Douluo, my martial soul is a mushroom

Chapter 23: Heart-to-heart talk in the Star Forest
The Xingdou Great Forest is one of the three most famous soul beast settlements in Douluo Continent. The other two are the Frozen Forest in the Far North and the Sunset Forest of the Tiandou Empire or the Panlong Great Forest of the Xingluo Empire. The last one is disputed by the two empires.

The Xingdou Great Forest is recognized to be the largest in area and has the most soul beast species.

The Xingdou Great Forest is almost as large as the Barak Kingdom, and it straddles the borders of the Tiandou Empire and the Xingluo Empire. Two-fifths of it is in the Tiandou Empire, and the other three-fifths is in the Xingluo Empire. This is a huge primeval forest with complex terrain, including wetlands, swamps, and so on.

The soul beasts here are extremely terrifying, and the closer to the center of the forest, the higher their cultivation. In the core there are legendary hundred thousand year old soul beasts.

Early the next morning, Chi Ping and Dai Mubai packed their things and waited for Zhao Wuji on the playground.

Mainly flint, seasonings, food, anthelmintics, etc., are all stored in Dai Mubai's storage soul guide.

When Zhao Wuji showed up, the three of them set off.

The Star Forest is located in the southeast of the Barak Kingdom, and a small part of it borders the Barak Kingdom. Soto City itself is also in the southeast of the Barak Kingdom, not far from the Star Forest, only less than 500 kilometers away.

The soul master's leg strength is not bad. Chi Ping and Dai Mubai both have strong physiques. Chi Ping's first soul skill, white mushroom, also has the effect of restoring physical strength. With the unlimited supply of white mushrooms, it took less than a day to reach a small town on the outer edge of the Xingdou Great Forest.

The town survives by providing services to soul masters who enter the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt souls. Since the soul masters are very rich, at least much richer than ordinary people, the town's economic situation is not bad.

Such towns are distributed on the outskirts of major soul beast forests, especially in the Star Dou Forest.

……

The three of them rested in the town for a night. They quickened their pace at dawn the next day and entered the Star Forest before noon.

Before entering the forest, Zhao Wuji grabbed the two of them and spoke seriously.

"Listen carefully, the Xingdou Great Forest is not a place where the country keeps soul beasts in captivity. The soul beasts here are extremely dangerous. You may face attacks from soul beasts of a thousand or even ten thousand years at any time. Therefore, after entering the forest, none of you should leave more than twenty meters from me. Without my order, no one is allowed to attack soul beasts easily. Do you understand?"

Dai Mubai and Chi Ping remained silent and nodded quietly.

Zhao Wuji nodded with satisfaction and led the team deeper into the Star Forest.

Dai Mubai and Chi Ping are both great soul masters, so the task of clearing the way naturally fell to Zhao Wuji.

Chi Ping followed closely behind Zhao Wuji.

He had studied with Yu Xiaogang for six years in Notting Academy, and his knowledge of soul beasts was the most extensive in Shrek Academy. In addition, his initially developed spiritual intuition could sense the arrival of danger in advance, and this intuition was even more mysterious and efficient than Zhao Wuji's perception.

The soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest were of terrifying quantity and quality. Less than 500 meters into the forest, the three encountered the first wave of soul beasts.

"This is a rock-horned argali, a herd spirit beast with great power. You can judge its cultivation level by its coiled horns. The larger the horns, the higher its cultivation level. The highest cultivation level among this group of argali should be less than a hundred years old."

Zhao Wuji asked, "Can we go around it?"

Killing people wantonly in the Xingdou Great Forest is extremely stupid. No one knows what kind of monsters the blood will attract. If you are unlucky and attract a soul beast that is beyond your ability to handle, you can only wait for death.

Chi Ping nodded. "The perception of the rock-horned sheep is not very strong. They mainly rely on group cooperation to avoid natural enemies. If you are careful, you can get around them."

"Well, let's be careful and don't disturb these argali."

Zhao Wuji pushed aside the bushes on the side and took Chi Ping and the other man to bypass the herd of bighead carp and continue deeper.

"Xiaoping, what do you think about the third soul ring?"

"It would be best if it was a spirit beast with water or wind attributes. My spirit ring lacks any serious auxiliary capabilities."

