Ah Yin's Sacrifice, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring?!

Lingyuan's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

"You're only level forty."

"What if you encounter a Soul Beast over fifty thousand years old? How will you deal with it?"

"The Rainbow Dragon can sense changes in the elements."

Long Tian raised his right hand, and seven-colored radiance flickered across his palm in succession.

"If I encounter a Soul Beast I can't handle, I'll naturally avoid it."

"Besides, I still have the Lingyuan Feather Teacher left me."

"If I truly encounter danger, I'll notify Teacher immediately."

Lingyuan looked at Long Tian for a moment.

Once her disciple made up his mind, he would not change it easily.

Moreover, the Rainbow Dragon bloodline possessed an extremely strong suppressive effect on Soul Beasts.

As long as he did not enter the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest, ordinary ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts truly posed no threat to Long Tian.

"Alright."

"As your teacher, I agree."

Lingyuan raised her jade-like hand and straightened Long Tian's collar.

"However, you must bring the Lingyuan Feather with you."

"If you encounter danger, you are not allowed to act recklessly."

Long Tian nodded gently.

"Rest assured, Teacher."

Qian Renxue looked at that handsome face.

"Junior Brother, once you obtain your fourth Soul Ring, remember to come find me in Heaven Dou City."

"When the time comes, your Senior Sister will treat you to a meal."

Long Tian looked toward the golden-haired woman.

"Senior Sister Xue Ling's identity is probably not so simple."

Qian Renxue's expression paused slightly.

Her golden eyes met the Nine-Colored Double Pupils for a brief moment.

A moment later, she smiled once more.

"When Junior Brother arrives in Heaven Dou City, you'll naturally find out."

"Alright."

Long Tian did not expose her.

Lingyuan spread her flaming wings.

Crimson Soul Power lifted Qian Renxue, carrying the golden-haired woman slowly into the air.

"Junior Brother, see you in Heaven Dou City."

The two figures turned into crimson-gold streaks of light and quickly vanished into the distance.

Long Tian stood amid the shattered forest. Only after the crimson-gold radiance had completely disappeared did he look back at the bloodstains on the ground.

Although Tang Hao had already fled far away, he had left behind a clear trail.

According to the descriptions in his memories.

Ah Yin was hidden in a stone cave behind a waterfall.

The place was remote, and the cave entrance was concealed by a massive boulder.

Without knowing the truth, even if one passed before the waterfall, it would be difficult to discover the mystery hidden within.

Long Tian stepped forward.

His white robes swept past broken ancient trees as he followed the bloodstains Tang Hao had left behind.

Night gradually enveloped the mountain forest.

After walking for an unknown amount of time.

The trees ahead began to thin out.

A broad river cut through the valley and plunged down from towering cliffs.

The waterfall crashed into a deep pool, and a vast mist spread through the surroundings.

Long Tian stopped at the edge of the pool.

His Nine-Colored Double Pupils pierced through the mist filling the sky and settled on the cliff face behind the waterfall.

The terrain recorded in the original work was exactly the same as what lay before him.

Behind the waterfall.

Was where Ah Yin was.

The waterfall thundered down.

A vast spray drifted above the deep pool, completely obscuring the cliff behind it.

Long Tian raised his right hand, and Nine-Colored Divine Light poured from his palm.

The water element was drawn in, and the rushing waterfall slowly parted down the middle.

A stone door hidden behind the curtain of water was revealed.

The surface of the stone door was covered in moss, and a small patch of dried blood remained beside it.

It carried Tang Hao's aura.

"So it really is here."

Long Tian stepped across the water's surface and arrived before the stone door.

The Nine-Colored Double Pupils swept across the cliff face and quickly found the hidden mechanism.

As his palm pressed down, the heavy stone door moved inward.

A narrow passage appeared before him.

There was nothing illuminating either side of the stone walls. Only deep within the cave did a faint blue light shine.

