Chapter 306: Hunting Soul Beasts
"It’s about time." Xuan Ke said sullenly.
"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yue asked and pulled Yu Nianzhen to sit across from Yang Xu.
"We have been waiting for several days." Yang Xu said as he took a sip from his wine gourd.
When he heard that, Jiang Yue frowned and was about to argue.
However, he remembered that he and Yu Nianzhen took longer to leave seclusion because they had also refined the soul beast core.
"Don’t worry about it." He said and Yang Xu rolled his eyes.
"Since you have come out, let’s go out." Yang Xu said and no one had any objections.
They had already been in the Nine Treasures’ secret realm for almost two years.
In that time, they hadn’t refined any origin treasures and all were feeling a little pressure.
"Brother Yu, how about the soul shield?" Xuan Ke asked and everyone turned to Yu Nianzhen.
"Wait a moment." Yu Nianzhen said and removed a jade card from his storage ring.
The card contained a preliminary technique but he wasn’t happy with it.
Although Yu Nianzhen knew what kind of soul shield he wanted, coming up with a technique was more difficult than he expected.
In the end, he could only settle for a simple shield but he planned to continue improving it.
After one day, Bing Lan, Xuan Ke, and Yang Xu learned the soul shield technique and the group left the ancient palace.
"I will determine the direction." Jiang Yue said and walked some distance away.
At the same time, Yu Nianzhen and the others put away the tents and dismantled the formations.
"It looks like we are the only ones in this soul beast forest." Bing Lan said as she checked the surroundings with her divine sense.
"It’s likely." Yang Xu agreed.
The soul beast forest was bordered by a desert filled with demonic qi.
Under normal circumstances, it was difficult for ordinary cultivators to enter the soul beast forest.
However, this situation was ideal for them.
Since there weren’t many cultivators in the soul beasts’ forest, they could take advantage to collect all the soul treasures accumulated over time.
"I have decided." Jiang Yue suddenly called and everyone turned to look at him.
In fact, Jiang Yue didn’t just rely on intuition to determine a direction.
He also used the treasure compass to find a route with the most treasures.
"Which way?" Bing Lan asked.
"That way." Jiang Yue said and pointed to the west.
After that, everyone coated their eyes with soul power and began walking west.
Soon after, they came across a herd of soul beasts.
The group had a dozen soul beasts and all were crowding a grey stone.
"What are they doing?" Xuan Ke asked.
His face was filled with confusion and he instinctively wanted to walk closer to see what the soul beasts were doing.
"Be careful and put up a soul shield." Yu Nianzhen reminded.
"Thank you for reminding me." Xuan Ke said and hastily erected a soul shield around his soul.
He still remembered the pain of having his soul attacked and he didn’t want to experience it a second time.
"That grey stone should be a soul beast core." Yang Xu observed and the others looked carefully.
"Is this cannibalism?" Jiang Yue asked and Yang Xu rolled his eyes.
"It’s common for demonic beasts to devour the beast cores of other beasts. It isn’t strange that soul beasts can absorb the cores of other beasts." He said.
"That makes sense." Jiang Yue said and nodded.
"Should we hide and wait for them to finish?" Bing Lan asked.
When the others heard that, they went silent and fell into thought.
There were advantages and disadvantages to what Bing Lan suggested.
If they were lucky, one or more of the soul beasts could raise their level which would improve the quality of their cores.
However, there was also a chance that they wouldn’t be able to deal with the stronger soul beast.
"We are still at the periphery of the soul beast forest. There will be a chance to get better soul beast cores in the future." Yang Xu said and smiled at his wife.
"I also think we should kill them and move on." Yu Nianzhen said.
After all, they didn’t know how long it would take for the soul beasts to absorb the core. Rather than wait, it was more efficient to deal with the soul beasts and continue moving forward.
"Alright, let’s do that." Bing Lan agreed and the group stealthily approached the soul beasts.
