Lin Hui held his breath and quickly swam back up, surfacing with half his body above the water.
"How did it go? Did you find anything down there?" Xiao Wu asked.
Lin Hui climbed out of the water.
"There's a good chance Sky Dream Ice Silkworm is sealed at the bottom of the lake, but it's too deep. I can't dive any farther."
Of course, Xiao Wu was now caught in a new dilemma: should she help Lin Hui capture another Soul Beast?
If they called Da Ming and Er Ming over to help, they could dive into even the deepest water.
She didn't regret becoming Lin Hui's Soul Beast, but capturing another Soul Beast by force without asking the others what they thought didn't seem right to her.
Seeing the uncertainty in Xiao Wu's eyes, Lin Hui explained.
"Sky Dream is probably being used like a living battery right now, with the sleeping Ferocious Beasts constantly drawing energy from it!"
"What's more, it won't be able to withstand the heavenly tribulation when it reaches a million years!"
"By capturing it now, I'm giving it another chance to live."
"Just like you. If I hadn't captured you back then, Chrysanthemum Douluo would have taken you away, and you would have been doomed all the same."
"Once I become a god, you can all enter the Divine Realm with me and live forever."
Xiao Wu thought back to the predicament she'd been in and gradually understood.
"Become a god? That sounds so far away!"
"But didn't I turn into a human from a Soul Beast because I wanted to escape the heavenly tribulation and live forever as a god?"
That was right. They were all in the same boat now!
Lin Hui summoned his Ultra Ball Martial Soul again and handed it to the Blue Silver Emperor beside him. She took it with a vine.
"Ah Yin, please use a vine to carry the Ultra Ball down. When you see a white formation, take it inside."
As soon as Lin Hui finished speaking, the Blue Silver Emperor extended the vine wrapped around the Ultra Ball.
The vine kept stretching down. A depth of several hundred meters was no challenge for the Blue Silver Emperor.
When it spotted the white formation, the vine sped up, eventually carrying Lin Hui's Ultra Ball Martial Soul right into it.
Three seconds later.
The white formation erupted in an even more dazzling light.
A vast surge of Soul Power suddenly rushed into Lin Hui's body.
Before long, a white silkworm appeared in the Sea of Consciousness.
The formation was still etched into the lakebed.
But Sky Dream, who had been imprisoned by the formation, had been captured by Lin Hui's Martial Soul and slipped past its restrictions to escape!
As Sky Dream's immense Soul Power poured into him, Lin Hui's Soul Master body, only at level thirty, began to reach its limit.
Lin Hui sat on the ground, drenched in sweat. His bones felt ready to crack, and every meridian in his body was battered by the impact of a million years' worth of Soul Power.
"As expected of Sky Dream. A million years of Soul Power is ridiculously powerful!"
In the Sea of Consciousness, Sky Dream stretched out several of its legs and looked around in confusion.
"Huh? Did I escape?"
"Looks like I've met someone fated to help me. This is great! Di Tian really is a beast!"
"It's been treating me like a laborer day and night!"
"I'm about to be squeezed dry!"
Then Sky Dream noticed that the Soul Master who had captured it was writhing in agony.
"What? My master can't take it!"
"Well, I did unleash nearly a million years' worth of Soul Power all at once. No one could withstand that!"
"This guy's body is about to give out. I'd better hold back a little."
Sky Dream began to draw in its Soul Power, sealing away most of its strength.
On the grass beside the Lake of Life, Lin Hui sat on the ground.
Before long, a black Soul Ring appeared around him.
The black Soul Ring was nearly twenty thousand years old!
"Good thing my Martial Soul is the Ultra Ball. Since it increases my chances of capturing high-year Soul Beasts, it also raises how long my body can withstand a Soul Ring!"
"On top of that, my Soul Power shot up nine levels at once. I'm level thirty-nine now!"
Lin Hui's voice brimmed with excitement.
"As expected of the living battery even Di Tian likes to use!"
"This is worth years of hard cultivation!"
"Sky Dream, come out too. It's time to meet your new companions!"
Lin Hui stood up and released his Ultra Ball Martial Soul again, tossing the ball away!
A streak of white light shot out of the Ultra Ball, releasing a snow-white silkworm seven meters long.
Its entire body was a translucent, lustrous jade-white, crystalline as ice. Bone-chilling cold swirled around it, and a pair of tiny, brilliant golden eyes gleamed from its head.
Most striking of all, gilded patterns encircled its body. Ten golden rings ran from head to tail, marking a million years of cultivation. The patterns glittered in the white light.
"Y-you really are a million-year Soul Beast?" Xiao Wu was once again too shocked to speak. After all, Lin Hui really had captured it beneath the Lake of Life.
"So there really are ancient Ferocious Beasts sealed in this forest?"
"Of course, little sister!" The feelers on Sky Dream's head twitched. Then, utterly shamelessly, he rushed over to Lin Hui and wrapped himself around his leg.
"Master, I've waited so long for you! You finally rescued me today!"
"You have no idea how badly those Ferocious Beasts bullied me all these years!"
After saying this, Sky Dream burst into tears at Lin Hui's feet, sniffling and sobbing.
Since Sky Dream had been captured by the Ultra Ball, it had recognized Lin Hui as its master. Deep in its subconscious, it had even developed a great deal of affection for him!
Still, Lin Hui kicked his leg with evident disgust.
"Wipe your snot on me again and I'll kick you for real!"
Sky Dream had four Soul Skills as well: [Spirit Detection], [Spirit Sharing], [Spirit Interference], and [Soul Shock].
The Soul Ring Sky Dream had given him was also a rare Wisdom Soul Ring in this world.
Looking at the Blue Silver Emperor, Xiao Wu, and Sky Dream standing before him, Lin Hui decided he ought to introduce them to one another.
"Alright, I'll introduce you all one by one."
"This is the hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast, the Blue Silver Emperor. She excels at control and resilience. She was injured long ago, though, and is still recovering her strength."
"This is also a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast, Xiao Wu, the Soft Bone Charm Rabbit. She excels at speed and offense. Since she turned into a human, she's had to cultivate from human form, and she's currently level twenty-nine."
"This is Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, a Soul Beast nearly a million years old. It has tremendous spiritual power. As for its offensive ability... practically none at all..."
Lin Hui draped an arm around all three of them.
"As long as the four of us make a good life together, that's all that matters!"
"Of course, I'm already level thirty-nine. It won't be long before our team gains a new companion."
Just then, the trees outside suddenly began to stir.
A Soul Beast as imposing as a towering mountain pushed through the trees, revealing an ape-like body.
Its body was covered in thick, dark fur, and its knotted muscles bulged like solid granite.
It was none other than the Star Dou Forest's overlord, the Titan Giant Ape!
The Titan Giant Ape roared in fury and charged straight at Lin Hui.
"Human, you dared to take Xiao Wu! You're dead!"