A Small Trump Card

In the endless darkness, an old figure staggered along, seemingly neither coming from nor going anywhere.

At one moment, shouts rang out from all directions.

From the initial barely perceptible sound to the final deafening roar, the old man felt the dark world begin to tremble and shake... until... it shattered!

He struggled to open his eyes, but with all his might he could only manage a tiny crack. The thin light made it Tie Futu a while to clearly see the round, bearded face on the Lou Gao next to him.

"Master! You're awake—?!"

Lou Gao felt a lump in his throat; this man in his fifties almost burst into tears.

Just now, under Ling Yi's command, Lou Gao picked up the Tie Futu from the ground and carried it to the resting bed in the No. 1 casting room.

At that very moment, Lou Gao was shocked to discover that his tall and imposing master was actually so light!

Lou Gao wanted to say something to his master, the Tie Futu, but after opening his mouth, he didn't know what to say. He could only turn his gaze to his junior brother, Ling Yi, who was standing beside him. "Ah Yi, what's wrong with Master...?"

"..."

Ling Yi remained silent for a few moments, glanced at the three metal ingots in the furnace that had solidified again due to the drop in temperature, then turned to Lou Gao and said, "I'll give it a try."

After saying that, he gestured for Lou Gao to pick up the Tie Futu again and then walked towards the door.

About an hour later, in a relatively dense forest about forty miles southeast of Gengxin City.

In a newly built wooden house that hadn't been used much, Lou Gao gently placed his master, Tie Futu, on the bed before stepping back and wiping the fine sweat from his forehead.

This wasn't from being tired. With his current Soul Emperor level strength, plus the power and stamina he had honed through years of wielding a forging hammer, he could easily carry a hundred-pound Tie Futu and run forty or fifty miles without stopping, without even breaking a sweat.

The sweat was caused by nervousness.

Ling Yi was not inside the wooden house, but instead took Yang Shelly and Ah Yin to the forest outside. Under the bright moonlight hanging high in the sky, they laid out a super-large Essence Gathering Soul Guidance Array Diagram made of "Gold of Vitality Stage I" on the forest floor full of "Blue Silver Grass".

Half an hour later, after making several adjustments to ensure everything was in order, Ling Yi led the two women into the wooden house.

Before entering, Ah Yin glanced at the various "Blue Silver Grass" outside the wooden house with a very strange look.

Ling Yi built this wooden house a month ago. Ah Yin and Yang Shelly also came here before, but they had never seen these mutated "Blue Silver Grass" that were hundreds or even thousands of years old.

Looking again at Ling Yi's upright back, Ah Yin thought of the Tie Futu waiting for treatment and forcibly suppressed her curiosity and confusion.

"Ah Yi!" Lou Gao greeted him, asking in a deep voice, "How is it?"

Ling Yi patted Lou Gao on the shoulder and said in a serious tone, "Originally, this was prepared for another 'patient'."

"Compared to my martial uncle, that 'living dead' was practically indistinguishable from a corpse..."

Having said that, Ling Yi stopped there, walked over the Lou Gao, and stood in front of the Tie Futu.

"Ah Yin ~" Ling Yi turned his head to look at Ah Yin and asked, "Could you lend me your Soul Power for a moment?"

"Huh?" Ah Yin was taken aback by Ling Yi's question, but immediately agreed without hesitation, "No problem!"

"Good!"

Ling Yi nodded, his gaze once more fixed on the Tie Futu, and he began to give instructions again. "Senior Brother, Shelly, both of you put on the ' Azure Wood Battle Armor ' and stand guard in the forest."

"Although my calculations suggest the commotion shouldn't be too great, it's better to be safe than sorry. You all stay outside and keep watch, making sure no one else or any Soul Beast get in—"

"Okay!" / "Don't worry!"

