Chapter 4: Inner Island, Searching for a New Soul Pet

In another camp, inside the hall of a more luxuriously built wooden cabin, there were four men. Three of them were the middle-aged Stewards who had previously faced the children.

These three Stewards were the heads of the Green Nightmare Demon Island. They had twenty Stewards under their command to order around, and everything on Green Nightmare Demon Island was decided by them.

However, at this moment, these three leaders of Green Nightmare Demon Island stood respectfully behind a man dressed in white clothes. The cruelty and fierceness they showed when facing the children earlier were nowhere to be seen now, as if they were afraid their own expressions weren’t sincere or humble enough.

“Lord Xia, it is truly an honor for us that you could visit our island again,” said the leading Steward.

“Cao Yi, that kid I threw here isn’t dead yet?” said the man called Lord Xia.

This Lord Xia looked to be around thirty years old. His skin was very pale, appearing somewhat weak and sickly, giving off a cold feeling.

“Not for the time being,” said the island leader Cao Yi.

Lord Xia showed a hint of surprise and murmured to himself, “Back in Gangluo City, the employer’s information clearly stated he was a kid who just entered the realm of a Soul Disciple. Logically, with such weak Soul Power, he should have been devoured when the White Nightmare Devil reached the second stage. How come he hasn’t died by now?”

The three men beside him didn’t understand what Lord Xia was talking about and could only exchange glances.

“Lord Xia, do you need us to kill him directly? For your noble White Nightmare Devil to eat such a weak soul would be an insult,” Cao Yi finally said.

“That’s not necessary. Since he isn’t dead, it means his Soul Power can still sustain my White Nightmare Devil. It seems this kid has some capabilities, not the mediocre person others thought he was. Fine, there’s no suitable host for now, let him sustain the White Nightmare Devil for me first. He might even be able to nurture it a few more stages…” said Lord Xia.

After saying this, Lord Xia stood up and added, “Continue letting him train here. After he dies, send my White Nightmare Devil to my island.”

“What if he doesn’t die?” the Steward beside him asked quietly.

“Fool! Which White Nightmare Devil’s growth isn’t built upon thousands of corpses? How could that kid possibly survive?” Cao Yi immediately glared and scolded his subordinate.

“Yes, yes, I’m stupid, I’m stupid…” the Steward who asked too much nodded his head rapidly like pounding garlic.

Lord Xia smiled mysteriously without saying anything and walked towards the door.

In fact, this Lord Xia also didn’t believe Chu Mu could survive, because the growth of a White Nightmare Devil was practically a process of killing. It often required thousands of relatively talented hosts to sustain it…

Lord Xia’s White Nightmare Devil was in its newest-born state. The Soul Power devoured by a newborn White Nightmare Devil was still something that young Soul Pet Tamers with some potential could withstand.

But this was only because the White Nightmare Devil was at a low stage. Once it advanced one stage and its appetite greatly increased, it meant the White Nightmare Devil needed to find a new, stronger host, not a weak Soul Pet Tamer like Chu Mu who was around fifteen years old.

Lord Xia estimated that when the White Nightmare Devil grew to the third stage, Chu Mu’s time would be about up.

……

Inside the wooden cabin.

“The high-level, good-quality Soul Pets on the island are probably limited. We should go capture our battle Soul Pets early. If we get a defective Soul Pet, even with three months of strict training and nurturing, it would be very difficult to get into the top ten.”

The life-and-death struggle last night didn’t make Ting Yu sleep much longer. Very early the next morning, she was full of energy and planned to set off to capture her own Soul Pet.

“Hmm, good luck,” Chu Mu nodded slightly and said to Ting Yu, who was already ready to go.

“What, you’re not planning to come with me?” Ting Yu asked.

“Let’s act separately. You wouldn’t want to end up as the only person living in this room because we encountered a good Soul Pet, right?” Chu Mu said casually.

