Thousand-Year Spirit Bone

A day later, the pain in Ling Chen's backside had subsided, and he boarded a carriage headed for the Star Dou Great Forest.

The journey was rather dull; there were no smartphones to scroll through short videos here, nor any other electronic devices to pass the time.

Ling Chen could only lift a 60-jin iron sword inside the carriage to practice weightlifting. Recently, his frequency of changing weights had increased, and since he hadn't fully adapted yet, he could only rely on weightlifting to get through this transition period.

It would have been fine if Ling Chen hadn't practiced, but once he started, the horse galloping in front couldn't handle it. With the sudden addition of 60 jin of weight, the carriage's speed dropped instantly.

"Eh, what's going on? Did the horse step on a stone and get hurt? Whoa~!"

The coachman called for the carriage to stop and got down to inspect the horse's condition.

Ling Chen also noticed the carriage had stopped, so he poked his head out from the side window.

"Master, what's the matter? Why has the carriage stopped?"

After checking all four hooves, the coachman found nothing wrong. He brought out some fodder to feed the horse, but the horse wouldn't eat. Was it too tired? Yet, looking at the horse's spirited state, it didn't seem exhausted at all.

"Wait a moment, passenger. My horse had a bit of trouble and can't run fast. Let me check again!"

The coachman didn't look back, instead checking the horse's body for any bumps or bruises.

"Can't run fast?"

Ling Chen glanced at the 60-jin sword in his hand and immediately knew where the problem lay.

He awkwardly retracted the iron sword and said to the coachman with an apologetic look.

"Master, if there's no major problem, let's just get back on the road. The horse is probably just being lazy."

The coachman scratched his head, but had no other choice.

Once they were back in the carriage, the speed returned to normal. The coachman couldn't explain it for a moment; was the horse really just being lazy?

"Crack!"

The coachman lashed out with his whip; after a hundred lashes, there wasn't a horse alive that wouldn't run.

Following this little interlude, Ling Chen arrived at the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest that night.

Fireflies danced, and the Blue Silver Grass emitted a faint blue glow. At this hour, most soul beasts, like humans, had entered dreamland.

Ling Chen tried his best to avoid the Blue Silver Grass, hoping to prevent Tang San from discovering that he had also arrived at the Star Dou Great Forest.

The outermost ring was the territory of ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts; Ling Chen could walk through here unimpeded without even using his Green Steel Sword.

In the thousand-year soul beast zone, Ling Chen would have to use his Peerless Domain, but that would easily alert the people from Martial Soul Hall.

Even though Ling Chen's Green Steel Sword was sealed by sword qi, it didn't affect his ability to condense it using his Martial Soul Origin; it was only a matter of time before Ling Chen broke into the ten-thousand-year soul beast zone.

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

If he were discovered, couldn't he just run? Besides, if someone tried to compete with him in speed within his domain, they would have to consider the 82% attribute gap between them.

Action followed thought; Ling Chen raised his sword and headed toward the deepest part of the forest.

Three hours later, Ling Chen stood with his sword, looking around in confusion; his Peerless Domain had expanded to its limit. Yet, once he stepped into the thousand-year soul beast zone, no soul beasts dared to come out and attack him.

"Boring. Soul beasts that have lived for a thousand years have already started fearing death!"

Ling Chen whistled, trying to attract the attention of those soul beasts. But those soul beasts had already developed a sliver of intelligence; no matter how foolish they were, they wouldn't defy the instinct of fear within their bodies.

What stood before them was indeed a piece of delicious, fresh meat, but their instincts warned them that if they didn't leave, they would die!

Those soul beasts still watched Ling Chen from the shadows, the drool dripping from their mouths unable to hide their greed.

Ling Chen could lock onto the positions of those soul beasts through his Killing Intent Perception, but he didn't want to make a move against them; it was exhausting and yielded no benefits.

Their strength was only that of a level 30 Soul Grand Master; not to mention they lacked three soul rings, their Martial Soul Origin was also pitifully scarce—not even enough for the amount he needed to condense his martial soul next time.

"If you want to fight, then fight! What kind of skill is it to just stare at a child?"

The deeper Ling Chen went into the forest, the more powerful soul beasts targeted him; at this moment, Ling Chen was being watched by at least sixty soul beasts.

Ling Chen threw out a harsh threat, wanting them to attack together so he could wipe them all out at once. But these soul beasts just watched and didn't emerge, which was a bit of a cheap move.

Ling Chen didn't want to bother with these cowards, but being watched like this in the middle of the night was somewhat uncomfortable.

"First Soul Skill—Hundred Demon Shadow Clone!"

Ling Chen didn't want to waste time here, so he decided to kill two birds with one stone: use his clones to deal with these soul beasts while he accelerated his journey.

Ling Chen wasn't sure if Tang San had encountered people from Martial Soul Hall. At his current pace, even with the boost from his Peerless Domain at its peak, it would still be tomorrow morning before he reached the deepest part of the forest.

"Slash! Slash!"

Ling Chen's Hundred Demon Shadow Clones moved as if through empty space, harvesting the soul beasts that were still watching him.

Under the enhancement of the phantom images and the Peerless Domain, Ling Chen's clones were a chaotic blur of a hundred shadows, his 60-jin iron sword cutting through the mess like a sharp blade.

Under such bloody slaughter, many soul beasts scattered and fled, leaving only pieces of carcasses on the ground.

Ling Chen, who had been continuing his journey, suddenly stopped and immediately turned back. The reason was simple: among those scattered carcasses, something had dropped!

A soul bone slowly floated up from the ground, and the clones didn't dare touch it. Having learned his lesson from the last time in Slaughter City, one careless move could result in him becoming food for the Black Dragon.

"This is... a skull!"

Both Ling Chens gasped; he had killed fewer than three hundred thousand-year soul beasts here, and he hadn't expected the drop rate to be so high, let alone that it would drop a thousand-year skull.

Although the age of this skull bone is not high, it is roughly over a thousand years.

Yet this is already enough; for a fledgling like Ling Chen who has a low Soul Power Level and is not of great age, a single Soul Bone can double his strength, as the absorption of a Soul Bone does not require consideration of a Soul Master's Soul Power Level.

Furthermore, he still has a torso Soul Bone within his Dragon Pillar Space, and increasing the age of the skull bone is merely a matter of a single thought.

However, before that, Ling Chen needs to absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone to unlock the upper limit for stacking age.

Ling Chen briefly recalled the moment; which Soul Beast did this skull bone come from that he had just hunted? After a brainstorm, Ling Chen did not arrive at an answer.

Never mind the original owner of this skull bone, even the carcass on the ground was a mystery to Ling Chen as to which Soul Beast it belonged.

"No point dwelling on it, I shall form the head!"

Ling Chen sat before the Soul Bone and began to absorb it. Rather than obsessing over the original owner of the Soul Bone, it is better to first become the master of this Soul Bone.

The next morning, Ling Chen opened his eyes, and the world in his vision had been slowed down significantly.

"The skull bone of an Eight-Winged Phantom Eagle! And it even has a skull bone skill—Inversion of Heaven and Earth!"

Ling Chen muttered to himself.

Once his skull bone skill is unleashed, a powerful mental force will strike the enemy's brain, causing their senses to undergo multiple irregular inversions, with the duration varying based on the opponent's mental strength.

Those struck by this move might feel the sensation of touch through their eyes, or perceive the sense of smell through their buttocks...