.”

"This month is the time I'm buying for my mistress."

"Going through all this trouble just for an extra month? What's the point?" The master was also confused. You've already exposed yourself, why don't you hurry up and run away with your mistress and the 100,000-year-old soul beast?

"Of course, it's so that they'll send their troops to find me and Xiao San." Tang Hao said in a deep voice, "Master, in the days to come, try to let Xiao San and Xiao Wu develop their relationship. When the people from the Spirit Hall arrive, that will be the day we leave."

Upon hearing this, the master looked astonished. He instantly understood Tang Hao's plan. Although he felt a chill run down his spine, he couldn't help but admire him.

The master suddenly sighed softly: "Xiao San and Xiao Wu are too young to keep going through all the hardships with you. Once things calm down, you can go to Soto City in the Barak Kingdom and find an academy called Shrek. The dean is a good friend of mine, and I will send all the books there in advance tomorrow so that Xiao San can continue her studies there."

"In addition, I will write a letter to Wuhun City asking her not to issue an arrest warrant for the mistress, since Blue Silver Grass is really not much of a threat."

"Thank you, Master. It's Xiao San's good fortune to have a teacher like you." Tang Hao thanked him softly, then slowly walked out of the room, his tall figure disappearing into the dark night.

-

What does it feel like to fly? Freedom? Exhilaration?

If Lu Mingfei were to answer, it would probably be... enough to make your scalp tingle.

Hundreds of meters above the night sky, surrounded only by the howling wind rushing into your ears, all your words are muffled by the swirling wind, making it impossible to speak clearly or hear anything.

"I think I'm lost?"

Lu Mingfei felt a bit of a headache. He used his wings to travel under the cover of night, but he completely underestimated the difficulty of finding his way at high altitude.

There were no road signs, radar, or speedometer in the sky, and he had no way of knowing where he was, relying on the broken compass in his hand and the map he remembered.

However, he was lucky. Suddenly, a large number of fires appeared ahead, which looked like piles of campfires, clearly indicating a human settlement.

Lu Mingfei landed at an open space far away, put on his backpack, and then crept towards the direction of the firelight.

As he approached, he discovered it was a bustling town; even at night, the sounds of vendors hawking their wares filled the air.

Not far away, the forest was surrounded by a huge steel fence. Outside the fence, there were several watchtowers and well-equipped troops patrolling the forest from time to time.

He had clearly found the right place.

Lu Mingfei surveyed the Soul Hunting Forest from afar. He had read about it in a book; not only were imperial troops stationed around the area, but the Spirit Hall's law enforcement teams also patrolled the area regularly to prevent anyone from indiscriminately killing soul beasts.

Strictly speaking, all the spirit beasts in the forest are the private property of the Empire and the Spirit Hall. They are captured from places like the Star Dou Great Forest and raised there, specifically to facilitate the hunting of low-level spirit masters for their first and second spirit rings. It can be considered a policy that benefits the people.

However, the requirements for entering this place are very strict; the recommendation letters from three nobles alone are a problem that Lu Mingfei cannot solve.

So his plan was to sneak in under cover of darkness to poach, but he was already exhausted from traveling all day and decided to wait until tomorrow night.

As for now, he needs to find a place to set up camp. He can't stay in the town; there are too many people and too many eyes there, and a child like him would be too easily targeted.

Chapter 17 Dragon Scale Horse

The warm yellow sun lazily climbed the hillside, looking somewhat listless. The sunlight felt neither hot nor warm on the skin, and a cool breeze blew from the mountaintop, its chill seeping into the heart and making one shiver.

Lu Mingfei didn't sleep well last night. He spent most of the night setting up his tent and only managed to drift off to sleep wrapped in his blankets. However, the occasional ghostly wails and howls coming from the nearby Soul Hunter Forest kept his nerves on edge.

However, he still had to get up and go to the town market. In broad daylight, there shouldn't be much danger.

This town was built around the Soul Hunting Forest, and there are many professional Soul Hunting teams on the outskirts, making a living by helping Soul Masters hunt for Souls.

