Talent Test

After taking the initiative last time, Hu Liena began deliberately and casually avoiding Ye Kai, leaving him grumbling inwardly, You were clearly the one who took advantage of me, and now you're avoiding me? Seriously, taking advantage and then acting innocent, huh?

However, Ye Kai had no plans to take things any further for the time being. It was understandable that a young girl might be thin-skinned. More importantly, at this stage, he needed to complete the first experiment on a "Healing Soul Master assisting in the absorption of a high-age Soul Ring."

Bibi Dong took this matter very seriously and summoned the highest-ranked Healing Soul Master in Spirit City, Zhang Lingyu. She was a female level 85 Healing Soul Douluo who had joined Spirit Hall upon awakening her martial soul. Her background was spotless and reliable, and she was exceedingly loyal to Spirit Hall.

That final point was the most important. Otherwise, they would have simply gone to Heaven Dou City and invited Ye Lingling's grandfather, Ye ShengLin, the level 89 Healing Soul Douluo with the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul. (This is an original character; please do not take it too seriously. The original work never mentioned any other members of the Ye Family.)

At Ye Kai's suggestion, the experimental subjects were treated before the experiment began, and their Soul Power was no longer sealed, allowing them to adjust themselves to peak condition beforehand.

To prevent them from escaping, each experimental subject was assigned a Spirit Hall Soul Master at least three major realms above them as a personal guard.

To maintain the utmost secrecy, these guards did not know whom they were guarding or why such strict measures were necessary.

It could be said that only Bibi Dong, Ghost Douluo, Chrysanthemum Douluo, Zhang Lingyu, Ye Kai, Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan knew about this experiment.

Although Qian Daoliu had heard of the strange activity at Pope's Hall, he had not imagined anything so shocking. He merely assumed these captives were being used as sparring partners for Spirit Hall's younger generation.

On the day of the experiment, Ghost Douluo personally brought a burly male experimental subject at level 20 to the Soul Hunting Forest.

According to currently known records, the upper limit for a Second Soul Ring was 764 years. This time, they had deliberately chosen a relatively sturdy subject and intended for him to absorb a thousand-year Soul Ring. There was only one goal: to determine whether Ye Kai's hypothesis was feasible.

After arriving at the Soul Hunting Forest, the group did not linger in the outer regions where ten-year and hundred-year Soul Beasts roamed, instead heading directly deeper into the forest.

As they ventured farther in, Soul Beasts around five or six hundred years old gradually began appearing, but Ghost Douluo frightened them away simply by releasing a trace of his aura.

Ye Kai suddenly had an idea. Since awakening his martial soul, he had yet to use Lord of Plants even once. This was a good opportunity to try it out.

Ye Kai sent a thread of Spiritual Power into a large tree beside him and felt as though his Spiritual Power had entered a green ocean. He tentatively asked, "Can you hear me?"

The tree did not respond, but Ye Kai felt its trunk sway. Could it be that ordinary plants lack intelligence and therefore cannot communicate? Do I need plant-type Soul Beasts for normal conversation?

Unwilling to give up, Ye Kai continued asking in his mind, "What does the person standing beside you look like?"

Suddenly, an image traveled directly along the spiritual link into Ye Kai's mind. It was clearly an image of Ye Kai himself. Ye Kai waved his hand, and the Ye Kai in the image waved as well. That works too. It's not bad as a surveillance camera.

"Xiao Kai, what are you doing? Hurry up and catch up." Ghost Douluo, walking ahead, suddenly turned and called out.

"I'm coming!" Ye Kai answered. As he hurried after the group, he continued making contact with the trees and grass throughout the forest.

After testing it out, Ye Kai came to several conclusions regarding Lord of Plants. First, it could share visual images. Second, while it could not be used to hold normal mental conversations, even ordinary plants could understand his words and provide a certain degree of feedback through the spiritual link.

Ye Kai was quite satisfied with these results. It was as though he had acquired a radar system with an incredibly broad scanning range.

Based on the test just now, with his current Spiritual Power, he could communicate with any plant within a three-kilometer radius.

He did not know which was better or more efficient compared with spiritual detection.

But one thing was certain: this talent's communication method was more discreet.

Those with high Spiritual Power could sense when someone was using spiritual detection on them, but Lord of Plants had no such problem.

Ghost Douluo merely sensed that Ye Kai was continuously releasing Spiritual Power, but he did not sense the plants' surveillance.

"Ghost Elder, could you let the Soul Beasts approach from now on?" Ye Kai stepped forward and said to Ghost Douluo, "I've always trained by myself in Spirit Hall. My only combat experience was sparring with Brother Yan, so I want to take this rare chance to temper myself."

Fighting enemies was secondary. Ye Kai mainly wanted to see whether he could earn points from Soul Beasts, especially whether he could earn points by healing them after injuring them.

"No problem. Then you can handle them when the time comes." Ghost Douluo had led Hu Liena's group on missions before, and he had heard on the way that Ye Kai had defeated Yan in just a few exchanges. He had some idea of Ye Kai's strength and was not too worried.

"Awoo!"

When Ghost Douluo stopped releasing his aura, Ye Kai sensed through the plants that a pack of Gale Demon Wolves was active ahead.

There were fourteen of them. Their overall age was not particularly high, all around five hundred years, except for one that was likely the Wolf King of this small pack, at around nine hundred years.

The Gale Demon Wolf was not an especially powerful Soul Beast in terms of bloodline. If converted to martial souls, it would be considered a mid-grade martial soul, only barely brushing the threshold of a high-grade martial soul.

By the continent's usual standards, ordinary Soul Beasts over five hundred years old were comparable to Soul Grandmasters. More than a dozen Soul Grandmasters would pose some difficulty for Ye Kai, whose physical condition had already reached that of a Soul Elder, but it was not a major problem.

Besides, it was daytime. Though the Soul Hunting Forest was densely packed with trees, sunlight could still filter through gaps in the leaves. This was Ye Kai's home ground. Even without activating the Eight Gates Formation, he should be able to handle them.

Ghost Douluo also sensed the Gale Demon Wolf pack's aura and likewise did not consider it a problem. Even if Ye Kai was outmatched, Ghost Douluo was present. A few mere hundred-year Soul Beasts could be dealt with in an instant.

Five minutes later, the two sides met head-on.

The noticeably larger Gale Demon Wolf took the lead, while the remaining thirteen spread out behind it and slowly advanced, faintly showing an intention to surround Ye Kai's group.

Ye Kai closed his battle-filled eyes and took a deep breath, calming his slightly excited heart. Four years of hard training had finally come to the moment of testing its results.

His previous battle with Yan could only be considered a sparring match. It had not reached the level of a life-or-death struggle. This time was different.

What boy in his previous life had not dreamed of becoming a martial arts hero? Sun Wukong, Superman, Zhao Yun, Xiang Yu, and the like. But social rules dictated that if you won a fight, you paid compensation, and if you lost, you went to the hospital. So he could only abandon those childish dreams.

But now, in another world, Ye Kai could work as hard as he wished to realize those old dreams.

Fully prepared, Ye Kai left the group and moved forward alone, loosening up his body, which trembled slightly with excitement. Seeing Ye Kai act this way, the wolf pack immediately shifted its encirclement target to him.

Ghost Douluo frowned at the sight. Taking the initiative to approach the enemy under such circumstances was truly unwise. The other side already had superior numbers, and separating from the group would only allow him to be surrounded and attacked from both front and rear.

To capture bandits, first capture their king. Ye Kai pushed off the ground with force and charged toward the Wolf King.