Chapter 83: Going to Sea to Hunt for a Soul Ring
After making all the preparations for going out, Lin Beiya headed to the Pope's Palace to find Bibi Dong.
Over the past year, though they bore the title of master and disciple, the two of them had rarely interacted.
Lin Beiya understood Bibi Dong's wariness toward him, as well as her need for the Gold Cloth to suppress the Rakshasa's Evil thoughts.
The Gemini Gold Cloth had already been sent over by a maid. Unless Bibi Dong summoned him or he truly had something that required her personal approval, master and disciple generally wouldn't meet.
But now that Lin Beiya needed to hunt for his fourth soul ring, he still had to report to Bibi Dong out of formality.
"Teacher."
"Mm. It's been a few days since you broke through. You've already made your preparations for hunting a soul ring, haven't you?"
"That's right. This disciple has already chosen a target soul beast."
"Good. You're on good terms with Yue Guan. He will be the one to take you again this time."
The exchange was mechanical, but it fit their current relationship—each taking what they needed from the other. Lin Beiya naturally had no objection to having old acquaintance Yue Guan accompany him on this soul hunt.
"Then thank you, Teacher."
After leaving the Pope's Palace, Lin Beiya went to the Spirit City flower-and-bird market and bought some newly arrived exotic flower seeds. Then he went straight to Yue Guan's residence.
"Uncle Ju, I'm going to trouble you again this time."
Yue Guan, who was in the courtyard watering his flowers, didn't even turn his head before responding:
"You broke through rank 40?"
"That's right. This time, I want to choose a Poison Swamp Demon Crab as my target."
"Poison Swamp Demon Crab?"
Seeing Yue Guan's brows knit tightly, Lin Beiya felt a little puzzled and quickly asked:
"Uncle Ju, is there something wrong with that soul beast?"
"There's nothing wrong with the beast itself. But is your poison resistance really that strong? That swamp is full of toxic miasma. Even powerful ten-thousand-year soul beasts can't linger there for long."
"The most important point is—this old man has no intention of wading around in that filthy mud pit to look for soul beasts."
Upon hearing this, Lin Beiya suddenly understood, his gaze teasingly sizing up Yue Guan.
So he was afraid of getting dirty. That really did fit his personality. There probably wasn't a more meticulously groomed man alive on the entire Douluo Continent.
Lin Beiya didn't insist on his first choice either. He'd picked the Poison Swamp Demon Crab mainly because the Star Dou Forest was closer to Spirit Hall.
But since Yue Guan was unwilling, it wasn't a big deal to make a trip to the seaside instead.
"If Uncle Ju doesn't want to go there, then we'll have to make a trip to the coast. My target this time is crab-type soul beasts."
"Oh? Then let's go to the seaside. This old man will treat it as a publicly funded vacation."
The moment he heard there was an alternative, Yue Guan's frown immediately smoothed out. He didn't even mind the long journey anymore and agreed on the spot to accompany Lin Beiya to the sea. Who knew, he might even get his hands on some flower species unique to the ocean climate.
"Then let's set out after lunch. I still need a bit of time to get ready."
"Fine. We'll meet in the afternoon."
Since it was still early, Lin Beiya headed to the academy to find his teammates and inform them that he would be going out.
"This time, I might be gone for close to half a month, maybe even longer. While I'm not here, Senior Ye will be in charge of training as usual."
"Got it. Captain, you're going to hunt for your soul ring, right?"
"That's right. I reached rank 40 a few days ago, then spent some time stabilizing my cultivation. Now it's time to break through to the Soul Ancestor realm."
Hearing that, Shi Nuo and the others—already accustomed to Lin Beiya's rapid cultivation speed—didn't show much reaction. But the recently joined Qiu Tete and Wei Xu were both visibly stunned.
A Soul Ancestor under twelve years old—let alone seeing one, they had never even heard of such a thing.
Of course, that was just because they hadn't seen enough of the world. Forget anyone else—Lin Beiya himself knew of another monster: that little angel, who had reached Soul Ancestor even earlier than he did.
