Lin Yue's First Drop of Blood

As these words left his mouth, the scene fell into a deathly silence for several seconds.

Immediately after, Lin Yue's unceremonious scoff rang out.

She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, looking at Yu Xiaogang with the silent disdain one might reserve for a fool. "Big Trash Gang, have you ever actually read a proper Soul Beast encyclopedia? You just spout nonsense as you please? The core characteristic of a Solitary Bamboo is merely the toughness of its stalk, providing basic physical binding capabilities. It has absolutely no paralytic properties, let alone any deadly toxins! You can't even get the basic traits of a soul beast right, yet you dare to call yourself a master of Martial Soul theory?"

The defense-type teacher beside them couldn't help but frown, saying in a deep voice, "Master, student Lin Yue is correct. The Solitary Bamboo is the most common low-tier plant-type soul beast on the Douluo Continent. It only grows in rock crevices and, aside from decent toughness, possesses no additional attributes. It is fundamentally unsuitable as the first soul ring for a soul master with Innate Full Soul Power."

The Dean's expression darkened further, his gaze toward Yu Xiaogang filled with impatience. "Yu Xiaogang, if you continue to spout such nonsense, leave the team immediately. We are here to select the most suitable soul ring for this child, not to listen to your fabrications and ruin a genius."

Yu Xiaogang was left red-faced by the group's rebukes, his hands clenched into tight fists as a resentment he had suppressed for two lifetimes surged in his eyes.

He had simply been nervous and forgotten, accidentally applying the attributes of a Mandala Snake to the wrong beast.

Yet, he refused to give up. Stiffening his neck, he looked at Tang San and continued loudly, "Even if my assessment of the Solitary Bamboo's attributes was slightly off, the path is absolutely correct! Tang San, your Blue Silver Grass is inherently too mild. Only by following a poison-attribute control path can you push the power of a control-type martial soul to its limit! Only with deadly poison combined with binding can your Blue Silver Grass possess absolute suppression on the battlefield! I have studied martial souls for decades; this path is undoubtedly the most suitable for you!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Lin Yue was moved to laughter by his sheer audacity. Right in front of him, she leisurely pulled the Complete Compendium of Soul Master Knowledge from her bosom, flipped to the core chapter on martial soul attributes and soul ring compatibility, and read it out word for word. Her voice was clear, and every syllable landed like a slap across Yu Xiaogang's face:

"The first principle of absorbing soul rings: Take the martial soul's original attribute as the core. Prioritize absorbing soul rings from beasts of the same attribute and origin to maximize nourishment and promote Martial Soul Evolution. Secondarily, one may absorb related attribute rings, such as water and earth, or wind, fire, and lightning. Forcibly absorbing conflicting attribute rings will, at best, pollute the martial soul's origin and limit its growth potential, and at worst, lead to the collapse of the martial soul and the total loss of one's cultivation."

After finishing, Lin Yue lifted her eyes to look at the increasingly pale Yu Xiaogang, raised an eyebrow, and continued, "It is written clearly in the book. Let me give you two examples known across the entire continent. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the head of the Upper Three Sects, only selects dragon-type soul beasts for their disciples' soul rings. This is to ensure the purity of their martial soul's origin, which is how they have kept the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon as the continent's number one beast martial soul for generations. Then there is the Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo. His Jade Phosphor Serpent martial soul only absorbs rings from similar venomous snakes throughout his life, eventually evolving his martial soul into the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor."

She took a step forward, her gaze sharp as she stared at Yu Xiaogang. "Tang San's Blue Silver Grass has a Life attribute origin. You insist on him absorbing a poison-attribute ring to follow a poison-control path—if that isn't putting the cart before the horse, what is? Unless his Blue Silver Grass is a poison-attribute mutation, doing this would be destroying his talent with your own hands! Are you truly looking out for him, or do you just want to use him to prove that your crooked, heretical theories are correct?"

"You... you're spouting nonsense!"

Yu Xiaogang was trembling with rage, yet he couldn't refute a single word.

The black and white text in the book and the two universally known examples had struck him squarely in the face; the theories he took such pride in appeared utterly ridiculous at this moment.

A wicked fire burned in his heart. In his past life, he had relied on these very theories to make Tang San devoted to him—why was it that in this life, someone was tearing down his platform at every turn?

"I'm spouting nonsense?"

Lin Yue scoffed, closed the book, and tucked it back into her clothes. "If you aren't convinced, find any Martial Soul Branch Hall and ask the deacon inside. See if what you say is right, or what is written in the book."

No one paid any more attention to the dejected Yu Xiaogang. The Dean waved his hand and said to the group, "Don't waste any more time here. This ten-year Solitary Bamboo is useless. Let's keep moving forward. The hundred-year plant-type soul beast zone ahead has vines and flower-type soul beasts specifically with the Life attribute; there is bound to be something suitable for Tang San."

