Lin Feng did not spare another glance at the two newly unlocked buffs. His burning gaze fixed on the deepest part of the space, that unknown region of nothingness.
The Shadow Overlord, which had been growling, instantly fell silent. Deep within the dragon pit, the scarlet gleam in the Shadow Tyrant's eyes abruptly went out. The two enormous figures silently melted into the darkness like ink.
The consciousness space instantly became quiet.
A faint breeze drifted past, only to transform in the blink of an eye into a wild howl that swept across the entire consciousness space.
Lin Feng felt as though his consciousness were being torn apart by the gale.
The next moment,
The pitch-black void was suddenly ripped open.
A bolt of purple lightning that spanned heaven and earth split the empty consciousness space apart. A colossal dragon body, woven from silver-blue and ink-black, spiraled out from the rift in the void.
Every scale, gleaming with cold light, flowed with restless lightning that seemed to possess life. Its massive dragon wings slowly spread open, blotting out the empty space.
"Roar—!"
A dragon's roar that shook the soul exploded through the space.
The dragon raised its head proudly. Jagged horns atop its head were wreathed in lightning, while endless storms churned within its vertical pupils like raging waves in the deep sea.
Wind followed the dragon's movements, and thunder was born with the dragon.
The instant it descended, the entire consciousness space trembled violently with it.
An invisible pressure swept outward, and Lin Feng felt as though a giant hand had seized his heart in an iron grip.
It was the instinctive judgment of a creature at the level of the end.
Wherever it passed, everything was forcibly brought to a halt. Between heaven and earth, only the purest clash of life and death remained.
Violent lightning wrapped around its body, forming an indestructible suit of thunder armor. Howling storms gathered beneath its wings, forming an impregnable wind shield.
It radiated authority without anger, hovering silently in the center of the consciousness space like an ancient king who had slept for eternity and finally opened his eyes to look down upon the world with indifference.
That terrifying dragon might made Lin Feng's consciousness tremble faintly. When he met those dragon eyes that seemed capable of dragging people into an endless storm, the blood throughout his body began to boil.
"So strong... far too strong."
The Storm Dragon King dared to call itself a Dragon King, so its Bloodline had to stand at the very peak of the pyramid.
As Lin Feng stared at the colossal creature before him, a thought surfaced uncontrollably in his mind.
He wondered who was stronger: it, or the Silver Dragon King of this world?
At that moment, only one thought remained in his mind.
He had to unlock it.
Even if it took two million... no, even if he had to pour in three million Gold Soul Coins, he would not hesitate.
He had gritted his teeth and unlocked the Shadow Overlord and Shadow Tyrant precisely to meet the prerequisites and unlock this ultimate existence at the pinnacle of buffs.
But when his eyes fell upon the unlock price, his entire body froze, and he went completely blank.
He rubbed his eyes hard in disbelief, his voice trembling as he counted the digits one by one.
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million..."
He abruptly stopped, his mouth instantly going dry.
"Ten million! Seven... seven zeros, ten million Mall Gold Coins?!"
"At the mall's one-to-ten conversion rate, that's... ten million Gold Soul Coins? Eight whole zeros?!"
Lin Feng felt his vision go dark.
What kind of terrifying concept was ten million Gold Soul Coins?
Tang San earned just one Gold Soul Coin a month sweeping floors. That meant sweeping for eight hundred years without eating or drinking.
Even a three-ring Soul Elder only received a monthly subsidy of one hundred Gold Soul Coins. That sum could cover the subsidies of a hundred thousand Soul Elders.
Even an army of over a hundred thousand soldiers from a kingdom would need, at most, around ten million Gold Soul Coins for an entire year of military expenses.
Lin Feng stared at that glaring string of zeros and let out a despairing sigh.
"Sorry, I take back what I said. I'm just a completely hopeless pauper."
That hit him so hard he nearly shut down. He had no mood to look at any other equipment in the mall, and with a flicker of consciousness, he directly withdrew from the martial soul consciousness space.
Seeing the look on his face, Flender cheerfully teased him.
