Luo Chen raced wildly through the forest. He had already used Time Acceleration once and couldn't use it again for a short while.
He could only rely on his Soul Power and spiritual strength to sprint with all his might. Er Ming was drawing closer behind him, and the ground shook harder and harder.
An open expanse of water suddenly appeared ahead—a bottomless lake, its surface rippling with silver light beneath the moon. With no time to think, Luo Chen plunged into the water.
The icy water flooded his nose and mouth. He held his breath and swam deeper beneath the surface. Behind him, Er Ming chased him to the lakeshore but suddenly stopped. The Titan Giant Ape wasn't suited to the water, but the real reason he didn't pursue Luo Chen was that Da Ming was in the lake.
Xiao Wu caught up and stood beside Er Ming, gazing at the lake.
"Er Ming, forget it. He fell in. With Da Ming there, he won't survive."
Er Ming was silent for a moment, then turned and left the lakeshore.
Xiao Wu glanced back one last time, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly, then followed Er Ming into the dense forest.
Luo Chen swam underwater for a long time.
He had no idea how far he had gone. He only knew that the tremors and roars behind him were growing more and more distant, until they vanished completely.
His chest began to tighten. He was running out of oxygen. Just then, his foot struck something, and a force suddenly yanked him downward.
An undercurrent!
An undercurrent ran along the lakebed, dragging him deeper. Luo Chen struggled a few times but realized he couldn't break free. He simply stopped resisting and let the current sweep him away.
Water roared past his ears. Everything before his eyes was pitch-black.
He had no idea how long had passed when a force suddenly propelled him to the surface. He landed hard on a rock, coughed up several mouthfuls of water, then gulped in the air and opened his eyes.
He was in an underground cavern. Glowing ore overhead cast a faint blue light. At the center of the cavern lay a small pool, its water crystal clear. A pitch-black opening gaped at the bottom, and the undercurrent had carried him out through it.
Luo Chen struggled to his feet and looked around. Deep in the cavern, two faint golden shapes were curled up beside a pile of glowing ore, fast asleep.
They were two Soul Beasts he recognized.
They were small, barely thirty centimeters long, and shaped like little fish. One was a vivid blue, while the other was blue too, but darker.
The Pocket Watch jolted against his chest, burning hot.
Luo Chen pulled it out, and the lid sprang open by itself.
The second indicator had lit up completely. A prompt appeared in his mind.
[Target Soul Beast locked on.]
Zhao and Xi!
Luo Chen leaned against the cavern wall, watching the siblings, and slowly smiled.
"I finally found you."
Zhao and Xi seemed to have been woken by Luo Chen's arrival. They opened their eyes at the same time and looked at him, their gazes full of bewilderment.
They were five-thousand-five-hundred-year Soul Beasts, but judging by their condition, they looked as if they had only just been born.
Yet they didn't seem afraid of Luo Chen. Instead, they eagerly tried to come over to him. But the cavern wall where they were had a small inlet of water, and the two of them couldn't swim over on their own.
They were thousand-year Soul Beasts from birth, but clearly hadn't even mastered their abilities yet.
Perhaps because they wielded the power of time too, the Zhao and Xi siblings felt very close to Luo Chen.
Luo Chen felt the same way. He got up and walked toward the two little fish.
Looking at how harmless the little fish seemed, he knew they had a skill called Absolute Time. When their stamina dropped below a third, it dealt 9,999 fixed damage—in other words, it fucking killed you in one hit.
He remembered that in another game, Legends of Ochi, a pet named Qianniao Wan also had a chance to instantly kill its target, but it didn't deal fixed damage.
That was so damn devious!
But Luo Chen couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from twitching up. Did they know what a conceptual god was?
Luo Chen didn't rush to take out the Slow Ball. Instead, he first tried to bond with the two of them. Perhaps they would willingly form a contract with him.
Luo Chen took out the Time Indicator and deliberately released a trace of time power. Zhao and Xi seemed to scent it, and immediately sprang to life.
When Luo Chen reached the two of them, they both stretched out their heads, vying to get to him first.
Sensing the time power, Zhao and Xi excitedly swam in circles, their tails slapping the water and scattering tiny splashes. Zhao was the first to poke his head out of the water. He opened his mouth and let out a "chirp," as if begging for food.
Luo Chen condensed a wisp of time power into a little glowing orb and held it to Zhao's mouth. Zhao gulped it down and contentedly narrowed his eyes, rolling over in the water.
Xi squeezed forward from behind, opened her mouth, and begged Luo Chen for some too. He condensed another orb and fed it to her.
After eating it, Xi stopped circling and floated quietly in the water. Silver-white light reflected in her slit pupils, making her look almost drunk.
Luo Chen kept going and condensed another orb. Zhao snatched it, while Xi missed out. She angrily thrashed around in the water, splashing Luo Chen in the face. He wiped his face and decided to stop teasing them. He evenly divided the time power in the Pocket Watch between the two little ones and fed it to them.
Zhao and Xi had eaten their fill. They floated motionless on the surface, bellies turned skyward and eyes half-closed, looking utterly "wiped out." Luo Chen couldn't resist reaching out to rub Zhao's belly. It was soft, and warm currents flowed beneath his scales.
Xi flipped over and pushed Luo Chen's fingers away with her head, refusing to let him touch her. She was a little girl, after all!
"You've got quite a temper," Luo Chen said with a laugh.
He took the Slow Ball from his waist and held it in his palm. Its gray-white surface was covered in fine, frostlike patterns, and it glinted coldly in the cavern's blue light.
Zhao and Xi looked at the ball at the same time. Their slit pupils narrowed slightly—not from fear, but with instinctive wariness, as if judging whether it posed a threat.
The Slow Ball was a Gulu Ball specially made for capturing time-type Soul Beasts. Not only did it greatly increase the chance of success, it could also restrict the captured Soul Beast's flow of time—in simple terms, it put them into a slowed state.
After realizing there was no danger, Zhao and Xi suddenly did something that caught Luo Chen off guard. Their fish bodies leaped into the air, forming the shape of a yin-yang fish. The next moment, they flew straight into the Slow Ball. A flash of light—and the capture succeeded!
Luo Chen was completely caught off guard. He hadn't expected it to be that easy!
The next moment, four Soul Rings appeared—red-purple, purple, purple, and purple—giving Luo Chen's spirits a tremendous lift. He had finally broken through to the Soul Ancestor realm.
[Second Trial complete. Trial exceeded: the Soul Beast voluntarily formed a contract. Reward: Second Soul Ring's age increased by one thousand years; Fourth Soul Ring's age increased to ten thousand years. Fourth Soul Skill gained an additional ability: Foresight. On a hit, it forcibly reverses the opponent's positive enhancement and converts the opponent's follow-up damage into an equal amount of healing. Time Indicator skill awakened: Time Slow.]
The next moment, Luo Chen's Fourth Soul Ring slowly transformed from deep purple to black, while the purple of his Second Soul Ring grew even deeper. His Soul Power shot up like a rocket—41...42...43...44. It didn't stop until he reached level forty-five.
Great, level forty-five! The Second Trial was complete too. He could probably be considered an expert now.
But just then, the Evil Emperor suddenly reacted in an unexpected way...
Before you continue