Three More Years... Oh, Just Three Years

Three years later, Mo Lin sat in a carriage, gazing at the scenery outside the window.

His purpose for this journey was to hunt a soul beast and obtain his third soul ring. This time, however, he was going alone.

Of course, it was not because Bibi Dong had stopped caring for him and simply left Mo Lin to fend for himself. Rather, Mo Lin had never told Bibi Dong that he intended to hunt for a soul ring. He had applied for leave under the pretext of traveling before departing Spirit Hall.

This time, he did not plan to go to the Star Dou Great Forest. Instead, he was heading to a small soul beast gathering ground in the Star Luo Empire—the Aken Mountains—to properly test the magical artifacts he had created with Divine Machine Craft over the past three years.

Although he had spent more than three years replicating Village Chief Ma's magical artifacts, he truly had no confidence in the things he had made over the years. That was why he had not chosen one of the three great soul beast gathering grounds, the Star Dou Great Forest, and had instead picked a smaller one.

Before coming here, Mo Lin had conducted a detailed investigation of this mountain range. His target was clear: the mountain's ruler, a five-thousand-year-old Soul Shadow Flying Dragon. At that age, it was already the limit for an ordinary soul master's fourth soul ring.

According to the records, this type of flying dragon was extremely rare and possessed attacks that could directly target the soul. It was exceptionally troublesome. Local soul masters basically never chose to hunt it for a soul ring, as the risk was simply too great. Furthermore, the Aken Mountains were far too remote, and none of the great families were willing to travel so far to hunt soul beasts. As a result, this dragon had been lording over the mountain range all this time.

Mo Lin's reason for choosing it as his target was simple: this soul beast possessed soul-related abilities. Ever since learning of his extraordinary origins, he had been trying to find out more about what had happened back then. However, whoever had handled the matter had done an excellent job of keeping it secret, leaving him unable to uncover anything.

Thus, Mo Lin could only place his hopes on the Eight Extraordinary Skills. At first, he had planned to obtain Wind Queen's Arcane Gate and directly ask about the matter within the Inner Landscape. But Wind Queen's Arcane Gate was far too special, and finding a soul beast compatible with that extraordinary skill was extremely difficult. If the soul beast he hunted bore no resemblance to the Eight Extraordinary Skills, then the extraordinary skill he obtained would likely be random.

Therefore, after giving it some thought, he set his sights on Double Full Hands. He could use that extraordinary skill to view his memories from infancy and learn more about the truth of that time. However, Spirit Binding and General Dispatch was also a soul-related ability, so this operation might not necessarily accomplish his goal.

The carriage came to a stop. They had arrived. Mo Lin poured soul power into his bracelet, and a "person" dressed in Spirit Hall soldier armor appeared before him. The figure got out first, with Mo Lin following close behind.

At the entrance, the armored "person" took out a token and showed it to the guards. Since it was Spirit Hall's highest-grade token, the guards opened the gates without a second thought and allowed the two inside.

Once they reached a spot beyond the guards' line of sight, Mo Lin's bracelet flashed, and the "person" vanished from where it stood.

This was one of the eight combat Qi-infused dolls Mo Lin had created over the past three years, as well as the main subject of today's test.

According to the intelligence, the Soul Shadow Flying Dragon lived in a cave atop the highest peak of the Aken Mountains. With his target clearly in mind, Mo Lin headed straight for the cave.

Before the cave, Mo Lin released all eight dolls. They shared the same appearance, and to others, they looked like eight Spirit Hall soldiers standing there.

Mo Lin directly activated their automatic enemy-targeting mode. The eight dolls marched into the cave in perfect unison, while Mo Lin followed at a greater distance behind them, lest the flying dragon's "aggro" shift and cause it to ignore the dolls.

After walking for about five minutes, the Soul Shadow Flying Dragon entered Mo Lin's field of vision. It was asleep. Its appearance was roughly as people had described it: pitch-black all over, with four limbs including its wings, looking much like the Western dragons from his previous life.

The eight dolls did not foolishly charge straight in. Instead, two dolls stepped forward first, and clumps of "oil" dripped from their bodies, spreading toward the flying dragon.

The eight dolls were divided into groups of two, each capable of using Mo Lin's Yang Five Thunders, Yin Five Thunders, poison Qi, and Golden Light Incantation. Like the black dolls created by Village Chief Ma, they could replicate other people's abilities. For now, however, a single doll could not replicate several different abilities.

Within a second, the Yin Five Thunders had surrounded the flying dragon. Then they suddenly accelerated, instantly wrapping around its limbs.

As a five-thousand-year soul beast, the flying dragon woke the instant the Yin Five Thunders touched its skin. It hastily spread its wings, intending to create wind pressure and blow away the sticky substance clinging to its body.

But the Yin Five Thunders were not so easily shaken off. The flying dragon's efforts had only a very slight effect.

The flying dragon looked around and finally noticed eight people standing before it, yet it could not sense their souls at all.

Though it did not know why it could not sense the eight people's souls, it saw that the black substance had flowed from the two standing in front. It immediately spat out two fireballs.

The two dolls in the rear promptly leaped to the front and used the Golden Light Incantation to block the attack. (You must prioritize attacking these taunt-bearing minions. //amused)

At this moment, the flying dragon was exceedingly agitated. It could feel the black, sticky substance continuously weakening every aspect of its body. It had to deal with those two people quickly, but because it could not sense their souls, it did not dare casually use the methods it relied on to attack souls. And with its physical abilities weakened like this, using its soul abilities would be far too rash. Thus, it lunged forward with all its might, attacking the dolls using the Golden Light Incantation directly with its winged foreclaws.

The two dolls neither dodged nor evaded, taking the attack head-on.

At that moment, the four dolls at the back that had yet to move all launched attacks. Two bolts of lightning shot directly toward the flying dragon's eyes, while the dolls using poison Qi pounced straight at it.

The flying dragon shut its eyes, and the two bolts struck directly against its eyelids. Yet it did not cry out in pain. Instead, as if it had anticipated the attack, it opened its enormous jaws and bit down on one of the dolls using poison Qi. But it immediately released it and flung it away. Poison Qi had already filled its mouth.

Retracting its foreclaws, it unleashed dragon flame without locking onto any target, spraying it in all directions. The flying dragon appeared to be trying to attack the dolls while using the high temperature to neutralize the poison in its mouth.

But this poison Qi had been refined from Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Poison. How could it be so easily neutralized? Moreover, as time passed, the Yin Five Thunders' effects would only become more pronounced. The flying dragon could clearly feel that the temperature of the dragon flame it spewed was dropping beyond its control.

Yang Five Thunders struck again. Seemingly sensing danger, the flying dragon hurriedly closed its mouth, preventing the lightning from shooting directly inside. But taking the lightning directly to the head was no pleasant experience either. It forced the flying dragon back several steps, and by then, Yin Five Thunders had already spread throughout the entire cave.

From the very beginning of this battle, the dolls had held an absolute advantage.

Because they had no souls, they had directly rendered the Soul Shadow Flying Dragon's strongest attacks useless;

Since the battle took place inside a cave, the flying dragon's aerial advantage had also vanished;

The cramped environment—for the flying dragon—allowed the Yin Five Thunders' effects to reach their fullest potential, leaving the flying dragon nowhere to evade.

At this point, the Soul Shadow Flying Dragon, trapped in crisis, desperately searched for an opportunity to break the deadlock. At last, it sensed Mo Lin's soul as he observed from afar. It then stopped all movement and stood there blankly.