Spring Goes, Autumn Comes, Three Years Pass!

Spring turned to autumn, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Qin Chuan had spent those three years soaking in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well (a few hours every day).

Amidst his arduous training, Qin Chuan sensed his soul power reaching a critical threshold and slowly opened his eyes.

His cultivation had broken through to level fifty, reaching a bottleneck; he only needed to absorb a single soul ring to advance and become a Soul King.

A fifteen-year-old Soul King was already shocking enough, let alone the fact that he was only surrounded by two white soul rings. If word of this were to spread, it would surely shake the entire Douluo Continent.

At the same time, his Six Paths Reincarnation Eye had also advanced from the first heaven to the second heaven during these three years of cultivation. Six purple reincarnation patterns swirled slowly within his pupils, faintly exuding a majestic pressure that looked down upon the world.

"Three years of hard training, and I've finally reached the bottleneck."

Qin Chuan exhaled a long breath of stale air and stood up to stretch his body, his bones popping with crisp cracks.

A surge of immense power flowed through his limbs and bones, allowing him to truly feel the transformation of his own strength.

The second heaven of the Six Paths Reincarnation Eye unlocked two major abilities—repulsion and attraction.

With a thought, Qin Chuan named them Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in, and a smile could not help but tug at the corners of his mouth.

During these three years, he had also completely eradicated the chronic toxins within Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan's bodies.

Because of this, he and Dugu Bo had formed a friendship that transcended their age gap, while Dugu Yan's heart had quietly developed special feelings for him as they spent their days together.

Beyond this, during these three years, Qin Chuan had also visited Shrek Academy, bringing precious immortal herbs to Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing to help them break through. They had also made a pact to meet again after turning eighteen.

Returning his thoughts to the present, Qin Chuan opened his system panel to check his status:

[Congratulations to the host, current level: 50 (bottleneck reached), Twin Martial Souls: (Heavenly Path) Illusion Bell, Zhu Xian Sword]

[Power of the Heavenly Path: Six Paths Reincarnation Eye (Second Heaven) (Current Experience: 5/50) (Includes Heavenly Path skills: 10km detection, repulsion, attraction)]

['Evil Soul Master' quest unlocked: Please collect nine white soul rings for the 'Illusion Bell' martial soul. Quest reward: Time Stasis Domain!]

"Time Stasis Domain! Not bad. From now on, I can freeze time for whoever I want! Time to go out and hunt for soul rings!"

Qin Chuan stood up, extended his left hand, and focused his mind.

With a flash of purple light, the Illusion Bell martial soul, now grown magnificent and mysterious, hovered silently above his palm.

Immediately after, he extended his right hand.

An aura far more terrifying and sharper than that of the Illusion Bell erupted from his right hand!

Hum!

Accompanied by a sword hum that seemed capable of severing the soul, a primitive, desolate, yet destruction-filled longsword appeared in his hand!

The sword was long and narrow, covered in strange patterns resembling dragon scales. The blade was as thin as a cicada's wing, yet it radiated a sharpness capable of slicing through space.

Embedded in the hilt was an unknown black gemstone that seemed to swallow all light.

Twin Martial Souls!

Information flooded his mind automatically upon the awakening of the martial soul.

Zhu Xian Sword! The former sword of an ancient reincarnation deity, a peerless weapon of slaughter that had drunk the blood of gods and demons!

Twin Martial Souls!

One was the Illusion Bell, which controlled the spirit and the soul!

The other was the Zhu Xian Sword, which presided over slaughter and destruction!

Tang San, what is the twin martial soul you are so proud of worth in front of me? Qin Chuan thought to himself, his eyes becoming calm and profound.

Qin Chuan identified his direction according to the method Dugu Bo had taught him.

He set off, leaving the Sunset Forest and heading toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

His pace was not fast, but with every step he took, his figure would vanish from where he stood, only to reappear a hundred meters away in the next second.

Shrinking the earth into inches, walking as if on flat ground.

One hour later.

Deep within the Star Dou Great Forest, Qin Chuan stopped beneath a towering tree.

