Years Old, Level 40

In the days that followed, Lin Feng officially settled into a "stable" life: the medical hall, missions, and occasional visits to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye to check on Lin Jian and Lin Qing's cultivation. He also planted many rare medicinal herbs there.

Ye Renxin and Ye Lingling became regular visitors to the medical hall, practically wishing they could come every day to discuss medicine with Lin Feng. To Lin Feng's surprise, Ye Lingling had both talent and interest in medicine. Later, it became Lin Feng and Ye Renxin discussing medical arts while Lin Feng also taught Ye Lingling. The Ye Family had its own medical hall in Heaven Dou City, but at this rate, they were practically being "absorbed" by the Lin Family. After all, the Ye Family's most senior attending physician had already "taken up residence" at Lin Feng's Serendipity Medical Hall.

After Dugu Yan took leave for some time, Dugu Bo simply withdrew her from Heaven Dou Royal Academy. She would be attending Lin Feng's academy later anyway, so she could enroll with him then. There was not much worth learning at Heaven Dou Royal Academy in the first place.

Every month, Dugu Yan would come into the city with Lin Jian and Lin Qing for a couple of days of fun. Usually, at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye, they either cultivated or Dugu Bo took the three of them into Sunset Forest to find soul beasts and train their combat abilities. Dugu Yan was just a young girl, and she truly lacked the endurance to keep cultivating on the mountain nonstop. It was far too dull. The two younger children could endure it, but Lin Feng felt that staying on the mountain every day was not a good thing either, so he had Dugu Yan bring them along whenever she went down the mountain.

Xue Qinghe and Ning Fengzhi also stopped by the medical hall from time to time, sometimes together and sometimes separately. Later, Ning Fengzhi simply began bringing Ning Rongrong along more often, still harboring a faint hope of recruiting Lin Feng into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. After coming often enough, Ning Fengzhi discovered that the Ye Family and Dugu Clan both had quite good relationships with Lin Feng. He had seen Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan at the medical hall several times, and Lin An and the other two's talents had also deeply shocked him. That was why he began bringing Ning Rongrong over more frequently. Ning Rongrong was still young and did not have the spoiled, willful temperament described in the original work. Among the younger generation who often appeared at the medical hall, she was the youngest.

Ning Rongrong had a great time at the medical hall and even became good friends with Ye Lingling. The two little girls became the medical hall's junior attendants, often running errands and fetching medicine. They worked with remarkable enthusiasm.

Later still, whenever Dugu Yan came down the mountain and entered the city, it became three little girls going shopping through Heaven Dou City, shopping to their hearts' content. Lin An was restless by nature and had gone along once, but after returning, he refused to go a second time even if beaten to death. The three girls were not short on money and practically wanted to sweep through all of Heaven Dou City.

Ning Rongrong made several good friends here, each with an impressive background. Ning Fengzhi was naturally happy to see it.

And so, more than two years slowly passed. Lin Feng turned twelve, his Soul Power broke through to level 40, and he grew to one meter seventy. Those who cultivated Soul Power really did grow faster. Over these past two years, Lin Feng had many matters to attend to, so his Soul Power cultivation had progressed somewhat slower than before. Still, the higher one's level, the harder cultivation became, so slowing down was normal. Besides, this growth rate was already extraordinary even among geniuses. After all, Tang San had only been level 29 at twelve years old. Lin Feng was not worried about his cultivation speed. The Nine Yin Manual's Internal Energy could increase his cultivation speed, so he did not need to fear running out of steam.

Over these two years, Lin Jian and Lin Qing broke through level 30 at roughly the same time and each absorbed their Third Soul Ring. Both were currently level 32. After returning to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye, Lin Jian's Sky-Rending Saber Arm had jumped into the spring and used its power to complete its fusion very quickly. The efficiency was much higher than when Dugu Yan used the ice and fire aura. Lin An had not yet reached level 50 and was currently level 49. His Soul Power growth over the past two years had not been particularly fast either.

Because she had been trapped in prolonged bitter cultivation, Dugu Yan broke through to level 40 before Lin Feng. The Eight Spider Lances had also completely fused with her. With Dugu Bo's help, she absorbed a ten-thousand-year Swamp Dragon Crocodile soul ring and gained a Defense Skill. She could not undergo Ice Fire Body Tempering, so Dugu Bo obtained a fifty-thousand-year piece of Whale Rubber for her to improve her physique. Even so, absorbing that soul ring had not been easy, but fortunately, she succeeded in the end.

Ye Lingling was now eleven, while Ning Rongrong was nine. Influenced by the people around her, Ning Rongrong cultivated much more diligently than she had in the original work. Still, cultivation was ultimately more difficult for Support System soul masters. Ye Lingling was currently level 25, while Ning Rongrong had just reached level 20. At this pace, Ning Rongrong should be able to reach level 30 by the age of twelve, rather than level 26 as described in the original work.