A moment later, several soul attacks flew at the soul beasts and five fell to the ground.
’It’s easier than before.’ Yu Nianzhen thought and looked at Jiang Yue.
As luck would have it, Jiang Yue had also turned to look at him and his eyes were filled with excitement.
When they were in seclusion, Yu Nanzhen taught Jiang Yue how to condense his soul power for a soul attack.
In this way, Jiang Yue could not only exercise his soul power but also deal with soul beasts more easily.
[Good.] Yu Nianzhen transmitted and the two smiled at each other.
After that, they turned their attention to the remaining group of soul beasts.
The soul beasts had also noticed their presence and were looking at them vigilantly.
However, the group had already refined several drops of soul water and their soul power had increased by leaps and bounds.
With their current soul power, it wasn’t difficult to deal with the remaining soul beasts and they easily killed them.
After that, they collected the soul beast cores and stored the corpses in their storage rings.
"Azhen, have you thought of a way to prepare the soul beast meat?" Jiang Yue asked as they moved forward.
"I can only use soul power to prepare it." Yu Nianzhen said and sighed.
The soul beasts could only be touched using soul power and he felt that cooking them should also be the same.
However, he wouldn’t be sure until he actually tried it.
"I will try it when we take a rest from hunting."
"Okay." Jiang Yue agreed happily.
He was looking forward to tasting soul beast meat and he couldn’t wait until they rested for the day.
"How is everyone’s consumption?" Yang Xu asked.
"I still have three-quarters of my soul power." Jiang Yue said.
"I am about the same." Yu Nianzhen said.
"I have half." Xuan Ke answered and Bing Lan concurred.
"Let’s hunt one more wave and then rest." Yang Xu suggested and everyone agreed.
Among them, Yang Xu had the most soul power and could hunt for a while longer.
However, they were a group and could only compromise to the pace of the slowest person.
"Nianzhen, did you speak to Hongzhu about the soul replenishing pills?" Bing Lan asked and Yu Nianzhen nodded.
"Her soul power is not enough to refine the pills. We have to make do with the soul beast cores for the time being."
Since they couldn’t rely on soul replenishing pills, everyone soaked their soul beast cores in lightning liquid and continued hunting.
When their soul power was almost exhausted, Jiang Yue arranged a protective formation and they retreated within.
In the next while, they absorbed the soul beast cores that had previously been soaked in lighting liquid and recovered their soul power.
"Azhen, let’s save the soul beast meat for when we leave the soul beasts’ forest." Jiang Yue suddenly said after he recovered his soul power.
"Are you sure?"
"I will be sure after you give me a kiss." Jiang Yue said and his tone was filled with grievances.
In fact, he wanted to eat the soul beast meat right away.
However, he wasn’t an unreasonable person.
He knew that cooking soul beast meat required soul power and none of them had a surplus of soul power.
If Yu Niazhen cooked the soul beasts, his ability to hunt would be compromised and Jiang Yue didn’t want that.
More than eating soul beast meat, he wanted Yu Nianzhen to be stronger.
In that way, the swordsman would have better means to protect himself.
"My XiaoYue is the best." Yu Nianzhen said and his demeanour softened.
He understood Jiang Yue’s considerations and his heart filled with love.
"Don’t worry, I will train harder and give you a good meal as soon as possible." He said and pulled Jiang Yue to sit on his lap.
A moment later, two pairs of lips met and the world around them faded.
This kiss wasn’t filled with passion but carried a lingering sentiment that conveyed how much they meant to each other.
Unfortunately, Yang Xu couldn’t eat their dog food and interrupted before they forgot themselves.
"Is this the right time?" He sneered and looked at them in disdain.
On the side, Xuan Ke had an ugly face from eating dog food and didn’t care for the dog food.
However, Bing Lan took it in good humour and didn’t care about their behaviour.
"If you have time for this, then go out and hunt." Yang Xu admonished and Jiang Yue reluctantly extricated himself from his Taoist companion.
