The First Trial of the God of Destruction

When Ye Guyi opened her eyes, she found several corpses beside Lin Yao. Lin Yao looked at the awakened Ye Guyi, his gaze carrying a hint of complexity.

It was just like a few days ago, except this time, Lin Yao had become the one holding back the team's progress.

"I broke through. I've reached the Soul King level," Lin Yao told Ye Guyi calmly.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Ye Guyi looked at Lin Yao in disbelief. "You're not joking, are you?"

Lin Yao pressed his lips together and said, "Of course I'm not joking. I never joke about something like this. This isn't something to joke about casually."

Ye Guyi lightly punched Lin Yao's chest with her little fist, speaking in a slightly coquettish tone. "That's not fair. I worked so hard to catch up to you, and now you've left me behind again. Once you absorb your soul ring, your strength will rise by another huge margin! Didn't they say ultimate-attribute martial souls cultivate slowly?"

There was a touch of affection and helplessness in Lin Yao's eyes as he replied, "Just because my cultivation speed is slow doesn't mean I stop cultivating, right? There's nothing I can do about that."

As he spoke, Lin Yao pulled Ye Guyi into his arms and said earnestly, "Besides, on our journey through the world of soul masters, whoever is stronger benefits the other person. For example, if I had broken through to Soul King earlier, we wouldn't have been in such a sorry state when we ran into Ma Xiaotao last time, right?"

Ye Guyi had already adjusted her emotions. After nodding at Lin Yao, she said, "I'm sorry, Lin Yao. My emotions were a little out of control just now."

Lin Yao smiled at Ye Guyi, then said, "It's alright. I know you're competitive and don't want to always lag behind me. But people are different. Even though my Soul Power is higher than yours right now, when it comes to dealing with Evil Soul Masters, I might not necessarily have a record as impressive as yours."

Lin Yao was entirely trying to comfort Ye Guyi, soothing her emotions.

But Ye Guyi clearly responded well to that. She flexed her muscles at Lin Yao, then smiled and said, "Mm, as long as they have an evil attribute, I can suppress them twice as effectively!"

After saying that, Ye Guyi changed the subject and asked Lin Yao, "By the way, since you've broken through to Soul King, you naturally need a fifth soul ring. Have you decided what kind of soul beast you want for it?"

Lin Yao said to Ye Guyi, "Compared to what soul beast I'll use for my fifth soul ring, there's something else I want to do first."

Ye Guyi looked at Lin Yao with some confusion. He patted her shoulder and said, "Naturally, I need to send you back first. Although you can handle ten-thousand-year soul beasts, I want to find a high-level ten-thousand-year soul beast to test my strength against. You'd better not come with me."

Ye Guyi immediately frowned, seemingly very dissatisfied with Lin Yao's choice.

But upon seeing the determination in Lin Yao's eyes, she ultimately did not argue. Instead, she silently nodded and pinched his waist with a hint of threat in her voice.

"You'd better come back alive. Otherwise, I won't let you off easily. Our Sacred Angel clan deals with evil soul masters every day, so it wouldn't be strange at all for us to know a few Evil Soul Master methods!"

Lin Yao smiled at Ye Guyi and said, "Don't worry. I won't do anything I'm not confident about. Since I've decided to do this, it means I'm absolutely certain I can at least survive. Ah, trust me this once."

Ye Guyi nodded, then followed Lin Yao out of the Star Dou Great Forest and boarded the carriage back to Shrek. Leaning her head out the window, Ye Guyi looked at Lin Yao, who remained where he was, and said, "Come back early once you're done. Don't stay away too long... If you're gone for too long, the academy might suspect that I did something to you!"

Lin Yao nodded. He knew Ye Guyi did not truly intend to kidnap him. She only wanted him to return early so as not to cause trouble for her, using this method to remind him that they were in this together.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I definitely won't cause any trouble. Just give this letter to Teacher Wang." As Lin Yao spoke, he took out a letter from his storage Soul Tool and handed it to Ye Guyi.

Ye Guyi accepted the letter and placed it in her personal Soul Tool. Then the carriage started moving. She could only watch as Lin Mo, in her eyes, gradually went from a tangible person to a tiny dot in the distance. Only then did she draw the curtains and lean back against the seat.

"Phew."

Ye Guyi let out a long breath inwardly and clenched the letter in her hand.

After watching Ye Guyi leave, Lin Yao turned around and headed back toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

After entering the Star Dou Great Forest and walking down a path no soul master had ever traversed, a line of ancient text automatically appeared before Lin Yao's eyes.

[First Trial of the God of Destruction: Defeat a thirty-thousand-year soul beast. Begin the trial?]

Lin Yao silently answered yes in his heart. Immediately afterward, accompanied by a fluctuation of power even higher in rank than Soul Power, a purple vortex appeared before him.

Lin Yao stepped into it. In the next instant, the scene before his eyes changed rapidly. When the swiftly shifting scenery finally stabilized again, everything before him had changed.

It was still the familiar scent of the Star Dou Great Forest, but compared to the fresh woody fragrance of the outer region, it carried a stronger smell of blood.

Lin Yao's nose twitched. He recognized it almost immediately—the scent that existed only in the mixed region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

The outer region was mostly inhabited by ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts. Whether fighting one another or passing soul masters, these soul beasts caused limited casualties. Moreover, the towering trees of the Star Dou Great Forest purified the air, making the outer region exceptionally fresh.

The soul beasts in the mixed region were generally stronger. With all manner of creatures mingling together, the scent of blood was far thicker than in the outer region and could no longer be fully purified by the trees.

As for the core region—the Land of Great Calamity as humans called it—it had returned to a simpler state. Though its scent was still somewhat heavier than that of the outer region, it did not carry such a strong bloody odor.

That was because when those fierce beast-level soul beasts sparred with one another, they either fought to the death or held back. They would not slaughter each other until blood flowed like rivers.

Human soul masters, meanwhile, were constrained by the pact from back then and did not dare openly enter the Land of Great Calamity to hunt soul beasts.

Thus, the bloody stench in the Land of Great Calamity was much weaker.

After determining that this was the mixed region, Lin Yao immediately became vigilant...