Seeing the subtle actions of Flander and the other two, Ma Hongjun naturally understood their thoughts.
Hunting Oscar's second soul ring was simply a matter of killing a hundred-year-old soul beast; even Soul Saint Flander probably wouldn't need to lift a finger. Dai Mubai alone could handle it, making his presence redundant. However, Ma Hongjun didn't voice this.
Putting aside the future, he did indeed owe them a life-saving favor and a debt of gratitude.
Besides, as for the devil, as a Soul Master, he wouldn't face any danger even in the Soul Hunting Forest.
As for their worries, let them worry for now; he could give them a surprise later, as a way of venting the anger and grievances he'd suffered at the devil's hands over the past three years.
The four continued their journey through the forest, introducing themselves to each other. Ma Hongjun already knew these three, but still listened attentively.
"What's with your flames?"
Ma Hongjun's secret of his twin martial souls had been exposed to them; besides being shocked, they were also very interested in his evil fire.
Ma Hongjun gave a general description of the characteristics of the evil fire, drawing strange looks from the three.
Oscar grinned mischievously and said, "So, does that mean you need women to satisfy your lust?"
Dai Mubai laughed along, saying, "If it's just women, it's nothing. Women are just a resource. As long as you have enough gold soul coins, you can have as many as you want.
Oh, with your looks, you probably wouldn't even need gold soul coins; just your face alone could attract a bunch of beauties.
So, your lust isn't a problem at all; it's actually a man's asset. Even I'm starting to want
some." Dai Mubai, true to his reputation as a playboy who had indulged in womanizing for years, made lust seem amusing in his words.
Indeed, it was hard to understand why it had become a problem for Ma Hongjun in the past.
Haha, probably because he was ugly.
If he were even slightly handsome, he wouldn't have had so many troubles.
"Hongjun, when we get back from this Soul Hunt, I'll take you to Soto City. I guarantee you'll be satisfied,"
Oscar said, adding to the story of Dai Mubai's status as the top womanizer in Soto City.
"Yeah, Young Master Dai's name is known throughout the entire Soto City's brothels, haha.
Boss Dai is a regular, and the girls he picks up are always drool-worthy
..."
Flander had already disappeared. After listening to the three boys' lewd talk for a while, he couldn't stand it anymore and left. Before leaving, he gave Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun a meaningful look, probably telling them to trick Ma Hongjun into going to Shrek Academy.
Flander wouldn't make a move until they encountered a thousand-year-old soul beast, so this trip could be considered a kind of training for Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun.
Dai Mubai patted Ma Hongjun's shoulder and said sympathetically, "Hey, after all these years, you're still a virgin, enduring the pain of the evil fire every day."
Then, he changed the subject.
"Since you've met me, I'll help you turn this pain into happiness, hahaha!"
The jokes were almost over, and the two quickly built a relationship with Ma Hongjun through the topic of the evil fire. Ma Hongjun was happy to befriend them like this.
Returning to Oscar's second spirit ring, as a food-type spirit master, choosing a spirit ring is actually relatively difficult.
Flander and his two companions have been in the Soul Hunting Forest for three days and haven't found a suitable spirit beast for Oscar's spirit ring.
Oscar's sausage spirit can actually be equipped with a variety of spirit rings because it's carnivorous; he can be equipped with animal-type spirit beast spirit rings, and his first spirit ring was animal-type.
However, animal-type spirit beast spirit rings mostly provide amplification of spirit power, and it's rare to encounter spirit beasts with special abilities. The
reason they haven't found a suitable spirit beast after searching for so long is because this captive Soul Hunting Forest has significant limitations, with relatively limited species characteristics.
"Let's just keep looking; it depends on fate,"
Oscar said optimistically.
"This is truly fate!"
Ma Hongjun couldn't help but exclaim, no wonder the surrounding environment felt somewhat familiar; it turned out they had returned to the place where they had encountered the two bears yesterday evening.
At this moment, the little bear was digging in the ground not far away. Hearing Ma Hongjun and the others talking, it raised its head in surprise.
At first, it looked completely bewildered, then it
roared and howled
as it retreated, finally speeding up and disappearing into the forest with a roar.
Ma Hongjun and the other two were amused by it and didn't chase after it.
The three walked over and saw that the little bear had been digging for grass to eat.
"Poor thing!"
"A bear cub without its mother, now it can only eat grass."
"That's reality, survival of the fittest!"
"Luckily, humans are at the top of the food chain, otherwise I'd be the one eating grass."
Ma Hongjun sighed. The large bear's carcass was still in his spatial ring soul tool. He was truly grateful to be human; he could still eat bear meat today.
"I need to think about it carefully. Bear paws are a rare and excellent ingredient. They can be steamed, braised, fried, sweet and sour, stir-fried, cold-dressed, boiled, dry-potted, grilled, braised in oil, teppanyaki, or even cooked in foil..."
Ma Hongjun licked his lips, wiped them with the corner of his clothes, and shuddered as he came to his senses.
"Ugh, how cruel!"
Meanwhile, Dai Mubai and the other man had already begun examining the grass on the ground.
"This is bear bile grass,
alas, it's only a ten-year-old variety."
Oscar was initially delighted, then sighed.
"Oh, there's more over there!"
Ma Hongjun pointed to a large patch not far ahead, looking at the grass.
"Wow, so much, it must be over a hundred years old."
Oscar excitedly rushed over, and Dai Mubai quickly followed.
Suddenly, the patch of grass in front of them began to move, like a sentient ginseng that could teleport, moving underground.
"Bang!"
Oscar tripped over the grass, and then the parts of the grass that were above ground bent like whips and lashed out at him.
"Ah~ ah~ ah ah ah..."
Oscar screamed as he was entangled and whipped by the grass.
