After awakening her Martial Soul, Xuan Yuan Qingli's speed increased significantly, covering seventy or eighty miles a day.
The two traveled south, bypassing Blazing Fire City, and arrived at Notting City in the Fasno Province after two months.
This was the southernmost city of the Heaven Dou Empire, bordering the Star Luo Empire.
While not 100% safe, the chances of being found by pursuers were greatly reduced.
"Notting City is quite prosperous,"
Xuan Yuan Qingli thought to herself, looking at the people coming and going on the streets and the various goods.
Although Notting City wasn't a large city, its proximity to the Star Luo Empire meant that merchants from both empires transited their goods here, boosting the city's development and benefiting the surrounding villages, where farmers lived better than elsewhere.
"Let's acquire a Soul Ring here. The sooner we get a Soul Ring, the sooner we can level up."
Now that their safety was somewhat guaranteed, they could acquire a suitable Soul Ring first; delaying would be counterproductive.
Although one can accumulate soul power without leveling up and unleash it all at once after leveling up, how can a soul cultivator's cultivation speed compare to that of a soul master?
Therefore, suppressing one's level for cultivation is extremely uneconomical, and no soul master would do something so foolish.
Whenever they encounter a bottleneck, they will try every means to obtain a soul ring first.
Feng Fei has been suppressing her level for over two years, missing the best age for cultivation, which is truly a pity.
Feng Fei nodded eagerly, "Then let's find a hotel to stay in first."
Xuan Yuan Qing Li isn't short of money now; Xue Beng's soul tool contains tens of thousands of gold soul coins, enough for him to squander for a long time, and he won't have to worry about tuition and living expenses in the future.
Therefore, the two found a very nice high-end hotel and booked a room, costing eighty copper soul coins per day, equivalent to about four or five hundred yuan in purchasing power.
They've always slept in the same bed since childhood and are used to it, and Feng Fei insisted on serving him personally, so they didn't want to sleep in separate rooms.
It was already late, and although spring had arrived, it was still a bit chilly.
After dinner, Xuan Yuan Qingli meditated and cultivated with Feng Fei.
He taught Feng Fei the Kun Yin chapter of the Qiankun Yin Yang Method, wanting to see the effects of the cultivation. He
couldn't see anything particularly special yet, but although they had been traveling for the past two months, they had eaten well, and Feng Fei, who had been as thin as a rake, had gained some weight.
Although she was still slender, she had gained a touch of girlish charm.
The New Year had passed, and Feng Fei was already twelve years old.
In the Douluo Continent, a world where Soul Masters develop quickly, a twelve-year-old girl already had a well-proportioned figure, and some exceptionally talented ones were even more impressive than adults.
Feeling his spiritual power and physique gradually increasing, Xuan Yuan Qingli became increasingly immersed in cultivation, only stopping several hours later to go to sleep.
Although the weather was cold, the bed was warm.
Since awakening his Golden Crow Martial Soul, Xuan Yuan Qing Li had become virtually immune to heat and cold, his body as warm as a furnace.
Feng Fei, like a vine, clung to him, drawing warmth from his body, and he slept soundly.
The next morning, after breakfast, Xuan Yuan Qing Li began working on obtaining a Soul Hunting Token.
Obtaining a Soul Hunting Token wasn't difficult; there were two conditions.
First, he had to have his Soul Power tested at the Spirit Hall to prove he had indeed reached the bottleneck for acquiring a Soul Ring.
Second, he needed at least three nobles to vouch for him.
The first point was easy; the second was difficult, as Xuan Yuan Qing Li didn't know any nobles in Notting City.
Fortunately, Notting City had many nobles.
Once a Soul Master reached the Soul Venerable realm and registered at the Spirit Hall, they could directly obtain the title of Baron of the Empire.
Notting City did have some Soul Venerables, and Xuan Yuan Qing Li used money to pave the way, spending fifteen gold soul coins to obtain three vouchers.
Actually, if one were a student at an academy, they wouldn't need to spend money, as the school teachers could vouch for them themselves.
Even at the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy, there were more than three Soul Venerable teachers.
Then Feng Fei went to the Spirit Hall to test her soul power and successfully obtained the Soul Hunting Token.
The two casually inquired about directions and hired a carriage to head to the Soul Hunting Forest.
Four hundred li was neither a long nor a short distance, and they didn't arrive at their destination until noon the next day.
Outside the Soul Hunting Forest was a vast market, filled with numerous houses, or rather, shops.
Various shouts and calls echoed throughout, and simple, man-made paths crisscrossed the area.
The bustling atmosphere contrasted sharply with the forest's serene tranquility.
"Tokens available! Looking to form a group to hunt strength-type soul beasts, two more needed!"
"Hunting agility-type soul beasts, seven people needed.
Ten gold soul coins."
Similar shouts rang out, and the shops mostly sold weapons, armor, and various food supplies.
Xuan Yuan Qing Li and Feng Fei stood out like cranes among chickens in the market, attracting a lot of attention, but no one dared to cause trouble.
There are law enforcement teams near the Soul Hunting Forest, and fights here usually end badly.
Conversely, if things are kept clean inside the forest, the law enforcement teams won't interfere unless they see something happening.
Xuan Yuan Qingli quickly led Feng Fei to the gate of the Soul Hunting Forest.
A huge steel fence surrounded them, with numerous sharp spikes protruding from one side of the forest.
The fence was over ten meters high and looked extremely sturdy.
Outside the fence, a squad of a hundred soldiers patrolled. These soldiers were all clad in full iron armor, carrying long spears, their military bearing impeccable.
The hundred steel warriors standing together gave off a chilling aura.
The two reached the gate and showed their Soul Hunting tokens to the captain of the guard.
The captain glanced at it and nodded, saying, "Go in.
Don't lose the tokens, or the internal law enforcement team will consider it trespassing."
Feng Fei said, "Thank you for reminding me, Uncle. I understand."
The gate opened, and the two went inside.
Although the Soul Hunting Forest couldn't compare to the three major Soul Beast settlements, it was still quite large.
It mainly housed ten-year and hundred-year Soul Beasts; thousand-year Soul Beasts were extremely rare, and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts were practically nonexistent.
In the forest, one could occasionally see the figures of several Soul Masters, but they were all very wary of each other, and no one dared to strike up a conversation without reason.
"Li'er, what kind of Soul Beast do you think I should look for?"
Xuan Yuan Qing Li said, "I already have an idea. Your Sand Martial Soul has great potential.
If you go in the right direction, your future achievements will be considerable.
But if you choose the wrong Soul Ring and ruin your potential, you won't achieve much."
"Then what direction should I take?"
"You can go in the direction of adding attributes."
"For example, adding a Fire attribute Soul Ring, turning ordinary sand into hot sand, and eventually into magma.
Or adding a Wind attribute, turning sand into sandstorms.
There's also the Poison attribute, turning sand into poisonous sand, which, with its fine, soft, and penetrating characteristics, would also be very powerful.
Or adding a Metal attribute, turning fine, soft sand into hard, blocky sand, and eventually into indestructible iron sand or gold sand."
Xuan Yuan Qing Li analyzed for a while, and then continued, "This is the direction of the extreme approach.
You can also go in the balanced approach, combining gold sand with the Fire attribute, combining sandstorms with the Poison attribute, or even combining gold sand with the Poison attribute.
These are all good ideas."
"Another approach is to utilize the principle of 'gathering and dispersing quicksand,' where sand disperses into sand and gathers into soldiers, ever-changing and all-encompassing.
However, this approach doesn't seem to require deliberately adding soul skills; it's an inherent characteristic of sand, possessing immense potential for exploration."
(End of Chapter)