The Red-Haired Woman's Charm

With a wave of his hand, Lin Ran dismissed the virtual Xiao Wu before him. He decided that such an evil ability was better off sealed away. He did not want anyone using this function to do something bad in the future. Such an evil feature was enough for him alone to criticize.

From then on, the virtual battle space could only be used for combat.

Lin Ran set another opponent. "Battle environment: Soul Fighting Arena. Opponent: myself."

Before long, an identical version of himself appeared across from him.

Without wasting words, it charged at him. The two immediately clashed, their fists landing squarely on flesh.

Half an hour later, Lin Ran lay on the arena floor. Although his physical injuries had already recovered, his entire body still ached.

When the enemy was himself, he finally understood just how monstrous he had become.

He was strong, fast, and highly lethal, yet his recovery ability was also absurdly powerful.

Moreover, the version of himself he had set possessed combat experience far surpassing his current own.

As he lay there, Lin Ran began to laugh.

He had not made the wrong choice in exchanging for this battle space. It could help him rapidly accumulate combat experience and uncover his weaknesses.

Facing another "himself" was like having someone personally teach him the combat style best suited to him.

Furthermore, the battle space could simulate enemies, allowing him to learn their abilities in advance.

Lin Ran sprang to his feet and began another experiment, setting a new opponent. "Set an opponent: me after a second awakening of my martial soul, with the second level of the Marrow Cleansing Scripture at the beginner stage."

Another "Lin Ran" appeared before him. This "him" had a remarkably different aura.

"He" carried both the warmth of vitality and the profound weight of life. Standing there felt like facing an ocean of life.

When Lin Ran truly exchanged blows with this other "himself," he was first stunned, then overjoyed.

"This is—an Ultimate Attribute? Ultimate Life?"

After his martial soul's second awakening, had it actually transformed into an ultimate martial soul?

However, his delight did not last long. In a moment of distraction, the other him's fist had already slammed into his face.

What followed was a completely one-sided battle, with no chance for resistance.

When the battle ended, Lin Ran lay on the ground, reflecting on the process. He suddenly realized that although he and this version of himself possessed the same Soul Power, their combat strength was no longer on the same level.

Whether in defense, offense, or recovery, he was comprehensively outmatched.

"So this is a second martial soul awakening? This is the second level of the Marrow Cleansing Scripture?"

Lin Ran bared his teeth in pain, but his smile was bright.

The future me was seriously impressive!

Other than gaining some information about himself after the second awakening, the greatest benefit from this battle was related to the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.

The other him had already entered the second level of the Marrow Cleansing Scripture. Fighting him was like having a teacher show him how to proceed along the path ahead.

The same applied to the Marrow Cleansing Scripture and other Cultivation Methods alike. He only needed to set an identical version of himself with a higher realm in that Cultivation Method, and the other him would become the best possible teacher.

Lin Ran immersed himself in the battle space like this, and before he knew it, dawn had arrived.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed. Every day, Lin Ran was either cultivating or fighting in the battle space.

Vina and Tang Ya continued trying to cultivate the methods he had taught them, but neither had succeeded.

In addition, Lin Ran taught Huo Yun'er the Yin Volume of the Longevity Skill and Supreme Goodness is Like Water.

Huo Yun'er was still half a year short of the two and a half years needed to practice the first level of the Marrow Cleansing Scripture, yet she still had not entered the beginner stage. Lin Ran had no choice but to teach her new Cultivation Methods.

The Yin Volume of the Longevity Skill was related to Mental Power and suited Huo Yun'er. As for Supreme Goodness is Like Water, it was also an exceptionally fine Cultivation Method. Even without dual cultivation with someone who cultivated Imperial Heaven, Earthly Soil, one could still cultivate it to an extremely profound realm.

Lin Ran figured that no one was cultivating these methods anyway, and leaving them unused was still leaving them unused, so he taught them to Huo Yun'er. Naturally, he did not forget Vina and Tang Ya, teaching them as well.