Long Tian stepped inside.

Nine-Colored Divine Light flowed along his white robes, dispersing the darkness nearby.

The passage was not very long.

After walking several dozen meters, a crude stone chamber appeared ahead.

At the center of the chamber stood a small mound of earth.

A slender stalk of Bluesilver Grass grew from the soil.

Faint golden patterns covered its blue leaves, while a weak aura of life slowly flowed within.

The Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor.

Ah Yin.

Long Tian stopped before the mound.

The Bluesilver Grass before him was not much stronger than ordinary Bluesilver Grass.

Without a suitable environment and immense life energy, it would take at least tens of thousands of years to regain its hundred-thousand-year cultivation.

Tang Hao had left Ah Yin here for years, yet only allowed her to survive on water droplets falling through cracks in the stone.

This was not care.

It merely ensured that she would not die completely.

The Bluesilver Grass swayed gently, its leaves slowly extending in Long Tian's direction.

A faint spiritual fluctuation emerged from the golden patterns.

"Who are you?"

Although Ah Yin could not take human form, she still retained a portion of her consciousness.

Long Tian crouched down, and Nine-Colored Divine Light fell around the Bluesilver Grass.

"My name is Long Tian."

"I followed the blood Tang Hao left behind and found this place."

Upon hearing Tang Hao's name, the Bluesilver Grass reacted at once.

Its slender leaves rose one after another.

"Hao?"

"Hao is injured?"

Long Tian raised his palm.

Nine-colored Soul Power gathered in his hand, gradually forming a screen of light.

The events that had occurred earlier in the Star Dou Great Forest were fully displayed through elemental power.

Tang Hao hid behind an ancient tree.

The Clear Sky Hammer suddenly struck out, smashing directly toward Long Tian's chest.

Lingyuan and Qian Renxue stepped forward to block him.

The two sides immediately broke into battle.

In the end, Lingyuan severed Tang Hao's left arm, and he activated his hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring to escape.

Ah Yin watched the black-robed man in the light screen, her leaves swaying without cease.

"Why did Hao want to kill you?"

"What happened between you?"

Long Tian dispersed the light screen in his palm.

"I was once expelled from Shrek Academy."

"Tang San is Yu Xiaogang's disciple, and he is also cultivating at Shrek Academy."

"Several months ago, I led Skywater Academy to defeat Shrek."

"Tang Hao believed I would threaten Tang San, so he had been following me in secret, preparing to eliminate me in advance."

The Bluesilver Grass fell quiet.

After a moment, that spiritual fluctuation emerged again.

"Little San..."

"You know Tang San?"

"Is he doing well now?"

Long Tian looked at the Blue Silver Emperor before him.

"Tang San has already become a Soul Grandmaster and taken Yu Xiaogang as his teacher."

"Although the Bluesilver Grass martial soul is weak, he has cultivated it to over level twenty."

"Tang Hao has been hiding near Shrek, secretly protecting Tang San."

Hearing that her son was safe, the golden patterns on Ah Yin's leaves brightened somewhat.

"As long as he is safe, that is enough."

"Not long after Tang San was born, I left him."

"These years, I have never had a chance to see him."

Long Tian raised his eyes and looked around.

The stone chamber was dark and cramped.

Other than this mound of earth, there was nothing else.

"Tang Hao never brought Tang San to see you?"

The Bluesilver Grass drooped gently.

"No."

"Hao probably does not want Tang San to know my identity."

"Spirit Hall is still searching for traces of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."

"Hiding my existence is also protecting me."

Long Tian did not respond immediately.

His Nine-Colored Double Pupils fell upon the roots of the Blue Silver Emperor.

Thin life energy passed through the soil into the leaves, barely sustaining the Bluesilver Grass's vitality.

"There is no Bluesilver Grass colony here, nor is there life energy suitable for the Blue Silver Emperor's growth."

"Tang Hao possesses the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone. He should know better than anyone how to help you recover."

