I Hit the Jackpot

"Big brother, did you really have to make the trip yourself just for this child?"

After parting ways with Feng Xinglie, as they passed through a deserted forest, the middle-aged man behind Qian Daoliu couldn't help asking:

"Even if you're worried, it would've been enough to send me."

At that, Qian Daoliu stopped and shook his head slightly:

"Second brother, you should know what an Innate Soul Power of level 20 represents."

If Feng Xinglie had been there, he would have been utterly astonished. From the way Qian Daoliu addressed him, the man was none other than the Second Worship of Spirit Hall, Golden Crocodile Douluo—a level 98 powerhouse. Two of Spirit Hall's most powerful fighters had come in person.

"Becoming a god..."

Golden Crocodile nodded, then shook his head again:

"Even so, there's no need for the two of us to act together, is there?"

Qian Daoliu sighed:

"Xue'er also had an innate level 20."

Golden Crocodile understood. Qian Renxue was the chosen successor of Angel God, and Qian Daoliu would never allow anyone to stand in the way of her path to godhood, whether as the deity's priest or as her grandfather. Qian Daoliu had never personally set out just to recruit a genius. He had come to make sure that this child, who might one day become a god, would not become a threat.

"I couldn't sense the aura of a deity on him. An ordinary farming family's child couldn't have been born with a God-bestowed Divine Martial Soul. We can't afford to overlook this child's background. I'll investigate it personally. Keep an eye on him from the shadows and see if anyone approaches him on the way to Spirit City."

"Don't worry, big brother. If this brat is a spy planted by another faction and deliberately brought to our attention..."

As Golden Crocodile spoke, he drew his thumb lightly across his throat. Qian Daoliu nodded, and in an instant, his figure vanished.

As for Feng Xinglie, ever since agreeing to join Spirit Hall, he'd worn a face as long as a bitter gourd, racking his brains over how to survive Tang San's future campaign to wipe out Spirit Hall. When Grandpa Tom heard that he would be traveling alone to Spirit City, he was worried and reluctant to let him go. But for Feng Xinglie's future, he eventually agreed.

"Xiao Lie, it's a long way there. Be extra careful on the road..."

"I know, Grandpa. Don't worry. I'm a genius with Innate Soul Power level 7, after all. A little trip like this won't defeat me."

The dozens of painstakingly devised survival plans shattered to pieces.

When it came to dealing with Su Yuntao, Feng Xinglie had all sorts of ways to fool him. But if he had to deal with Qian Daoliu... he might as well wash up and go to sleep. At least for now.

"Heh. A six-year-old traveling alone to Spirit City. Just how worried are they? They even sent someone to test me along the way."

He discreetly swept his gaze over the surroundings and shook his head helplessly. He couldn't spot a thing. Whoever was hiding in the shadows must be far stronger than him.

(Golden Crocodile: That's right.)

After saying goodbye to the old village chief, Feng Xinglie left the village alone. Of course, before setting off, he also disposed of all the poisons he'd been hiding. The first five days of the journey went smoothly. But on the sixth day, as he passed the outskirts of a Soul Beast forest, something unexpected happened.

"Strange. The ground... is shaking?"

Feeling the odd tremor beneath his feet, Feng Xinglie hurriedly dropped down and pressed his ear to the ground. A moment later, his expression changed, and he scrambled up to hide behind a boulder.

"Something's coming. And it's huge."

He stared tensely at the woods ahead. A moment later, a giant elephant, five meters tall, burst out. Its body was riddled with wounds, one of its tusks was broken, and a massive gash in its abdomen exposed its innards. It barreled forward as if fleeing from something, head down, yet it was charging straight toward Feng Xinglie.

"Oh no!"

The giant elephant's every step made the earth tremble. Feng Xinglie hurriedly leaped clear of its path. The moment he dodged, the boulder he'd been hiding behind was crushed under one of the elephant's feet.

The elephant seemed blinded by bloodlust—or perhaps it thought Feng Xinglie had just sprung out to ambush it. With a deafening trumpet, it charged at him again.

"Damn it, are you ever going to stop!?"

The hill-like monster charged at him once more. Feng Xinglie hurriedly summoned Martial Soul Possession. Feeling the power surge through his body, he felt a little more at ease.

"Martial Soul Possession keeps consuming Soul Power. I haven't even added a Soul Ring yet, so I can't keep it up for long."

Feng Xinglie stared at the rapidly approaching giant elephant, crouched low, then sprang high into the air at the very last moment. He planted a foot on its long trunk like a springboard and leaped again.

To the giant elephant, Feng Xinglie seemed like a bug flying into the air. It swung its trunk at him, but it failed to notice that Feng Xinglie's arms had become as soft and boneless as its own trunk. With two sharp whooshes, his windblown arms snapped into motion, whipping like a pair of lashes and striking the elephant squarely in both eyes.

Suppressing the pain in its eyes, the giant elephant roared and kept swinging its trunk, trying to catch its enemy. Unfortunately, with its vision temporarily gone, it couldn't lock onto Feng Xinglie's position. The elephant squeezed its eyes shut and opened them again, only to be horrified to discover that everything before it was pitch-black. It couldn't see a thing.

"The poison's working!"

Feng Xinglie landed unsteadily and felt a surge of delight. At his current strength, even an attack on a vulnerable spot like the eyes couldn't do much damage. He could only put his hopes in Poison Hand. Fortunately, the big fellow had no resistance to poison. Seeing his chance, Feng Xinglie struck while the iron was hot. He sprang into the air and thrust both hands into the wound in the giant elephant's belly. Once he was sure he'd touched its organs, he quickly pulled back.

