Star Dou Great Forest.
When Tang Ya saw Huo Yuhao return alone, she knew he had failed.
"Little Yuhao, what did that guy say?"
Still unwilling to give up, Tang Ya asked anyway. Being rebuffed twice by the same person really left a sour taste in her mouth.
That wretched guy! How could anyone be so irritating?
"He turned me down before I even said anything."
Huo Yuhao scratched his head sheepishly. He hadn't expected such a decisive refusal either.
Bei Bei gently patted her head and spoke softly, his eyes brimming with affection. "Forget it, Teacher Xiao Ya. If he doesn't want to, we won't force him."
"Hmph! It's his loss if he doesn't join our Tang Sect."
"Come on, Little Yuhao. Once I've hunted down my third soul ring, we'll head to Shrek together."
Tang Ya gave a little huff and let the matter go. Having Little Yuhao was enough, anyway.
Lin Xiao didn't care what they thought. He was already hurrying toward another part of the Star Dou Great Forest's outskirts.
Lin Xiao's soul power was now around rank five. While following Huo Yuhao, he had kept cultivating, raising his soul power by two ranks.
It wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow either.
With the cultivation method Old Medicine had given him, his cultivation speed was far from slow. Lin Xiao had also converted soul power into battle qi, which was why his rank had risen by only that much.
However, he had run into some problems when cultivating battle qi, as though something was obstructing him.
It wasn't obvious, though, so Lin Xiao hadn't paid it any mind.
And the Flame Mantra was a cultivation method. Even without advancing, it was still a Yellow-tier cultivation method.
Naturally, a cultivation method could be used to cultivate.
It was much better than the incomplete Mysterious Heaven Skill available at this stage.
Even the complete Mysterious Heaven Skill couldn't measure up to a single hair of the Flame Mantra.
Lin Xiao knew without even thinking that Tang Ya would teach Huo Yuhao the Tang Sect Secret Arts. Unfortunately, all the versions available now were incomplete.
Tang San wasn't that kindhearted.
"A soul beast around a hundred years old?"
Watching the deer-shaped soul beast grazing with its head lowered, Lin Xiao already had a plan.
A mere hundred years, nothing more.
Lin Xiao stomped his foot, and a dark purple glow rose around his body. This was the manifestation of his own martial soul.
Du Busi's was a ghostly green, while Lin Xiao's was dark purple.
Their attributes were entirely different. Du Busi's could be described as poison, but Lin Xiao's? His was a dark attribute, though it hadn't reached the level of Ultimate Darkness.
His flame martial soul, however, was already a crystallization of ultimate fire. Lin Xiao had named it bone spirit fire!
After all, it had mutated from a trace of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame's essence and carried a hint of its characteristics, hence his calling it a child flame.
Though it hadn't reached the level of a child flame yet, Lin Xiao was confident he could bring his martial soul to that point.
"Eight Extremes Collapse!"
Lin Xiao gave a cold snort and channeled Eight Extremes Collapse through his hands, a faint dark purple glow appearing around them.
With a boom, Lin Xiao thrust out his palm, striking the deer's rump with a blow laden with hidden force.
"Hiss!!!"
The deer cried out and turned to ram Lin Xiao. He seized its antlers with both hands and flung it hard.
With Martial Soul Possession and Eight Extremes Collapse combined, Lin Xiao's strength was already formidable.
Power poured forth as Lin Xiao struck with his palm again. Bolstered by the hidden force, the blow killed the deer instantly.
"Powerful!"
Lin Xiao was thoroughly satisfied. A yellow soul ring slowly emerged from the deer's body.
A flicker of delighted surprise crossed Lin Xiao's eyes as he looked at the soul ring.
Didn't soul rings contain soul power?
Could I convert that soul power into battle qi?
Lin Xiao pondered the idea. A moment later, he sat down before the yellow soul ring and began trying to convert the soul power within it using the method Old Medicine had given him.
The soul power inside the ring began to tremble, but soon settled down again. It wasn't working?
Lin Xiao paused, then quickly figured out why.
A soul ring was like a cage imprisoning soul power, protecting the power held inside.
To convert the soul power, he would have to shatter that cage. But once it broke, the soul power inside would disperse, and how much he could recover was another question entirely.
"Teacher, Teacher, are you there?"
Lin Xiao called toward the ring, unsure whether his teacher had gone to sleep.
"Little fellow, what problem have you run into?"
Old Medicine's voice rang out. Delight lit up Lin Xiao's face, and he immediately explained his idea. "Teacher, soul rings contain soul power..."
Old Medicine thought it over. He hadn't considered that approach.
A moment later, Old Medicine emerged from the ring, looking every inch an immortal sage, and cast his gaze upon the yellow soul ring.
"It is as you said. This soul ring contains a considerable amount of soul power."
"Little fellow, this is quite simple."
Old Medicine spoke softly and drew the yellow soul ring into the ring.
Inside the ring, Old Medicine gave a gentle pinch, shattering the soul ring outright. Soul power scattered in every direction, but with a casual wave of his hand, he confined it all together.
In no time at all, Old Medicine converted the soul power contained in the soul ring into battle qi.
"Little fellow, it works. And this soul power is very pure."
"Little fellow, I'll section off a space inside the ring. From now on, I'll collect any soul rings you don't need from the soul beasts you kill."
"I'll convert half into battle qi and keep half as soul power. You can use this pure soul power when you cultivate."
Old Medicine had immediately recognized the soul rings' usefulness.
Rather than letting them go to waste after killing the beasts, it was better to keep them and turn them into strength.
Lin Xiao was overjoyed. It really worked! In that case, what was he waiting for?
There were plenty of soul beasts around now, anyway. He could easily gather soul rings while honing himself through combat.
With his teacher handling the conversion, he wouldn't be short of either battle qi or soul power anytime soon.
"Little fellow, if you find any medicinal herbs or the like, remember to collect them."
Old Medicine's voice sounded once more.
"Yes, Teacher."
After answering, Lin Xiao resumed hunting and cultivating.
A month and a half later, Lin Xiao successfully reached rank ten.
Without needing to convert soul power for cultivation, his strength was rising as though he had activated a cheat.
The talent of innate full soul power combined with Old Medicine's cultivation method yielded results that were excellent indeed.
Lin Xiao put away the last soul ring of the day.
"Teacher, I've reached rank ten."
Lin Xiao was rather excited. He could finally obtain his first soul ring.
Huo Yuhao should have joined Shrek by now. The absence of Electrolux wouldn't affect him at all in the short term.
But when you face that evil soul master ordeal, will you still get through it so easily?
"Little fellow, your cultivation speed is certainly impressive."
Old Medicine sighed in admiration. This disciple of his truly had considerable talent; it was just his battle qi cultivation that was a little slow.
"But you don't seem to have even crossed the threshold of battle qi cultivation yet."
At those words, Lin Xiao smiled awkwardly. Cultivating battle qi was much harder than cultivating soul power.
Whenever he cultivated battle qi, Lin Xiao kept feeling as though something unseen was obstructing him, as if this world itself wouldn't allow it.
"Teacher, I keep feeling that this world is preventing me from cultivating battle qi."
Lin Xiao voiced the doubt weighing on his mind.
Before you continue