"Brother Lin, I was wrong."
Xiao Wu held her head and apologized to Xiao Lin in a meek tone, clearly afraid he'd flick her forehead.
"What are you ducking for? I'm not going to hit you."
"Oh—oh!"
Xiao Wu let out a quiet sigh of relief, then turned to face Xiao Lin, gave him an awkward smile, and sidled over to stand beside Tang San.
Xiao Lin shot her a disgruntled look, then lay back on the bed and continued reading his book.
"Brother Lin? Are you still going after those same three soul beasts from before?"
Seeing Tang San completely immersed in cultivation, Xiao Wu didn't disturb him and instead started probing Xiao Lin for intel.
"Yeah, still those three. I haven't found better alternatives for now."
"Just not sure if the Star Dou Great Forest has ones that are two-thousand-year-old."
Xiao Lin replied casually, then quickly added as he realized what he said:
"But the Star Dou Forest is so big—of course there must be some."
Xiao Wu responded briefly, then fell silent, eyes flickering as she lowered her head.
Thankfully, Brother Xiao Lin wasn't planning on getting new soul beasts.
Xiao Wu didn't return home this time for nothing. Aside from her regular training, she'd been roaming the Star Dou Great Forest with Er Ming.
Mostly, they wandered around the mixed zone.
She had explained to Da Ming and Er Ming that her two "little brothers" needed suitable soul beasts for their soul rings, and in order to avoid any accidents with random beasts, she had to help find specific ones.
As it turned out, Xiao Wu not only found the Puffy Cotton and Soul-Gathering Pumpkin that Tang San wanted, but also the Lightning Leopard Xiao Lin was looking for.
That despicable Lightning Leopard—always bullying the adorable Soft Bone Rabbits. It deserved to die.
Xiao Wu held some resentment in her heart. The Soft Bone Rabbit species were inherently weak and generally lived on the forest's outskirts.
But that Lightning Leopard, relying on its speed, would often dart between the outskirts and mixed zone, specifically targeting weak Soft Bone Rabbits.
This time, Xiao Wu specially found a 2,200-year-old Lightning Leopard and had Er Ming drive it toward the mixed zone near the part of the forest closest to Nuoding City.
As for the Puffy Cotton and Soul-Gathering Pumpkin Tang San wanted, although she found both, the Soul-Gathering Pumpkin was too strong—it was already over 3,500 years old.
So, she had to settle for just the Puffy Cotton for Tang San.
Hopefully, this way, fewer soul beasts in the forest would die unnecessarily.
Xiao Wu felt mentally exhausted from all this planning.
Next time Brother Lin tries researching his self-condensed soul ring, she had to mention some methods in a speculative tone.
Maybe that way, there wouldn't be as much killing in the future.
As a soul beast in human form, Xiao Wu had turned into a human child, but she still felt a deep affection for soul beasts.
As for humans, she'd learned from books that soul masters typically saw soul beasts as precious treasures meant for them.
Most soul masters wouldn't kill indiscriminately; they'd only kill suitable soul beasts to absorb their soul rings.
This left Xiao Wu torn—part of her was conflicted, while another part hoped for peace between humans and soul beasts someday.
But… such a future seemed almost impossible.
From what she knew, it might only become feasible if Xiao Lin succeeded in his research on self-condensed soul rings.
If someone could successfully condense a soul ring on their own, and only absorb a soul beast's energy until it reached the ring's limit, then perhaps the soul beast could survive.
Of course, that wasn't guaranteed. Some weaker soul masters might just go after multiple weak soul beasts instead.
Xiao Wu had thought about that possibility too.
Still, overall, if humans could start raising soul beasts themselves, then their soul power supply wouldn't be lacking, and the number of soul beasts wouldn't drop dramatically.
That's why Xiao Wu fully supported Xiao Lin's research.
She even got the method to condense a soul core from Da Ming and Er Ming.
She was no longer the slacker Brother Lin jokingly called her.
Hmph!
Xiao Wu snorted internally, then sat down on the bed beside Tang San and began meditating.
Because of Xiao Lin's involvement, Tang San and Xiao Wu now had some money.
So, the two no longer shared a bed.
On her own bed, Xiao Wu thought, Brother Lin is already level 20—it makes sense for me to break through soon too.
With that in mind, she began accumulating soul power and charging toward level 20.
Just as Xiao Wu started meditating, Tang San also stopped circulating his Xuan Tian Skill.
He slowly opened his eyes and saw Xiao Wu on the nearby bed. A surge of emotion rose in his heart, but he didn't disturb her cultivation.
He turned to Xiao Lin with a smile.
"Brother Lin, I failed to break through to level 20, but my soul power did increase a bit."
It was impossible for Tang San to level up again so soon after a recent advancement.
This was more normal. Xiao Lin nodded with a smile.
"Xiao Wu is at level 19. When the time comes, the three of us can go to the Star Dou Great Forest together to hunt soul beasts."
"Yeah, but I think we can set off now—just depends on what Xiao Wu says."
Tang San figured it might take ten days to half a month to find suitable soul beasts in the forest.
By then, Xiao Lin might have already found his target and broken through.
Same could go for Xiao Wu.
So Tang San had already started urging Xiao Lin—he didn't want him to wait too long at level 20.
As for why Tang San thought this way, it was all thanks to Yu Xiaogang's "Ten Core Competencies" theory.
Things like how a soul master, upon reaching levels like 20 or 30, didn't need to immediately obtain a soul ring, as their soul power could still grow.
Tang San, a martial arts prodigy, had looked into this carefully.
It was true—but it depended on how much soul power a person could hold.
Like squeezing water from a sponge, there'd always be a little more.
Soul power was the same. But if someone had poor talent and blocked meridians, how much extra power could they really store?
Although Xiao Lin had transformed his Xuan Tian Skill into the Vajra Indestructible Body, his soul power was too firm and hard to compress.
This made it difficult for him to store much, and now he could only rely on external soul bones to store more power.
Naturally, Tang San was anxious. He already knew the golden age for cultivation was before age 20.
Making Xiao Lin wait for him gave him a sense of guilt.
Xiao Lin wasn't his real brother, but he might as well be.
He shared all his adventures with him, no secrets at all.
Even Tang San himself couldn't say he'd do the same.
While Xiao Lin and Tang San were chatting, Xiao Wu had stopped meditating too.
She was naturally hyperactive, and with them talking, she simply gave up meditating.
"Xiao San, you two weren't even going to call me?"
Xiao Wu's delicate little face wrinkled as she spoke with a pouty, slightly aggrieved tone.
"Haha, welcome back, Xiao Wu."
Tang San opened his arms for a hug.
"Alright, let's go request leave and then head to the Star Dou Great Forest for soul hunting."
Xiao Lin rolled his eyes, opened the door of Dorm Seven, and walked out.
Behind him, Tang San and Xiao Wu acted overly intimate, chattering warmly about the fun things that had happened to them over the past two months.
Nuoding Academy – Academic Affairs Office
"What!?"
"You three all want to take more than a month off?"
The director of academic affairs jumped to his feet, his face full of disbelief and exaggerated shock.
"School just started, and you want to take leave? Why not just take another month off vacation?"
"Sounds good to me," Xiao Lin replied shamelessly.
"Get out! I don't want to see you!"
The director cursed and threw out three leave slips.
(End of chapter)