Douluo Continent: I've joined forces with Tang San and taken Xiao Wu as my concubine!

Chapter 86, Petting the Cat

Before long, Ning Rongrong successfully absorbed the spirit ring and obtained a defensive amplification spirit skill.

Meng Bei's mission was also completed at this moment, and the age of his third spirit ring increased by a thousand years.

In addition to the tasks Xiao Wu had completed, his third and fourth spirit rings now had an age of over 3,500 and 15,000 years respectively.

His spirit rings and spirit power were thus amplified to some extent. However, because his current strength was already too great, this amplification only increased his spirit power by about half a level, while his overall strength did not increase much.

Next, they searched for a suitable soul beast for Zhu Zhuqing. During this time, while everyone was resting at night, Meng Bei secretly took Xiao Wu out for a while.

Then he made up an excuse, saying that he had encountered a suitable spirit beast, and he and Xiao Wu hunted it down. Because he didn't want to disturb everyone's rest, he didn't inform them. This was his explanation for Xiao Wu's fourth spirit ring.

The search continued.

Soon, Zhu Zhuqing's third spirit ring was also found.

While scouting from the sky, Liu Erlong unexpectedly discovered a thousand-year-old ghost-headed duck.

This is a medium-sized bird-type soul beast, only about half the size of an eagle-type soul beast of the same cultivation level. Its advantage lies in its extremely fast speed, moving like a ghost.

The reason this spirit beast is called Ghost Headed Duck has nothing to do with its speed. It is mainly because this spirit beast often ambushes others in the air. When it ambushes others while falling, the Ghost Headed Duck will tuck its most vulnerable head into a recess behind its two wings. From a distance, it looks like a headless ghost bird, hence its name.

When Liu Erlong discovered this soul beast, it was hanging far behind Meng Bei's team, seemingly considering whether or not to attack Meng Bei's team.

Upon seeing this, Liu Erlong immediately spat out a mouthful of dragon flame. The ghost-headed duck hurriedly dodged, but it still managed to get a little bit of flame on its wings, which ignited, causing it to fall to the ground at an angle.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Zhuqing immediately rushed towards the direction where the ghost-headed duck had fallen.

After all, this was a soul beast hunted for her, so as the person involved, she naturally had to pay more attention to it.

However, to her surprise, the pheasant landed and rolled around on the ground, accidentally setting the surrounding trees on fire. The pheasant then staggered away into the distance, fueled by the thick smoke.

Seeing this, Zhu Zhuqing quickly followed after them while the flames were still small.

Meng Bei followed behind Zhu Zhuqing. By the time he arrived, the flames had already begun to spread, but they weren't very large, just medium size.

Ignoring the flames, Meng Bei chased after Zhu Zhuqing.

Dai Mubai and the others arrived a minute or two later. By the time they got there, the flames had spread completely, with firelight reaching the sky and thick smoke billowing, blocking their way.

This flame originated from Liu Erlong's ultimate fire, with a temperature far exceeding that of ordinary flames. Now, apart from Liu Erlong herself, no one else dares to force their way in.

"What should we do?"

Dai Mubai looked in the direction where Meng Bei and Zhu Zhuqing had left with great concern.

Zhu Zhuqing isn't very strong; if she gets trapped in the fire, it will definitely be extremely dangerous.

Ning Rongrong and the others looked at the raging fire and their faces also showed worry.

Fortunately, Liu Erlong landed from the sky at that moment and comforted everyone, saying:

"Don't worry, I saw from the air that Zhu Qing and Xiao Bei have already left the fire's reach. Everyone doesn't need to worry about them. With Xiao Bei's strength, he will protect Zhu Qing and keep her safe. I estimate they will come back once the fire is extinguished."

Hearing Liu Erlong's words, everyone was temporarily relieved.

Now that Meng Bei and Zhu Zhuqing have left the fire, at least they don't have to worry about being trapped by flames.