Zhao Wuji, Chi Ping and Dai Mubai could walk three to four hundred kilometers a day on the official road, but in the Xingdou Great Forest, the straight-line distance traveled in an afternoon was no more than twenty kilometers.

It was getting dark, and Zhao Wuji didn't dare to travel at night, so he simply asked Chi Ping and Dai Mubai to find a place to camp.

Setting up camp was a trivial matter that could not be left to a Soul Saint. Zhao Wuji jumped onto a tree to gain vision and guard against sneak attacks, Dai Mubai used his tiger claws to clear a space, and Chi Ping took on a series of chores such as spreading insect repellent, making fire and cooking.

With mushrooms from Ikehira as the main food, combined with food and water purchased in the town, the problem of hunger was easily solved.

After dinner, Chi Ping asked Zhao Wuji whether he wanted to put out the fire.

Zhao Wuji touched his chin and said, "That's not necessary. Although soul beasts are not afraid of fire, and a fire can't drive soul beasts away like ordinary wild beasts, fire is also a symbol of strength. Low-level soul beasts won't easily provoke enemies with fire abilities. With a fire, we can save 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 find us even without this fire. In that case, it is better to light a fire, which can also provide vision in the dark."

Dai Mubai and Chi Ping suddenly realized.

Zhao Wuji added: "Xiaobai, you and Xiaoping will keep watch in the first half of the night, and I will be on duty in the second half. If there is any danger, remember to wake me up in time."

They both nodded.

Zhao Wuji leaned against a tree root and closed his eyes after he finished speaking. After a few minutes, there was no movement, only the sound of steady and powerful breathing. This quality of sleep made Chi Ping envious.

Being able to force sleep unconditionally in any environment is also a manifestation of strong mental will. Zhao Wuji has been wandering around the mainland for decades, and his mental will is very strong. Chi Ping estimated that he would need another year or two of practice to reach this level.

……

Although the top of the head is covered by the tall ancient trees, the night in the Xingdou Great Forest is not so dark that you can't see your hand in front of you. Many insects, fungi, and plants under the trees will show the characteristic of luminescence due to soul power. Chi Ping's fluorescent mushroom is one of them.

This light is cold light, which is specially used to attract nocturnal animals. In this way, they let nocturnal animals find themselves, eat their seeds, etc., so as to reproduce and spread.

Chi Ping and Dai Mubai sat on both sides of the fire so that there were no blind spots in the view.

"Chi Ping, your training is so hard every day, how do you persist?"

The firelight shone on Dai Mubai's face, and the interplay of light and dark made his already handsome face more three-dimensional, but also a little more gloomy and dark.

Chi Ping was stunned for a moment and stopped spreading the mycelium.

Dai Mubai said to himself: "To be honest, your soul power improvement speed scared me. But I know you deserve it. I know the intensity of your training best. It's not surprising that you can improve so quickly. Fatty and I have tried your training method before, but we couldn'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 managed to hold on?"

Chi Ping looked at those double-pupiled tiger eyes and felt unexpectedly calm.

"How did you persevere? Maybe it's because it's fun."

Dai Mubai repeated in confusion: "Interesting?"

Chi Ping nodded. "Practice is fun. It's fun to feel yourself getting stronger and better little by little. It's fun to do things that you couldn't do before, so it's fun. Things that you couldn't get before, you can get now, so it's fun. Things that you didn't even dare to think about before, are now within your reach, so it's fun."

As he spoke, Ikehira began to laugh.

“I actually have an obsession, which is to find the place where I was born and see my parents.

I probably never told you that I was an abandoned orphan, and was picked up and raised by the village chief. The village chief was very kind to me, and I liked Xiaoyun Village very much. I never thought of leaving Xiaoyun Village. But I wanted to know how I came here and why I was abandoned in that snowy land.

Everyone has a root, and I want 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 fire.

"But what if you try hard and still can't do it?"

"That's just not working hard enough!"

The words are sonorous and powerful enough to cut through metal and iron, and to dispel the haze!

Chi Ping looked at Dai Mubai, and Dai Mubai said nothing more.

There was no sound in the camp except for the crackling of the fire, the rise and fall of breathing, the beating of the heart, and... the rush of blood!

Zhao Wuji raised the corner of his mouth slightly.

(End of this chapter)