Chapter 293: The Earth King and the Pink Queen (Part 2)

Liu Erlong's eyes were slightly red, clearly showing she hadn't slept well the night before. At first, she had harbored hopes that the Great Master would enter the tent to continue their earlier passion. But she waited and waited, and never saw the Great Master go in. Liu Erlong's mood could well be imagined.

"Uh… Erlong, just pretend I didn't say anything." Flandre had no desire to provoke her at a time like this, while inwardly sighing as he shot a look — somewhat pleading — toward the Great Master, who sat off to the side eating breakfast with an expression of complete indifference.

"Erlong, that's enough." The Great Master finally spoke.

Liu Erlong, who had been charging toward Flandre, froze in her tracks. She turned her head to look at the Great Master, her delicate frame trembling slightly. "You're no good either. You just know how to bully me." With those words, she spun around and dashed back into the tent, leaving a trail of glistening droplets hanging in the air behind her.

The Great Master closed his eyes in pain. Though he said nothing, the steamed bun in his hand had already been crushed completely out of shape.

Half an hour later, with everything packed up, the group set off once more — though the atmosphere had grown noticeably delicate.

Liu Erlong walked alone at the very back of the group, her face dark and brooding, while the Great Master, Flandre, and Zhao Wuji walked at the front, leaving the Shrek Seven Devils in the middle.

Oscar nudged Ma Hongjun. "Fatty, you got your fourth Soul Ring — how's it feel? Was it easy to absorb?"

Ma Hongjun nodded. "It was really easy. Only took half an hour and it was done. Didn't give me any trouble at all. Strange, actually. Do you think that Earth King had been beaten down so badly by Teacher Erlong that it had already given up on living, and really believed I was freeing it, so it just let me absorb it?"

Tang San said, "In a sense, that scenario is entirely possible. The Great Master has studied this — if a Soul Beast harbors relatively little resentment at the time of its death, the absorption process goes much more smoothly. Conversely, if the Soul Beast's resentment runs extremely deep, absorbing the Soul Ring becomes vastly more difficult. That was the situation when I absorbed the Spirit Demon Spider's Soul Ring last time. However, the Great Master also said there are two situations where a Soul Beast's death is most beneficial for a Soul Master when absorbing its Soul Ring. One is when the Soul Beast is filled with extreme resentment — in that case, the probability of a Soul Bone dropping increases dramatically. The other situation is when the Soul Beast willingly allows itself to be killed. When it voluntarily makes itself into a Soul Master's Soul Ring, there's nearly a one-hundred-percent chance of a Soul Bone dropping, and the Soul Ring will be absorbed perfectly, unaffected by the age limit. In other words, even if we're only at rank forty right now, if a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast were willing to let us kill it and absorb its Soul Ring, we wouldn't suffer any backlash."

"That good?" Oscar and Ma Hongjun said in unison.

Dai Mubai, walking nearby, said, "What good? You think it's that easy? Why would a Soul Beast willingly let you kill it and hand over its Soul Ring? That's an idealized scenario — or more accurately, one that can never actually happen."

Xiao Wu swayed the Loveless Love Orchid in her hand and said calmly, "Nothing is impossible. Under the right circumstances, perhaps it could happen."

The fatty looked somewhat deflated. "So what you're saying is, the Soul Ring I absorbed doesn't fit either the first or the second scenario?"

Tang San replied, "If that Earth King had been killed by Senior Erlong, it might have been the first scenario."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but shudder as they recalled Liu Erlong's berserk assault from the day before. A chill ran through each of them at the memory.

Tang San continued, "The first scenario is also extremely difficult to achieve. To make a Soul Beast's resentment reach its absolute peak, you have to deal the killing blow yourself. You can't have someone else do it and dilute the beast's resentment. But under normal circumstances, the Soul Beast a Soul Master sets out to hunt will be slightly stronger than them. It's nearly impossible to achieve the kind of one-sided beatdown Teacher Erlong pulled off yesterday. So naturally, it can't be accomplished. And even though Teacher Erlong could completely dominate that Earth King yesterday, because the gap in their strength was so vast, even if Teacher Erlong needed a Soul Ring to absorb, she certainly wouldn't choose it."

Oscar nodded emphatically. "No wonder Soul Bones are so rare. These conditions are all far too extreme. Oh right, Fatty — what's your fourth Soul Skill?"

The fatty's eyes took on a mysterious glint. "When we get a chance to use it, I'll show you. It feels pretty great! Too bad the range is a bit small. And you can't lock onto the target before releasing it."

The morning temperature in the Sunset Forest was somewhat low, and the air held abundant moisture, giving rise to a hazy morning mist.

The faint fog was cool and damp, drifting gently with the light breeze. It was just before the sun had fully risen, when the mist was at its thickest.