Chapter 159 The Silent Sunset Forest.
To complete the task assigned by Elder Mu and obtain the sixth spirit ring, Wu Xuan worked tirelessly for the next few days. He was either on his way to accept or complete a mission, and he didn't even stop at the academy.
"Phew! After half a month of hard work, finally the last mission is here: a 100,000-year-old Crimson Dragon, a top-tier sub-dragon spirit beast with the Annihilation attribute." Holding the last black scroll, Wu Xuan's expression became increasingly excited.
Opening the scroll, the mission information came into view.
Near Starlight City, a major city in the northwest of the Star Luo Empire, a large band of wolf bandits had recently appeared. In just two days, this band of bandits had slaughtered nearly ten villages and towns, causing at least several thousand casualties.
According to the investigation by the Surveillance Hall's intelligence personnel, this band of wolf bandits moved with great skill and method, repeatedly evading the encirclement and suppression by the Star Luo Empire's army.
Therefore, the Surveillance Hall suspected that an evil spirit master was secretly directing this band of wolf bandits.
Wu Xuan's mission objective was to annihilate this gang of wolf bandits and kill the mastermind behind them.
"An evil soul master again! They're a bunch of beasts worse than pigs and dogs!" Wu Xuan put away the scroll and headed directly towards Shrek City. After more than ten days of continuous missions, the food and water in his soul tool were almost depleted; he needed to replenish them in Shrek City's commercial street.
Meanwhile, at the gates of Shrek Academy, an old man and a young girl remained facing off.
"Teacher~, please let me go with Brother Xuan! I'm begging you!" Xiao Xiao pleaded pitifully.
"No! What level are you, little girl? Wu Xuan's surveillance mission this time is no ordinary one. I'm not letting you come along for your safety." Elder Xuan took a bite of his chicken leg, once again righteously refusing Xiao Xiao's request.
"Waaah~ You bad teacher, you stinky teacher! I've been cultivating by your side for the past two years, and I haven't even seen Brother Xuan's face a few times. That Ma Xiaotao pesters Brother Xuan every day, saying she wants to suppress his evil fire. I think she has ulterior motives. I'm really afraid that one day Brother Xuan might be seduced by that woman Ma Xiaotao."
"Teacher, tell me, if this delays your little disciple's lifelong happiness, what's the point of me staying in the academy to cultivate? I might as well just go out and wander." Xiao Xiao complained tearfully.
"Cough cough cough!" Elder Xuan seemed to have suddenly choked and began to cough violently.
Elder Xuan was speechless. This little girl usually seemed silly, how did she become so clever about this?
If this little girl knew that Xiaotao and Wu Xuan were already together, what would happen? He, as her master, would probably have no good days afterward. To shirk responsibility, Elder Xuan made a decision.
"Alright, alright! As you wish, you can go. But let me make one thing clear beforehand: the primary focus of this trip is the surveillance mission. We'll discuss what you want to do after the mission is over." Elder Xuan wiped his greasy hands with the corner of his robe and gave him instructions.
"Yay! Long live Teacher!" Xiao Xiao's expression instantly changed 180 degrees, leaving Elder Xuan stunned.
It seemed he had been tricked by this little girl.
Xiao Xiao excitedly headed towards the west gate of Shrek Academy, but soon after arriving, she saw Wu Xuan leisurely strolling towards her with a sesame seed cake in his mouth.
"Brother Xuan!" Xiao Xiao called out, skipping and hopping towards Wu Xuan, the little bells on her hair ornaments jingling.
"What urgent matter brings you here, little girl? Why are you waiting for me here?" Wu Xuan asked in surprise, putting away the sesame seed cake he had been holding in his mouth.
"Hmph! Can't I look for you if there's nothing wrong? Brother Xuan! I haven't seen you come back to the academy for almost a month. And don't call me little girl anymore." Xiao Xiao said, hands on her hips and stamping her foot.
Wu Xuan smiled helplessly, "Haha! I'm busy with important matters!"
"I know you're busy! But even when you're busy, you need to balance work and rest! Take me with you on this mission!" Xiao Xiao leaned forward and asked.
"Sure! Let's go together. This time we're heading to Starlight City, a major town on the border of the Star Luo Empire. It's a three- or four-day journey! Just thinking about it makes me anxious." Wu Xuan rubbed Xiao Xiao's head, which had leaned closer, and said wearily.
"Ah~!" Xiao Xiao was stunned by the warmth from the large hand on his head. He had thought he would have to plead and beg for her to agree, but she agreed so easily.
She thought, "He still cares about me, doesn't he?" Thinking this, Xiao Xiao grinned foolishly.
"Stop daydreaming, let's go." Wu Xuan walked out of the west gate and slung the specially made level-six flying soul tool from the inner courtyard over his shoulder.
"Oh! Here I come." Xiao Xiao jumped excitedly and rushed out of the west gate.
When ordinary people use flying soul tools to fly at high speeds, they have to rely on their own bodies and soul power to withstand the impact of the airflow, which consumes a lot of soul power.
But with Wu Xuan, it's different. Extreme wind surrounds the two of them, and the wind resistance at high speed is reduced to zero. Even so, the two of them only flew at full speed for two and a half hours before Xiao Xiao's soul power began to be unable to cope.
"Brother Xuan! Isn't that Sunset Forest over there? We're about to pass through Heaven Dou City. Let's land and rest for a while!" Xiao Xiao called out, looking to her left.
"Hmm." Wu Xuan looked at the lifeless forest to his left with a deep gaze, then nodded and descended.
The two of them didn't need to pass through Sunset Forest to get to Starlight City, the main town of Star Luo City, but they could see its outline in the distance.
After landing on the ground, Wu Xuan clenched his wrists and stretched his bones. He would go in and plunder the immortal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well sooner or later, but that would be at least after he obtained his sixth soul ring.
Wu Xuan reached for his storage soul tool at his waist, taking out all the pastries, dried meat, and sesame cakes he had stockpiled in Shrek City that morning.
Xiao Xiao, seeing this, didn't stand on ceremony and accepted the pastries Wu Xuan offered, eating them directly. While eating, she silently observed Wu Xuan beside her.
Being in the wilderness, Wu Xuan naturally wouldn't be careless, his aura perception always covering a radius of nearly a thousand meters.
Wu Xuan's soul power hadn't actually been depleted too much along the way, and now, in the time it took to eat a meal, it had basically recovered.
With a slight thought, his aura perception spread westward for nearly ten thousand meters. For the sake of their subsequent actions, he still needed to roughly assess the overall strength of Sunset Forest.
But the next moment, Wu Xuan was stunned. He couldn't sense a single powerful aura across a large area of Sunset Forest. Wu Xuan refused to believe it, spreading his aura perception again, covering the entire western outer area, but still couldn't sense even a single hundred-year-old soul beast.
"Hiss! I didn't expect that the outer area of Sunset Forest wouldn't even have a single hundred-year-old soul beast. This place is truly barren!" Wu Xuan murmured in surprise.
In his memories from his previous life, he knew that Sunset Forest was already ruined, but he didn't expect it to be this bad. Even if people were incredibly skilled at killing, they couldn't possibly wipe out all the plant and insect-type soul beasts, could they?
"Brother Xuan! You're talking about the nearby Sunset Forest! I know some of the reasons, do you want to hear them?" Xiao Xiao leaned closer, her big eyes blinking.
"Then tell me." Wu Xuan became interested upon hearing this.
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