The dense soul energy poured into Lin Chuan, making him grunt. His sitting posture turned unsteady, and he nearly toppled over.
Before he could adjust himself, another drop of pure, ink-dark soul energy fell into his Sea of Consciousness.
This drop of soul energy was even denser and purer.
The instant it fell, it was like ink dripping into a basin of clear water, instantly spreading through it.
Lin Chuan lost focus for a moment, his mind going completely blank.
The figure within his sea of consciousness could only keep resisting the towering waves as they came crashing in.
His once-calm Sea of Consciousness grew even deeper.
The violent impact left Lin Chuan unable to stay on his feet.
The unceasingly rising waves swept him straight into the river. After struggling in the water for a while, he went limp and sank down.
The final drop,
containing most of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's remaining pure soul origin, fell once more.
His Sea of Consciousness expanded completely, no longer as calm as before.
As Lin Chuan sank into it, the Sea of Consciousness nourished him, making him stronger.
Outside.
Lin Chuan's face was pale as terrifying spiritual power and Soul Power burst from him at intervals.
Like a beast gone berserk, the wild energy frightened the animals within dozens of meters, keeping them from approaching.
Nearby,
Giratina, having devoured the Evil God Bead, lay quietly to one side.
Within its body, the prototype of a domain was taking shape after its transformation.
The Evil God Bead itself contained the Evil God's power, and it had three layers.
The first layer held immense energy: pure evil energy that had evolved from ultimate dark energy.
Beneath this evil energy, its Wind and Thunder attributes seemed like mere accessories.
The second layer was the spatial and temporal energy used to save its life.
After all these years of absorbing it, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had gained a trace of insight into the power of space.
Once activated, the spatial power within could cross the barriers between worlds, allowing travel from one universe to another.
That was quite useful.
It shared a wondrous similarity with Giratina's domain. After absorbing it, Giratina began to nurture its own domain.
That way, it could raise its domain faster and reach the level of the Distortion World.
Otherwise, it would take who knew how long to raise an ordinary domain to the level of the Distortion World.
The third layer held the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's entire soul origin, as well as the Evil God's power.
Lin Chuan absorbed this Evil God's power, which not only increased his Soul Power but also raised the age of his Spirit Ring.
Unfortunately, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger had already absorbed this power at the beginning.
First, its White Tiger attribute had gained powerful dark properties, then its dark properties had evolved into the Dark type.
The power within sensed the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger Spirit Ring in Lin Chuan; the two shared the same origin.
It helped raise the age of Lin Chuan's Dark Demon Evil God Tiger Spirit Ring to seventy thousand years, and his Soul Power rose along with it.
Ling Yuan, observing everything from the shadows, was stunned by the sight.
With her strength, she could tell from a careful examination that both Lin Chuan's spiritual power and Soul Power were increasing.
His level-sixty-five Soul Power was steadily rising.
Level sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine...
It didn't stop when it reached level seventy. But without a Spirit Ring, his Soul Power couldn't break through that bottleneck, so it began to consolidate instead.
His spiritual power, which had been at an ordinary Spirit Saint level, began to rise slowly.
From the pressure of his leaking spiritual power, she could clearly feel it steadily growing.
Level seventy-four, seventy-five, seventy-six...
The vast pressure of his spiritual power didn't become unstable or weak just because it was rising so quickly.
Instead, it even made her, an eighty-ninth-level Soul Douluo on the verge of becoming a Titled Douluo, feel oppressed.
His spiritual power rose to level eighty-five, then slowly stopped—a full ten levels higher.
This spiritual power carried a feeling that made people panic, as if they had encountered gods and demons, with ghostly figures overlapping and demonic voices ringing in their ears. It held a profound, sorrowful compassion.
Ling Yuan looked as if she'd seen a ghost. Her own spiritual power had already been suppressed.
The heart that had pounded in shock just days ago at the strength this young man possessed at his age began beating wildly again.
She had seen him feed his Martial Soul a fist-sized purple-black bead.
In less than the time it took an incense stick to burn, his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Didn't that prove he was hiding some great secret? Perhaps he even had something that could make her stronger.
When people faced a supreme treasure, they often grew greedy.
But clever people knew how to restrain themselves and keep their impulses in check.
Ling Yuan clenched her silver teeth and looked at Lin Chuan, now calm again. She suppressed the greed that had just arisen and quickly composed herself.
She was someone who served under the Pope, and Lin Chuan was someone the Pope valued.
There was no way she could quietly obtain a treasure that would benefit her.
Was she unwilling to accept that?
Then all she could do was report it. Perhaps a little leftover soup would trickle down to her.
Even if it didn't, the resources originally meant to help her become a Titled Douluo might come with a little extra support.
"Senior, I still hope you can keep this secret for now."
A calm, icy voice suddenly came from behind her.
Ling Yuan shuddered and hurriedly turned around.
Lin Chuan stood behind her, high atop a thick tree branch, looking down at her with a cold gaze.
Her spiritual power had been disrupted, and she'd been lost in thought.
She hadn't noticed when he had arrived!
"That was just a bead storing soul origin and energy origin. I simply don't want trouble this soon. I hope you'll help me."
Lin Chuan's clear voice sounded again.
The indifference he'd shown earlier was gone. His words even held a trace of an embarrassed smile.
Ling Yuan stared at the figure on the tree behind her, opening her mouth without knowing what to do or say.
Her mind was completely blank. How could she describe the terror of the young man before her?
He was a handsome, delicate-looking youth, but there was something unsettling about that kindly smile on his face!
"Don't be afraid, Senior. You're a Soul Douluo. How could someone as weak as me possibly hurt you?"
Lin Chuan comforted her by telling her the truth, and Ling Yuan finally came back to her senses.
Thinking of how she'd just shown fear in front of a child much weaker than herself made her feel embarrassed.
The bright moon hung high overhead. Pale moonlight streamed through the thin clouds, then shattered against the dense leaves, casting dappled shadows across the ground.
Now that she'd been exposed, Ling Yuan simply agreed to Lin Chuan's wish to talk.
The two sat at the edge of a cliff, gazing at the brilliant river of stars in the distance, where sky met earth, and chatting for a while.
It was then that Lin Chuan discovered who she was.
Ling Yuan—the Titled Douluo from the original story who had been too eager for quick success and had been instantly killed by the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Azure Bull Python.
She was also the woman who had loved teasing him when he was young.
Thinking of her identity, her future achievements, and the task she had now, Lin Chuan sighed deeply.
Her personality suited him quite well. She'd openly told him about her task.
Even though he already knew about it, that didn't stop her from showing her true self.
He didn't sense any ill intentions from her now, and their conversation was pleasant.
She did most of the talking. She didn't have many hobbies; going out to see beautiful things was one of them.
There were countless sights to see, and she talked about them for a long time.
Lin Chuan listened beside her, occasionally replying.
What surprised him was this:
Someone on the verge of becoming a Titled Douluo could still be so carefree and easygoing, speaking so casually, without the slightest air of a mighty expert.
Even Lin Chuan, who wasn't fond of making friends, felt that the easygoing aura she gave off made them quite compatible.