Ting Yu pursed her thin lips and said, “But, without more people cooperating, how do we defeat a Soul Pet, and how do we capture it?”

Generally, a Soul Pet Tamer’s first battle Soul Pet would be provided by their family, teacher, or elders. After a period of nurturing, it could truly fight for the Soul Pet Tamer.

But the training method on this Nightmare Devil Island was special. Soul Pet Tamers needed to find their own way to obtain their first battle Soul Pet aside from the Nightmare Devil. This probably involved personally fighting Soul Pets.

“You should also know we are in a competitive circle. Cooperating with others, unless you have a physical advantage like Zhou Shengmo’s—when forming a team, no one dared to compete with him for good Soul Pets. If you don’t, whenever there’s a conflict of interest, there will definitely be casualties within the team. So to truly get a Soul Pet you’re satisfied with, it’s best to act alone…” Chu Mu said seriously.

“But… it’s because I don’t trust others…” Ting Yu said in a somewhat delicate tone.

“I’m not trustworthy either,” Chu Mu said. After speaking, Chu Mu picked up a pack and walked out of the wooden cabin.

Ting Yu watched Chu Mu’s back, stamped her foot angrily, and said, “Hmph, and I went to the trouble of applying medicine for you yesterday. If we find a good one, you can choose first, stingy person!”

Chu Mu paid no attention to Ting Yu’s complaints. Applying medicine was just a simple thing. At worst, if Ting Yu got injured someday, Chu Mu could help apply it back. This was a wild, savage, brutal, and cruel deserted island, not a civilized city where you needed to know how to care for a little sister or yield to a young girl…

……

After applying the healing medicine all night, Chu Mu could move freely again. The dull pain in his back wasn’t too much of a hindrance.

Chu Mu had already figured out the island’s terrain earlier. Slipping into these dense jungles, Chu Mu moved like an agile sprite, quickly entering the obstacle-filled central part of Green Nightmare Demon Island.

Nightmare Devil Island spanned twenty kilometers in circumference. Although people from the Nightmare Demon Palace had occupied the island for a long time, most of those Stewards were outside the island and rarely entered the ten-kilometer inner island area of Nightmare Devil Island to move about.

Green Nightmare Demon Island itself was a small ecosystem. Many types of Soul Pets lived here. Capturing a good Soul Pet required not just luck, but also exceptional judgment and sufficient strength.

Luck, of course, meant encountering a Soul Pet with a high racial grade.

Judgment meant being able to identify the stage and quality of that Soul Pet.

Strength meant whether the Soul Pet Tamer themselves could capture the Soul Pet.

Theoretically, any Soul Pet, no matter how weak or powerful, could be captured.

……

Most of the children were already searching for Soul Pets outside the island. These people walked and stopped, carefully observing every creature they saw to make sure they didn’t miss a good Soul Pet.

But Chu Mu was different. He didn’t linger in any area outside the island. Along the way, no matter what Soul Pet he encountered, he didn’t even glance at it. Instead, he headed straight towards the inner island area of Green Nightmare Demon Island!

The inner island was a dangerous area. Even those Stewards didn’t dare to enter casually. Chu Mu dared to go there, not because he was overambitious or had enough confidence in himself.

But because he knew that if he lingered outside the island like the other children, searching for a low-grade Soul Pet, perhaps with his rich knowledge and judgment, he could get into the top ten in the competition.

But after surviving this ordeal, his death would be near, because the devil inside his body was the White Nightmare Devil, which was much more terrifying than the Green Nightmare Devil. Without a powerful Soul Pet, Chu Mu’s own ability to improve his strength would also have great limitations.

It wasn’t that Chu Mu didn’t want to take the steady route, step by step, to become stronger. It was that he absolutely couldn’t lower his requirements like this, and he absolutely couldn’t place himself on the same level as these children with Green Nightmare Devils.

He had been forced onto a path of no return. The only way was to fight with his back against the wall and be reborn from a dire situation!