Seeing Hu Liena like this, Lin Chuan immediately pressed down her raised fist, looking speechless.
"I didn't flirt with her, and I didn't get physically close to her. I don't think I've even seen her a second time yet, so that doesn't count."
Hu Liena's expression turned dangerous.
"So you mean you want to next time?"
Lin Chuan looked solemn. "I was joking."
"Like I'd believe that." Hu Liena looked him over and snorted.
Without waiting for him to reply, she leaned forward and bit his face. It wasn't hard, but it still left a tooth mark.
"I'll let you off for now!"
Remembering that Ling Yuan and the others were about to arrive, Hu Liena quickly got up from Lin Chuan's arms.
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced toward the courtyard gate, only to find Ling Yuan and Xie Yue's group standing there with knowing smiles...
Once they realized Hu Liena had spotted them, they simply stopped pretending they hadn't arrived.
But seeing the girl's bashful expression, Ling Yuan couldn't resist teasing her. "We just got here. We didn't see what you two were doing."
That was a pretty blatant case of protesting too much.
Seeing that they were about to start bantering again, and knowing Ling Yuan would keep teasing them about this for a while, Lin Chuan quickly changed the subject. "Did you all come here for something?"
The plan had been for the person secretly keeping watch to return to the Spirit Hall residence and report when Meng Yiran broke through to Soul Elder.
It wasn't anything worth making a fuss over. Besides, if they really wanted to avoid being discovered...
If there had been people in the courtyard and the house, she could have easily avoided them as a level 89 Soul Douluo.
Even if the person making the report had been there, she could have intercepted them outside the courtyard. Yet now she had brought them along.
Ling Yuan explained at the right moment, "When I came back this time, I happened to be noticed by His Holiness. Yan, Xie Yue, and Nana have also just broken through to Soul Ancestor and haven't obtained suitable Spirit Rings, so he sent me to take them out to hunt for their fourth Spirit Rings."
Hearing that the three had just broken through to Soul Ancestor, Lin Chuan froze for a moment. He examined them with a strange look and only then confirmed they had indeed broken through not long ago.
Yan had probably broken through earlier, as his Soul Power was more stable than Xie Yue and Hu Liena's.
While waiting for Ling Yuan, he had waited for Hu Liena and Xie Yue to break through as well. Now the three of them had come together to hunt for suitable Spirit Rings.
But on second thought, that made sense. Under normal circumstances, the higher one's Soul Power rose, the slower it became.
Going from the thirties to level 40 in a little over a year was already very good.
Take him, for example. Before entering the Capital of Slaughter, he had been a level 58 Soul King. He had only broken through to Spirit Emperor in the month before leaving.
In a year and a half, he had barely gained two levels.
Although he had spent most of that time absorbing the souls there and tempering his spiritual power, he had still felt how difficult it was to raise his Soul Power at higher levels.
In the few months since leaving, his Soul Power had surged by nearly twenty levels.
That was thanks to the great opportunity of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, as well as the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone, the Soft Bone Charming Rabbit, and the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
So it was understandable that Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan had only just reached Soul Ancestor.
Before, he had only been focused on getting stronger as quickly as possible. He hadn't even noticed that the others were still Soul Elders.
With a sigh, Lin Chuan waved his left hand.
The Storage Soul Tool on his index finger released five uniquely shaped Immortal Herbs.
The Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower, Nine-Grade Purple Mushroom, Mystic Night Frost Grass, Cave Underworld Grass, and Lovesick Heartbreak Red floated before the people in the courtyard, lifted by Soul Power.
Looking at the vivid red flower blooming in front of him, Yan asked in confusion, "What is this?"
The others also looked at Lin Chuan, who had risen from his lounge chair, their faces full of puzzlement.
He explained, "I came across these by chance. They're Immortal Herbs, above spirit herbs in rank. They can strengthen your foundations and invigorate your muscles and bones."
To put "strengthen your foundations" in detail, they could make up for deficiencies in Innate Soul Power.
They could even raise one's Innate Soul Power and improve one's talent.
