Borrowing a Sword to Illustrate a Person

As consciousness returned to reality, Lin Yuan had no idea how much time had passed since he was cleaned up.

At this moment, he was wrapped in a blanket, leaning against the rocks of the wilderness with a flickering campfire before him.

"Awake?" Cao Xin handed Lin Yuan a piece of grilled fish.

"What soul skill did you obtain?"

"A defensive soul skill. I call it Destruction Dragon Scale." Lin Yuan answered while taking a large bite.

His soul rings lit up, and a layer of illusory, purple-black dragon scales manifested over his body.

Cao Xin slapped Lin Yuan on the shoulder, and the purple-black destruction attribute crawled onto his palm like a raging fire.

Cao Xin shook his hand, then used his soul power in an attempt to repel this fire of destruction.

He discovered, however, that he could not shake it off no matter what he did; to prevent the destruction attribute from harming his body, Cao Xin had to burn through the soul power equivalent to a Soul Grand Master every second just to defend himself.

Lin Yuan snapped his fingers, and the destruction attribute vanished from Cao Xin's palm.

This soul skill provided Lin Yuan with a massive defensive bonus, as well as a small amount of attack power.

The counter-damage and blood-burning effect was even more formidable, especially against physical contact attacks.

It could be said that the more force used to attack Lin Yuan, the deeper the destruction attribute would invade the body, making it incredibly difficult to eradicate.

"All-attribute enhancement, pressure suppression, absolute defense—as a Gold Battle Soul Master, you really are perfect, kid," Cao Xin laughed.

"It's only a matter of time before your dragon-type martial soul gains a dragon breath skill. Why is it that every time you hunt, you manage to obtain a perfectly compatible soul skill?"

"I'm just lucky." Lin Yuan could only smile helplessly; he couldn't exactly tell him that he had the God King of Destruction living inside him, could he?

Lin Yuan then saw a small, fair hand extending another piece of grilled fish toward him.

Looking up, he saw Ju Zi watching him with an expressionless face.

"How does it taste?"

"If my teeth weren't so soft, I'd have eaten the fish bones along with it." Lin Yuan chuckled as he took the fish from Ju Zi.

He had been too busy chatting with Cao Xin about soul skills earlier to actually savor it properly.

It had to be said that she was worthy of being a chef's daughter; she could make the meat juicy and fragrant with just simple seasonings.

Even so, it still wasn't as good as what Lao Huo made. If he had the chance, he really wanted to properly taste what Huo-style Grilled Fish was actually like.

Receiving Lin Yuan's praise, Ju Zi's pretty face flushed slightly, looking like a ripe fruit under the glow of the firelight.

In terms of appearance, Ju Zi was a beauty who didn't lose out to Wu Feng or Nan Qiuqiu at all.

Moreover, unlike those two girls, she was already approaching the point of full maturity.

"Ahem." Cao Xin coughed twice, drawing Lin Yuan's attention.

"Teacher, can a Titled Douluo even catch a cold?"

Cao Xin: "..."

"Little Yuan, Teacher is a man of experience. I have some insights regarding cultivation that I'd like to share with you."

Lin Yuan turned his head to the side, looking as if he were listening intently.

Cao Xin summoned his martial soul, the Affectionate Sword, and displayed it for Lin Yuan to see.

"Teacher usually only uses the Affectionate Sword to fight, but there are some things that one sword alone cannot accomplish."

"That is why Teacher usually prepares two, or even three swords. This is nothing to be ashamed of."

Lin Yuan understood immediately what Cao Xin was talking about; he was giving him a hint.

"However, after using many swords, I discovered that if one sword is left unused for too long, you completely lose the feeling of wielding it."

"There is even a possibility of it turning against its master. You understand what I mean, right?" Cao Xin retracted his martial soul, his gaze fixed on Lin Yuan with great seriousness.

"Gulp." Lin Yuan swallowed hard.

He thought of Kakyoin, who had been solo-killed by [The World]; such an outcome was indeed possible.

"I understand, Teacher. I will love every one of my swords equally." Lin Yuan bowed solemnly to Cao Xin with an expression of having been taught a valuable lesson.

Cao Xin nodded in satisfaction and approval: "As long as you understand."

With nearly two hundred years of life experience, Cao Xin understood one truth deeply.

Ning Zhiyuan had sixteen concubines, so there was no reason to use standards that even a father-in-law couldn't meet to restrict others.

The Shrek Seven Devils were, after all, only a minority, and their personal lives were not highly regarded before they became gods.

There were no records of this in the official history of the continent, but in ancient, long-standing clans like the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, such things existed.

Ju Zi tilted her head in confusion; it seemed she still didn't understand the cultivation of soul masters very well.

She couldn't understand a single word of what this master and disciple were saying about sword cultivation. As expected, she was only suited to be a Soul Engineer.

Lin Yuan suddenly felt something was off. Cao Xin was a loner, so where did he get the experience to advise him on this?

He shook his head and let it go, turning to ask Ju Zi: "Ju Zi, I want to ask, why were you all appearing in that cavern?"

"I sensed your soul power levels; none of you have any need for soul rings, do you?"

Lin Yuan wanted to understand why the fate of Ju Zi and the others had changed.

If he hadn't appeared, Ju Zi and her companions would have undoubtedly died under the feet of that Red Iron Earth Dragon.

There would have been no subsequent meeting with Lao Huo, and the Sun Moon Empire's invasion of the three Douluo nations would not have proceeded so smoothly.

This change in fate was significant; even knowing that his existence would create a butterfly effect and alter the course of many things, he couldn't help but feel concerned.

Since Ju Zi was tied to the destinies of so many people, Lin Yuan wanted to understand the details to some extent.

Ju Zi injected Soul Power into her storage Soul Tool, and a red, crystal-like mineral appeared in her hand.

"It's this Lava Crystal. It's a precious ore native to the lava region; we went deep into the cavern specifically to investigate it."

Ju Zi suddenly noticed the expressions of the two men becoming subtle, as if they had thought of something.

"Have you seen it before?" Ju Zi asked, puzzled.

"Never seen it, never seen it," the master and disciple shook their heads in unison.

This thing had been blasted out from the underground when Cao Xin struck the ground with his sword so that Lin Yuan could enter the lava zone for body tempering.

To think that the dangerous situation those people faced had been caused by the two of them; one could only say that everything in life is fated.

Ju Zi looked at them suspiciously, but thinking it wasn't a major issue, she put the crystal back into her Soul Tool.

"Xiao Yuan, you've adapted to the lava here well enough. Should we head to the next location?"

Cao Xin took out a map, pondering whether they should go to Thunder Canyon or the Psychedelic Forest.

There were only a few such places left in the Sun Moon Empire; once they were finished, it would be time to head to the Far North or the ocean.

According to Lan Fozi, there was an Ice Sea in the far south.

When the time came, they would ride with Lan Fozi to cultivate there, and he, Cao Xin, would be fortunate enough to travel to places humans had never reached before.

"There's no rush for that; I plan to head back to Ming Capital," Lin Yuan said while eating a piece of grilled fish.

"Why?"

Facing Cao Xin's question, Lin Yuan looked at Ju Zi.

"Because I've learned that there are a few geniuses at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy whom we could try to recruit."

"We couldn't get in before, but now we can try to break through with Ju Zi's help."