Yang Shelly and Lou Gao responded in unison. Lou Gao even took out two sets of "Azure Wood Battle Armor" from his Storage Soul Tool, handed one set to Yang Shelly, and while activating his Soul Power to put on the armor, said firmly, "Ah Yi, don't worry, unless I..."

"Senior brother!"

Ling Yi interrupted Lou Gao's attempt to plant a flag, and took out four metal tokens from the Storage Soul Tool in his wristband, handing them to Lou Gao and Yang Shelly respectively, and instructing them, "Take these, just in case."

"This is...?"

The moment Lou Gao touched the metal plaque, the familiar feel stirred his heart. He held it up to his eyes and, relying on the "fluorescent stone" embedded in the wall next to him, saw its exact appearance. Even though he was worried about his master Tie Futu's condition, Lou Gao couldn't help but shudder, and the hand holding the metal plaque trembled slightly.

"Don't worry~" Ling Yi not surprised by Lou Gao's behavior and gently comforted him, "You've seen it before, unless you use your Soul Power to activate the array pattern, this thing won't explode."

In terms of safety, this is far superior to the "Fierce Fire Thunder"—

"The only two drawbacks are the long preparation time and the fact that the trigger probability is only 50%..."

"Oh, right!" Ling Yi patted his head and continued, "There's another flaw that's not exactly a flaw, which is that when attacking, you can only throw by hand right now. You have to predict the timing well, so it doesn't get dodged, and it doesn't explode in your hand—"

"Glug—"

Lou Gao swallowed hard and immediately put the two spiritual metal plates, which were inlaid with "Starry Sky Stone" and engraved with Space Expansion Soul Guidance Array Patterns, into his Storage Soul Tool.

Compared to Lou Gao's nervousness, Yang Shelly took the metal plate with an excited expression and examined it repeatedly in her hand.

"Alright, Shelly ~" Ling Yi reminded Yang Shelly, "We'll discuss this later. First, go and guard the woods outside for your senior brother—"

"Mmm~ Don't worry, Brother Yi!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Shelly immediately put away the metal plate, placed her hand on the "Azure Wood Battle Armor" beside her, and with the surge of her Soul Power, she completed the outfit in just two breaths, transforming into a heroic and valiant Valkyrie.

Watching the two figures, one tall and one short and stout, walk out of the wooden house, Ling Yi turned to Ah Yin, extended his hand, and said sincerely, "Ah Yin, I'm counting on you from now on!"

"Ah!" Ah Yin was startled by Ling Yi's words and quickly waved her hands, saying, "I... I don't know what to do either, Brother Yi, you... you tell me, I'll definitely cooperate with you—!"

Speaking of which, if it were her, let alone being on the verge of death like Tie Futu, even if she were truly dead, Ah Yin could Resurrection herself again with the extraordinary Life of her "Blue Silver Emperor".

Don't forget that in the future timeline of the original work, the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone "Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone" that appeared after Ah Yin's sacrifice has two major Soul Bone Skill, namely "Wildfire cannot burn it out, the spring breeze blows and it grows again" and "Flight".

Not to mention the "Soul Bone Skill - Flight" which is not very compatible with the "Blue Silver Emperor" attribute, the "Soul Bone Skill - Wildfire Cannot Burn Out, Spring Breeze Blows Again" is the best embodiment of the "Blue Silver Emperor" as having infinite Life.

But as Ah Yin herself said, even though she didn't follow the Healing System route, when she was injured, she used the "Blue Silver Domain" to gather the life force of the "Blue Silver Grass" from the outside world to heal herself. Under the baptism of Life from both inside and outside, she recovered herself.

As for healing others, although the life force gathered in the ' Blue Silver Domain ' can play a certain role, it is not a dedicated healing Soul Skill. In terms of effectiveness, not to mention the amount of ' Blue Silver Grass ' in the outside world, as Soul Elder, she is limited by her own strength, so it is still somewhat inferior to those healing Soul Skill of the thousand-year level or above.

The first chapter will be updated at noon tomorrow.