Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, Tempting Maiden

Du Busi, who had been secretly protecting Lin Ran, watched this unfold and tugged at his beard. While using Soul Power to conceal the commotion on Lin Ran's side, he sighed inwardly. "As expected of divine means. Raising the age of Soul Rings is actually this easy—just a few shabby statues."

Their Body Sect also had secret techniques for increasing a Soul Ring's age, but it was far from easy.

With that thought, Du Busi decided that once they returned to the Body Sect, he would order the elders to scour the continent for statues that had been worshipped for a long time.

As for whether the Body Sect would earn a bad reputation because of it?

No matter. The next Sect Master would be Lin Ran. He trusted in the wisdom of later generations.

Let the disciple suffer a little. He trusted that his good disciple would not mind if it made him stronger.

As time passed, the Soul Rings' colors grew deeper, and Lin Ran's body gradually began to feel a slight pressure.

Lin Ran continued absorbing Immortal Spirit Qi until both Soul Rings had completely turned black, then stopped.

Looking at the two black Soul Rings circling him, Lin Ran curled his lips into a smile.

"Both Soul Rings have become Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings! A Ten Thousand Year first ring and a Ten Thousand Year second ring! Only someone who has undergone a divine trial and possesses Twin Martial Souls could achieve this."

He was already very satisfied. Though he still could not compare to Huo Yuhao from the Original Work, he was only eight years old. As long as he kept improving, he would eventually turn every Soul Ring into a million-year Soul Ring.

He checked his Immortal Spirit Qi and found that quite a bit remained, so he put it away.

"This is enough for now. My body is nearly at its limit, so there's no need to keep raising them for the time being. Fortunately, Soul Rings like these don't require enduring a mental shock. Otherwise, I really wouldn't have been able to absorb Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings."

His current weakness was his Mental Power.

He had yet to successfully cultivate Soul Dragon Wander, mainly because the threshold for this Cultivation Method was simply too high.

The higher one's Soul Power Level and the stronger one's Mental Power, the easier it was to get started. With his Soul Power only in the twenties, successfully cultivating Soul Dragon Wander might be hundreds or even thousands of times harder for him than for a Soul Saint or Soul Douluo.

Even so, he had not gained nothing.

Through years of persistent study and the Yin Yang Attribute Soul Power of the Longevity Skill, he had already gained some insight into Soul Dragon Wander.

He had a feeling that if either his Mental Power or Soul Power improved a little more, he would be able to truly get started.

Letting out a long breath, Lin Ran stood up, dusted off his clothes, and began testing the increased power of his Soul Rings.

His first soul skill activated, and his senses spread outward. All life within five kilometers appeared within his detection range.

He could still only sense blurry blood qi images, but a detection range spanning five kilometers was enough to make up for that flaw.

Besides, he would not use this soul skill to peep on people or cheat. Why would he need to see so clearly?

He withdrew his perception back into his body. This time, sensing Bloodline Power was no longer as difficult as before.

With a slight thought, he "saw" the Bloodline Power within him flowing through his veins. At once, he felt a force surging through his body alongside that flow, as obedient as an arm or a finger.

His soul skill consumed less, his perception had grown stronger, and his control over Bloodline Power had also improved.

This was the improvement brought by reaching a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!

Lin Ran was especially satisfied with this harvest.

Thanks for Shrek's Gift.

Lin Ran murmured inwardly.

Besides, he still had chances to make system advances.

He looked at the System Panel again and considered what else he should advance.

After thinking it over, he decided to see whether he could advance a soul bone that would enhance his Mental Power.

Perhaps with a soul bone, he could cultivate Soul Dragon Wander successfully.

"System, what are the conditions for advancing a Hundred Thousand Year Head Soul Bone?"

[Hundred Thousand Year Head Soul Bone. Tasks generated (complete any one to obtain it): 1. Provide Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow or Ice Element Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that meet the requirements. 2. Provide high-quality Life Essence. 3. Kill Tang San...]