He had no other intentions. He mainly wanted them to possess greater strength.

Over these days, Vina had also successfully contacted an academy willing to sell. It was near Heaven Dou City.

Du Busi sent people to purchase the academy. Next, it would be renovated and remodeled. Beyond its original mimicry cultivation grounds, new facilities suited for Body Sect disciples would also be constructed.

To this end, many elders and disciples of the Body Sect were summoned to Heaven Dou City, after which they headed throughout the continent to search for talented students.

Of course, what Lin Ran did not know was that Du Busi had also issued a secret mission: to steal—collect ancient statues.

Meanwhile, the Second Elder, whose martial soul was eyes and whose cultivation had reached Rank 96, secretly headed to the Sun Moon Empire to keep watch on the Level 9 Soul Master who had bought the Spirit Devouring Fierce Blade.

Furthermore, the new academy naturally needed new school rules, courses, teaching content, and so on. No one in the Body Sect had ever run an academy, and most of them were not particularly clever, not to mention poorly educated. Du Busi tossed all these tasks to Lin Ran.

Thus, aside from cultivation, Lin Ran also had to draft school rules and consider the academy's future curriculum.

In his view, much of the Body Sect's knowledge was actually universal among ordinary soul masters, especially soul masters with beast martial souls.

Tempering one's physical constitution, cultivating Bloodline Power, understanding and controlling one's own body, exploring one's martial soul, and applying soul skills—all of these led to the same destination by different paths.

For ordinary soul masters, these might not be as effective as they were for soul masters with Body Martial Souls, but they were certainly not useless.

Based on this, Lin Ran redesigned the courses. Naturally, he also made sure to ask Du Busi which knowledge constituted the sect's heritage and could not be passed on, and which could be shared without issue.

Perhaps because he had made up his mind to change the Body Sect, or perhaps because he wanted to support Lin Ran, Du Busi was unexpectedly generous. He allowed many of the Body Sect's unique inheritances to be incorporated into the academy's curriculum for students to study.

And so, Lin Ran gradually filled out the teaching content.

That evening, Lin Ran went to examine the red-haired woman's body as usual.

The red-haired woman lay on the bed, her cold, beautiful face carrying a faint flush. Her thin lips were rosy like peach petals. The corners of her brows curved upward; though her eyes remained shut, the bewitching charm between her brows was still apparent.

Her figure was tall and graceful, her proud curves rising and falling even as she lay down. Her slender waist made the exaggerated contours of her body all the more striking.

Lin Ran admired her briefly before using his first soul skill to examine the fluctuations of her Blood Qi.

After his development of it, his first soul skill could not only conduct area-wide detection, but also observe the Blood Qi and minute details within his own body.

When the soul skill focused on a single person, it could produce the same effect as when he observed himself.

At that moment, the fluctuations of Blood Qi within the red-haired woman's body appeared in Lin Ran's mind with perfect clarity.

The red-haired woman had recovered well. Her physical injuries had already healed, but due to her prolonged sleep, the Blood Qi throughout her body was weak and her Soul Power sluggish.

Lin Ran frowned. Could this woman really wake up? A month had already passed, yet she was still like someone in a vegetative state.

If she continued sleeping, then even with medicinal pills maintaining her nutrition, her cultivation would regress, and her chances of waking would grow increasingly slim.

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Ran made his decision.

He took the woman's hand. The Blood Phoenix Wings spread behind his back, and the power of Nirvana flowed into her body through the point where their skin touched.

Ever since he had absorbed the Blood Phoenix Wings soul bone, he had felt an inexplicable pull whenever he came into contact with this red-haired woman.

He did not like the feeling that pull gave him. It was like facing the evil attribute he had defeated while absorbing the soul bone.

A month had passed, and seeing that the woman was likely unable to awaken, Lin Ran decided to investigate where that pull came from.