Suddenly, a bear bile grass the size of a small tree rapidly moved towards Oscar's head. Its exposed leaves emitted a yellow light, pointing like a sword at Oscar's head.
"Little Oscar!"
Dai Mubai cried out in alarm. His White Tiger Martial Soul had already possessed him, but by the time he reached him, it might be too late.
In an instant, Ma Hongjun's Dragon Soul Spear appeared in his hand.
"Throw the spear!"
The Dragon Soul Spear flew out, passing over Oscar's head and embedding itself just above it, the slanted shaft already touching the top of his head.
"Clang clang clang!"
The bear bile grass's branches and leaves repeatedly struck the Dragon Soul Spear.
Dai Mubai finally arrived. He punched the bear bile grass, the overwhelming force sending Oscar flying, the grass clinging to Oscar snapping in two.
However, the bear bile grass emitting the yellow light dodged, retreating into the ground just as Dai Mubai's fist arrived.
"Wow, Boss Dai, be gentle!"
Oscar patted the dirt off his face, spitting out a mouthful of mud, and said. He had just been blasted away, his face making intimate contact with the ground.
"You still have the nerve to say that? You were so impulsive! If it weren't for Hongjun, you'd be a corpse by now," Dai Mubai said irritably.
"Alright, alright, Boss Dai, let's not talk about that anymore. Quickly grab that hundred-year-old bear gall grass! My second spirit ring is that!"
Oscar said excitedly.
"It's already run away, how can we catch it?"
"It can't escape. Bear gall grass can only temporarily shrink into the soil. It can't stay underground for long, just like a person in water needs to breathe.
And it can't go very far underground unless it cultivates into a ten-thousand-year-old spirit beast; otherwise, it can't stay underground forever.
Most importantly, bear gall grass is just like its name—it's bold and holds grudges. It will come out and fight us!"
Ma Hongjun listened to Oscar while observing the ground. A patch of bear gall grass here had automatically moved a distance away from the three of them. Judging by their size, they were all much smaller than the bear gall grass from before.
The two small bear gall grasses that had just been hit by Dai Mubai's punch were already dead, and two white spirit rings appeared.
"This is a grass-type spirit beast, truly amazing."
Suddenly, the ground moved, as if something was crawling in the soil, rushing towards Oscar's feet.
Ma Hongjun's eyes narrowed, and he gave Oscar a wink. Oscar nodded, indicating that he understood.
Ma Hongjun seized the opportunity, and the second spirit ring on his spear, a purple one, lit up.
"Explode!"
Ma Hongjun leaped up, a burst of light erupting from his body, the surrounding air exploding.
The Dragon Soul Spear swung in an arc in the air, the tip gathering power, the invisible air currents seemingly about to be torn apart by the spear tip.
Ma Hongjun descended from the sky, Oscar quickly jumped away, the tip of the Dragon Soul Spear plunged into the ground, and the ground immediately exploded. The powerful force, like a bomb, made the spear's attack an explosive effect.
The ground was blasted open, forming a small crater. A bear gall grass stalk lay within, its branches and leaves severed by Ma Hongjun's Dragon Soul Spear, its thick root tuber trying to burrow back into the soil.
"Rise!"
Ma Hongjun flicked it up with his spear, tossing it into the air.
Then he leaped up, the Dragon Soul Spear following behind, the tip repeatedly striking, breaking off a branch with each strike.
When the bear gall grass landed again, it was devoid of green, only its thick root tuber and stem remained.
"Hongjun, be careful! Don't kill it! Let me kill it!"
Oscar shouted anxiously. Ma Hongjun's series of attacks were too ruthless; he was afraid he might accidentally finish off the bear gall grass. After all, while grass-type soul beasts were resilient, they couldn't withstand excessive damage.
"Here, take this!"
Oscar took it, pulled out a small dagger, and plunged it into the bear gall grass's root tuber.
Soul beasts are indeed amazing; this is the first time Ma Hongjun has ever seen a grass-type soul beast.
At this moment, Flander jumped down from the tree and said to Ma Hongjun, "Well done."
It seems he had been observing the battle.
Flander looked at the bear bile grass in Oscar's hand. The bear bile grass had a large, yellow root tuber, a huge clump, with seven branches growing from it, much thicker than other bear bile grasses.
"Hmm, yellow root tuber, seven branches in a row, this bear bile grass is already seven hundred years old. Perfect for your second soul ring,"
Flander said with a smile, his sunken face blooming like a chrysanthemum.
"Although bear bile grass belongs to the grass category, its root and tuber are top-grade medicinal herbs, just like bear bile can detoxify. Bear bile grass is even milder and can detoxify all poisons.
Moreover, grass-type spirit beast spirit rings are easier to absorb. If it were a beast, let alone seven hundred years, even five hundred years, Oscar might not be able to withstand it.
Among the spirit beasts that my teachers and I researched for suitable spirit rings for Oscar, bear bile grass is definitely in the top ten.
This spirit ring, in terms of both age and type, can be said to be very suitable for Oscar. Absorbing this spirit ring will very likely give Oscar the ability to detoxify."
Flander explained earnestly to Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun, which was undoubtedly a way of teaching.
In the end, Oscar spent a whole day absorbing this spirit ring.
Oscar didn't get up until almost evening.
"How was it? Did you gain the detoxification skill?"
Dai Mubai asked, looking at the excited Oscar.
"Hehe, of course I will. The dean chose the spirit beast, so of course I can get it."
Oscar chuckled, then looked at Ma Hongjun with a lewd expression and continued.
"This time, I really owe you all a debt of gratitude, especially Hongjun. He not only saved my life but also helped me obtain my second spirit ring.
From now on, Hongjun, you can have my sausages anytime you need, free of charge."
Ma Hongjun: "..."