Way to the heavens

"You ready?" Wang Wei asked Lee Zheng and Long Yue

"Yeah. Let's go get me a second soul jewel." Long Yue said.

The three boys traveled to the forest just outside of dukshore city. Since they only had one day this was the only option they had and had to rely on their luck to find a suitable soul beast for Long Yue.

"Let's hurry it up and get to the forest before noon so that we have more time to hunt for soul beasts." Long Yue said.

"We could also use this opportunity to gather soul beast materials and special cultivation resources. For me killing a snow or bird type soul beast and getting their blood essence it would help me with my cultivation. As for you Long Yue it doesn't really matter as long as it is a holy beast it will help you. For Wang Wei, I think high-grade snake soul beasts will help you a lot and if you can get your hands on a high ranking snake type soul beast' blood essence I think you will be able to reach rank twenty in no time. That way we will all be rank twenty soul experts by the time we will enter an advanced academy." Lee Zheng said.

"About entering advanced academies I already know which one I will join and I hope you two will follow me." Wang Wei said.

"Really? Which one?" Long Yue replied as they were traveling through the streets of duskshore city.

"I will enter jade academy."

"Jade academy? I have never heard of it why would you go to a no-name academy when you are as strong as you are?" Lee Zheng said.

"It all happened on the second day of the tournament. I was approached by a man who invited me to his academy. At first I didn't think about entering but then I suddenly changed my mind. Why? Because he was a heavenly god with a neutral soul form and even a one-hundred-thousand-year-old soul jewel. He was the first powerhouse heavenly god I have seen in my life. He said that if I could make it into the top eight of each competition I would be allowed to enter their academy. And since a heavenly god personally asked me I don't see a reason to decline."

"A heavely god?! A heavenly god asked you to join their academy?" Long Yue said.

"Yeah, I think you two will also be allowed to enter because you have also shown outstanding skills."

"Okay, I will follow you." Lee Zheng said.

"Me too." Long Yue hastily said.

By the time they ended their conversation they already reached the forest and made their way in. At first they didn't encounter any soul beasts but later on, they started encountering ten to ninety-year-old soul beasts. Long Yue tried to kill them but was stopped by Wang Wei.

"If you kill soul beasts indiscriminately they will probably cease to exist one day. If they do then how will soul experts get their soul jewels? Not only that but the balance of nature will be distorted and places where soul beasts once reigned will become places people will fight over. If that happens there will be threats of war and the peace of the world will also cease to exist. In order to prevent that we need to stop killing soul beasts that will not help us with our cultivation and let them live their lives." Wang Wei said.

"But if we let them live they could cultivate to ten-thousand-years old. They could start attacking humans and kill them." Long Yue said.

"That may be true but if that happens a strong enough soul expert will come and kill the beast. This way the world will stay the same and it will always be in harmony."

"Okay, you're right." Long Yue replied. "Let's continue."

The trio traveled for another four hours and decided to take a break around noon.

"I can't believe we ran into a five-hundred-year-old snow white eagle." Lee Zheng said as he looked at a small vial filled with a red, scarlet like substance. It was the blood essence of the snow white eagle. "This will help me with my cultivation. I think I will finally be able to catch up with you guys now that I have this!"

"Is it really that helpful?" Wang Wei asked.

"Of course! The results I would normally see after a whole month of cultivation I will now see in a few days as long as I have this blood essence. But since use consume it, it will run out eventually and your cultivation speed will become what it once was. But I have more than enough to overtake you guys." Lee Zheng said.

"Really? So this will also help me." Wang Wei said as he held up a vial of his own.

"Yes, you were really lucky by the way. To run into a thousand-year-old nirvana snake. Although you have a snake soul form your progress will be only a bit faster than usual because you have a low tier soul form. But that doesn't matter what matters is finding a suitable soul jewel for Long Yue after we have our lunch." Lee Zheng said.

After the three boys had their lunch they started searching the forest again for a suitable soul beast for Long Yue.

"I found it!" Lee Zheng yelled.

"What, what did you find?" Long Yue asked as he hurried over to Lee Zheng.

Lee Zheng said nothing he only pointed to scratch marks on a tree.

"What is this. They are just scratch marks." Long Yue said.

"Wait up a second." Wang Wei said. "If I am correct these are scratch marks from a boneclaw bear. They use these scratch marks on trees to mark their territory. I may not know that much about things like tournaments and other things but when it comes to Jong martial arts or cultivating or soul beasts I am pretty confident in my knowledge."

"Really let's go then. I am able to get my second soul jewel." Long Yue excitedly said.

The boys ventured into the boneclaw bear' territory and within a few minutes, they already encountered the owner of the territory.

"Well, you're in luck Long Yue." Wang Wei said. "This boneclaw bear is at least one-thousand-years old."

"Really? Then I can't let this opportunity slip." Long Yue said as he brandished his holy claws.