"This is still the same cave."
Ling Yuan replied when she noticed Lin Chuan's gaze sweeping around.
"How long has it been?"
"More than half a month."
Hearing that more than half a month had passed, Lin Chuan remained unexpectedly calm.
He had originally fused his Soul Core with Giratina's Inner World long ago, but he had been forced into the stage of fusing it with the domain, which was why it had taken so long.
Lin Chuan rose from the ground, refreshed, and stretched his limbs. His body crackled as he moved.
He strode toward the cave entrance.
Dawn was just breaking, and the night had not yet completely faded. The ravines between the mountains still lay in shadow.
Feeling the refreshing air wash over him, Lin Chuan narrowed his eyes and savored it.
He breathed in the air, cool with morning dew and scented with the plants and trees of the forest. It flowed into his lungs with each breath, crisp and refreshing as crushed ice.
He straightened his slightly messy black hair and stepped steadily over the rubble scattered at the cave entrance.
Outside, the tethered Black Hoof Horse was calmly eating the Blue Silver Grass growing nearby.
Fortunately, the reins kept it from reaching a patch of Blue Silver Grass farther away. That was where he had planted the Blue Silver Emperor he had taken out.
Lin Chuan walked over quickly and slowly clenched his right hand. Soul Power surged, lifting the Blue Silver Emperor and the clump of earth around it into the air.
After wrapping it up again, he untied the Black Hoof Horse and swung into the saddle.
He really wanted to test just how incredible his newly transformed Inversion Domain was, along with the two skills granted by the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone.
One skill let him accelerate instantly without using Soul Power, and fly wherever he pleased.
At full power, it could even let him move a hundred meters in an instant.
The other was a healing skill, capable of regenerating severed limbs.
Both would be useful in battle.
But for now, it was better to keep a low profile. He knew what his domain could do:
Its range was ten meters in diameter. The expanded domain was an alternate dimension released within that range.
Its basic effects remained unchanged.
Within the domain, anyone weaker than him in strength and spiritual power could have their soul stripped away with a single thought.
The new effect was that he could move freely through the domain.
With a clear thought, he could appear behind an enemy in an instant and land a "backstab."
There was no flashy trick that damaged an enemy's mind or corrupted them. Instead, it was a domineering suppression.
"For now, I'll stick to the plan. It's been half a month. Tang San should have joined the academy by now, and Tang Hao may have already left."
To find out what had happened, Lin Chuan urged his horse into a gallop and headed straight for Suotuo City.
Ling Yuan watched Lin Chuan's rapidly disappearing figure with a resentful look. She gave an annoyed little huff, then reluctantly followed behind him.
She had spent half a month guarding him out of kindness, and he hadn't even thanked her. Now he was heartless enough to leave her behind.
He hadn't been like this a month ago.
Back then, he had sincerely pleaded, "Senior, senior, would you come out and meet me?"
Just as I thought. Men are all heartless pigs! Once they get what they want, they stop cherishing you.
She only dared to grumble like that in her heart.
She had personally felt the disturbance Lin Chuan caused earlier.
He was clearly only a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy, yet she couldn't understand why he was so terrifying.
His spiritual power was incredibly strong. It had even made her soul feel afraid, as though she were looking at a monster that had yet to grow up. That was why she had come to respect him even more.
Three days later.
Suotuo City.
The sun hung directly overhead, and white clouds drifted across the deep blue sky. Warm sunlight bathed the city.
The shops in the city center were receiving the merchant caravans that had arrived, while hawkers' calls and the chatter of small groups mingled along the streets.
Inside a restaurant.
Lin Chuan sat at a table, eating the food that had been served.
Before he had swallowed his first bite, a somewhat overbearing female voice sounded behind him:
"You, move aside! Give this seat to me."
It was mealtime, and the restaurant was crowded. The food here was good, so it was packed nearly to capacity.
Lin Chuan's seat was at a small table, the only spot that was spacious and not cramped.
The sudden voice did not faze Lin Chuan.
He had sensed the girl behind him as soon as she approached. He had assumed she needed something, but he hadn't expected her to be so unreasonable.
Still, Lin Chuan was in a good mood, immersed in his plans.
He calmly swallowed a mouthful of food before turning to look behind him.
The girl wore a simple white dress. Her light brown hair fell to her waist, and she was pure and adorable, with delicate features and tender skin, rosy and fair like lychee flesh. She was about 1.6 meters tall, with a well-proportioned figure.
When she saw Lin Chuan's face, she froze too.
The skills she had learned made her sense at first glance that the man before her was no ordinary person.
The pressure she felt in his presence left her baffled.
But she quickly frowned again, her manner imperious.
"I'm sitting here. Go eat somewhere else!"
She thought she came from a powerful family, and that nobody in the world would dare lay a hand on her.
On top of that, her beauty and exceptional talent had made her even more arrogant and dismissive of others.
Besides, just today, the dean of some lousy academy had berated her and even mocked her as insignificant.
Her pride had been utterly crushed.
She had come out in a huff to grab a meal, and when she couldn't find a seat, she'd started throwing her weight around like a spoiled young miss.
But in Lin Chuan's eyes, her appearance and behavior made her little more than a little girl.
Even the angry, irritated look on her face seemed to him like a kitten caught in someone's hands, helplessly raging and acting cute.
The faint tear marks on her cheeks only made her seem more pitiful, like a delicate snow lotus bent beneath wind and snow.
Looking at her clothes and spoiled demeanor, Lin Chuan asked casually:
"What's your name?"
The girl froze. Her almond-shaped eyes turned wary, and she took a few light steps backward, looking a little frightened.
"You..."
"What are you trying to do?"
This wasn't the first time she had encountered this sort of situation. Usually, people either saw how she was dressed and left without a word, or yelled, "Why should I?" The others were lecherous men who asked her name. They were the most detestable sort.
As she thought about it, a look of disgust appeared on her pretty face. She couldn't hide the revulsion in her eyes.
She had managed to convince herself of her own imagined story before he'd even said a word.
Seeing that the girl might not be quite right in the head, Lin Chuan didn't press her. He turned around and continued eating.
He didn't need her to tell him her name. Based on her personality, looks, clothes, and bearing alone, he was already sixty percent certain that she was Ning Rongrong of the Shrek Seven Devils.
After sensing her Soul Power Level, he was more than eighty percent certain.
It was obvious why she had stormed out in a fury and even cried: Flender had scolded her, and she had left the academy.
Seeing him ignore her again, the girl strode up in two steps. A Gold Soul Coin appeared in her right hand, and she slammed it onto the table.
"This Gold Soul Coin buys your seat. Hurry up and get out!"
Most people would be thrilled to run into something like this. One Gold Soul Coin for a seat, with nothing worse than an insult.
What a bargain.
But Lin Chuan wasn't short on money. He ignored her and kept eating.
The girl could tell that Lin Chuan wasn't an ordinary person. She wasn't stupid; she knew she was only a frail support-type Soul Master and couldn't afford to start a fight.
Seeing him remain unmoved, she slapped another Gold Soul Coin onto the table, intending to humiliate him with what she was good at.
"Two!"
The restaurant was crowded, and the clamor was unavoidable. No one paid much attention to what was happening at Lin Chuan's table.
As he ate, the girl kept slapping Gold Soul Coins onto the table, unwilling to give up.
"Twenty-five!"
After finishing his meal, Lin Chuan stretched lazily and raised an eyebrow at the furious girl beside him, laughing to himself.
Trying to humiliate someone with money? What a rich fool.
Unable to bear his gaze, the girl clenched her pearly teeth and slapped another Gold Soul Coin onto the table.
"Twenty-six!"