Cross-Level Absorption, Wolf Bandits Massacre Village

"Your soul skill is interesting; it can actually accelerate the condensation of soul power?" Chen Xin nodded slightly, a look of contemplation appearing on his face.

Han Yu nodded, then shook his head.

"Teacher, I call the second soul skill of the Mystic Array Disk 'Overload.' Its function is to forcibly overdraw the array's energy, causing it to instantaneously erupt with three hundred percent of its normal effect. Just now, I merely set up a space-stabilizing array and used the second soul skill to detonate it, which allowed me to stabilize the black hole instantly. In truth, it provides a significant boost to other arrays as well, such as shield arrays; this way, I have effectively gained a powerful defensive soul skill."

Once the topic turned to arrays, Han Yu became eloquent and talkative.

Chen Xin smiled and nodded, his eyes filled with appreciation.

Over the past year, although Han Yu's progress in the way of the sword had not entirely satisfied him—as he was still a long way from cultivating Sword Intent—Han Yu's mind was incredibly sharp. Through various well-founded, ingenious ideas, he had mastered the fundamentals with great solidity.

This ability actually had another name: comprehension.

Han Yu had used his own ideas to shorten the time spent practicing sword techniques, achieving things others could not; this was the legendary comprehension that people spoke of with such awe.

Seeing Han Yu still excitedly listing one interesting array after another, Chen Xin couldn't help but purse his lips. He cast a glance at Gu Rong, who was returning from afar, with a hint of jealousy in his eyes, and a few thoughts began to stir in his heart.

Han Yu's comprehension was clearly born for arrays; this was a heaven-sent advantage. He could not deny this fact, and perhaps he should yield more time to it.

Han Yu licked his lips and finally stopped, a lingering excitement remaining in his eyes.

"What are you two whispering about behind my back? Looking so happy," Gu Rong's resentful voice rang out.

Gu Rong threw the spherical object he had been carrying on his shoulder onto the ground with a thunderous crash, then lifted his foot and stepped on it.

Han Yu's eyes lit up, and he was just about to speak.

"This soul beast is of the lightning attribute, isn't it?" Chen Xin asked at just the right moment.

"Right. Consider this kid lucky; this one is very suitable for him." Though Gu Rong teased Han Yu with his words, his tone was full of joy.

He hadn't expected that while venting his frustration for his disciple, he would happen to run into the very soul beast they had planned for.

Gu Rong crossed his arms and tilted his chin slightly toward Han Yu, his gaze falling upon the soul beast beneath his feet.

"Yes, Teacher." Han Yu understood immediately. He carefully examined the form of the soul beast, searching his memory for a match.

For this hunt, Gu Rong had set a difficult task for Han Yu: if he encountered a soul beast that had appeared in the texts he studied, he had to be able to identify its habits, how to determine its age, and so on.

Right now, this soul beast, which appeared to have been beaten into a swollen sphere, left Han Yu lost in thought.

A moment later, Han Yu smiled and spoke calmly: "Thunder-Swallowing Toad. It has a massive body and short limbs, standing about two people tall when crouching, with a humped back covered in bumps. It often puffs up its cheeks to compress the lightning within its body into a thin film on its skin for both defense and offense. Looking at the number of rings on the stripes on its head, I can confirm this Thunder-Swallowing Toad is three thousand years old."

"Not bad, absolutely correct." Gu Rong and Chen Xin exchanged a smile and nodded gently.

Han Yu's talent was extraordinary, and his cultivation speed was extremely fast, so the two of them had to adjust their teaching methods, tailoring their instruction to his strengths and proceeding on multiple fronts simultaneously.

"Sigh, if only Rongrong were half as obedient as you," Gu Rong shook his head.

Han Yu blinked, recalling Ning Rongrong's performance over the past year. Compared to her original growth trajectory, she had already changed significantly; it was only because Gu Rong liked to compare her to Han Yu that she seemed too ordinary.

Han Yu followed the same procedure, preparing to use the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder to shatter the Thunder-Swallowing Toad to check for a soul bone.

Unexpectedly, after a large amount of golden lightning surged into the toad's body, the hard bumps on its skin began to glow with golden light. As if experiencing a final burst of life, it began to struggle with all its might.

Unfortunately, the one stepping on it was a Titled Douluo.

After Han Yu channeled the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder a few more times, the Thunder-Swallowing Toad's body was blown to pieces, but no soul bone appeared.

Han Yu's expression remained unchanged; he didn't care. He didn't even look twice at that ten-thousand-year right arm bone, so why would he care about a three-thousand-year soul bone? His targets were those hundred-thousand-year soul bones or even higher levels.

This time, Han Yu set up a few arrays and sat cross-legged.

His Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Sword martial soul hovered before him, drawing the purple soul ring toward him.

Unlike before, the soul power of this ring was like a wild horse off its leash, raging wantonly within Han Yu's body. It slammed into his meridians at random, as if determined to tear them apart, unwilling to submit to a mere Great Soul Master like Han Yu.

Han Yu's body trembled violently, the veins on his neck bulging as he gritted his teeth and fought to hold on.

Having already possessed two thousand-year soul rings, his current physical strength was absolutely capable of withstanding the impact of this ring. The difficulty lay in Han Yu's willpower; the next stage involved thousand-year soul beasts that were nearly ten thousand years old, which would inevitably contain some residual mental energy.

This was why, even though beast martial soul masters had stronger bodies, they—like tool martial soul masters—dared not choose thousand-year soul beasts for their second soul ring.

Golden light appeared in Han Yu's eyes. After the age of his head soul bone had increased, the boost to his mental power had become very significant. He was not affected by the mental interference at all, focusing solely on gathering his soul power to resist.

Half an hour later, Han Yu was drenched in sweat, panting as he lay on the ground, completely exhausted.

Han Yu looked at his two teachers, lifted the corners of his mouth with difficulty, and his lips moved slightly.

"Alright, we know you succeeded. Don't move." Gu Rong, feeling a surge of emotion, stepped forward to lift Han Yu by the neck and fed him a few pills.

"Let's go, let's head back early." Chen Xin watched as Gu Rong picked Han Yu up, smiling and shaking his head.

Not far outside the Star Dou Forest.

The three of them stopped on their return journey.

There was a small village here, one Han Yu had noted when he first arrived.

But this time, the small village was engulfed in a sea of flames, and a nauseating, charred stench assaulted their nostrils.

Chen Xin's fists, held behind his back, clenched tightly, his eyes filled with fury.

"Teacher, could this smell be..." Han Yu jolted, his entire body trembling slightly as an inexplicable rage surged within his heart.

"Today, Teacher will teach you the most important lesson." Chen Xin's voice was icy and brimming with killing intent, his gaze sharp as a sword. "Old Bone, protect Han Yu."

Chen Xin's figure vanished in an instant, leaving behind a resonant hum as he transformed into a white arc of light, shooting toward the village.

Gu Rong nodded and moved to Han Yu's side, carrying him as they flew in close proximity.

By the time the three of them arrived.

The village had already been burned beyond recognition; several corpses with youthful faces were hung upon the entrance plaque, their eyes still lingering with terror.

On both sides of the road, in the trees, and on the walls, corpses of men were visible everywhere, yet not a single female corpse was to be found.

At the corner of the road, a tall, hulking monster that hardly resembled a human collided head-on with the three of them, immediately baring its fangs as saliva mixed with droplets of blood and chunks of flesh dripped onto the ground.