The next day!
Early in the morning, the Qi family prepared water and dry rations before setting off for the Soul Hunting Forest.
The Soul Hunting Forest was located four hundred li northeast of Nuoding City.
It was one of the places in the Heaven Dou Empire where soul beasts were raised in captivity.
The vast majority of low-ranked soul masters would enter the Soul Hunting Forest to hunt for their first soul ring.
Of course, most of the soul beasts raised in the Soul Hunting Forest were only 10- and 100-year soul beasts.
1,000-year soul beasts were extremely rare.
Anyone seeking a soul ring exceeding 1,000 years would have to venture into a natural hunting ground, such as the Star Dou Great Forest, Sunset Forest, the Extreme North, and so on.
The Soul Hunting Forest also had another drawback: it contained far fewer varieties of soul beasts than natural habitats, especially rare soul beasts with powerful bloodlines.
However, Qi Dao didn’t believe that his first soul ring had to come from some extraordinarily powerful soul beast.
What suited him was what mattered most!
If he could increase the age of his soul ring while maintaining that compatibility, naturally, that would be ideal.
If he couldn’t absorb a soul ring at the absolute limit, there was no need to obsess over it or force himself to the point of death.
The three of them traveled by carriage for an entire day before finally reaching their destination.
Large numbers of houses and shops had been built outside the Soul Hunting Forest.
Vendors called out one after another, and the streets were extremely lively.
After the carriage stopped, Qi Dao and his parents soon arrived at a building.
When they pushed open the door, they found five people either sitting or standing inside.
All of them were members of his parents’ soul-hunting group.
Although it was called a soul-hunting group, the entire group consisted of only seven people, including his parents.
Seeing the three members of the Qi family enter, the five people’s gazes immediately turned toward them.
The two who had been sitting also stood up to greet them.
“Captain, Vice-Captain, you’re here!”
Qi Mingyuan smiled slightly.
“Sorry to trouble everyone this time.”
One of the women, who had a gentle and amiable air about her, smiled.
“Captain, don’t be so formal.
Ah Dao is our nephew too.”
The others chimed in as well.
This was one of the benefits of their soul-hunting group.
Whenever a team member’s child needed a soul ring, the entire group would help hunt for one without asking for anything in return.
A slightly plump middle-aged man sighed.
“I remember Ah Dao is only nine this year, right?
He reached rank 10 at nine years old.
Are you sure there wasn’t a mistake when his soul power was tested after awakening his martial soul?”
“Exactly.
I had innate rank 2 soul power back then, yet it took me a full six years to reach rank 10.”
“Truly, every generation produces its own talents.
Ah Dao will definitely surpass us in the future and become a powerful soul master.”
Especially when they compared Qi Dao to their own children, they couldn’t help feeling frustrated.
Their fists even started itching to teach their own kids a lesson.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Qi Mingyuan spoke.
“All right, let’s get going.”
Everyone nodded and left the building.
Soon, they arrived at the entrance to the Soul Hunting Forest.
A hundred-man squad of soldiers patrolled the area.
When they saw Qi Dao’s group approaching, one of them immediately stepped forward.
“Pass!”
Qi Dao’s father immediately took a token from his waist.
This token was a permit to enter the Soul Hunting Forest.
It could only be obtained with the joint sponsorship of three nobles.
Without such a permit, it was impossible to enter the Soul Hunting Forest to hunt soul beasts.
Back then, Qi Mingyuan had needed Dean Hans to step in before he managed to obtain this permit.
After inspecting the token, the soldier immediately waved them through.
“Go on in.”
…
After entering the Soul Hunting Forest, the gentle-looking woman from earlier asked,
“Captain, do you have any particular target in mind for Ah Dao’s first soul ring?”
Qi Mingyuan looked at his son.
“Aunt Ye Hui, let me explain this one.”
“For my first soul ring, I want a metal-attributed soul beast.
An Ironclad Turtle, Iron-Bone Wolf, Silver-Winged Bird, or Golden Sword Bamboo would all work.”
“Also, I hope my first soul ring can come from a soul beast over 500 years old.”
“500 years?!”
In an instant, everyone except Qi Dao’s parents cried out in shock, their eyes all turning toward Qi Dao.
Ye Hui looked solemnly at Qi Dao’s parents.
“Captain, you can’t treat absorbing a soul ring as a joke.
If something goes wrong, he could die!”
The others also looked worried.
Most of the soul-hunting group’s members came from humble backgrounds, and their first soul rings were only 10-year soul rings.
In their experience, even a first soul ring that was just over 100 years old was already an extraordinary achievement.
Moreover, despite having lived for so many years, they had never heard of anyone whose first soul ring exceeded 500 years.
Forget the first soul ring—even the second soul rings of those present were generally between 300 and 500 years old.
That was precisely why they were so shocked when they heard that Qi Dao wanted to absorb a first soul ring exceeding 500 years.
Seeing their astonished expressions, Qi Dao’s parents exchanged a look that seemed to say they had expected this.
Qi Mingyuan could only explain,
“I know what you’re worried about, but don’t worry.
If Ah Dao dares to absorb a soul ring exceeding 500 years, he naturally has confidence in himself.”
“He’s my son.
I’m more worried about his safety than any of you.
With the matter explained to this point, the others still found it somewhat unbelievable, but they could only choose to trust him.
The group headed deeper into the Soul Hunting Forest.
Although they encountered quite a few soul beasts along the way, most were only 10-year soul beasts and posed no threat whatsoever.
After all, Qi Dao’s parents’ soul-hunting group consisted entirely of soul masters above rank 25.
Forget 100-year soul beasts—even ordinary 1,000-year soul beasts were nothing to fear when all seven of them worked together.
“Uncles and Aunties, Ironclad Turtles have a strong territorial instinct and prefer to stay in shallow water or muddy areas along riverbanks.
We can first check the waters in the mixed region.
We might get lucky.”
Qi Dao made the suggestion while walking among the group.
Everyone looked at him with slight surprise after hearing this.
Ye Hui said,
“Ah Dao, it seems your theoretical knowledge is pretty good!”
Qi Dao replied modestly,
“I like reading books at the academy.
My teachers have taught me a lot.”
“All right.
Then we’ll listen to Ah Dao and check the waters in the mixed region first.”
Once they had a target, everyone immediately picked up the pace.
Several hours later.
A vast stretch of water appeared before them.
The Soul Hunting Forest was quite large.
It contained mountains, lakes, and all kinds of ecological environments.
“Ironclad Turtle!”
One of the rugged-looking middle-aged men in the group pointed toward a dark turtle lazily crawling along the shallows in the distance.
Another person shook his head.
“Unfortunately, judging by its size, it hasn’t even reached 100 years.”
“Don’t rush.
Take our time.
This stretch of water is huge.”
Qi Dao looked around before making another suggestion.
“If there’s really an Ironclad Turtle over 500 years old in the Soul Hunting Forest, it should have an extremely high status in this area and occupy the most favorable territory, making it easier to hunt for food.”
“Also, Ironclad Turtles are attracted to metal.
If we can find any ore containing metal, we can search around that area…”
After listening to Qi Dao’s analysis and insights, a look of astonishment flashed across everyone’s faces.
One of them couldn’t help saying,
“This kid Ah Dao really knows his stuff!”
“Even if he doesn’t become a powerful soul master in the future, he could become a theoretical grandmaster.”
Qi Dao raised an eyebrow when he heard that.
A theoretical grandmaster?
On the Douluo Continent, that certainly wasn’t exactly a compliment!