Chapter 66: Spirit Beasts Go Shopping

The waterfall where A Yin was located was over two hundred meters high. Looking down from above, one could only see a lush, verdant expanse of green.

Li Xun spread his arms and slowly tilted his body forward, dropping downward toward the base of the waterfall.

Listening to the whistling in his ears and feeling the strong wind blowing against his face, he felt an incomparable sense of exhilaration in his heart.

From now on, he would never need to be carried by someone else while flying again...

"Indeed, nothing beats having the ability yourself." Li Xun hovered mid-air, feeling the crisp surrounding air. At this moment, he felt no chill, nor the discomfort of being carried along by another.

"Those two old codgers... they were probably doing it on purpose! They could easily travel with people at that altitude, yet they insisted on flying so high." Li Xun suddenly understood.

After briefly adapting to his flying ability, Li Xun glanced back at the path he had taken and ultimately decided to take a detour to avoid running into Tang Hao.

...

Soto City was exceptionally lively today, with laughter and chatter filling the streets. Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, and Sword Douro were slowly making their way forward through the dense crowd.

"Humph! That big liar Li Xun, it's been so many days and there's still no sign of him."

Ning Rongrong pouted angrily. "I thought he was acting suspiciously back then, but you wouldn't believe me. The three of us have been together for several years now; what could he possibly have that we don't know about?"

After learning the specific details about Shrek Academy back then, the two of them had completely lost interest in the place.

An academy that cultivated monsters? Purely a big scam. Weren't all those who entered Shrek geniuses anyway? Which academy could these geniuses not grow into powerhouses in?

Did they even need Shrek to teach them?

Yet Li Xun still wanted to come here and take a look even though he knew all about Shrek, which left them deeply curious.

Could it be that Shrek Academy had some peerless beauty waiting for him?

"I said I wanted to come with him, but you insisted on telling me to give him some personal space. It's already been a month and a half, isn't this a bit too personal?" Ning Rongrong looked at Zhu Zhuqing by her side. "Shall we go and take a look at Shrek Academy?"

She was somewhat curious now about what a trash academy like Shrek could possibly have that attracted Li Xun so much that he even went out of his way to gather information beforehand.

Could it be purely for Dai Mubai...? A flash of suspicion crossed Ning Rongrong's eyes.

"I'm not going. I'll just wait for him to come back at the inn." Zhu Zhuqing pursed her lips and slowly shook her head.

The mere thought that she was still betrothed to Dai Mubai made her feel a bit awkward inside. If she entered Shrek Academy and made Dai Mubai think she had come looking for him, that wouldn't be very good...

Sword Douro, walking behind them, listened and shook his head continuously.

Regarding the relationship among the three youths, everyone in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect saw it clearly.

It was just that Li Xun and the girls were still young, and their relationship had not yet reached the point of marriage talk, so the old fellows chose not to meddle.

This was also taking Li Xun's talent into consideration.

Li Xun's strength was growing too fast—so fast that even these old veterans were secretly alarmed. Now, he was even on track to set the record for the fastest breakthrough to the Soul Ancestor realm.

After putting their heads together, including Ning Fengzhi, they decided that none of them would interfere in Li Xun's romantic affairs to avoid playing the villain in the middle.

That way, even if Li Xun and Ning Rongrong did not end up together, harmony at least would not be broken, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would still be their home.

"I'd like to see how you manage to spin this tale when you get back, kid." A playful look appeared on Sword Douro's face.

This was precisely why he had remained single for decades; these matters of affection and love could easily cloud a person's judgment and slow down their cultivation speed.

"Fine... Let's just go back to the inn then..." Ning Rongrong's anger subsided slightly as she cast a resentful glance at Zhu Zhuqing.

Whenever the two of them formed a solid front, Zhu Zhuqing would always retreat at a crucial moment, leaving her alone to deal with Li Xun...

Thinking of the little wooden switch in Li Xun's hand, Ning Rongrong decided to let him off the hook for now.

The street was extremely congested, and it took the three of them a long time, following the flow of the crowd, to finally reach the entrance of Cao's Inn.

"Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, you two go inside first. I have something to attend to."

Just as the three of them were about to enter the inn, Sword Douro suddenly caught a wisp of aura and abruptly turned his head to look not far away.

Ning Rongrong was startled at his words and looked forward along Sword Douro's line of sight. "Sword Grandpa, what is it?"

"It's a good thing." Sword Douro's eyes brightened as he looked into the distance, a smile forming on his lips.

A hundred-thousand-year soul beast was extremely precious on the mainland, capable of driving countless soul masters into a frenzy. However, soul beasts possessed formidable strength, and even Titled Douro could not necessarily guarantee the upper hand against a hundred-thousand-year soul beast's attack.

However, the situation would be entirely different if the soul beast chose to transform into human form.

Once a soul beast's cultivation reached one hundred thousand years, every subsequent hundred thousand years of cultivation would bring down a heavenly trial.

Some soul beasts, knowing they could not withstand the heavenly tribulation, would choose to transform into human form, restarting their cultivation as humans to pursue that sliver of a chance at becoming a god and achieving immortality.

Yet simply transforming into human form did not mean they were truly human yet, nor did it grant them the qualification to become gods.

They still had to go through three stages: the infancy stage before level sixty, the maturity stage after level sixty, and the divine transformation stage at level ninety.

Among these, the infancy stage was the most perilous for a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. At this stage, they had only just initially transformed into human form, and Titled powerhouses could easily discover and kill them.

This was also one of the primary sources for mainland soul masters to obtain hundred-thousand-year soul rings.

Only when they cultivated to the maturity stage past level sixty in human form could they truly be considered human.

During this period, unless they exposed themselves voluntarily, even Titled Douro could not detect them.

"A good thing?" Ning Rongrong asked with a puzzled expression.

Sword Douro smiled faintly. "Your and little Xun's hundred-thousand-year soul rings have been found."

He had not expected that simply escorting Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing on a trip to Soto City would lead him to stumble upon a hundred-thousand-year transformed soul beast strolling swaggeringly through a human city.

Did she really think Titled powerhouses on the mainland were that hard to come by?

"A hundred-thousand-year soul ring?!" Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing were simultaneously startled, following Sword Douro's gaze.

They saw three young men and a young woman walking toward them, laughing and chatting.

"Where is there a hundred-thousand-year soul beast?" Ning Rongrong looked past the four of them, stretching her neck to look around.

Meanwhile, Zhu Zhuqing frowned upon recognizing the newcomers.

"Do you see that young girl?" Sword Douro patted Ning Rongrong's head, pointing toward the girl behind the three youths. "That's a hundred-thousand-year soul beast in human disguise."

Astonishment filled Ning Rongrong's heart, and her expression gradually grew weird. "Sword Grandpa, she looks quite happy though. Are soul beasts really this bold after transforming?"

For a soul beast to stroll through the human world—this was practically treating life and death as nothing.

"Not quite sure."

Sword Douro smiled and shook his head. "Isn't this a good thing, though? With little Xun's talent, it might not take many years before he can absorb a hundred-thousand-year soul ring."

"This is just the right opportunity. In a moment, I'll make a move to capture her and send her back to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect first, then come back to rendezvous with you two."

Everyone in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had once worried over Li Xun's soul rings.

They unanimously agreed that if Li Xun's twin martial souls were to reach their maximum potential, they should be paired with a hundred-thousand-year soul ring as the foundation to build a rock-solid base for his second martial soul.

It was just that hundred-thousand-year soul beasts possessed formidable strength; even though Sword Douro had broken through to rank ninety-seven, without having fought one, he dared not claim he would definitely win.

Because of this, they had discussed waiting until Li Xun reached rank ninety so that all the old fellows could move out collectively to help Li Xun hunt a hundred-thousand-year soul beast in the Star Great Forest.

Now, it seemed that taking such risks would be unnecessary...

Sword Douro's gaze grew profound as he looked at the girl walking not far from him, a benign smile on his face.