At this moment, the flames intensified, and many soul beasts scrambled to escape from the flames.

Seeing this, Liu Erlong frowned slightly and quickly said to everyone:

"Children, we don't know how long this fire will burn. Let's all step back to avoid being affected by the soul beasts fleeing in the fire."

The crowd agreed with his reasoning and quickly retreated several miles to wait for the fire to be extinguished.

Although Dai Mubai was still very worried about Zhu Zhuqing's safety, he felt much more at ease when he thought of Meng Bei's strength, so he retreated with the others.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhu Zhuqing chased after the ghost-headed duck.

The ghost-headed duck tumbled and rolled all the way for more than ten miles, but because it was covered in Liu Erlong's ultimate fire, the flames did not go out no matter how much it rolled around.

When the ghost-headed duck was finally forced to stop, it was on the verge of death. Half of its body was charred by the flames, the new flesh on its body was cracked open by the flames, and the bone fragments were burned into charcoal. It looked extremely miserable.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Zhuqing quickly killed the ghost-headed duck, as the torture it had suffered was simply too inhuman, and even she felt sorry for it.

Meng Bei caught up from behind.

Seeing the pitiful state of the ghost-headed duck, he shook his head repeatedly.

"Sister Zhuqing, I'll protect you. You can begin absorbing the spirit rings!"

Meng Bei said.

Zhu Zhuqing nodded upon hearing this, then sat cross-legged on the ground and began absorbing the soul ring.

Meng Bei silently watched over Zhu Zhuqing from the side.

During this time, for some reason, he unconsciously shifted his gaze from his surroundings to Zhu Zhuqing.

From top to bottom, it has an hourglass-shaped body.

It must be said that compared to Xiao Wu and the others, Zhu Zhuqing does have her own unique strengths.

At this moment, Meng Bei was focusing on studying the tail after Zhu Zhuqing's martial soul was possessed.

The tail grows out from behind. I wonder what it feels like to touch it. Is it virtual or does it have a real tactile feel?

Meng Bei wanted to touch it, not for any other reason than she was simply curious.

Of course, he also knew that Zhu Zhuqing was at a crucial moment in absorbing her spirit ring, and he couldn't disturb her.

At this moment, Zhu Zhuqing had successfully attracted the spirit ring to her body, and now she was concentrating on absorbing the spirit power contained in the spirit ring.

Because this ghost-headed duck had undergone extremely inhuman torture when it died, its soul power contained a great deal of resentment. Since Zhu Zhuqing had never consumed any immortal herbs, she still found it somewhat difficult to absorb them.

Mengbei estimates that the situation will not end anytime soon.

He circled around Zhu Zhuqing for a while. Zhu Zhuqing's figure was indeed excellent. After her martial soul was attached to her, the cat ears added to her cuteness. He wished he could touch the cat ears. He wondered if they were as soft as Xiao Wu's.

As Meng Bei was thinking, his eyes inadvertently swept over the ghost-headed duck on the ground, and suddenly he perked up!

A faint, eerie light flashed past within the charred wings of the mongoose.

That is!

Meng Bei suddenly realized something and quickly stepped forward, tearing off the wings of the ghost-headed duck.

He peeled away the charred flesh from the wing of the mongoose, revealing a section of crystal-purple bone among the layers of skeleton.

It was a pair of wings joined together, entirely dark purple, radiating powerful soul energy fluctuations and bursts of eerie light.

"External Soul Bone!"

Meng Bei turned to look at Zhu Zhuqing, who was absorbing the soul ring with her eyes closed and completely absorbed, and fell into deep thought.

Just then, a system voice suddenly rang in his mind.

[Ding! Side quest triggered!]

[Side Quest: Return the Soul Bone. You have accidentally intercepted the external soul bone of Shrek Academy member Zhu Zhuqing. For the sake of team harmony, please return the soul bone!]

[Task Difficulty: Normal]

[Quest Reward: External Soul Bone of the Same Type]

(End of this chapter)