"Ingrigorate your muscles and bones" meant they could improve the body's strength and resilience.
That was easy enough for Soul Masters to understand. Just eight words, yet they revealed how precious these herbs were.
Even spirit herbs were incredibly rare and precious on this continent. The great sects only had a handful tucked away in their collections.
Immortal Herbs, which stood above them, were practically unheard of.
Making up for deficiencies in Innate Soul Power meant that the herb before them could defy fate and change one's life.
Someone like Yu Xiaogang, with an Innate Soul Power of only level 0.5, had become a Titled Douluo after eating the Nine-Grade Purple Mushroom, which barely reached the level of a half-step Immortal Herb. There was no need to mention what it could do for people whose Innate Soul Power was already high.
Although the Mystic Night Frost Grass and Cave Underworld Grass hadn't reached the level of Immortal Herbs, they were about on par with the Nine-Grade Purple Mushroom.
They had both reached the half-step Immortal Herb level, also known as the quasi-Immortal Herb level.
Their effects weren't much different, but their medicinal properties were less potent and more specialized.
"What, you don't like this kind of opportunity?"
Lin Chuan's voice brought everyone back to their senses.
Ling Yuan was the first to react. She happily accepted the Mystic Night Frost Grass, her beautiful eyes fixed on the Immortal Herb that could defy fate and change her life.
She also knew that this was the opportunity Lin Chuan had mentioned to her at the very beginning—the chance to become a Super Douluo!
The others, more or less, were also examining the Immortal Herbs before them, smiles impossible to suppress.
Only Hu Liena's captivating eyes remained fixed on Lin Chuan, sparkling brightly.
"All right, stop staring. Let's get this Immortal Herb to recognize you as its master first."
While the others examined the Immortal Herbs before them, Lin Chuan had already told them how to refine theirs: simply swallow them and refine them.
Hu Liena's herb was different. The king of Immortal Herbs, the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, had to recognize its master first.
To pick it, one had to think of one's beloved with complete sincerity, then let a drop of heart's blood fall onto a petal.
Lin Chuan didn't place his attention on love. He considered himself devoted despite his dulled view of love, with his mind free of distractions.
So when he had dug up the Lovesick Heartbreak Red back then, it hadn't resisted him at all.
Now that he saw the Lovesick Heartbreak Red hadn't rejected Hu Liena either, Lin Chuan felt relieved.
"For it to recognize you as its master, you need to drip heart's blood onto a petal. You have to be completely sincere, without a trace of divided attention."
"Are you listening?"
Seeing Hu Liena still looking distracted, Lin Chuan pinched her cheek and put on a stern expression.
Though he was scolding her, the air was thick with the cloying sweetness of romance, leaving Xie Yue and the others utterly speechless.
Yan looked on with a sigh, mourning his own unrequited affection that had come to nothing. He had seen it happen a few times before, but this time it was even harder to bear!
But the next moment, they all focused on the Immortal Herbs before them, their earlier feelings forgotten.
With Lin Chuan entering the picture, Yan's feelings for Hu Liena had already faded long ago. Now they had vanished completely.
Meanwhile, Ling Yuan noticed Zhu Zhuqing standing by the courtyard gate, hesitating over whether to accept the Immortal Herb before her. Her expression softened as she reassured her, "Don't stand on ceremony. When Lin Chuan brought you into Spirit Hall, he never treated you like an outsider."
"Now you're my disciple, too. Since he's set aside an opportunity for you, accept it."
P.S.
I haven't written in a long time, so I'm a little rusty. I've forgotten a lot of the smaller details, character settings, and the general direction of the plot.
My phone broke a few days ago, and all my previous drafts were lost. I took a couple of days to recover and started writing again, only to find I couldn't save anything.
So I decided to buy a new phone. After all, I'd used the old one for almost three years, and it had only cost a thousand yuan. The voice input had broken ages ago, too.
It was supposed to arrive in three days, but it didn't show up until yesterday afternoon.
After reinstalling the software and logging in, I rushed to write this morning.
These two chapters might feel a little padded, so just think of them as a bit of romance while I get back into the swing of things.