After a full day of nonstop travel, Lin Chuan finally reached a spot far from Holy Soul Village, and his taut nerves eased a little. He let out a long breath.
He was now near the border mountains.
The area was sparsely populated, barren and desolate.
The outer reaches of the border mountains saw frequent disturbances from battles, leaving few Soul Beasts in the area.
There were also people from the various factions who would break through and come here to hunt for Spirit Rings.
Over the years, the Soul Beasts here had grown increasingly scarce. The older ones were even rarer, and they all hid deep in the mountains.
Lin Chuan found a quiet cave near the outskirts.
The cave was clean, with no droppings or signs of human activity, and the ground was strewn with stones and dust.
He dismounted and tied up the horse. Then, without a second thought, he planted the Blue Silver Emperor in the dirt nearby. It swayed alongside the scattered patches of Blue Silver Grass, blending in as it absorbed nutrients through Synthesis.
Since he was bound to absorb this Spirit Bone, there was no need to go to Suotuo City anymore.
The fluctuations caused by the absorption could draw other people's attention, and Tang Hao was there too.
Back inside the cave, he cleared a clean patch of ground and sat cross-legged.
With a flip of his palm, a long rectangular box, about the length of his forearm, appeared in his hand.
Lin Chuan silently looked at the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone before him. He didn't rush to absorb it.
With how condensed his Soul Power was, absorbing it now might cause unexpected problems. His Soul Power had been compressed from a liquid state to its utmost limit and had become solid. He couldn't keep holding it back forever.
Powerful spiritual strength and solid Soul Power—along with being at least a Spirit Saint—were just what he needed to condense a Soul Core.
There was danger involved, but with the Blue Silver Emperor around, its life energy could quickly heal any injuries if he failed.
Even if he didn't succeed, he could treat it as a way to gain experience. At worst, he'd suffer internal injuries and waste the boost to his Soul Power from the Blue Silver Emperor Spirit Bone.
Besides, that boost wouldn't be much help to him now.
This was a good opportunity. Lin Chuan couldn't possibly pass it up.
Just as he was about to begin, his hands paused. He spoke inwardly:
"Giratina, you've been busy these past few days."
Ever since he refined the Evil God Bead, Giratina hadn't said a word for a whole week.
Usually, the other party would only stay silent for a day or two. If it went on too long, Lin Chuan would check whether it had died.
A moment later, Giratina replied with exasperation:
"You absorbed all that good energy, while I'm stuck absorbing the mess. Space and time energy aren't that easy to absorb. And absorbing them doesn't mean you can instantly master spatial and temporal abilities."
"The space inside this Evil God Bead's 'Death Arena' is no simple thing. The Inversion Domain's transformation has been a little slow since I absorbed and fused it. Just think of it as taking shape."
"I've been busy as hell lately. Once the domain completes its initial transformation, its effects will be absolutely incredible!"
Lin Chuan raised an eyebrow.
"You're that confident?"
Giratina snorted and replied with absolute confidence:
"Have you ever seen me at my full strength?"
"Back then, I stood astride the gods of time and space. The world called me the Gate to Hell."
"Once anything entered the Distortion World under my control, nothing could escape unless I opened a passage myself."
Thinking back to when he'd played Pokémon, and entered that one-way passage into the Distortion World—where he couldn't leave until he defeated the villainous organization—Lin Chuan wanted to laugh.
Giratina being trapped was absurdly comical.
And there was another cheat: saving and rewinding time and space!
It seemed the game had suppressed Giratina's Pressure.
Dialga and Palkia must have had connections in the outside world. They'd managed to sneak in a save-state cheat in the game.
Seeing that Giratina was still busy, Lin Chuan answered briefly, then returned his awareness to himself.
Looking at the box before him, he no longer had any reservations. He opened it and took out the Blue Silver Emperor Spirit Bone inside.
He concealed the fluctuations of the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone with a Soul Power Barrier.
That way, nobody would notice—not even Ling Yuan.
He wasn't at the point where he could entrust his life to her protection. Besides, a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone was precious enough to attract every Soul Master below the rank of Super Douluo.