"Why do you look like you're dead? But don't blame your martial soul. As they say, the martial soul follows the person."
The moment he said that, Lin Feng's eyes lit up. He had nearly forgotten that there was an invisible tycoon right beside him.
He immediately turned around, his face piling on smiles.
"Dean, this is an emergency. Lend me ten million Gold Soul Coins first."
Flender dug at his ear, then dug some more, before turning his head with a baffled expression.
"H-how much? A thousand?"
"What thousand? I'm not so broke that I can't even come up with a thousand."
Lin Feng rolled his eyes at him and repeated himself.
"Ten million. And Gold Soul Coins, not Copper Soul Coins."
Flender fell silent for a moment. Then he turned away without hesitation, looked straight ahead, and spoke with complete seriousness.
"Who's the dean? Never heard of him."
"Young man, remember to pay the fare when we land. Ten thousand Gold Soul Coins. No credit."
Lin Feng had not truly expected to pluck feathers from that miser anyway. If he wanted someone reliable, he would have to turn to his cheap teacher.
He stroked his chin and muttered to himself.
"Just ten million. Teacher is so rich, she should... be able to afford it, right?"
A few days later,
The imperial capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City.
Lin Feng stood outside the towering city gates. Looking up at the colossal sight stretching across heaven and earth before him, he was utterly dumbfounded.
The city walls were more than ten zhang high, built entirely from massive blocks of dark bluish-gray stone. Their sheer grandeur was enough to make one's heart tremble.
Royal guards clad in armor and carrying spears stood at the gates, while streams of pedestrians, carriages, and horses passed endlessly by. The city stretched beyond the eye's reach, more than ten times larger than the Suotuo City he knew.
"So... this is the capital of an empire?"
Beside him, Flender gazed at the familiar city gates, a trace of nostalgia flowing from his eyes. Soon, he withdrew his gaze and looked toward the still-dazed Lin Feng.
"Where does your teacher live?"
"No rush, no rush."
Lin Feng came back to his senses and shook his head, his eyes filled with excitement.
"Now that we're here, I have to buy a few things and make some preparations."
"Besides, compared to finding someone, I'd rather explore Heaven Dou City first."
Flender helplessly rolled his eyes but said nothing more. He followed at an unhurried pace as the two strolled along the broad, level main street.
Shops lined the street: rare metal stores, high-end restaurants, imposing auction houses—everything one could want was there.
Soul masters could be seen everywhere among the passing crowds. Even five-ring Soul Kings were not unusual. Compared to the bustling commoner atmosphere of Suotuo City, this place carried the stern grandeur unique to an imperial capital.
An hour later,
Inside a fairly large antiquarian bookstore beside the main street.
Flender stood with his arms crossed beside a bookshelf, casually flipping through a book on soul master theory.
He watched Lin Feng crouch before the shelves, running his fingers along one spine after another, carefully scanning every title as though searching for some peerless treasure. At last, he could not help but speak.
"Say, Xiao Linzi, you've been searching through these shelves for nearly half an hour. What book are you even looking for?"
Without raising his head, Lin Feng kept his eyes locked on the rows of yellowed ancient book covers and casually replied.
"I'm looking for historical records from ancient times about martial souls. I want to see whether there has ever been anything in soul master history similar to my martial soul."
Since Chrysanthemum Douluo's martial soul was the immortal-grade Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, historical records might contain other immortal-herb martial souls as well. There might even be detailed records of the immortal herbs at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Chrysanthemum Guan could recognize the aura of immortal herbs at a glance. He could not possibly have known that out of thin air; there had to be books documenting it somewhere.
As for why he did not simply use Qian Renxue's connections to ask Chrysanthemum Douluo directly, it was not that he had not considered it. He was simply afraid of drawing Chrysanthemum Guan's attention.
After all, no one would investigate immortal herbs for no reason. And Chrysanthemum Guan was Bibi Dong's trusted confidant. As for that deeply calculating, ruthless madwoman, Lin Feng preferred to stay as far away from her as possible.
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