The trunk was so thick that three people could not wrap their arms around it. Dark green moss crawled over the bark, and black beetles the size of fingernails scurried through the crevices of the moss.

Qin Chuan looked up, peering through the gaps in the dense canopy at the sky.

The sun was leaning to the west, the light shifting from directly overhead to a forty-five-degree angle, casting half-light and half-shadow across his face.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The air in his chest was chilly, carrying the scent of rotting leaves and an indescribable, fishy sweetness.

"Six Paths Reincarnation Eye, activate!"

As the words fell, Qin Chuan opened his eyes.

Within his originally black pupils, six purple rings lit up one after another, interlocking and rotating slowly.

The entire world suddenly changed in his eyes.

Color vanished, replaced by layer upon layer of energy lines.

Every tree, every rock, every inch of soil transformed into a transparent wireframe structure, the flow of energy within clearly visible.

As for the living beings hidden in the forest, they had nowhere to hide.

Ten kilometers.

Qin Chuan's sensory range covered every inch of land within a ten-kilometer radius.

Three kilometers to the north, an Iron-Armored Rhino was soaking in a mud pit.

Its body was about the size of a carriage, its grayish-black iron armor reflecting the sheen of the muddy water, with three rows of bone spurs running along its spine, the longest of which was half a meter tall.

It was licking its front hoof with a rough tongue, licking twice, then shaking its body, splashing a spray of mud.

It snorted occasionally, puffing out two streams of white vapor.

Five thousand years.

Qin Chuan's Reincarnation Eye locked directly onto the concentration of soul power within its body, calculating its age.

Too young.

Qin Chuan shook his head and swept his gaze further.

Five kilometers to the southeast, behind a pile of jagged rocks, two Two-Headed Demon Wolves were tearing into a deer that was already dead.

Each of the two wolves had two heads, four heads crowded together to fight over the meat, blood dripping from their chins onto the ground and staining the rocks a dark red.

One of them clamped its left head onto the deer's leg, while its right head bit at its companion's ear, and the two wolves immediately began to brawl, sending the venison flying far away.

Eight thousand years.

Qin Chuan's gaze did not linger.

Seven kilometers to the southwest, in a clearing deep within the dense forest, a Blazing Demon Lion was dozing on a black rock scorched hot by the sun.

Its mane was deep red, shimmering slightly in the sunlight, and the air around its body was distorted by the heat radiating from its skin; from a distance, it looked like a solidified flame.

The tip of its tail flicked occasionally, and every time it swept across the grass, a wisp of white smoke rose.

Ten thousand years.

"Still not quite enough," Qin Chuan muttered to himself.

Eight kilometers due east, a giant python was coiled between three large trees.

Its body was as thick as a water vat, its scales covered in purple thunder patterns, with tiny electric arcs dancing in the gaps between each scale.

It rested its head on its coiled body, eyes half-closed, its snake tongue flicking out from time to time to sense the vibrations in the air.

A twelve-thousand-year-old Thunder-Patterned Giant Python.

Qin Chuan's gaze paused on it for a second.

Twelve thousand years; according to Yu Xiaogang's theory, this was the limit for a level 50 Soul Ancestor to absorb.

But Qin Chuan didn't even take it seriously.

His goal was far beyond this.

Finally, Qin Chuan's gaze landed on the edge of a swamp nine kilometers to the northwest.

A giant crocodile over fifteen meters long was floating on the water, revealing only half its head and a section of its spine.

Its entire body was dark green, the scales on its back like rows of stone slabs embedded in its flesh, each one as large as a washbasin.

Its eyes were half-open, its golden vertical pupils staring fixedly from above the murky swamp water at a group of small soul beasts drinking on the shore.

A fifteen-thousand-year-old Cyan Crocodile.

"Not enough." Qin Chuan withdrew his gaze, spitting out the two words.

Three years ago, any one of these soul beasts could have taken his life.

But now, not a single one was qualified to become the first soul ring for his Zhu Xian Sword.