Simulated Soul Skill, Don't Run Away

Outside the Soul Hunting Forest.

Thunder Academy's Dean stared at the terrifying storm clouds shrouding the area and could not help feeling bewildered.

"What is going on? A localized Thunderstorm?!"

Yu Tianxin looked at the thunderclouds above the distant forest, his eyes shifting slightly.

This was practically the ideal environment for simulated cultivation.

If he could cultivate in that kind of environment, the results would rival more than ten days of arduous training.

Still, so as not to disturb those students, he suppressed the impulse in his heart.

When Shen Lin saw the storm clouds blanketing the Soul Hunting Forest, his expression turned somewhat strange.

There was no other reason.

Within the ancient forest of Plant Academy, this kind of high-intensity Thunderstorm occurred every so often.

The range was not particularly large, and it did not last long.

The academy had been unable to determine the cause, so they eventually gave up.

Now that the same scene had appeared again...

Shen Lin roughly understood why the academy's higher-ups had abandoned the investigation.

There was a high chance this had something to do with Lin Mo.

But how exactly had he done it?

Influencing the Weather was not something an ordinary person could accomplish.

There had to be some secret behind his Martial Soul.

This matter ran too deep, and Shen Lin did not dare think too much about it.

--

Meanwhile, deep within the Soul Hunting Forest.

Four Thunder Academy students were being relentlessly pursued by a pack of Hundred-Year Soul Beasts, fleeing frantically through the Thunderstorm.

"Damn it, how did this happen?!"

"Stop talking! Those Soul Beasts are catching up!"

"Why aren't they attacking Lin Mo? Why are they only chasing us?"

"Ah!"

One of the fleeing students suddenly tripped over something and fell hard to the ground.

"Rumble!"

The thunderous charge of a rampaging Thunder Horn Rhino exploded through the forest!

"Save me!"

The other three hurriedly helped him up. When they turned around, they saw a large group of Hundred-Year Soul Beasts still chasing them, charging toward them like a mad stampede.

Behind the Soul Beast pack, a towering purple baboon had appeared at some point. Lightning coiled around its body, and its electric eyes were terrifyingly fierce.

Their scalps instantly went numb, and every hair on their bodies stood on end.

"It's a Purple Electric Baboon! That size is wrong! It looks like a Thousand-Year Soul Beast!"

"Why did a Thousand-Year Soul Beast come out here?"

"It seems to have its eyes on us! Run!"

"Roar! Roar!" The Thunder Horn Rhino let out deep roars as it charged at the forefront.

The four went pale. The instant they saw the Thousand-Year Soul Beast, they lost their composure.

The torrential rain obstructed their vision, while the lightning disrupted their Perception. They had no time to react at all.

Vines hidden in the darkness slithered like snakes, swiftly winding around them and restricting their movements.

"This is—oh no, we wandered into a plant Soul Beast's territory."

The Hundred-Year Soul Beasts launched their attack while the Purple Electric Baboon pursued them relentlessly from behind. Its broad palm somehow produced a vine lash crackling with lightning, snapping through the air with explosive pops!

The student lagging behind was sent flying by the phantom of a rhino beast wrapped in lightning. He crashed into the muddy water, his whole body numb and aching as a pained cry escaped his mouth.

Soon after, the Purple Thunder Rhino was startled and immediately used its skill, Stomp!

The fallen, numb student was terrified and helpless.

If that came down, he would be trampled into a pile of flesh on the spot.

The other three also realized the danger and activated their soul skills to stop it.

The Green Vine Bind disguised by the Thunder Hell Vine wrapped around the Purple Thunder Rhino's forelegs and restrained it as their soul skills exploded in a blast.

The Purple Thunder Rhino, whose cultivation was not particularly high to begin with, died on the spot and crashed to the ground.

Seeing this, the students who had attacked it no longer cared about anything else and hurriedly fled with their companion.

The Purple Thunder Baboon behind them manipulated its vines, driving the Hundred-Year Soul Beasts onward as they continued chasing the students.

To deal with the sudden crisis, they did not dare hold back at all and fought with everything they had.

Several Soul Beasts that had only one or two hundred years of cultivation were killed by them.

Crack!

The lightning-wreathed vine whips struck behind them, and the excruciating pain nearly drove them mad.

"Quick, throw away the luggage!"

"If we keep carrying this useless stuff, we're all going to die here!"

"Damn it, what is wrong with that Purple Electric Baboon? Why do I feel like it..."

Crack!

Another lash directly blasted apart a tree as thick as a bowl.

That student's face turned deathly pale. How could he dare say another word?

