Feng Fei's eyes grew brighter as she looked at Xuan Yuan Qing Li with admiration.
"Your Highness is so clever! You only bought some books at the Soul Master shop and you've already grasped so much!"
Compared to Her Highness, she felt incredibly stupid.
Aside from remembering some common Soul Beasts and simple methods for determining their age, everything else was a complete mystery.
Feng Fei listened intently, but still didn't know how to choose.
Tilting her head, she asked, "Then what should I choose for my first Soul Ring?"
Xuan Yuan Qing Li said,
"Since sand has the characteristic of fluctuating movement, it perfectly matches the wind.
Perhaps this was the reason your parents married. You are the wind, I am the sand, we'll be inseparable forever."
Hearing the last two sentences, Feng Fei's pretty face flushed slightly.
She said, "Then we should look for wind-attribute Soul Beasts."
The two immediately began searching carefully in the forest, and Feng Fei took out a book from her bosom.
This book was the complete encyclopedia of soul beast knowledge they bought from the soul master specialty store.
Of course, this so-called encyclopedia was extremely rudimentary, only recording some of the most common soul beasts, and mostly just brief introductions, along with some rudimentary methods for determining their age.
As for more detailed and comprehensive soul beast knowledge, that would only circulate among various sects, families, and academies, and wouldn't be sold on the market.
The most common soul beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest were ten-year-old ones, almost everywhere, but that wasn't a concern; their goal was hundred-year-old soul beasts.
Xuan Yuan Qingli recalled her memories from her previous life and said, "The limit for the first soul ring is four hundred and thirty-two years.
With your conditions, finding a soul beast under four hundred years old is no problem.
Let's find one between three hundred and four hundred years old!"
Although Feng Fei's martial soul wasn't top-tier, her age was an advantage.
Her physique was much stronger than that of a six or seven-year-old child, and having been stuck at level ten for several years, the soul power she cultivated couldn't be upgraded, which actually tempered her body to some extent.
You'll never believe why I moved to.
Feng Fei nodded her little head, "A four-hundred-year-old soul beast seems pretty powerful, can we handle it?"
Xuan Yuan Qingli said, "It's all about human effort.
Wind-attribute soul beasts are generally strong in speed, and most of them can fly.
These two points happen to be my strengths. Don't worry, as long as it's not a thousand-year-old soul beast, I can handle it."
Xuan Yuan Qingli wasn't bragging. Although he didn't have any soul skills, his soul power was a solid level twenty.
Moreover, his Golden Crow Martial Soul was extremely powerful, possessing not only terrifying flames but also lightning-fast speed.
In mythology, the Golden Crow's rainbow transformation speed was even faster than the wind-attribute divine beast, the Roc.
For the next while, the two focused intently on finding soul beasts.
They found quite a few ten-year-old ones, but few hundred-year-old wind-attribute soul beasts.
The only one they caught was a hundred-year-old Wind Falcon, but it was only a little over a hundred years old, so they eventually gave up.
Feng Fei was somewhat discouraged, but Xuan Yuan Qingli was alright. He knew that finding soul beasts largely depended on luck.
With good luck, you could find a suitable soul beast as soon as you entered the forest; with bad luck, it was common to find one after ten days or half a month.
After darkness fell, the two set up a tent to rest, but dared not fall into a deep sleep, instead meditating instead.
"Shasha, shasha!"
In the middle of the night, a sudden commotion of footsteps startled Xuan Yuan Qingli awake.
Stepping out of the tent, she saw five young soul masters approaching in the moonlight.
"Qingli, are they from the Soul Hunting Team?"
Feng Fei also saw the five, her voice tense.
In the Soul Hunting Forest, while soul beasts were dangerous, humans were far more dangerous.
Countless incidents of murder for money, theft of soul beasts, and even violent clashes over arguments were commonplace.
The arrival of such uninvited guests in the middle of the night immediately put Xuan Yuan Qingli and Feng Fei on high alert.
"Don't be afraid, we mean no harm. We just want to ask you for a favor."
The five men approached the tent, glanced at its new and spacious interior, exchanged unreadable glances, their expressions enigmatic.
The young man in his early twenties with a long face, who was the leader, said with a smile,
"My name is Wu Cheng. I make friends all the time when I'm out and about. You two wouldn't refuse to help a friend, would you?"
Xuan Yuan Qingli glanced at the five people and felt that they looked familiar.
She seemed to have met them during the day.
Besides the horse-faced youth Wu Cheng, there were three other men and one woman, all around seventeen or eighteen years old, with ordinary looks and clothes.
The five of them were scattered around, vaguely surrounding the two of them.
Xuan Yuan Qingli said calmly, "What kind of help do you need?"
Wu Cheng grinned and said, "We've got our eye on a fire-attribute soul beast and plan to ambush and hunt it, but we need someone to lure it into the ambush.
I saw you chasing a wind falcon during the day, little brother.
You're very fast and can fly; you're practically the perfect person to lure a soul beast.
Please help us with this; we'll reward you handsomely afterwards." "
You..."
Feng Fei's face was filled with anger. She clasped her hands to her chest, and a ball of yellow sand appeared, changing shape in various ways.
She looked at Xuan Yuan Qingli.
Wu Cheng smiled coldly, ignoring Feng Fei's reaction.
The other four laughed and summoned their martial souls, all one-ring soul masters, their white soul rings gleaming in the night.
Their martial souls were quite common: one was a lynx, another a steel cable, and a wild boar; the girl's was even a wild vegetable.
Xuan Yuan Qing Li looked at them with newfound respect.
She didn't know what Wu Cheng's martial soul was, but the other four possessed four different martial souls:
agility, control, defense, and support a formidable combination.
The soul beast they needed to ambush was definitely quite old.
He frowned and asked,
"What kind of soul beast is it? I'm afraid I'll be killed before I can even get into the ambush."
Wu Cheng laughed,
"Don't worry, it's just a firebird. It's just too fast and can fly, so we can't do anything about it and need to ambush it to kill it by surprise."
A firebird?
Xuan Yuan Qingli's heart skipped a beat. She subtly moved her hand, which had been poised to strike unexpectedly, behind her back and asked,
"How old is this Firebird?"
Wu Cheng replied impatiently, "About four or five hundred years. Don't ask so many questions, just follow our instructions.
Now come with us."
He waved his hand,
"Keep an eye on this girl, don't let this little brother have any worries."
"Alright, big brother!"
The young man with the Steel Chain Martial Soul suddenly had a white soul ring light up, and the steel chain instantly bound Feng Fei's hands, the sand in her hands dissipating.
Meanwhile, the Soul Master with the Lynx Martial Soul quickly approached, his ten fingers extending sharp claws, pressing them against Feng Fei's neck.
"Let her go."
Xuan Yuan Qingli's icy gaze fixed on the Steel Chain Youth, inexplicably filling him with a sense of fear.
He couldn't help but shift his gaze to Wu Cheng.
"Boss..."
Wu Cheng sneered, "Don't worry, we won't hurt her.
As long as you obediently help us lure out the firebird, not only will I not harm either of you, but I'll also give you a sum of money as a reward."
"Qingli, don't agree to him!"
Feng Fei struggled desperately, her face filled with anxiety.
Luring a soul beast was an extremely dangerous thing; she would rather be killed than have His Highness forced to take such a risk.
Xuan Yuan Qingli gave Wu Cheng a deep look and nodded,
"Alright, I hope you keep your word."
(End of Chapter)