Lin Ran's expression turned strange for a moment as he looked at these tasks.

He could already roughly guess who the items in these trades belonged to.

The first was most likely Snow Empress, the second might be the Silver Dragon King, and the third could be the Demon Empress.

He just did not know how the system conducted its trades with them.

Lin Ran committed the matter to memory. If he had the chance in the future, he could investigate it.

Looking at these tasks, he ultimately decided to temporarily give up on exchanging for a soul bone.

Other than Snow Empress's task, which might be possible to complete, the rest were all highly unlikely.

This was an advance trade. Its essence was a trade, where both sides took what they needed—not an advance.

A trade could net you a huge profit. For instance, he had exchanged a little food for the Longevity Skill and the Marrow Cleansing Scripture. But it could also be a terrible loss. Some things were clearly useless, yet their price was something Lin Ran could not pay even if he exhausted the entire Douluo World.

Lin Ran decided to postpone advance trades for now.

As it happened, he planned to advance the identity of a Child of Fortune once he left Shrek City, so he would save the advance trades for emergencies.

As for soul bones, after he hunted the Blood Phoenix, he could use an equivalent-level advance to obtain an External Soul Bone that enhanced Mental Power. At that point, he would only need to hunt a corresponding Soul Beast.

With a plan for his upcoming cultivation in mind, Lin Ran returned to his room.

Tang Ya was still sleeping soundly, curled into a ball like a kitten.

Lin Ran smiled and quietly walked to the bedside, tucking the blanket around the girl.

Seemingly sensing the movement, the girl groggily opened her eyes.

"Mm—Lin Ran."

Tang Ya murmured, naturally extending her jade-white arms to hook around his neck. With a gentle tug, she pulled him down onto the bed.

Like a koala, the girl wrapped herself around him, her straight, slender jade-like legs winding around his waist. Seemingly utterly unaware of how provocative her actions were, she slowly closed her eyes and fell back into a deep sleep.

Under the snow-white moonlight, Lin Ran stared motionlessly at the girl's delicate, adorably innocent sleeping face.

Her lips were rosy and thin, like two peach blossoms. Her orchid-like breath flowed from her cherry lips, brushing against the skin of his neck and making it itch.

Her nightgown was very thin, and with a glance downward, he could see that soft, snowy whiteness spilling out from her collar.

Lin Ran let out a long breath and gently wrapped an arm around the girl's slender, soft waist, remaining silent.

Unfortunately, he was still too young.

The morning sun rose over the horizon, draping all of Shrek City in a golden veil of light.

Today was undoubtedly a startling day for Shrek's students.

Because they discovered that the statues standing in Shrek Plaza had all vanished overnight without a trace. Even their pedestals were gone, leaving behind only several bare, gaping pits.

"Huh? Where did the statues go?"

"Maybe they were taken away for repairs," a student guessed.

No matter what, they could never have imagined that someone would steal statues—and steal them from Shrek Academy, no less.

It was not until the dean of studies, Du Wilun, strolled through the campus on his routine inspection that he noticed something was wrong.

"Headmaster, Headmaster, this is terrible! The academy has been robbed!"

Du Wilun hurried to the headmaster's office to report to Yan Shaozhe.

Seeing Du Wilun so flustered, Yan Shaozhe felt both grave and puzzled.

Whatever had been stolen must have been extremely important, or Du Wilun would not have been so distraught.

But the academy's important items were all guarded by powerful experts. Why had no alarm been raised last night?

Yan Shaozhe's expression turned stern as he asked in a deep voice, "What was stolen from the academy?"

"The statues of our ancestors."

"What?" Yan Shaozhe suspected he had misheard.

"The statues of Sea God and the others, as well as the statues of the Golden Iron Triangle and the others—they're all gone!"

"Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!"

Yan Shaozhe suddenly broke into a violent coughing fit.