"Hell yeah, Brother Fan, I knew you were not dead!" Zhang Xiaohou gave Mo Fan a great hug, although his body was soaked with smelly mud.

It had been two years since they had bid each other farewell in Bo City.

When Mo Fan learned that his friend had come specifically just to look for him, he felt a surge of warmth rising in his heart.

Mo Fan knew how dangerous Dongting Lake was, and yet Zhang Xiaohou was willing to come on his own. He was quite speechless about his friend's recklessness.

Returning to the cave, Li Man fell asleep, as the poison in her body was not cleansed yet.

"Oh right, Brother Fan, this is for you." Zhang Xiaohou slowly took out two containers from his backpack and shoved them into Mo Fan's hands.

"What are these?" Mo Fan took a glance at the containers, but he could not tell what they contained.

Mo Fan was rather familiar with the containers. They were commonly used to contain Soul Essences.

"There are two Soul Essences inside. Boss Zhan Kong told me that your soul is in a critical state, and you'll need a huge amount of Soul Essences to maintain it. I brought two Soul Essences from Biyi City along my way here..." Zhang Xiaohou blurted out in excitedly.

Knowing Mo Fan was still alive was the most exciting good news to Zhang Xiaohou. After all, he had treated him like his own brother.

"Where did you get the money from?" Mo Fan held the two containers. He could feel something flowing in his eyes.

Mo Fan was barely able to retain his normal appearance since his soul had a breakdown. However, the Demon Element was extremely unstable. He did not dare to return to the safe zones yet, not until his soul was completely stabilized.

However, he could not help but admit that it was quite lonely living out here.

Mo Fan was incredibly touched knowing that Zhang Xiaohou had come all the way here looking for him, and yet had still prepared two Soul Essences for him.

It was true that Mo Fan was in desperate need of Soul Essences, which was the main reason he stayed at the valley here in Dongting Lake. He had no choice but to maintain his fragile soul with a huge amount of Soul Essences, and the source of them was the Giant Lizards...

He had no idea how many Giant Lizards he had killed so far, and how many Soul Essences he had acquired. As a matter of fact, Zhang Xiaohou's Servant-class Soul Essences were no longer effective for him. However, when he recalled that his bro had come all the way here just to give him the Soul Essences, he could feel his eyes getting wet...

Mo Fan always thought he was a heartless person, but surprisingly he was incredibly touched by Zhang Xiaohou's actions.

"Money is never the problem. Besides, I'm more or less a soldier now. By the way, is your body okay now? I was so worried when I heard the details from Boss Zhan Kong!" Zhang Xiaohou asked him.

"Take these back. Sell them and get yourself a piece of good defensive equipment." Mo Fan did not want to take the gift.

Although the gift was not too useful for him, the intentions behind it mattered more than anything else, especially to someone like Mo Fan, who had been living a lonely life in the wild for more than three months. The Servant-class Soul Essences would still work, but Mo Fan could easily acquire them. Zhang Xiaohou had most likely spent all his savings on the two Soul Essences.

"I already have some equipment. Boss Zhan Kong told me that you need lots of Soul Essences. Just make them count, since I've managed to find you. Brother Fan, just focus on treating your injury, I'll gather the Soul Essences for you. To be honest, those Giant Lizards are nothing against me. I've also taken a Soul Container from the army. I know it's rare to find Soul Essences, but I can kill a lot of them. I believe it would eventually appear..." Zhang Xiaohou had come prepared. Judging from the things he had brought, he was definitely planning to stay for quite a long time.

"You little prick, alright, stop boasting how capable you are now. I do have my own hands and legs. What do you think I've been doing for the past three months?" cursed Mo Fan.

"That's right, let's kill the beasts together. With us working together, I believe even the Deathbringer of Dongting Lake has to clear a path for us, HAHAHA!" Zhang Xiaohou burst out laughing.

Mo Fan smacked his lips. He was hesitating if he should tell Zhang Xiaohou the truth about the Deathbringer of Dongting Lake.

On second thought, he decided not to tell him the truth, so he would not destroy his confidence. Besides, Zhang Xiaohou had come at the perfect time, as he desperately needed a helper.

---

Mo Fan had been camping in the valley for a few days. His target was actually the monster at the center of the swamp.

It was a Commander-level demon beast, which was currently injured. Mo Fan had no idea how it was injured, but he did fight against it in his demonized state, thus he was confident that he could kill it.

Mo Fan desperately needed a Commander-level soul, either a Soul Remnant or a Soul Essence.

The injured Commander-level demon beast was Mo Fan's only hope. Otherwise, if the Demon Element were to lose control again, his soul would definitely crumble, as it would no longer be able to endure the overwhelming burden.

The Demon Element did give him incredible strength, in exchange for the energy from his body and soul. In fact, Mo Fan did not run away from Zhan Kong because he had lost control of his body, but rather because he clearly knew that the military would not be able to provide a sufficient amount of Soul Essences for him, thus he had decided to find them himself.

With the help of the Little Loach Pendant, Mo Fan could easily collect Soul Essences. All he needed to do was kill demon beasts!

He was able to collect Soul Remnants, which would eventually be refined into Soul Essences.

If he were lucky enough, he could even get Soul Essences straight away, which definitely would aid his recovery.

To Mo Fan's surprise, the first Soul Breakdown almost cost him his life. Mo Fan had no choice but to massacre the demon beasts in his demonized state.

The number of Giant Lizards at Dongting Lake was already overflowing. The military had plans to control their numbers, and had been encouraging Magicians and hunters to eliminate them.

Mo Fan just happened to have no choice but to do a kind deed for society, and somehow ended up as the infamous Deathbringer of Dongting Lake.

If his predictions were on point, he would experience a strong Soul Breakdown around a week from now!

Mo Fan had awakened four different Elements, thus there were a total of four Soul Breakdowns. He had survived the previous three, but his guts were telling him that the final one would be significantly stronger than those before.

The Little Loach Pendant had refined lots of Servant-class and Warrior-level Soul Essences for him.

However, Mo Fan still felt like he needed a Commander-level soul to increase the odds.

A Commander-level demon beast had a higher chance of dropping a Soul Essence. Even if the injured Commander-level demon beast ended up not dropping a Soul Essence, its Soul Remnant would still contain a significant amount of energy.

Killing a Commander-level demon beast was not an easy task, even though it was already severely injured.

Mo Fan began to run out of patience. Once the Commander-level demon beast recovered from its injury, there was no way Mo Fan would be able to kill it, even with the power from his Demon Element.

Luckily, Zhang Xiaohou had come so far to look for him, and there was also a potentially powerful female Magician here to help him, increasing his chances of killing the Commander-level demon beast!

"We're going to kill the monster at the center of the swamp," Mo Fan straight away made his intention clear.

"THE WHAT NOW?" Zhang Xiaohou's eyes went wide as his thoughts filled with the image of the Hunter Group being swallowed alive by the giant shadow!