Thousand-Year Soul Bone

A day later, Ling Chen's backside no longer hurt, and he climbed into a carriage bound for the Star Dou Great Forest.

The journey was rather dull. There were no phones to scroll through short videos, nor any other electronic devices to pass the time.

Ling Chen could only practice lifting weights inside the carriage, holding a 60-pound iron sword. Lately, he had been increasing the weight more frequently, and he hadn't quite adjusted to it yet. For now, he could only get through this transitional period by lifting weights.

It would have been fine if Ling Chen hadn't trained, but as soon as he did, the horse pulling the carriage started to struggle. With an extra 60 pounds of weight, the carriage slowed down at once.

"Huh? What's going on? Did the horse hurt itself stepping on a rock? Whoa!"

The driver called for the carriage to stop, climbed down, and checked on the horse.

Ling Chen noticed the carriage had stopped, too, and poked his head out through the side window.

"Driver, what's going on? Why did the carriage stop?"

The driver checked all four of the horse's hooves, but found nothing wrong. He then took out some feed, but the horse wouldn't eat. Was it too tired? But the horse looked spirited and energetic, not exhausted at all.

"Please wait a moment, sir. Something seems to be wrong with my horse. It can't run fast. I'll check again!"

The driver didn't turn around. Instead, he checked the horse for any bumps or bruises.

"It can't run fast?"

Ling Chen glanced at the 60-pound sword in his hand and immediately realized what the problem was.

Embarrassed, he put away the iron sword and apologized to the driver.

"Driver, if nothing's seriously wrong, let's get going. The horse is probably just running slower because it wants to slack off."

The driver scratched his head. He could only go along with that.

Once they were back in the carriage, its speed picked up again. The driver had no idea how to explain it. Had the horse really just wanted to slack off?

"Crack!"

The driver gave the horse a sharp lash. After a hundred lashes, there wasn't a horse that couldn't get moving.

After that little interruption, Ling Chen reached the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest that night.

Fireflies flitted through the air, while Blue Silver Grass gave off a faint blue glow. At this hour, most Soul Beasts, like humans, had gone to sleep.

Ling Chen did his best to avoid the Blue Silver Grass, so Tang San wouldn't discover that he had come to the Star Dou Great Forest, too.

The outermost ring was home to ten-year and Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. Without the Green Steel Sword, Ling Chen could do whatever he wanted here.

In the Thousand-Year Soul Beast territory, Ling Chen would have to use the Peerless Domain, but that would make it easy for people from Spirit Hall to discover him.

Even with his Green Steel Sword sealed by sword qi, Ling Chen could still condense it using his Martial Soul Origin. It was only a matter of time before he ventured into the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast territory.

With the 60-pound iron sword in hand, Ling Chen decided to unleash the Peerless Domain and fight his way forward.

If anyone discovered him, he could just run, right? After all, if they wanted to compete with him in speed inside his domain, they would have to contend with the 82% chasm between their attributes.

No sooner said than done. Ling Chen raised his sword and headed deeper into the forest.

Three hours later, Ling Chen stood with his sword drawn, looking around in bewilderment. The Peerless Domain had expanded to its limit. But by the time he reached the Thousand-Year Soul Beast territory, no Soul Beasts dared to come out and attack him.

"What a bore. Soul Beasts that have lived over a thousand years are already afraid to die!"

Ling Chen whistled, trying to draw the Soul Beasts' attention. But they had already developed a little intelligence. No matter how foolish they were, they wouldn't go against their instinctive fear.

The fresh meat standing before them certainly looked delicious, but their instincts warned them that if they didn't leave, they would die!

The Soul Beasts continued watching Ling Chen from the shadows, saliva dripping from their mouths, unable to conceal their greed.

Ling Chen could pinpoint the Soul Beasts' locations through Killing Intent Perception, but he didn't want to fight them. It would take too much effort for too little gain.

Their strength was about that of a thirtieth-level Soul Grandmaster. They didn't even have three Soul Rings, and their Martial Soul Origin was pitifully scarce—not even enough for him to condense his Martial Soul next time.

"If you want to fight, then fight. What's so impressive about staring at a kid?"

The deeper Ling Chen went into the forest, the more powerful the Soul Beasts that set their sights on him. At least sixty of them were watching him now.

Ling Chen issued his challenge because he wanted them to attack all at once, so he could wipe them out in one fell swoop. But those Soul Beasts just kept watching without making a move, taking advantage of him in their own small way.

Ling Chen didn't want to deal with those cowards, but being watched by so many creatures in the middle of the night made him uncomfortable.

"First Soul Skill—Hundred Demon Shadow Clone!"

Ling Chen didn't want to waste any more time here. He might as well kill two birds with one stone: use his clones to deal with the Soul Beasts while he hurried onward.

Ling Chen wasn't sure whether Tang San had run into people from Spirit Hall yet. At his current pace, even with the Peerless Domain's boost at its maximum, he wouldn't reach the forest's deepest part until tomorrow morning.

"Slash! Slash!"

Ling Chen's Hundred Demon Shadow Clones cut through the Soul Beasts still watching him as if they were moving through an empty field.

Boosted by the afterimages and the Peerless Domain, Ling Chen's clones made a dazzling blur of shadows, their 60-pound iron swords cutting through the chaos with swift, clean strokes.

Under such bloody slaughter, many Soul Beasts scattered and fled, leaving only a field of severed remains behind.

Ling Chen, who had been on his way deeper into the forest, suddenly stopped and hurried back. There was only one reason: something had dropped among those remains!

A Soul Bone slowly floated up from the ground. The clones didn't dare touch it. After what had happened in Slaughter City, one careless move could turn them into food for the Black Dragon.

"This is... a skull!"

Both Ling Chens sucked in a sharp breath. He had killed fewer than three hundred Soul Beasts in the Thousand-Year territory, yet the drop rate was so high that he'd gotten a Thousand-Year skull.

The skull wasn't very old, probably just over a thousand years.

But that was more than enough. For a low-level, young newbie like Ling Chen, a Soul Bone could double his strength. After all, absorbing a Soul Bone didn't require taking a Soul Master's Soul Power Level into account.

Besides, there was already a Torso Soul Bone in his Dragon Pillar Space. Raising the skull's age was as easy as a thought.

Before that, though, Ling Chen needed to absorb a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Bone to unlock the limit on how much he could stack its age.

Ling Chen briefly tried to remember which Soul Beast he'd just killed this skull from. After racking his brain, he still had no answer.

He couldn't even identify the skull's original owner, let alone tell which Soul Beast the remains on the ground belonged to.

"Never mind. I'll make this my head!"

Ling Chen sat down in front of the Soul Bone and began absorbing it. Rather than agonize over who it had belonged to, he might as well become its new owner first.

At dawn the next day, Ling Chen opened his eyes. The world around him seemed to move much more slowly.

"The skull of an Eight-Winged Phantom Eagle! And it comes with a skull Soul Skill—Inversion of Heaven and Earth!"

Ling Chen muttered to himself.

When his skull Soul Skill hit, his powerful spiritual force would strike the enemy's brain, causing their senses to flip around at random again and again. How long the effect lasted depended on the enemy's spiritual force.

Those struck by the skill might feel the touch of their hands with their eyes, or smell with their backside...