Chapter 23 Star Dou Forest, Heart to Heart
Star Dou Great Forest is one of the three most famous soul beast settlements in Douluo Continent. The other two are the Frozen Forest of the Far North and the Sunset Forest of the Tiandou Empire. The last place in the Star Luo Empire's Panlong Forest is disputed by the two empires.
The Star Dou Forest is recognized as the largest in area and has the most types of soul beasts.
The area of the Star Dou Forest is almost the same as that of the Balak Kingdom, spanning the borders of the Tiandou Empire and the Star Luo Empire. Among them, two-fifths were in the Tiandou Empire, and the other three-fifths were in the Star Luo Empire. This is a huge virgin forest with complex terrain, including wetlands, swamps, etc.
The soul beasts here are extremely terrifying, and the closer they are to the center of the forest, the higher their cultivation level. There is a legendary 100,000-year-old soul beast at the core.
Early the next morning, Chi Ping and Dai Mubai packed their things and waited for Zhao Wuji on the playground.
Mainly fire sickles, seasonings, food, insect repellent drugs, etc. were all installed in Dai Mubai's storage soul guide.
When Zhao Wuji appeared, the three of them set off.
The Great Star Forest is located in the southeast of the Balak Kingdom, with a small part bordering the Balak Kingdom. Soto City itself is also in the southeast of the Balak Kingdom, not far from the Star Forest, less than 500 kilometers away.
The soul master has good leg strength, Chi Ping and Dai Mubai are both very physically strong, and Chi Ping's first soul skill, the white mushroom, also has the effect of restoring physical strength. With an unlimited supply of white mushrooms, it took less than a day to arrive at a small town on the edge of the Star Forest.
The town survives by providing services to the soul masters who enter the Star Dou Forest to hunt souls. Since the soul masters are very rich, at least much richer than ordinary people, the economic situation of the town is not bad.
Small towns like this are found on the outskirts of all the major soul beast forests, especially in the Star Dou Forest.
…
The three of them rested in the town for a night, and stepped up their pace at dawn the next day, entering the Star Dou Forest before noon.
Before entering the forest, Zhao Wuji pulled the two of them and spoke seriously.
"Listen clearly to me. The Star Dou Forest is not a place where the state keeps soul beasts in captivity. The soul beasts here are extremely dangerous. You may face attacks from thousand-year or even ten-thousand-year-level soul beasts at any time. Therefore, After entering the forest, no one is allowed to leave me more than 20 meters away, and no one is allowed to attack the spirit beast without my order, do you understand?"
Dai Mubai and Chi Ping remained silent and nodded quietly.
Zhao Wuji nodded with satisfaction and took the lead deep into the Star Forest.
Dai Mubai and Chi Ping were both great soul masters, so the task of opening the road naturally fell into the hands of Zhao Wuji.
Chi Ping followed closely behind Zhao Wuji.
He studied with Yu Xiaogang for six years at Notting College, and his knowledge of soul beasts was the richest in Shrek College. In addition, the initially developed spiritual intuition can predict the arrival of danger in advance. This intuition is even more mysterious and efficient than Zao Wuji's perception.
The number and quality of the soul beasts in the Star Forest were frighteningly high. The three of them encountered the first wave of soul beasts after only going less than 500 meters deep.
"This is the rock-horned argali, a soul beast that lives in groups and is very powerful. You can judge the cultivation level from the circling horns. The larger the horns, the higher the cultivation level. The one with the highest cultivation level among this group of argali sheep should not be more than a hundred years old."
Zhao Wuji asked: "Can we go around it?"
Killing wantonly in the Star Dou Forest is extremely stupid behavior. No one knew what kind of monsters the blood could attract. If you were unlucky enough to attract a spirit beast that was beyond your processing range, you would have no choice but to wait for death.
Chi Ping nodded, "The argali's perception is not very strong. They mainly rely on group cooperation to avoid natural enemies. You can get around them if you are careful."
"Okay, let's be gentle and don't disturb these argali sheep."
Zhao Wuji pushed aside the grass on the side, led Chi Ping and the others around the argali sheep and continued deeper.
"Xiaoping, do you have any thoughts about the third soul ring?"
"It's best to be a water or wind-attributed soul beast. My soul ring lacks serious gain and auxiliary capabilities."
Zhao Wuji, with Chi Ping and Dai Mubai, could cover three to four hundred kilometers a day on the official road, but in the Star Forest, the straight-line distance traveled in one afternoon did not exceed twenty kilometers.