Over time, they will definitely have a map of the plant spirit beasts in fixed locations, as well as the approximate locations of some spirit beast habitats.

So today he plans to go out and try his luck as a street urchin, hoping to trigger some hidden plot points, such as overhearing information about some soul beasts.

After packing up his tent and belongings, Lu Mingfei dug a hole to hide in before heading down the mountain into the town.

This town, which was created for the Soul Hunter Forest, primarily serves Soul Masters, who are a well-known high-income group. As a result, the prices in this town are as outrageous as those in a 5A-level scenic spot.

Looking at the exorbitant prices on the restaurant's menu, Lu Mingfei felt the 1.3 yuan he had left in his pocket, bought three sesame seed cakes from the bottom of his heart, and sat down in a corner of the hall to eat them under the waiter's unfriendly gaze.

After all, heroes and warriors of all kinds cannot live without food and drink, and brothels and restaurants have always been the best choice for intelligence gathering.

"Make way, make way."

Just as Lu Mingfei was enjoying the free boiled water, a group of people gradually gathered at the restaurant entrance. He peeked out and discovered that someone had brought over a soul beast corpse, which was probably an ingredient purchased by the restaurant.

The restaurant's signature dish is charcoal-grilled soul beast meat, which costs five silver soul coins a plate, and a hundred-year-old soul beast costs one gold coin. Lu Mingfei thought to himself that it was robbery.

"This thing is a soul beast? It's huge!"

Looking at the wolf-shaped soul beast, which was even larger than a Siberian tiger in a zoo, Lu Mingfei subconsciously swallowed a few times. He suddenly began to doubt his plan to kill the hundred-year-old soul beast by himself. Could such a thing really be killed by poking it with a fire poker?

That night.

Under the cover of darkness, Lu Mingfei mustered his courage. In his original world, he had never even killed a chicken, so to be honest, he was quite unsure about killing a soul beast.

After all, this isn't like fighting monsters in a game where you just show their health bar, go in, do a bunch of combos, and then the game is over.

He also had to evade law enforcement and imperial troops, and to ensure his safety and avoid being exposed, he could only operate during the darkest hours of the night.

Besides, he couldn't be sure if the Soul Hunter Forest had the soul beast he needed; if not, he might have to travel to several more maps.

In short, hunting for soul rings is too difficult. Just thinking about the nine more soul rings he needs to hunt in the future makes Lu Mingfei feel a headache coming on.

With his eyes closed and a thought forming, Lu Mingfei instantly activated his Golden Eyes, and iron-blue membrane wings unfurled from his back.

He called this form "dragon transformation," but he didn't know exactly how powerful it was.

However, he had picked at the dragon scales that had grown on his body and pierced them with an iron spike, and the effect was that he was completely invulnerable to blades and spears. Coupled with his wings that could travel at speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour, this gave him the confidence to hunt souls alone. If he couldn't win, he could simply run away.

Clenching his fist, Lu Mingfei leaped into the sky, deliberately concealing the light of his golden eyes to prevent anyone from noticing.

The entire Soul Hunting Forest stretches across several mountain peaks, comparable to a primeval forest.

After entering from high altitude, Lu Mingfei lowered his flight altitude.

Because the spirit beasts here are all captured and released, there are no flying spirit beasts, so Lu Mingfei hardly needs to worry about being attacked in the air.

From the perspective of the Golden Eyes, the night is as bright as day. Because of the inherent mental pressure, he had only used it three times when he was in the academy to avoid trouble. The only time he actually used it in battle was when he was with Tang San. In fact, he didn't know much about his own eyes.

But tonight he realized how convenient these eyes were; it was like having a radar-like see-through cheat code, and he could even see the soul power fluctuations on the soul beasts.

Looking down, they immediately spotted the trail of more than a dozen soul beasts, but most of them had weak soul power and seemed to be only ten-year-old soul beasts.

After testing it for a while, he immediately flew towards the center. The more powerful the soul beast, the more likely it would occupy the central position. If there were dragon-type soul beasts here, they would never stay in one corner.