Something this valuable couldn't be ignored just because someone breezily said, "I won't Snatch it."
Lin Chuan rested the Spirit Bone on his leg and drew it toward himself with his Soul Power, beginning the absorption.
Fine strands of Soul Power lifted the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone and guided it toward his right leg.
A surge of Soul Power enveloped the bone. Lin Chuan's right leg began to connect with it, then fuse with it.
In an instant, rich life force spilled out of the Spirit Bone.
Outside the cave, the surviving Blue Silver Grass stirred. Its leaves swayed as if cheering.
Inside, the leaves of the newly planted Blue Silver Emperor trembled, as though a numb machine had received a brief charge.
Its soulless body sensed the yearning in its bloodline. Instinctively, yet mechanically, it swayed.
Meanwhile.
As he continued absorbing the Blue Silver Emperor Spirit Bone, Lin Chuan formed a seal before his chest, interrupting several basic meridians used by the Blue Silver Emperor.
While using his spiritual strength to examine his insides, he guided his Soul Power through its circulation.
A strange scene unfolded before his eyes.
In his inner vision, a map of his meridians appeared. Two powerful streams of Soul Power were being controlled as they flowed through different meridians.
One was being absorbed; the other was circulating.
To keep the two from clashing and triggering a backlash, Lin Chuan pushed his spiritual strength to its absolute limit.
Condensing a Soul Core was fraught with danger. One mistake meant all his efforts would be wasted, and failure would leave him seriously injured.
If he succeeded, though, it would be a different story.
With a Soul Core, his Soul Power would circulate faster in battle, and his ability to absorb Soul Power would increase dramatically.
At this moment, guided by the meridian patterns revealed as the two streams of energy passed through his channels,
Lin Chuan used his spiritual strength to carefully yet boldly stabilize the two opposing, interconnected processes of absorption and circulation within him.
He began gathering the remaining Soul Power in his lower abdomen, at his dantian.
At the same time, through the processes of circulation and absorption, two opposing vortexes began to form wildly in his dantian.
They were like two tops spinning in opposite directions, beginning to overlap.
The vast Soul Power within Lin Chuan began to condense wildly into three vortexes.
By this point, Lin Chuan was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through.
Yet he didn't even dare take a deep breath. He could only carefully guide his spiritual strength and continue with the next step.
The first few steps had been fairly simple. All he needed was powerful spiritual strength and condensed Soul Power.
But this step demanded precision: precise control of his spiritual strength, and precise fusion of the two vortexes with their different properties.
To prevent the two from colliding violently and exploding, leaving him gravely injured,
Lin Chuan clenched his teeth. His powerful spiritual strength surged as he controlled one of the vortexes and moved it.
It was like forcibly rerouting a train that had been following its tracks, making it struggle across the bare ground with no rails beneath it.
The soul-rending pain drained the color from Lin Chuan's face. A mouthful of bruised blood was lodged in his chest, boiling like a volcano in his agony. It surged up his throat and seeped from the corner of his mouth.
This time, he had prepared for both outcomes.
If he'd made a mistake in the earlier steps, he wouldn't push himself.
If he failed, he would use a Soul Power Barrier and his spiritual strength to contain the explosion at the critical moment.
Then he would release the sealed meridians and let the Blue Silver Emperor's energy flood into him to heal him.
But if nothing had gone wrong, he could keep pushing himself to the limit.
The Blue Silver Emperor had his back, so he wouldn't be seriously hurt. At worst, he'd waste the Soul Power boost it had given him and suffer some internal injuries.
If he didn't succeed this time, he'd just treat it as a lesson and gain some experience!
With nothing left to worry about, Lin Chuan once more roused his spiritual strength.
"A mere Soul Core condensation—I'm not afraid of you!"
"Form!"
That near-mad burst of power plunged the area within a hundred meters into an eerie silence.
Within it, the world seemed to lose its color, sinking into utter desolation.
A strange distortion of Soul Power formed around Lin Chuan, striking his body again and again. Blood kept spilling from his mouth.