For Lin Feng, the Fourth Soul Ring not only meant that he was about to possess his first ten-thousand-year soul ring, but also that after absorbing it, he would possess all five elemental attributes. He could then attempt to achieve perfect balance of the five elements and endless mutual generation.

Lin Feng had originally planned to find his parents and hunt a soul beast, but Lin Lan and Hua Jieyu were both about to break through level 80 and were preparing to enter seclusion. Lin Feng did not want to delay their breakthrough to Soul Douluo over a single soul ring, so he went to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye to ask Dugu Bo for help.

Lin Feng's plan had been to go to Star Dou Great Forest and find a ten-thousand-year Titan Giant Ape. Among Earth Attribute soul beasts, Titan Giant Apes were considered top-tier. When Dugu Bo heard that Lin Feng was looking for a powerful Earth Attribute soul beast, he said that Sunset Forest had a Rock Armor Dragon. In terms of bloodline and strength, it was no weaker than a Titan Giant Ape and might even surpass one. Lin Feng immediately changed his target. He did not want to travel that far either.

To absorb a Sub-dragon species soul beast, Lin Feng decided to add another layer of insurance by absorbing a fifty-thousand-year piece of Whale Rubber. The Lin Family had continuously purchased Whale Rubber over the years and had quite a bit of it on hand. When Dugu Bo prepared some for Dugu Yan, he had not asked, and Lin Feng had not thought of it either. Otherwise, he would have simply given him a piece directly.

By the time Lin Feng finished absorbing the Whale Rubber and emerged from the cold spring, Dugu Bo had already captured the Rock Armor Dragon and brought it back for him, saving them another trip. After thanking Dugu Bo, Lin Feng began absorbing the soul ring.

Compared to the last time he had used Spiritual Power to help Lin An absorb a soul ring, this time the feeling was far more direct. The instant the energy entered his body, the impact of that power made Lin Feng feel as though he had been hit by a car. Even when he had been struck to death by a car in his previous life, it had not hurt this much. He forcibly circulated his Soul Power, dragging that force through his meridians. It felt like pulling sharp stones through them, hurting everywhere they passed.

By comparison, the dragon-shaped spiritual body of the Rock Armor Dragon in his mind seemed much easier to deal with. Lin Feng split his focus in two, directing one part toward his meridians and the other toward his mind. To ignore the pain in his meridians as much as possible, Lin Feng used his Spiritual Power to manifest a sword-wielding version of himself in his mind, then rushed forward and fought the dragon-shaped spiritual body.

Lin Feng wounded the unconscious dragon-shaped spiritual body with slash after slash, as though he wanted to vent all the pain in his body upon it. But in truth, it was merely a mental victory, because it had no thoughts at all.

After cutting off the dragon's claws and tail, the spiritual body still continued to ram about. Lin Feng suddenly realized something and transformed the Heavenly Sword manifested from his Spiritual Power into the Dragon Slaying Saber. Gripping it with both hands, he cleaved straight down onto the dragon's head, splitting it apart and completely dispersing the dragon-shaped spiritual body. Slowly, the Rock Armor Dragon's spiritual body transformed into pure Spiritual Power, and Lin Feng began absorbing it.

As time passed, his Soul Power completed a full circulation through his body. The crushing pain finally disappeared, and the soul ring absorption had passed its hardest stage and entered a stable phase.

A night passed, and Lin Feng completed the absorption of his ten-thousand-year Fourth Ring. His Soul Power reached level 42, and he officially became a Soul Ancestor.

Unlike his first three soul rings, Lin Feng's soul skill this time was no longer merely releasing sword qi of the corresponding attribute. He had truly gained a soul ring skill called Sword Qi Mountain Condensation. Using dense Earth Attribute Soul Power, it released a mountain-shaped mass of sword qi that descended with immense pressure to suppress its target. It did not appear sharp, but it felt heavy and solid. Lin Feng felt that if it were focused on a single person, using it at full force could even crush a Soul Ancestor directly into pulp.

Lin Feng pondered why his first three soul skills had all been sword qi, while this one was different. Based on the previous pattern, this should have been Earth Attribute sword qi, likely with a three-hundred-percent amplification as well. He carefully recalled his state each time he absorbed a soul ring, his condition and the thoughts in his mind, and gradually began to understand.

When he had absorbed soul rings before, all he had wanted was to obtain the corresponding attribute. He had also considered whether he could use elemental sword qi. But before absorbing this soul ring, he had thought that he could already release elemental sword qi without relying on soul ring skills. What he wanted instead were other skills to study. Perhaps during the painful absorption, his subconscious had still been thinking about that.

This was probably the variable in his recent soul ring absorptions. So Lin Feng wondered whether his consciousness could influence the process of absorbing a soul ring. If he wanted something in his mind, perhaps it could combine with the soul beast's soul ring to produce a skill in that direction. The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Still, he did not dwell on the matter. He would know after conducting more experiments later.

As usual, this Sub-dragon species soul beast did not drop a soul bone.