The group responded one after another and turned to continue walking. No one looked back at the unremarkable Solitary Bamboo in the rock crevice, and no one knew that just as Yu Xiaogang had been rambling, the consciousness of this Solitary Bamboo had just awakened.

[Ding! Destiny Binding System activated! Host detected: Ten-year Solitary Bamboo, transmigrator from another dimension!]

[Ding! Destiny Child Tang San detected nearby! Direct descendant of the Blue Silver Emperor and Clear Sky Hammer, twin martial souls, future successor to the Sea God and Asura God dual godhoods!]

[System mission issued: Immediately sacrifice to the Destiny Child Tang San! Upon successful sacrifice, unlock the Plant-type Emperor talent, permanently bind to the Destiny Child, and share the godhood inheritance!]

[System warning: Once the sacrifice is initiated, no one can stop it! Host, execute immediately! If this opportunity is missed, the host will be trapped in the ten-year Solitary Bamboo form for life, unable to transform or move!]

The consciousness of the Solitary Bamboo in the rock crevice instantly boiled over!

He had transmigrated to this Douluo world six whole years ago, only to be trapped in this tiny rock crevice, exposed to wind and sun, unable to move, and nearly driven insane.

Now, such a heaven-sent opportunity? Sacrifice to the future dual-god Tang San, not only to make up for his age but to share the godhood?!

Only a fool wouldn't choose this!

Regardless of how he felt about Tang San, if he missed this chance, he was finished.

"System! Initiate the sacrifice immediately! Hurry! They're about to walk away!" the Solitary Bamboo's consciousness screamed frantically.

[Sacrifice program initiated! Soul power connection building! Space locked! Sacrifice is irreversible!]

Just as the group had walked ten meters away and was about to turn the next corner, the ten-year Solitary Bamboo in the rock crevice suddenly erupted with blinding green light. The entire bamboo plant pulled itself from the crevice, transforming into a green shadow. Ignoring the distance of space, it instantly rushed behind Tang San, intending to forcibly merge into his body and complete the sacrifice!

Once a soul beast sacrifice is initiated, even a Titled Douluo would find it difficult to interrupt, let alone a group consisting of only one Soul Ancestor and two Soul Elders.

Once the sacrifice was completed, even if Tang San didn't want to absorb this ten-year soul ring, he would have no choice, and his martial soul foundation would inevitably suffer irreversible damage.

At this critical juncture, Lin Yue's pupils suddenly constricted. She possessed an innate, extreme sensitivity to soul power fluctuations and spatial anomalies. The moment the Solitary Bamboo initiated the sacrifice, she sensed the strange soul power forcibly locking onto Tang San from behind!

Finally, a worthy opponent.

"Watch out!"

"Watch out!"

While shouting the warning, Lin Yue's figure had already turned into a blur, flashing behind Tang San as if teleporting. Her right hand flipped, and the pitch-black Evil Repeller spear instantly condensed into form. Her level-ten-plus soul power poured into the spear shaft without reservation. A sharp, icy glint flashed in her eyes as she spat out two words—the voice was not loud, but carried the resolve to sever everything:

"Dragon Tooth!"

The moment the words fell, three silver, dragon-shaped patterns lit up on the shaft of the Evil Repeller. At the pitch-black tip, three icy glints resembling the fangs of a giant dragon instantly condensed! The glints carried a sharp whistle that tore through space, even carving three fine spatial cracks into the air. The first strike didn't aim directly at the Solitary Bamboo's physical body, but precisely at the invisible, colorless sacrificial origin line connecting the bamboo to Tang San's soul, slashing down fiercely!

"Shhh-la—"

With a light sound like fabric being torn, the sacrificial connection, which even a Titled Douluo would find difficult to sever, was split right down the middle by the Dragon Tooth glint! The green light that had already touched Tang San's back suddenly stalled, and a shrill system alarm sounded in the Solitary Bamboo's consciousness.

[Warning! Sacrificial connection forcibly severed! Origin damaged!]

"What is this? You told me the sacrifice could be interrupted?"

But Lin Yue's attack didn't pause for even a fraction of a second. The moment the connection was severed, the three Dragon Tooth glints merged into one, transforming into a dragon-shaped spear shadow that pierced through everything, accurately striking the core of the green light in mid-air.

The Dragon Tooth power imbued in the Evil Repeller not only shredded the Solitary Bamboo's physical body but seemed to carry the power to extinguish the soul itself. It ground the Solitary Bamboo's transmigrator consciousness—along with the system origin it was bound to—into smithereens before it could even let out a scream!

