The next morning.
The two of them left the Soul Hunting Forest and hired another carriage, setting off toward the Star Dou Great Forest.
It wasn't until he woke up that morning that Xiao Yan began to consider why they had suddenly changed forests to hunt soul beasts.
There was no need to overthink it—eighty to ninety percent chance Tang Hao had said something.
The soul beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest were clearly too low-level. They needed to go somewhere else to find stronger beasts, ideally ones that could provide a ten-thousand-year soul ring.
He just didn't know whether Tang Hao was still hiding nearby.
"Xiao Yan, the Star Dou Great Forest is one of the three most famous soul beast habitats on the entire Douluo Continent. Its size is nearly equal to that of the Balak Kingdom. It spans the borders of both the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire. Two-fifths of it lie within our Heaven Dou Empire, and the other three-fifths are in the Star Luo Empire.
It's a massive primeval forest, with complex terrain including wetlands, swamps, and more. The soul beasts inside are terrifying. The deeper you go, the stronger they become. Even hundred-thousand-year soul beasts can be found in its depths.
Any soul master with enough strength and a bit of luck can find the perfect soul ring for themselves there."
Xiao Yan didn't let his anger cloud his judgment. He paid careful attention to the place they were heading—especially since it might be filled with danger.
Hundred-thousand-year soul beasts! He hadn't expected the Star Dou Great Forest to be this terrifying.
Given his current strength, he could only handle soul beasts of around sixty thousand years. Any stronger, and he'd have no choice but to run.
Let's hope luck was on his side in the coming days.
"Xiao Yan, the Star Dou Great Forest is nothing like the Soul Hunting Forest. The beasts there are numerous and extremely aggressive. They have no goodwill toward humans. Once we enter, you must be extremely cautious," said Yu Xiaogang, his expression unusually serious.
"Don't worry. I wouldn't joke around with my own life," Xiao Yan replied calmly.
Yu Xiaogang nodded and closed his eyes to rest. Although the snake venom had been cleared thanks to Tang Hao, he still needed time to fully recover before entering the Star Dou Great Forest.
Xiao Yan turned his head and looked out the carriage window. As the Soul Hunting Forest receded into the distance, his mind wandered back to the complex relationship between the Spirit Hall and the Empire.
Though the Soul Hunting Forest was technically under imperial control, one needed Spirit Hall's approval to enter it, and patrols inside were also handled by Spirit Hall personnel.
In a soul master-dominated world like Douluo Continent, a place like the Soul Hunting Forest was a treasure trove beyond estimation.
Yet, it was like having a massive vault of wealth, while the key was in someone else's hands.
Even ordinary people would find that hard to swallow!
Xiao Yan was certain that serious friction already existed beneath the surface between the Spirit Hall and the Empire. The longer this tension simmered, the more explosive its eventual outbreak would be—potentially plunging the entire continent into a storm of chaos.
Beyond that, Xiao Yan believed Spirit Hall was playing a very smart game.
Grandmaster once said: entering the Soul Hunting Forest was easy—you just needed recommendations from three nobles.
In this world ruled by bloodline supremacy, nobles were undoubtedly all soul masters.
Spirit Hall had likely been planning this for a long time. It was entirely possible that a large number of nobles had already been infiltrated.
By setting such rules, any new soul master would immediately be noticed by the nobility. They could then be drawn into their ranks from the start.
If one family's offer wasn't enticing enough, surely out of three, one would succeed.
And that's just the commoner soul masters. For those born into noble families, their entire clan might already lean toward Spirit Hall.
Xiao Yan sighed inwardly: The road ahead won't be easy!
If Spirit Hall suddenly took action, their strongholds across cities would become miniature military bases.
If they acted within cities with weak defenses, they could rely on their powerful soul masters to quickly seize large areas.
"Encircle the cities from the countryside"—by cutting off key cities from nearby small towns, they could establish a foothold. Then, with their overwhelming numbers of soul masters, unless the Heaven Dou Empire and Star Luo Empire had robust emergency strategies, they'd be hard-pressed to resist.
Xiao Yan touched his nose and thought to himself: If the opportunity arises, I need to build my own force. If war breaks out across the continent, I'll need a way to protect myself.
The Star Dou Great Forest lay in the southeast of the Balak Kingdom, with a small section bordering it. Since the Fasno Province also bordered the Balak Kingdom, Xiao Yan and Yu Xiaogang were now only about 500 kilometers from the forest.
Even with that distance, it wasn't until mid-morning on the third day that they finally arrived at one of the forest's entrances by carriage.
The Star Dou Great Forest sat to the south of the Heaven Dou Empire, spanning both empires. Due to the dense concentration of soul beasts, it also marked one of the most poorly defined national borders.
From the map, most of the forest lay within the Star Luo Empire, though the Heaven Dou Empire would never admit that.
As one of the three great wild soul beast habitats, this forest was the dream destination for soul masters. Every trip here marked a chance at advancement.
No one knew how long the Star Dou Great Forest had existed on the Douluo Continent, but once inside, its ancient and towering canopy made its age obvious.
From a distance, Xiao Yan could already feel waves of fresh air blowing toward them. The fragrant scent of plants was refreshing and invigorating. Training in such a place would surely yield twice the results with half the effort.
"This place feels similar to where I met the Blue Silver King... Could it be that Holy Soul Village is near the Star Dou Great Forest?"
Thinking of how his village lay at the border between the Star Luo and Heaven Dou Empires, Xiao Yan began to suspect that he may have stumbled into the Star Dou Great Forest back then by accident.
He was much faster than a horse-drawn carriage, after all.
The towering trees were at least thirty meters tall—and that was just at the edge of the forest. The dense woods had no clear paths, only layered shadows. One couldn't even see what lay beyond them.
As they approached the forest, the air grew even more pleasant, as if the temperature had dropped a few degrees. The clean, moist scent of earth and leaves stimulated their senses.
Xiao Yan and the Grandmaster entered the forest, heading deeper in.
Since it was early morning, many soul beasts were still asleep. After traveling for half a day, the two hadn't encountered any danger.
"Xiao Yan, shall we stop here and eat something?" Yu Xiaogang suggested, halting in place.
"I'm afraid not yet."
Ever since they entered the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiao Yan had kept his Purple Demon Eyes activated, giving him incredible vision and perception—allowing him to sense danger ahead of time.
Their lack of encounters so far was largely thanks to that.
Yu Xiaogang looked around cautiously and asked in a low voice: "What is it? Is a soul beast heading our way?"
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