Lu Mingfei had no idea how much psychological trauma his unbridled scanning of the forest with his golden eyes tonight had inflicted on these little soul beasts who had left their homes.

For the soul beasts of this continent, the might of the dragon is a fear etched deep into their very souls.

Lu Mingfei's behavior was like walking around Hiroshima with a Tsar Bomba; their legs went weak with fear.

"This is?"

Soon, in a valley, Lu Mingfei found a suspected target.

Among the soul power fluctuations of all the soul beasts that appeared tonight, this one was the most astonishing in strength.

Lu Mingfei immediately recognized it as the Dragon Scale Horse recorded in the Soul Beast Encyclopedia. It was crimson all over, with dragon scales covering its head and limbs. It was extremely fast, and its main attack method was high-speed impact.

It's not unusual to encounter familiar soul beasts in the Soul Hunter Forest.

Notting Academy's Soul Beast Compendium is an official teaching material published by the Empire. In addition to the contributions of some royal and noble Soul Masters, the information in it also comes from the Empire's records of capturing Soul Beasts. Almost all types of Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest are recorded in the Soul Beast Compendium.

He just didn't expect to be so lucky to encounter such a soul beast in the Soul Hunting Forest, a remote area. He originally thought it might take him several months to find it.

"This is it, let's try it out!"

Lu Mingfei made up his mind. Based on the fluctuations in soul power, he could roughly determine that this dragon-scaled horse was a hundred-year-old soul beast. As for the specific age, even the encyclopedia did not provide a method for determining it, since dragon-type soul beasts were extremely rare.

Although the book states that the limit a Soul Master can withstand for their first Soul Ring is about four hundred years, Lu Mingfei could immediately see the problem with that statement.

Whether from gaming experience or objective scientific principles, the lifespan of a Soul Ring should be related to the Soul Master's physical condition.

The truth is that the more powerful a Soul Master is, the more powerful a Soul Ring they can withstand.

A healthy Soul Master can generally withstand a 400-year Soul Ring, but a Soul Master with a congenital disability may not even be able to withstand a 300-year Soul Ring.

Furthermore, a powerful soul beast's ten-year soul ring will definitely be stronger than a weak soul beast's hundred-year soul ring.

The content in the book is just a summary of general rules for the benefit of all Soul Masters on the mainland.

But Lu Mingfei knew exactly how inhuman his dragon-transformed form was; he could probably withstand even a thousand-year soul ring.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Mingfei pulled out the iron spike, flapped his wings to lower his altitude, his muscles tensed, ready to face his first soul beast hunting battle.

He didn't feel anything while he was in the air, but as he got closer, Lu Mingfei suddenly felt as if he were facing a heavy armored vehicle.

However, just when Lu Mingfei thought it might launch a lightning attack at any moment, the Dragonscale Horse didn't utter a sound, directly prostrated itself on all fours, and knelt down cleanly and neatly.

Chapter 18 The Shadowless One, Dilu

"What the hell are you doing, bro? I'm here to kill you!"

Lu Mingfei's eyes widened; countless hypotheses had just flashed through his mind.

I might, like a Spanish bullfighter, use my agility and the advantage of flight to dodge left and right in this encounter, and then seize the opportunity to stab the opponent in the heart when it is exhausted, ending the battle.

It's also possible that the opponent will be like the legendary Shadowless Swordsman, displaying a speed that even amazes oneself, knocking oneself away in one fell swoop, forcing one to retreat and try to regroup.

But why did you kneel down and surrender? Don't you care about the dignity of dragon-type spirit beasts?

Or are you trying to lure the enemy in? That would be incredibly cunning.

The dragon-scaled horse had no idea what Lu Mingfei was thinking. It only knew that it was facing a terrifying being whose bloodline was countless times more noble than its own. It had to kneel down immediately, both physically and spiritually, and it would not complain even if it had to jump off the mountain right now!

loyalty!

Lu Mingfei scratched his head, wondering if anyone could tell him how to continue in this situation.