Star Luo City was located in the northern part of the Star Luo Empire, and the place Ji Lin chose to hunt soul beasts was precisely the Star Dou Great Forest, which bordered the Heaven Soul Empire to the north.
This forest, nearly the size of an entire province, was home to a vast number of soul beasts, including some extremely powerful ones. The Star Dou Great Forest was one of the most renowned soul beast habitats on the Douluo Continent — a vast, primeval forest with complex terrain including wetlands, swamps, and more. The soul beasts that lived there were terrifying, and the deeper one ventured into the forest, the stronger the soul beasts became.
There were even 100,000-year-old soul beasts in its depths. Any soul master, as long as they were strong enough and lucky, could find a soul ring best suited for them. But the place was filled with powerful soul beasts, venomous insects, and deeply hidden plant-type soul beasts — extremely dangerous.
Each year, many soul masters died in the process of hunting soul beasts, ending up as fertilizer for the Star Dou Great Forest.
The soul master community divided the Star Dou Great Forest into four zones based on the distribution of soul beasts:
Peripheral Zone
Mixed Zone
Core Zone
Land of the Dire Beasts
The outermost twenty-kilometer radius formed the Peripheral Zone, where only weak ten-year or hundred-year soul beasts were active. Even thousand-year soul beasts were rare.
The Mixed Zone covered about a forty-kilometer range within a hundred-kilometer radius and was far more dangerous. Ten-year soul beasts had no place here. This area had the widest variety and the greatest concentration of soul beasts. Most soul masters could find a suitable soul beast here.
The Mixed Zone mainly contained hundred-year, thousand-year, and ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Most ten-thousand-year soul beasts were under twenty thousand years old, with ten thousand years being the average.
Here, hundred-year soul beasts often moved in groups, sometimes even more dangerous than ten-thousand-year soul beasts. If you killed one, the whole pack might attack, which in some cases was more troublesome than fighting a lone ten-thousand-year beast.
The innermost forty-kilometer radius was the Core Zone. Though vast, the number of soul beasts was much lower compared to the Mixed Zone because only extremely powerful soul beasts could survive here.
Hundred-year soul beasts were nearly extinct, and even thousand-year ones were rare. Ten-thousand-year soul beasts were the main inhabitants, and occasionally one might encounter a terrifying 100,000-year soul beast.
Research showed that to claim even a small territory in the Core Zone, a soul beast needed at least 30,000 years of cultivation.
At the very center of the Core Zone, within a ten-kilometer diameter, lay the Land of the Dire Beasts, also known as the Forbidden Zone of Life. On even the most detailed maps of the Star Dou Great Forest, this region was always marked in blood-red. Beasts that lived there had cultivation over 100,000 years, and each one could strike fear into the heart of even a rank 95 Super Douluo.
In any soul beast habitat, the edge zones were always home to the weaker creatures — this was natural law. The Star Dou Great Forest was no exception.
The soul beasts in the outer zones were mainly ten-year and weak hundred-year ones. Soul masters without a strong background would usually choose their first soul ring from among these safer options.
But Ji Lin and Chi Yuan clearly were not ordinary.
Chi Yuan completely ignored the flying prohibition over the Star Dou Great Forest and flew straight over the outer region with Ji Lin, entering the Mixed Zone. Along the way, no flying soul beast dared provoke them.
They came to the Mixed Zone because only soul beasts that could survive there were exceptional, making it easier to find a high-quality hundred-year soul beast suitable for Ji Lin.
Chi Yuan led Ji Lin through the dense forest, constantly scanning for prey. Every soul beast they encountered along the way fled at the mere sight of Chi Yuan's gaze.
Ji Lin, itching for battle, could only helplessly give up on his first real combat experience. He would have plenty of chances to fight in the future — securing his first soul ring was more important.
They had already been traveling through the forest for more than two hours, but every soul beast they encountered had incompatible attributes — not a single fire-type soul beast in sight, much less one suitable for Ji Lin.
Meanwhile, in a valley over ten kilometers away, a group of people were chopping trees, setting up a pot, and preparing to cook.
"Senior sister, I saved this fruit for you," a shy-looking boy around fifteen or sixteen offered a fruit to a woman in white robes.
"No, thanks. I'm not hungry. Give it to someone else," she replied, shaking her head.
The boy looked dejected and slunk off under a tree. His companions quickly came over to console him.
Watching this scene while tending the fire, Ma Xiaotao curled her lip in disdain.
"Hmph, trying to court Sister Lexuan? Come back after another ten thousand years."
Hearing this, Ling Luocheng — who sat across from Ma Xiaotao — glanced at her, then silently hugged her knees and stared at the burning firewood, lost in thought.
Dozens of meters away, perched high in a tree, a disheveled man held a gourd in one hand and a chicken leg in the other. He bit into the leg with gusto and swigged from the gourd between bites.
He looked so relaxed, as if this perilous Star Dou Great Forest were some sort of amusement park.
After a swig of wine, he wiped his mouth carelessly with his sleeve and yawned.
This group was not to be underestimated — every one of them was an elite student from Shrek Academy's inner court.
Anyone who made it into the inner court of Shrek Academy was a rare talent across the continent.
Say what you will about Shrek Academy, their student quality was indisputably top-tier — even the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy struggled to match them.
The leader of this group was none other than Zhang Lexuan, known as the inner court's top genius. Though only 18 years old, she had already reached level 70. Her cultivation talent was hailed as the best in three thousand years of inner court history.
Wearing white robes, with a beautiful and serene expression, Zhang Lexuan was one of the academy's core disciples. Not even twenty years old, yet already a Soul Sage. This trip to the Star Dou Great Forest was to obtain her seventh soul ring, officially ascending to Soul Sage.
With the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament less than a year away, Zhang Lexuan was sure to qualify, meaning Shrek Academy would once again likely dominate the competition.
Tending the fire was the only fire-type soul master in the team, Ma Xiaotao — an outer court core disciple who had reached level 40 by the age of 13.
Ma Xiaotao had a tall and shapely figure. Though her face was hidden behind a red veil, her brows alone suggested great beauty. Her light pink eyes were enchanting — the kind that could steal souls. Luckily, her cold expression tempered their allure.
Even at a young age, her body had already developed curves. In a few more years, she would surely become a devastating beauty.
Sitting across from her was Ling Luocheng, a fellow outer court core disciple.
Ling Luocheng had a cold and aloof beauty, quite unlike Ma Xiaotao's fiery charm or Zhang Lexuan's gentle elegance. She had a frosty, proud aura like plum blossoms in winter — unforgettable at first glance. Her skin was porcelain white, and she moved as if weightless.
With white hair, blue eyes, and a strange cat-ear headpiece, Ling Luocheng had just reached the rank of 30 and become a Soul Elder. Though talented, she couldn't quite match Ma Xiaotao.
Because of her prideful nature, Ling Luocheng didn't get along with Ma Xiaotao or the others. Only in front of Zhang Lexuan did she soften a little.
At that moment, two figures appeared in the distance at the valley's entrance. Zhang Lexuan instantly became alert — anything could happen in the Star Dou Great Forest.