Chapter 070: The Realm of a Thousand Souls, the Thousand-Soul Grass

Chimeng Realm is the location of the hunters’ guild closest to the Abnormality Experts Association in Yanhun Realm.
Of course, which direction in Huaxia Country Chimeng Realm corresponds to remains a secret. Only true free hunters can enter and exit this place freely from the secular world. Ordinary hunters must use teleportation arrays in other realms to get here.
In the world of abnormals, it seems all realms are similar—gray is the dominant color, with a large building surrounded by a market of varying sizes.
Yet the market in Chimeng Realm is much livelier than that in Yanhun Realm, as this is after all the world of hunters, where most hunters gather.
Yuye Xiaochen led Chen Xiao through the vast market and into the hunters’ guild building, which was completely different from the headquarters of the Abnormality Experts Association in Yanhun Realm.
The headquarters in Yanhun Realm resembled an exquisite ancient building, small and delicate. In contrast, this building was grand and imposing, exuding a hint of menace.
The interior space was just as huge as that of the Yanhun Realm headquarters, capable of accommodating thousands of people. Now Chen Xiao finally understood why—it was clearly designed to prepare for the arrival of waves of evil spirits.
This showed that waves of evil spirits were extremely common in the world of abnormals.
“Hey, hunters really value money over their lives,” Chen Xiao thought to herself. If they encountered a swarm of evil spirits in this world, survival would be nearly impossible.
At the same time, she greatly admired these hunters. While profit was certainly a factor, their courage was something others could hardly achieve.
Yuye Xiaochen took Chen Xiao straight to the second floor of the guild.
Like the first floor, the second floor was also a hall, but much smaller in scale.
In the hall on the second floor, a dozen abnormality experts were pointing at a crystal screen, discussing something. Upon closer inspection, Chen Xiao saw that the screen displayed various tasks and their rewards.
“Assassinate He Zhengxiong I, president of the Abnormality Experts Association in Sachi Realm of the Japanese Abnormality World—reward: 100,000 star coins?”
Chen Xiao was speechless upon reading one of them. This was probably the most blatant assassination task ever.
On one side of the hall, like bank counters, a group of guild staff were organizing various matters.
The world of abnormals had developed for countless years. Aside from the lack of electricity and signal reception here, many aspects had already kept up with the secular world.
“Posting a task, submitting a task, or registering as a hunter?” A middle-aged man in his forties asked when he saw Chen Xiao and Yuye Xiaochen approaching.
“Registering as a hunter,” Chen Xiao replied.
“Fill out the form,” the middle-aged man said stiffly, his eyelids drooping as he mechanically took out a form from under the counter.
“Also, a family recommendation letter,” he added.
“I’m registering as a free hunter; I don’t need a family recommendation letter,” Chen Xiao said, shaking her head without taking the form.

“Oh? A Free Hunter?” The middle-aged man finally raised his head and took a closer look at Chen Xiao’s face—a young boy not much older. “Young man, becoming a Free Hunter isn’t easy. It’s very risky, and you could easily lose your life. If it’s just for fun, I suggest you register as an ordinary hunter instead.” The middle-aged man sneered.

At this moment, Yu Ye Xiao Chen didn’t say anything. His role was merely to guide Chen Xiao; everything else had to be done by Chen Xiao himself. Yu Ye Xiao Chen wasn’t Chen Xiao’s nanny, nor did Chen Xiao need one. “So sure of that?” Chen Xiao said with a smile. “Do you have the right to refuse me?”

“Hm?” The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment before shaking his head. “No.”

“Alright, since you want to die, I won’t persuade you. Wait a moment.” With that, the middle-aged man stood up and left the counter.

“Are you really sure you want to become a Free Hunter? If you just register as an ordinary hunter, even ordinary families won’t dare touch you,” Yu Ye Xiao Chen said then.

“I like challenges,” Chen Xiao replied simply.

“As for Free Hunters, I don’t know how long it’s been since anyone took the assessment. Do today’s hunters even remember the glory of Free Hunters?”

At that moment, an old sigh was heard. Soon after, an elderly man dressed in a black robe, with deeply wrinkled face showing no discernible age, slowly walked out from the depths of the association.

Though extremely old, the man was tall and upright, with eyes as deep as the sea—clearly no ordinary person.

“Sixth rank?” Facing this old man, Chen Xiao felt as if he were facing Chris, except this man lacked Chris’s coldness.

“Young man, you’re impressive,” the old man said, looking at Chen Xiao in admiration. “To dare to take the Free Hunter assessment is already a sign of courage!”

“Too kind,” Chen Xiao replied with a slight bow. He felt it was necessary to show proper respect to such an experienced hunter.

“Hehe, but courage is one thing, while strength and luck are another. Sometimes, even with strength, if you lack luck, you can still suffer great misfortune,” the old man continued.

“My luck has always been good,” Chen Xiao replied. Of course his luck was good; otherwise, the Main God wouldn’t have hit him on the head. “Of course, I’m also confident in my strength.”

“Very good,” the old man smiled and took out a piece of paper from his pocket, handing it to Chen Xiao. “This is your task. Complete it, and you’ll become a Free Hunter.”

Chen Xiao took it and examined it closely. There were only six words written on the paper: Thousand Souls Realm, Thousand Souls Grass.

“What does this mean?” Chen Xiao asked, puzzled, looking up.

“Thousand Souls Realm, Thousand Souls Grass?” As soon as Yu Ye Xiao Chen saw those six words, his expression changed instantly, his brows furrowing deeply.

“It means you need to go to the Thousand Souls Realm and obtain the Thousand Souls Grass, which is unique to that realm,” the old man explained with a smile. “The Thousand Souls Realm is an unexplored domain in the world of supernatural abilities. There are countless fierce beasts and spirits there—it’s quite dangerous. Do you still dare to go?”

Chen Xiao had already noticed the change in Yuye Xiaochen’s expression and instantly understood the danger level of the Thousand Souls Realm—it was far more than just “relatively” dangerous.
“Of course, you can choose not to go as well,” the old man said, revealing two white teeth.
“Go. Why not?” Chen Xiao smiled. “It’s the danger that makes it a challenge. A free hunter challenges freedom, the ability to do as one pleases. To achieve true freedom, one must go through countless trials. If you’re too afraid of such a small test, what’s the point of talking about freedom?”
“Good boy, you have ambition. But being a free hunter isn’t as absolutely free as you imagine,” the old man said meaningfully.
“At least I dare,” Chen Xiao replied with a smirk.
“This is a map of the Thousand Souls Realm, marking the location of the Thousand Souls Grass. Well, it’s 8:30 in the morning now. If you can’t return by 8:30 tomorrow, it counts as failure.”
The old man handed a scroll to Chen Xiao as he spoke.