The giant Ice Silkworm first "looked" at the unconscious Huo Yuhao lying on the ground.
A trace of disdain and hesitation seemed to flash through its icy blue eyes, as if to say, "This one?"
Then, its gaze slowly shifted to the exceptionally calm White Tiger Lin Qing standing to one side.
Its head tilted slightly, as though it were carefully observing and assessing him.
[Sky Dream Ice Silkworm suddenly cried that it had finally found someone with a Mental Martial Soul...]
A voice heavy with nasal tones, somewhat comical yet excited, rang directly in White Tiger Lin Qing's mind.
"Wuwuwu... I-I've finally found one!"
"After all these years, I finally ran into a human with a Mental Martial Soul! If I'd had to wait any longer, I would've been so bored I'd start growing mushrooms!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was using mental transmission.
Its voice echoed through White Tiger Lin Qing's mind, brimming with relief and the delight of finally catching a sucker.
[Its massive head swung back and forth between Huo Yuhao and me.]
[Then—it decisively chose me!]
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's enormous body visibly leaned toward Lin Qing.
Its icy blue compound eyes gleamed with the excitement of having found treasure.
The narrator's voice promptly explained Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's calculations.
[It chose me simply because my talent was higher, my physique was better, my Spiritual Power far exceeded that of my peers, and my Soul Power Level had already reached level twenty!]
[Whether in terms of physical qualifications or latent potential, I surpassed that frail, unconscious Huo Yuhao on the ground by more than a single tier!]
"You! You're the one!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's mental transmission suddenly rose in pitch, cracking slightly with excitement.
"I've decided! It's you!"
As if afraid Lin Qing might regret it or someone else might steal him away, its massive body suddenly swung, stirring up a violent gale.
Then, its enormous crystalline body rapidly shrank and faded, transforming into an incomparably dazzling white torrent!
"Today, I'll give you a heaven-defying stroke of fortune!"
"Boom!!!"
Like a celestial river bursting through a dam, the white torrent crashed into White Tiger Lin Qing, who stood rooted in place, with a deafening roar and immense energy that made souls tremble!
A Million-Year Soul Beast was offering itself as a sacrifice!
Lin Qing, sitting beside the campfire in reality, suddenly caught his breath. His heart nearly leaped into his throat.
His eyes remained fixed on the screen of light.
"It worked!"
"White Tiger Lin Qing really did it! He successfully stole Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!
That was a Million-Year Soul Beast!
Perhaps the first Million-Year Soul Ring in the history of the Douluo Continent.
One of the greatest cheats that would allow Huo Yuhao to rise rapidly and dominate the world in the future!
And now, his parallel-world "self" had forcibly snatched it from the original protagonist in such a simple and brutal manner.
The sensation of witnessing "history" being altered made Lin Qing's blood boil faintly.
But the surprises were clearly not over yet.
At the exact moment the white torrent formed by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm completely entered White Tiger Lin Qing's body and its immense energy began transforming him—
Another change occurred!
"Crack!!!"
A terrifying thunderclap, as though it would tear apart the heavens and shatter eardrums, exploded in the sky without warning!
The sky had been clear just moments ago, yet it was now violently ripped open by a suddenly appearing, incomparably thick bolt of Gray Lightning!
That Gray Lightning carried an indescribably contradictory aura, interwoven with death, annihilation, and supreme holiness, as it struck out from the endless chaos of time and space.
Its target was utterly clear—it shot straight toward the glabella of White Tiger Lin Qing, who had just absorbed Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and was still standing there digesting the power!
It was too fast!
So fast that he had no time to react at all!
The instant the Gray Lightning touched his body—
It did not bring the agonizing pain or Destruction he had imagined.
Instead, it transformed into an inconspicuous gray speck of light and silently entered his forehead, vanishing without a trace.
[A gray ball of light rushed into my Spiritual Sea.]
The narrator's voice was faintly excited.
[It was Electrolux!]
[A fragment of the divine consciousness of Electrolux, the Holy Necromancer!]
An aged and majestic chant that seemed to transcend time, space, life, and death faintly echoed beside White Tiger Lin Qing—and Lin Qing in reality as well.
"With sun and moon in hand, I pluck the stars; none in this world can compare to me!"
The voice was filled with the proud solitude of one who looked down upon the universe, along with a faint desolation tempered by countless vicissitudes.
[I really succeeded!]
For the first time, White Tiger Lin Qing's narration showed obvious emotion.
It was an uncontrollable ecstasy.
[I successfully stole Huo Yuhao's two greatest future cheats: the Million-Year Soul Beast Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and the inheritance of Electrolux, the Holy Necromancer!]
[Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was shocked and furious at Electrolux's intrusion, but it had no time to care about that now. It could only seal most of its power with all its might, afraid that I would burst apart.]
As Sky Dream Ice Silkworm sealed away most of its power, the surging Soul Power fluctuations around White Tiger Lin Qing gradually calmed.
A Soul Ring slowly rose beneath his feet, pulsing around his body.
Its color shifted from white to yellow, then to purple.
Purple, representing a Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
[I successfully obtained a Million-Year second Soul Ring.]
[However, due to the limits of my physique and Soul Power at the time, this Soul Ring could only temporarily display the purple light of a Thousand-Year Soul Ring.]
[But I knew that what it contained was the true might of a Million-Year soul skill!]
As the Soul Ring stabilized, the Soul Power aura around him began to rise steadily!
Level twenty-one, level twenty-two, level twenty-three... until it finally settled firmly at level twenty-six!
Six levels in a row!
White Tiger Lin Qing slowly opened his eyes.
A concentrated flash of silver light flickered deep within them.
His pupils seemed to have become even deeper, as though they could perceive the trajectories governing all things.
[Furthermore, stimulated by absorbing this beyond-limit mental Soul Ring, my Heavenly Eye Martial Soul awakened a talent soul skill—Sluggish Gaze.]
Lin Qing in reality raised his eyebrows high at that.
"Sluggish Gaze... White Tiger Lin Qing awakened that talent soul skill too?"
It seemed this ability truly was a "hidden talent" that the Heavenly Eye Martial Soul could trigger under specific conditions.
It required absorbing a sufficiently powerful mental-attribute Soul Ring as a "key" to unlock it.
Sun Moon Lin Qing had unlocked it by absorbing a Thousand-Year Ice Silkworm Soul Ring.
He himself had also awakened it only after absorbing a mental-attribute Soul Ring.
As for White Tiger Lin Qing, it was because of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's unprecedented Million-Year mental Soul Ring.
[At the same time, in my Spiritual Sea, the newly arrived Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was twisting its greatly shrunken yet still very fat body, looking somewhat troubled.]
The scene within the Spiritual Sea appeared.
The plump, snow-white Sky Dream Ice Silkworm used its large icy blue eyes to curiously and doubtfully "examine" this new home, as well as certain places deep within its new host's soul that it could not reach.
"Strange... truly strange..."
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's mental muttering sounded.
"Why can't I share some of his memories? It's like there's some very special, very sturdy barrier protecting them."
"The structure of your Spiritual Sea is a little unusual too."
It shook its head and gave up investigating the headache-inducing matter any further.
As long as its host was talented enough and the plan could proceed smoothly, that was all that mattered.
Before you continue