They fled while tossing away their luggage.

Someone even accidentally dropped the forest map, caring only about running for his life.

If it had merely been a pack of Soul Beasts with one or two hundred years of cultivation, they believed they could still handle it. The real problem was the Thousand-Year Soul Beast behind them.

Though all of them had reached level twenty Soul Power, they each had only one Soul Ring. They did not dare clash head-on with that giant, and survival came first.

Lin Mo, who had Simulated the form of a Purple Electric Baboon, was having the time of his life whipping them from behind.

Run more and squeeze out your potential. It would help with cultivation and let them survive in harsh environments in the future.

As for where the harsh environment came from, that was none of their concern.

Hm?

Lin Mo noticed a piece of parchment that they had accidentally dropped while fleeing. It looked like a map.

Even while running, he controlled the Thunder Hell Vine, disguised as Green Vine, to curl around it and precisely retrieve it.

He unfolded the parchment and gave it a brief glance.

Well, well. They had actually brought a map here?

Lin Mo put it away and chased them with even greater enthusiasm.

Only after the Soul Beast pack had mostly dispersed did the Purple Electric Baboon formed by Lin Mo dart into the side of the forest.

Even after seeing the Purple Electric Baboon disappear, those people did not dare stop and continued fleeing ahead.

Who knew whether that Purple Electric Baboon might try to flank them?

That thing was highly intelligent, practically human.

After running wildly for more than twenty minutes, they finally escaped the Soul Beast tide. They hid atop a forest hill, gasping for breath with parched mouths.

Even as they panted, they did not forget to look around warily, afraid that the Purple Electric Baboon might appear again.

"Damn it, what the hell was that?"

First came the inexplicable cursed Weather, then the beast tide turning on them, and finally a Thousand-Year Soul Beast had appeared and chased them down.

The beast tide trap they had set to target outsiders had somehow ended with them being beaten instead!

"Did any of you accidentally kill a Soul Beast along the way?" the previously silent student asked.

The moment those words came out, the guy who had been ranting furiously turned ashen.

This was the real disaster.

They had originally wanted to pressure Lin Mo into absorbing a Soul Ring with only one or two hundred years of cultivation.

But now, while fleeing for their lives, they had killed at least four or five Hundred-Year Soul Beasts.

These were all lightning-element Soul Beasts. Even if they were only Hundred-Year Soul Beasts, they were still scarce resources.

Worst of all, the Soul Ring of a Soul Beast could only be absorbed by the person who killed it.

This had completely cut off their retreat.

As for whether the academy would tolerate their mistake and give them another chance to hunt?

That was almost impossible.

This meant that the Hundred-Year Soul Beasts they had accidentally killed would become their second Soul Rings.

"It's over."

Each of them looked utterly devastated.

This interference had directly ruined all their futures.

--

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest.

Deep within the forest.

Once Lin Mo confirmed that no one was nearby, he finally dispelled [Simulation].

The Thousand-Year Soul Beast aura of the Purple Electric Baboon instantly vanished, and he returned to his original appearance as a handsome youth dressed in a moon-white robe.

His clothes were clean and neat, without a trace of disorder.

The rain had just stopped. Water droplets still clung to the forest, while the surroundings carried the scent of wet earth mixed with grass and plants.

Lin Mo leaned against a tree trunk and calmly raised his hand to unfold the map.

The beast-hide map was finely detailed, depicting the very Soul Hunting Forest where he stood.

The map divided the regions clearly, showing every Soul Beast habitat, cultivation range, restricted zone, and forest path at a glance.

His gaze swept quickly over it, and he discovered several specially marked locations, roughly four separate sections.

Each of them contained top-tier lightning-element Soul Beasts with cultivation exceeding eight hundred years.

Lin Mo's eyes sifted through those eight-hundred-year Soul Beasts.

Soon, his gaze settled on one location—

[Thunder Cloud Valley: Golden Thunder Feather Falcon, Soul Beast cultivation: approximately nine hundred years]

A nine-hundred-year Soul Beast?

A thunderbird!

Lin Mo's eyes flickered.

That name sounded pretty imposing.

He vaguely remembered that falcons were incredibly fast, top-tier predators, and rulers of the skies.

Would such a Soul Beast suit his Thunder Hell Vine?

If he absorbed it, what kind of soul skill would it produce?

Never mind. He would go take a look at that valley first.

Any Soul Beast with "golden" in its name possessed top-tier bloodline among those of the same level.

He would inspect it first and see what this thunderbird... well, this Golden Thunder Feather Falcon was really like.