With his target confirmed, Ye Feng didn't look again.
Who knew what nook or cranny that wildly overprotective Tang Hao was hiding in?
A Titled Douluo's spiritual perception was incredibly sharp. Even one more glance could expose him.
All Ye Feng had to do now was play the part of an ordinary traveler who had happened to pass by and was lying on the hillside, sunbathing.
Ye Feng closed his eyes again and regulated his breathing, relaxing his whole body as if he had truly fallen asleep.
And things went exactly as he'd expected.
In the dense woods not far away, a tall, burly figure reeking of alcohol silently watched the retreating figures of the father and son.
Tang Hao had indeed refrained from using his spiritual power to scout the surroundings.
All his attention was focused on his son. He had no time to care about a passerby dozing on a hillside.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Ye Feng appeared to be dozing, but his mind was racing as he planned his next steps.
Now that he'd left Nuoding City, this novice village, where should he go next?
An intermediate Soul Master Academy?
He definitely wasn't going there.
It would be a complete waste of time.
If he was going to an academy, he might as well go straight to an advanced Soul Master Academy.
But the admission requirements at those advanced academies were high. The most basic requirement was to have Soul Power of at least level twenty and become a Soul Grandmaster.
At his current rate of cultivation, breaking through to the Soul Grandmaster realm within a year shouldn't be a problem.
But what was he supposed to do for that whole year? Find somewhere to hide and cultivate hard, like before?
There was, however, a shortcut right in front of him for a rapid boost in strength.
If he could get his hands on it and absorb it right away...
No. That wouldn't do.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when he ruthlessly crushed it.
Could a mere Soul Master, or even a Soul Grandmaster, really absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone?
In theory, even someone with only half a level of Soul Power could absorb a Soul Bone, since Soul Bones were gentle by nature and lacked the impact of Soul Rings.
But that was only in theory!
In the original story, when Tang San absorbed this Soul Bone, he was already a powerful Soul King. His Martial Soul had undergone a Second Awakening and become the Blue Silver Emperor, and he had a six-thousand-year Wisdom Skull that boosted his mental abilities. On top of that, he had tempered his body with all kinds of Immortal Herbs.
Even so, Tang San had needed a full three days and nights to fuse with it completely.
With his scrawny body as it was now, could he absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone?
That would be like going to sleep while hugging a high-explosive bomb.
There was a ninety-nine percent chance his energy would overload and make him explode on the spot.
If it were a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone, maybe he'd dare take the gamble.
But a Hundred Thousand Year one... Forget it.
There was no need to take such a deadly risk.
As long as it was in his hands, wasn't it up to him when he absorbed it?
The safest choice was to wait patiently until he reached the Soul King realm before even considering it.
Once he'd thought it through, Ye Feng no longer felt the slightest impatience.
He opened his eyes and glanced at the sky.
For an ordinary person, the journey from Nuoding City to Holy Soul Village took about two hours.
Almost three hours had passed. Tang San and the others should have reached Nuoding City by now, and Tang Hao had probably gone off to find a place to drink or was watching them from the shadows.
The time had come.
Ye Feng stood up and stretched. His joints cracked all over with a series of sharp pops.
He put the rocking chair away in his Storage Bracelet, brushed the fallen leaves off his clothes, and turned toward the mountain behind Holy Soul Village.
The mountain wasn't very tall, but its trees were dense, and few people ever went there.
With a Soul Master's physique, Ye Feng moved through the forest as if walking on level ground.
Soon, the rumble of rushing water drew closer and reached his ears.
The air grew damp, too.
After passing through the last patch of woods, the view suddenly opened up before him.
A vast waterfall, more than ten meters wide, plunged like a silver ribbon from a cliff dozens of meters high, crashing into the deep pool below and sending up a sky full of mist.
Sunlight passed through the spray, refracting into a brilliant rainbow.
This was the place.
Ye Feng didn't stop by the pool. Instead, he followed the mountain path upward and soon reached the cliff at the top of the waterfall.
He took out a coil of sturdy rope he'd prepared in advance from his Storage Bracelet.
The rope was woven from the sinews of a century-old vine Soul Beast and could withstand a pull of a thousand jin.
Ye Feng found the stoutest old tree by the cliff's edge and tied one end of the rope firmly around its trunk. He checked it several times to make sure it was secure.
Then he fastened the other end tightly around his waist.
Once everything was ready, he took a deep breath, walked to the edge, and leaped.
His body traced an arc through the air as he plunged downward.
The rope around his waist snapped taut, and the tremendous pull abruptly checked his fall.
Ye Feng gripped the rope with both hands and braced his feet against the slick rock face, controlling his descent as he inched toward the middle of the waterfall.
The deafening roar of the water seemed ready to tear his eardrums apart. Icy spray splattered over him again and again, soaking him through.
The rock face was covered in slippery moss, and one wrong move could send him tumbling.
But Ye Feng's movements were steady as a rock.
His External Soul Bone, the Pupil of Light Dawn, was already active. Through it, every tiny bump and hollow in the rock face stood out clearly, giving him perfect footholds.
After descending more than twenty meters, he finally spotted a pitch-black opening hidden behind the waterfall's curtain.
He adjusted his position and kicked off from the rock face with both feet.
His body swung toward the waterfall like a pendulum.
Splash!
He burst through the heavy curtain of water and plunged into the deep, shadowy cave.
The cave was pitch-black, so dark he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.
A damp, musty stench hit him.
He untied the rope around his waist, fished a fire striker from his clothes, and lit a spare torch.
The orange glow instantly chased away the darkness and illuminated the cave.
It was a naturally formed cavern, not very large—only a few dozen square meters.
The cave walls glistened with moisture, and droplets fell now and then with a soft patter.
Holding up the torch, Ye Feng began searching the cave carefully.
It was empty, save for a few scattered stones.
He searched thoroughly, missing no corner.
At last, in a hollow at the very back of the cave, he found a stone box whose color was nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding rock.
The box was rectangular and looked completely ordinary, but when Ye Feng reached for it, he discovered how astonishingly heavy it was.
The stone box was no more than half a meter on each side, yet it weighed at least a hundred jin!
It was definitely made from no ordinary material.
He didn't rush to open it. The box itself was a treasure, capable of perfectly concealing the Soul Bone's aura.
He reached out and lightly touched the box.
The next moment, the box weighing a hundred jin vanished into thin air, stowed away in his Storage Bracelet.
Done!
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