Already gravely wounded, the giant elephant had now been poisoned twice in succession. Neither dose was large, but together they became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Blinded, it could only attack wildly in the general direction of its assailant. As it struggled, its bleeding and poisoning worsened. At last, after crashing into a tree, its enormous body thundered to the ground.

"Man, I actually made it out alive..."

Seeing the yellow Soul Ring forming above the giant elephant, Feng Xinglie knew it was dead. He let out a long breath, but his expression didn't relax in the slightest. The Soul Master Hunting Giant Elephant was probably nearby. Anyone who could wound a monster like this must be powerful. And judging by the wounds, they'd attacked with ruthless force. If possible, he'd be better off not running into them. Too exhausted to care, he turned to leave—but a sinister voice came from behind him:

"Kid, did you kill my Thousand Jun Charging Elephant?"

"Come on, how did you get here so fast?"

Feng Xinglie's face fell. He could only turn to face the shadow crouched atop the Thousand Jun Charging Elephant's corpse:

"No, Lord Soul Master. The big fellow came charging out of nowhere like a madman, and I was so scared I hid off to the side. Then it just kept running until it lay down by itself. I'm only a child. How could I possibly beat a Soul Beast?"

The Soul Master gave Feng Xinglie, who was feigning innocence, a cold laugh. He raised a hand and beckoned toward the yellow Soul Ring, but it didn't move toward him. Then his figure suddenly flashed, and in an instant he was right in front of Feng Xinglie, gripping him by the throat:

"Kid, I don't want to believe you could kill this Thousand Jun Charging Elephant either. But I wounded the beast. If it had died from blood loss, the Soul Ring would naturally belong to me. Yet I can't call this Soul Ring to me, and there isn't anyone or any Soul Beast nearby besides you. It's unbelievable, but after eliminating every wrong answer, the only one left has to be right, no matter how absurd it sounds. I'll ask you one last time: how did you kill this Soul Beast?"

Feng Xinglie gaped at the Soul Master's reasoning. For a moment, he even forgot that he was dangling in the air:

"Are you serious? If you've got brains like that, why are you out hunting Soul Beasts? Go to Nuoding City and enroll in the Junior Soul Master Academy. There's a guy called Yu Xiaogang there. Tell him to move over—you can be the Grandmaster!"

As all sorts of thoughts raced through his head, his body kept struggling on instinct. With his constant wriggling, a piece of paper accidentally slipped from his chest. The Soul Master looked at it in confusion and picked it up. In an instant, Feng Xinglie felt the hand gripping his throat tighten.

"Innate Soul Power... level 20!?"

The Soul Master crushed the Martial Soul certificate into a ball. His blood-red eyes gleamed with a cold light:

"If this didn't have Spirit Hall's seal on it, I wouldn't believe the world had a talent like this! Why!? Why are you geniuses born at a height others can never reach in their whole lives, with everyone crowding around to curry favor with you? While all I can do is spend my days devouring disgusting Soul Beast blood to speed up my cultivation!"

Gazing into those savage eyes, Feng Xinglie couldn't help shivering. So he was an Evil Soul Master... In an era when Spirit Hall maintained order across the continent, Evil Soul Masters had been suppressed until they were few and far between. Yet today Feng Xinglie had hit the jackpot—and stolen prey from an Evil Soul Master.

After venting with a roar, the Evil Soul Master gradually calmed down. He looked at Feng Xinglie, then at the Thousand Jun Charging Elephant's corpse beside him, and his lips split into a mocking grin. He tossed Feng Xinglie to the ground and said:

"Kid, you don't have a Soul Ring yet, do you? Then today, I'll give you a chance to live. Go on, absorb the Soul Ring you obtained with your own hands. Let me see whether you, a genius with innate level 20, can absorb this 982-year-old yellow First Soul Ring!"

Feng Xinglie's expression changed. His Martial Soul was special, and his physique had been greatly enhanced, so absorbing a Soul Ring beyond its usual age limit shouldn't be too much of a problem. But this one was nearly twice the theoretical maximum age for a First Soul Ring. It even exceeded the standard for the highest-age Second Soul Ring by more than two hundred years. No matter how he looked at it, the risk was enormous.

"Maybe I can try to catch this guy off guard with Poison Hand..."

Just as he was wondering whether he could launch a surprise attack with Poison Hand, four Soul Rings suddenly lit up beneath the Evil Soul Master's feet: white, yellow, yellow, purple.

"A four-ring Soul Elder!? Where's the examination team? Somebody save me! Surely the people from Spirit Hall don't think I can handle this too?"

Seeing that his enemy was at least twenty levels stronger than he was, Feng Xinglie immediately abandoned the thought of attacking. But the quiet surroundings also made it clear that the person watching him from the shadows had no intention of stepping in. The Evil Soul Master seemed to have sensed his thoughts and sneered:

"Kid, I'd advise you not to try any tricks. Even if you manage to absorb this Soul Ring, you still won't be my match. If you don't start absorbing it within three seconds, I'll cripple all four of your limbs and toss you in the river to feed the fish... Three!"

"Damn it, fine!"

He knew the man was jealous of his talent and wanted to watch a promising genius get blown apart by his own Soul Power. But with no chance of winning, all he could do was take a gamble. Perhaps he could find a chance to escape after obtaining the Soul Ring.

Seeing Feng Xinglie finally begin to absorb it, the Evil Soul Master sneered and sat cross-legged nearby, eagerly watching a genius bring about his own death. He didn't realize that, high in the branches of a nearby tree, a pair of indifferent eyes had already fixed on them.