After giving his instructions, Lin Beiya had lunch with everyone, then left the academy. Together with Yue Guan, he hired a carriage, and the two set off toward the coast.
On this trip, they would cross the entire Yidefu Great Plain, which belonged to the Heaven Dou Empire, passing through the Hagen Das Kingdom, the Fasinuo Province, and several other regions. The journey was very long. Fortunately, the two of them weren't in a hurry, and along the way, they could properly experience the customs of various regions of the Heaven Dou Empire before finally arriving at their destination—Vast Sea City.
"Uncle Ju, do you know much about sea soul beasts?"
"Not really. My Martial Soul is completely useless in the ocean, so most of the soul beasts I know about are those that live in the Star Dou Forest."
"However, your target is pretty broad—any crab-type soul beast will do, right? I can assure you there will be no shortage of crabs along the coast. We can wait until we get there to choose."
Lin Beiya nodded, agreeing with Yue Guan's reasoning.
He mentally calculated the breeding season for crabs—probably around April or October—and the current date happened to fall within that window.
Many crab-type soul beasts normally lived on the sea floor. Asking them to go fish for crabs in the vast ocean was essentially like looking for a needle in a haystack. But if they took advantage of the breeding season and went to an offshore island to find egg-laying mother crabs, things would become much easier.
Of course, that was based on the natural rules followed by ordinary crabs from his previous life. Whether it still applied on the Douluo Continent, Lin Beiya wasn't entirely sure.
"Uncle Ju, those crab-type soul beasts also have to come ashore to lay eggs, right?"
"Hm?"
Yue Guan was taken aback for a moment.
He had actually considered something similar. Once they reached Vast Sea City, he'd planned to have the branch hall send some water-attribute soul masters to help seek out soul beasts. But if they could just wait on the shore and look for egg-laying crab-type soul beasts instead, there would be no need for all that trouble.
"You, a kid who grew up in the middle of the continent, actually know something about sea soul beast habits?"
"Haha, isn't it just that every year around October is the best time to eat crab?"
"All right then. Looks like all those times you went out with Shi Nuo to 'eat well' weren't completely wasted."
Yue Guan couldn't help wiping at his forehead in embarrassment and accepted Lin Beiya's explanation.
In any case, they could go stake out an island first and observe for a few days to see if there was any harvest. If not, they could still ask the branch hall's soul masters for help.
"We'll see when we get there. If we can avoid mobilizing the branch hall's manpower, that would be best."
With a clear goal, their journey became much more relaxed.
Lin Beiya would occasionally ask Yue Guan about iconic plants from various provinces, and as a flower enthusiast, Yue Guan happily lectured him on botanical knowledge without the slightest impatience.
Because they weren't in a rush, it took them a full week by carriage before they finally saw the city gates of Vast Sea City.
"Let's rest here for a day and go out to sea tomorrow."
After such a long journey, Lin Beiya had no objections. They found an inn and checked in immediately.
He needed to adjust his condition to its peak to withstand the pressure of absorbing a soul ring beyond his usual limits. As for wandering around this city he'd never visited before—that could wait until after he finished hunting his soul ring.
At dawn the next morning, Lin Beiya ate breakfast and then went with Yue Guan to the Spirit Hall branch in Vast Sea City.
This was something they had discussed over their meal. Neither of them was particularly familiar with the local shoreline, so it was best to find a guide.
Whether it was determining direction at sea or identifying the types and ages of sea soul beasts, a guide would be invaluable.
In the end, after they presented their tokens, the branch hall master—eager to curry favor with a Titled Douluo like Yue Guan—personally stepped forward to serve as their guide.
This made Lin Beiya sigh in his heart at how easy it was to handle things when you had power. For his soul hunt, not only was a Titled Douluo helping him, but he also had a Soul Saint-level expert from the branch hall guiding the way.
If only he knew that when the God King Tang was just leaving the novice village, he practically had to shed a layer of skin every time he went to hunt for a soul ring.
End of Chapter