The deeper reason was the mutual devouring between systems, a fact Lin Yue was unaware of.

The entire process took place in the blink of an eye.

With only a soft "pfft," the blinding green light instantly dissipated, and the ten-year Solitary Bamboo's body exploded into fine bamboo shards in the air.

Only a single, lonely white ten-year spirit ring remained, having lost all power support, drifting lightly down from mid-air and rotating slowly amidst the dappled light and shadows of the forest.

The entire process took place in the blink of an eye; by the time everyone reacted, it was already over.

Tang San's entire body stiffened. He had just felt a gentle yet irresistible force lock onto him, rendering him instantly unable to move.

If not for Lin Yue's intervention, he would never have been able to dodge that sudden attack, and he might well have been attending his own funeral.

He looked down at Lin Yue standing before him, a surge of deep gratitude welling up in his heart as he whispered, "Lin Yue, thank you."

Xiao Wu was also pale with fright, rushing over to grab Tang San's arm and checking him up and down for injuries, her soft voice filled with lingering fear: "Brother Tang San, are you okay? You scared me to death!"

[Ding! SSS-rank target Tang San capture progress +5%, current progress 20%!]

The Dean and the two teachers also hurried over, their faces full of shock and lingering fear. They looked at the white spirit ring in mid-air and then toward the crevice in the rocks, their expressions filled with disbelief.

This included Xiao Wu, who was completely bewildered.

"What is going on? How could a ten-year Solitary Bamboo detach itself from the soil and move on its own? And it even charged straight at Tang San?"

"Unless a plant-type spirit beast reaches a cultivation level of ten thousand years, it is impossible to achieve such a feat! What exactly is going on with this ten-year Solitary Bamboo?"

It was a mystery that left everyone racking their brains in vain.

"That spirit power fluctuation just now—was that a sacrifice?! A ten-year spirit beast initiating a sacrifice? This is unheard of!"

Yu Xiaogang also squeezed through, staring at the white spirit ring in mid-air. He was completely stunned, muttering repeatedly: "Impossible... absolutely impossible... How could a Solitary Bamboo move on its own? And perform a sacrifice? This doesn't conform to the basic rules of spirit beasts..."

He had studied Martial Souls his entire life and had never seen such a bizarre situation. Thinking back to how he had even misidentified the basic attributes of the Solitary Bamboo earlier, he sank into an even deeper state of self-doubt.

Besides, such a thing had never happened in his previous life.

Could it be that, other than Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, lower-level spirit beasts were also capable of sacrifice?

Standing at the forefront, Lin Yue felt her grip tighten on the Evil Repeller war spear, her mind in total chaos.

The moment she shattered the main body of the Solitary Bamboo, an unprecedented notification sound suddenly rang out from the Battle Mage System in her mind.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully hunting one transmigrator from another dimension!]

[Ding! System has absorbed the transmigrator's origin and completed a comprehensive upgrade! Features unlocked: Battle Mage full skill tree preview, exclusive enhancement route for the Evil Repeller war spear Martial Soul!]

[Ding! Detected that multiple transmigrators from other dimensions still exist in the current Douluo world!]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the title: Dark Forest Hunter!]

[Ding! Ultimate mission updated: Host must survive until the end, eliminate as many other transmigrators as possible, and finally, winner winner, chicken dinner!]

Lin Yue's heart skipped a beat, her inner shock beyond measure.

A transmigrator?!

Besides her, there were actually other transmigrators in this world? That unremarkable ten-year Solitary Bamboo from just now was also a transmigrator?

She had originally thought she was the only variable in this world, but she never expected this to be a place where transmigrators gathered.

The system even updated with a "chicken dinner" mission? It wanted her to survive to the end and clear out all other transmigrators?

Lin Yue took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turbulent waves in her heart. Keeping her face calm, she turned around and smiled at the group, explaining casually: "It's nothing. I just felt that the spirit power of this Solitary Bamboo was off, and it charged straight at Tang San. I was afraid it would hurt him, so I just acted on instinct. I didn't expect the thing to be able to move on its own; it gave me quite a fright."

Hearing this, the others didn't think much of it, assuming her war spear Martial Soul had a keen perception of spirit power fluctuations. They praised her for her quick reaction in protecting Tang San.

The Dean even patted her shoulder with a smile, repeatedly praising her for having both courage and strategy—a truly promising talent.

No one noticed that as Lin Yue's gaze swept across the surroundings, a sharp, excited glint flashed in the depths of her eyes.

Where exactly were the other transmigrators?

"I originally intended to become a qualified traveler or a drifter, but it seems I must first become a hunter of the dark forest."

PS: Sorry, Brother Solitary Bamboo, actually, I quite like pole vaulting too.