Absorbing the Soul Ring and Soul Bone

"Why am I here?" Zhang Lexuan asked as she looked around. She remembered that she had been on the verge of death.

"Back then, you knocked me unconscious, and I fled all the way out of the Star Dou Great Forest. By chance, I encountered a senior who gave me a powerful Soul Tool. So I came back and used it to kill that Thunder Qilin," Lin Chen answered.

This was the explanation he had prepared long ago. Qian Renxue's existence was simply too shocking to reveal to the world, so Lin Chen decided not to expose her for now. He would speak of it once he was strong enough.

"You... cough, cough!" Zhang Lexuan began coughing after only a few words. Clearly, her injuries had yet to fully recover.

Seeing this, Lin Chen hurriedly activated his Life Domain and sent life force into Zhang Lexuan's body to heal her.

"Sister Lexuan, rest first and recover from your injuries," Lin Chen said as he supported Zhang Lexuan.

After giving Lin Chen a deep look, Zhang Lexuan sat cross-legged on the ground and began treating her injuries.

After her battle with the Thunder Qilin, Zhang Lexuan had gained many new insights. Though she had nearly lost her life, fighting a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast had given her many different realizations. Taking advantage of this chance to heal, Zhang Lexuan entered deep meditation.

Seeing Zhang Lexuan begin cultivating, Lin Chen had nothing else to do, so he simply meditated as well.

This battle had also given him considerable inspiration and allowed him to gradually comprehend his own Sword Intent.

As expected of a cave guarded by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, neither of them was disturbed by any Soul Beast during their five days of meditation. Throughout that time, Lin Chen kept his Life Domain active.

Lin Chen was the first to awaken. Seeing that Zhang Lexuan was still meditating, he did not want to disturb her and simply sat quietly at the side to wait.

Not long afterward, Zhang Lexuan woke up as well.

Now that Zhang Lexuan had awakened, it was time to consider how to distribute the Soul Bone.

Lin Chen took out the left arm bone that shimmered with blue light and looked at Zhang Lexuan. "Sister Lexuan, this is the Thunder Qilin's Soul Bone. Without you, I'm afraid neither of us would have made it back. You should take it." Lin Chen meant every word. Without Zhang Lexuan, even if he and Qian Renxue could have defeated the Thunder Qilin that had fought without regard for its life, they would still have paid a tremendous price. By both sentiment and reason, this Soul Bone should go to Zhang Lexuan.

This was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. Even in the world of Soul Scholars, it was something people would fight over until their heads bled. Yet Lin Chen was handing it to Zhang Lexuan so readily, which showed the strength of his character.

The most important reason, though, was that he was from Blue Star. He had desires, of course, but his rationality clearly triumphed over them—and by a wide margin.

What is meant to be will come in time; what is not, do not force.

Lin Chen had strongly agreed with those words in his previous life.

Seeing that Lin Chen did not seem to be pretending, Zhang Lexuan was somewhat surprised, but even more delighted. She had not misjudged him.

"I'm not suited to absorb this Soul Bone. It doesn't match my attributes." Zhang Lexuan's Martial Soul was the moon, making her suited to the Control System. The Moon Martial Soul itself did not possess overwhelming offensive power, so Zhang Lexuan had chosen a path of overcoming hardness with softness and defeating the strong with the weak. This Attack System Soul Bone truly did not suit her.

"Besides, even if we take a step back, I already have a left arm Soul Bone. Even if I wanted to absorb it, I couldn't," Zhang Lexuan added.

That left arm Soul Bone came from her Eighth Soul Ring.

"Then I'll absorb it?" Lin Chen asked cautiously.

"Mm, hurry and absorb it. I'll stand guard for you," Zhang Lexuan urged.

Having received Zhang Lexuan's permission, Lin Chen sat down where he was and began absorbing the Soul Bone.

Suddenly, as though she had remembered something, a blush appeared on Zhang Lexuan's face.

"I actually said something like that to him..." Recalling what she had said to Lin Chen earlier, even Zhang Lexuan, with her calm and composed nature, could not help but blush. Fortunately, Lin Chen did not see it. Otherwise, Miss Zhang's image would have completely "collapsed."

As she watched Lin Chen absorb the Soul Bone, a gentle expression appeared on Zhang Lexuan's face.

Absorbing a Soul Bone was unlike absorbing a Soul Ring. It placed extremely high demands on one's physical constitution and willpower. Even a level-one Soul Scholar could absorb a 100,000-year Soul Bone, so with Lin Chen's physique, there was naturally no problem.

Two hours later, Lin Chen had finished absorbing the Soul Bone. He felt his left arm brimming with power.

This Soul Bone granted him two skills: Myriad Thunder Phenomena and Nine Heavens Thunder Prison. The former was an area attack skill, while the latter was a range-based skill.

(Myriad Thunder Phenomena: It could invoke Thunder Force and condense it into the form of a Thunder Qilin, charging at enemies with the momentum of an army of thousands. Nine Heavens Thunder Prison: A range-based skill that continuously summoned heavenly lightning within the thunder prison's area to strike enemies, with terrifying power.)

Next came the Soul Ring.

"Sister Lexuan, I want to absorb this Soul Ring," Lin Chen said to Zhang Lexuan. He had already made his decision several days ago.

"Can you do it? If not, we can look for another Soul Beast. Getting a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone is already quite good." Zhang Lexuan said this because she truly did not want Lin Chen to take the risk. She had personally experienced the difficulty of absorbing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, and the resentment of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was not easy to handle either. After absorbing her own Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring back then, she had needed to recuperate for quite some time.

"I have a secret technique that can seal away part of a Soul Ring's energy. Once my physical constitution catches up, I can unseal the Soul Ring's energy," Lin Chen said.

"You can do that?" Zhang Lexuan asked in disbelief. At the same time, she understood that Lin Chen trusted her completely and held nothing back from her.

In that case, she had spoken unnecessarily.

But Lin Chen did not see it that way. He honestly replied, "Mm, a highly accomplished senior taught it to me before."

Mm, that senior is currently living inside my body.

Zhang Lexuan did not ask further. She stepped aside and gave Lin Chen room to absorb the Soul Ring.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged beneath the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. His Soul Power surged as he guided the Soul Ring down onto his body.

For a moment, Lin Chen felt as though a mountain had descended upon him, threatening to crush him instantly.

But after surviving so many life-and-death battles, how could Lin Chen be defeated by such a minor difficulty? He immediately gritted his teeth and endured the pressure.

At that moment, Qian Renxue acted, sealing away part of the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring's energy. She left only sixty thousand years of energy behind, while sealing the remaining forty thousand years.

After Qian Renxue's intervention, Lin Chen immediately felt the pressure recede like a tide, and his body relaxed considerably.

But before Lin Chen could think further, danger struck again. "Human, you absorbed this sovereign's Soul Bone, and now you still dare to absorb this sovereign's Soul Ring!"