It was getting dark, and Zhao Wuji did not dare to travel at night, so he simply asked Chi Ping and Dai Mubai to find a place to camp on the spot.
Naturally, the soul saint could not do such a small thing as setting up camp. Zhao Wuji jumped into a tree to get a view to defend against a sneak attack. Dai Mubai popped out his tiger claw to clear an open space. Chi Ping took over a series of chores such as spreading insect repellent and lighting a fire for cooking.
Using Chiping's mushrooms as the main food, combined with food and water purchased in the town, the hunger problem was simply solved.
After dinner, Chi Ping asked Zhao Wuji whether he wanted to put out the fire.
Zhao Wuji touched his chin and said: "This is not necessary. Although soul beasts are not afraid of flames, and fire cannot drive away soul beasts like ordinary beasts, flames are also a symbol of power, and low-level soul beasts will not easily provoke those with flames. With the fire, we can avoid a lot of trouble." Dai Mubai asked, "Aren't you afraid that the fire will attract powerful ten thousand year soul beasts?"
Zhao Wuji said: "If there really is a soul beast of that level, it can still detect us even without this fire. It would be better to light a fire and provide vision in the darkness."
Dai Mubai and Chi Ping suddenly realized.
Zhao Wuji added: "Xiaobai, you and Xiaoping will keep watch in the first half of the night. I will keep watch in the second half of the night. If there is any danger, remember to wake me up in time."
They both nodded.
After Zhao Wuji finished speaking, he leaned against the roots of a big tree and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, there was no movement, and only the sound of steady and powerful breathing remained. This kind of sleep quality made Chi Ping envious.
The ability to unconditionally force sleep under any circumstances is also a manifestation of strong mental will. Zao Wou-Ki has been wandering in the mainland for decades, and his spiritual will cannot be said to be weak. Chi Ping estimated that it would take him another year or two to practice before he could reach this level.
…
Although the top of the head is covered by tall ancient trees, the night in the Star Forest is not so dark that you can't see your fingers. Many insects, fungi, plants, etc. under the tree will show the characteristic of luminescence due to the soul power. Chiping’s fluorescent mushroom is also one of them.
This light is cold light and is specifically designed to attract nocturnal animals. In this way, they allow nocturnal animals to discover them, eat their own seeds, etc., and thus reproduce and spread.
Chi Ping and Dai Mubai sat on both sides of the fire, allowing them to see no blind spots.
"Chi Ping, you train so hard every day, how do you persist?"
The firelight shone on Dai Mubai's face, and the contrast between light and dark made the already handsome face more three-dimensional, but also a bit gloomy and gloomy.
Chi Ping was stunned for a moment and stopped walking the mycelium.
Dai Mubai thought to himself and said: "To be honest, the speed of your soul power improvement scares me. But I know you deserve it. I know the intensity of your training best. How can you improve so quickly?" The speed of promotion is not surprising when you think about it. Fatty and I have tried your training method before, but we didn't stick to it."
Dai Mubai raised his head, the firelight dispelled the gloom, and his eyes were burning.
"Can you tell me how you persist!"
Chi Ping looked at those double tiger eyes and felt unexpectedly calm.
"How do you persist...probably because it's fun."
Dai Mubai repeated in confusion: "Interesting?"
Chi Ping nodded, "Practice is very interesting. It's interesting to feel yourself getting stronger and better little by little. What you couldn't do before, you can do it now, so it's very interesting. What you couldn't get before, you can get now, so It’s interesting. Things that I couldn’t even think about before are now within my reach, so it’s interesting.”
As he spoke, Chi Ping laughed.
“I actually have an obsession, which is to find the place where I was born and see my parents.
I probably haven't told you, but I am an abandoned orphan who was picked up and raised by the village chief. The village chief treats me very well. I like Xiaoyun Village very much. I have never thought of leaving Xiaoyun Village. But I wanted to know how I got here and why I was left in that snow.
Everyone must have a root. I have to find my old root. Only by getting rid of it can new roots grow. "
Dai Mubai lowered his head again and buried his face in the shadow of the firelight.
"But what if I still can't do it despite my efforts?"
"That's just not working hard enough!"
The words are sonorous and powerful, they can cut through gold and iron, and break through the haze!
Chi Ping looked at Dai Mubai, who said nothing.
There is no sound in the camp, only the crackling of the flames, the ups and downs of breathing, the beating of the heart, and... the rushing of blood can be heard!
Zhao Wuji raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
(End of chapter)