With his guard even tighter, Xiao Yan once again rubbed the storage jade belt.
Relying on his spiritual power and understanding of pharmacology,
if there were any soul-force-based formation traps set in the storage jade belt, or if it emitted poisonous gas, he would be able to detect it.
After several thorough checks, Xiao Yan found nothing wrong.
After a brief thought, Xiao Yan decided to keep the storage jade belt for now, to avoid raising Great Master's suspicion.
He had the Xuan Tian Tempering Body Technique, so even if the storage jade belt exploded, it wouldn't affect him much.
Thinking this, Xiao Yan took a white radish from a bamboo basket nearby and channeled his inner power into the storage jade belt.
In an instant, the white radish in Xiao Yan's hand vanished into thin air.
Looking down at the storage jade belt in his hand, Xiao Yan clearly sensed that inside the space within a jade stone pressed by his thumb, a white radish had appeared out of nowhere.
This jade belt really was like a storage bag or storage ring, used to hold items, and the effect was quite magical.
Looking at the full basket of white radishes, Xiao Yan felt a little strange.
Could it be that Great Master had some weird food fetish, and felt uneasy if he didn't eat white radish?
But surely he didn't need that many—
A whole basket full—was he feeding pigs?
Seeing Xiao Yan handle it so casually, Yu Xiaogang was momentarily stunned.
Even an adult soul master would need at least half a month to get familiar with this soul-guiding device.
Back then, it took Yu Xiaogang over a month to handle it smoothly.
Yu Xiaogang gave an awkward smile: "This soul-guiding device is indeed very simple to use. As long as you channel soul power into the jade stone, you can sense the spatial existence within the jade."
"But storing things is easy; taking them out is not simple. You need to react extremely quickly to grab the item that suddenly appears out of nowhere."
Hearing Great Master talk so mysteriously, Xiao Yan thought: storing things is difficult to use?
Channeling a bit more inner power, the white radish inside the jade space immediately appeared, quietly lying in Xiao Yan's hand.
Not simple?
Glancing lightly at Great Master, Xiao Yan put the white radish back into the bamboo basket and waved his hand to store the whole basket of white radishes back into the storage jade belt.
Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth but said no more.
Putting the storage jade belt aside, Xiao Yan sat up straight again.
Suddenly recalling that the storage jade belt was taken out by Great Master from thin air,
perhaps he also had a storage soul-guiding device on him.
If so, when entering the Soul-Hunting Forest, killing him and taking two storage soul-guiding devices would be a nice reward.
Although Great Master's brainwashing talk required constant caution and some mental energy,
if there were two storage soul-guiding devices as reward,
then listening to his nonsense was nothing worth mentioning.
The 400-kilometer journey was neither too long nor too short.
At noon the next day, the carriage slowly stopped at the destination of the two men—the Soul-Hunting Forest.
Just as Xiao Yan expected, outside the Soul-Hunting Forest, it was not deserted but rather like a bustling marketplace.
Outside the dense forest, there were houses, tents, and various shouts rising one after another.
Since Yu Xiaogang had gone silent, Xiao Yan once again heard some voices nearby.
"Hunting strong assault-type soul beasts, ten-person permit, eleven gold soul coins!"
"Forming a team to hunt agile-type soul beasts, twelve-person permit, still need eight more!"
...
After more than a day, Yu Xiaogang had recovered from his earlier awkwardness, influenced by the lively sounds, he spoke again:
"Xiao Yan, do you know why I bought supplies in Noding City?"
"Prices are cheaper in the city," Xiao Yan replied lightly.
This kind of trick he had seen plenty in modern life.
At the beginning of school, food at train stations or on trains...
They raised prices shamelessly because they knew people had to buy.
Xiao Yan's casual answer made Yu Xiaogang feel like he had lost face again.
He had fallen for this twice before to learn his lesson.
Yu Xiaogang sulked a moment, then again said with great momentum: "You really are smart. Only someone like you can become my disciple!"
Xiao Yan had a dark expression—he was a level 29 grand soul master, no need to brag to death, right?
Maybe this Great Master had some mental issues?
From these symptoms, if true, might not be easy to cure—would need a stronger dose of medicine.
Yu Xiaogang sighed: "Where there are soul beasts, there's profit. Especially those soul beast forests managed by the empire. Soul masters are an extremely wealthy group, and there are too many wanting to make money off them."
At the last phrase "too many," Yu Xiaogang deeply understood the meaning.
Xiao Yan had no special feelings—it was just making money to survive.
The surrounding soul masters were mostly average in strength and had to enter the Soul-Hunting Forest to fight soul beasts, risking their lives.
Compared to civilians living stable lives, they didn't live very comfortably either.
Looking at those shouting about team hunts, Yu Xiaogang's eyes showed strong disdain.
Lowering his voice, he said to Xiao Yan: "Look at those forming teams around here. Temporary teams like this are useless. Forming a team isn't that easy."
Xiao Yan activated his Purple Extreme Demon Eye to scan the surrounding people's strength.
Most were level 10+ soul masters, some level 20+ grand soul masters.
As for soul sovereigns, there were very few—only a few scattered.
Understanding the strength of those around, Xiao Yan silently rolled his eyes at Great Master—
"No real power and talking trash behind people's backs—what an idiot."
Any random group of soul masters could easily tear this old bone apart.
Unaware that his behavior had already caused endless contempt from Xiao Yan, Yu Xiaogang kept talking.
"I must say, forming teams to hunt soul beasts is really a good method. With others' help, those needing soul rings only need to deliver the final killing blow to the soul beast."
"However, a truly excellent team isn't just a random assembly."
"A real soul-hunting team needs at least five roles: food-type instrument soul master, support-type instrument soul master, agile-type battle soul master, strength-type battle soul master, and strong assault-type battle soul master. Each is responsible for supply, recovery, reconnaissance, defense, and elimination."
"Only with such a setup can it be considered a complete team."
"But that's not enough. Cooperation between members requires at least several years of practice to hone. Such a team with absolute mutual trust is the best; otherwise, when danger arises, collapse is instant."
(End of Chapter)