Dreamlike Bubble

This Wind Spirit Deer was indeed a top-tier Soul Beast perfectly suited for Yin Chen.

Xu Jiujiu had been worried that they would not find a sufficiently good target. She had not expected to encounter one so suitable so quickly.

"Yes, this beast is just right for little Yin Chen."

Manyi nodded slightly and wasted no further time.

She stepped forward without even summoning her martial soul. She merely raised her wrinkled hand and pressed it from afar toward the Wind Spirit Deer, which had lifted its head warily.

In an instant, countless specks of starlight seemed to appear out of thin air above the clearing, like a nebula from the night sky suddenly descending.

A vast yet gentle pressure crashed down, precisely enveloping the Wind Spirit Deer.

The Wind Spirit Deer let out a terrified cry as azure light burst from its body, attempting to transform into a flowing wind and flee.

However, beneath the absolute suppression of a level ninety-three Title Douluo, all its struggles were futile.

The boundless power of the nebula was like the toughest shackles, locking it firmly in place. It could not even move a hoof; only fear and despair filled its spirited eyes.

Nebula Douluo, martial soul: Nebula Fan.

Even without revealing the true form of her martial soul, her power to command starlight and clouds was already unmistakable.

"Little Yin Chen, do it," Manyi calmly instructed.

Yin Chen nodded, the clock-like markings in his eyes slowly turning.

He took several steps forward, arriving before the completely restrained Wind Spirit Deer, and raised his right hand.

The flowing wind around him, containing the rhythm of time—Wind of Time—quietly gathered in his palm, condensing into a pale cyan wind blade as thin as a cicada's wing, with fragments of time seemingly swirling around its edges.

He did not hesitate and swung his arm.

Whoosh—!

The wind blade silently swept through the air, precisely slicing across the Wind Spirit Deer's neck.

Blood sprayed forth. The light in the Wind Spirit Deer's eyes swiftly dimmed, and its life force abruptly vanished.

A bright yellow Soul Ring slowly condensed and rose from its corpse.

Yin Chen immediately sat cross-legged and used his Soul Power to draw the yellow Soul Ring toward himself.

Unlike the agonizing ordeal Castorice had endured while absorbing a thousand-year Soul Ring, Yin Chen's absorption of this Soul Ring, which was over five hundred years old, was steady and smooth.

Though the Soul Ring's energy was immense, it remained entirely within the limits his body and meridians could withstand.

Yin Chen carefully guided the pure wind-attributed energy, converting it into the most fundamental Soul Power and resonating it with his Archon of Time martial soul.

The entire process lasted less than half an hour.

When Yin Chen opened his eyes again, the yellow Soul Ring beneath him had stabilized. The fluctuations of Soul Power around his body had clearly strengthened, and he had astonishingly reached level twelve, officially becoming a one-ring Soul Master.

Though he could not compare to Castorice, gaining two levels was already quite good. After all, most Soul Masters could only gain one level after absorbing a Soul Ring.

Moreover, Yin Chen had not absorbed a Soul Ring whose age far exceeded his limits.

"It succeeded."

Xu Jiujiu spoke joyfully, then immediately asked impatiently.

"Yin Chen, hurry and tell us. What is your first soul skill?"

Yin Chen stood up, feeling the new power within his body and the soul skill information that had clearly surfaced in his mind.

He looked at Xu Jiujiu and Manyi without concealing anything. "My first soul skill is called—Dreamlike Bubble."

"Dreamlike Bubble?"

Xu Jiujiu repeated softly. The name seemed full of the flavor of time, yet was somewhat unfathomable.

"Its effect is... to recreate phenomena that have already occurred and ended in the past, like bubbles reappearing in the present."

As Yin Chen explained, he began his demonstration.

He fixed his gaze on a patch of empty air beside the clearing and waved his right hand. His innate Wind of Time activated, and a pale cyan wind blade shot through the air, tracing a fleeting ripple before exhausting its energy and vanishing without a trace.

"Your Highness."

Yin Chen looked at Xu Jiujiu.

"Take a sturdy longsword and place it along the path my wind blade just traveled."

Though Xu Jiujiu did not understand why, she followed his instructions and took a longsword glinting with cold light and flowing runes from her storage Soul Tool.

She explained, "This is a level-four Soul Tool longsword. Its material is exceptionally sturdy. With the strength of your wind blade, it is absolutely impossible for you to damage it in the slightest."

As she spoke, she carefully placed the longsword horizontally along the path through the air where the wind blade had just disappeared.

Yin Chen nodded. The yellow Soul Ring around him shone as his first soul skill—Dreamlike Bubble—activated.

There was no warning, no process.

The instant the longsword was placed along that path, an invisible wind blade, as though it had returned from the far side of time, appeared out of nowhere upon that predetermined trajectory. It was as if it had never vanished and had always remained there, only revealing itself once more at this moment.

Clang!

A crisp sound of breaking rang out.

The level-four Soul Tool longsword, capable of withstanding the full-force attack of a Soul King, was cut cleanly into two as though struck by an irresistible force.

The break was smooth as a mirror, as if it had been born that way.

Xu Jiujiu's lips parted slightly, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.

Yin Chen's wind blade could never possess such power. The only explanation was that this recreated wind blade had not severed the longsword through the strength of its energy, but had forcibly carried out the past fact of "the wind blade passing through the air."

Before the reappearance of such a phenomenon, the hardness of matter was meaningless, because the result had already been decided.

"Recreating a 'past phenomenon' in the 'present'... ignoring defense and directly reaching the result..."

Manyi murmured, an unprecedented brilliance erupting from her clouded eyes.

"A power like this... let this old woman experience it herself."

Without waiting for Yin Chen's response, she gestured for him to swing another wind blade through the air.

After the wind blade vanished, the Nebula Douluo actually stepped forward several paces and precisely stood along the trajectory the blade had just traveled. In a deep voice, she said, "Little Yin Chen, activate your soul skill against this old woman."

Yin Chen took a deep breath, knowing this was an excellent opportunity to test the limits of his soul skill. He activated his Soul Ring once more.

Whoosh!

That lethal wind blade abruptly appeared like Gui Mei, grazing Manyi's body. There was still no warning whatsoever.

Though Manyi had been prepared, her powerful spiritual power and the keen perception of a Title Douluo allowed her to detect that minute fluctuation at the critical moment.

With a thought, dense starlight Soul Power instantly condensed before her into a seemingly fragile starlight shield, one that could in truth withstand the attacks of a Spirit Douluo, blocking the wind blade.

However, in the next instant, Manyi's pupils suddenly constricted.

She watched with her own eyes as the starlight shield, capable of withstanding a Spirit Douluo's attack, developed a smooth gap the instant it touched the wind blade, as though an invisible force had erased a portion from it.

The wind blade pierced through the shield without losing momentum and continued along its predetermined path—as though the shield had never existed.