"Yet after all these years, he has done nothing."

Ah Yin's spiritual fluctuation paused.

"Hao has been evading Spirit Hall's pursuit."

"He also has to take care of Tang San. He does not have the ability to seek a way for me to recover."

Long Tian raised his right hand.

A strand of Nine-Colored Divine Light entered the soil.

The life element controlled by the Rainbow Dragon swiftly flowed upward along the Blue Silver Emperor's roots.

The withered, weak leaves were nourished and immediately became crystalline.

"Tang Hao is a level ninety-five Titled Douluo."

"There are not many people in the world capable of threatening him."

"If he truly wanted to help you, he could at least plant you in the Blue Silver Forest."

"There are tens of thousands of Bluesilver Grass plants there, as well as clansmen who submit to the Blue Silver Emperor."

"Relying on the life force provided by the clan, you would have regained consciousness long ago and might even have been able to condense a body once more."

Ah Yin did not answer.

Only the rumble of the waterfall remained in the stone chamber.

Long Tian continued to activate the Rainbow Dragon's Heart.

Purer life essence slowly entered the Blue Silver Emperor's body.

Its blue leaves grew at a visible speed.

The Bluesilver Grass, originally only a few inches tall, quickly grew to half a person's height.

Golden patterns continuously spread across the leaves.

An aura of noble life also emanated from the center of the mound.

"This is..."

Ah Yin sensed the changes within herself, and her spiritual fluctuations clearly strengthened.

"What pure life force."

"What exactly is your martial soul?"

The Nine-Colored Divine Dragon slowly emerged behind Long Tian.

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet.

The radiance of seven elements illuminated the stone chamber.

"Rainbow Dragon."

"All the elements in the world are under the Rainbow Dragon's control."

"Life is one of them as well."

The Blue Silver Emperor's leaves actively drew close to the Nine-Colored Divine Light.

After the life essence entered its body, its dormant origin, silent for many years, rapidly began to revive.

Around the mound, ordinary Bluesilver Grass sprouted from the earth one plant after another.

In the blink of an eye, the entire stone chamber was covered in blue blades of grass.

Ah Yin's spiritual power also became clearer and clearer.

"Long Tian."

"Why are you willing to help me?"

Long Tian withdrew his hand.

"Tang Hao wanted to kill me."

"But his choice has nothing to do with you."

"You already sacrificed yourself for him once. You shouldn't remain trapped here, enduring tens of thousands of years of loneliness."

The Blue Silver Emperor fell silent for a moment.

"Hao would not deliberately harm me."

"Back then, when Spirit Hall hunted us down, I chose to sacrifice myself."

"That was my own decision."

"I believe he simply never found a way to help me recover."

Long Tian raised his right hand.

The Rainbow Dragon's Heart released an even more flourishing nine-colored radiance.

"In that case, I'll take you to see Tang Hao."

"I also want to see whether, after losing an arm, he will return here."

Life essence flowed through the stone chamber.

The Blue Silver Emperor's roots slowly separated from the soil.

Long Tian held it in his palm and turned toward the passage outside.

But at that moment, Ah Yin extended a leaf and gently wrapped it around Long Tian's wrist.

"There's no need to wait."

"Hao will not return."

Long Tian stopped.

"Why?"

The Blue Silver Emperor's spiritual fluctuations sank a little.

"Every time Hao left, he would leave his Soul Power mark at the cave entrance."

"If he suffered grave injuries, he could use the Soul Power mark to find this place."

"When the stone door opened just now, I already sensed it."

"The mark at the entrance had dissipated many years ago."

The stone chamber fell silent once more.

Long Tian lowered his gaze toward the Blue Silver Emperor in his palm.

Tang Hao had already abandoned this place.

That so-called protection was merely hiding Ah Yin in a stone cave unknown to anyone.

All these years, Tang Hao had guarded Tang San and the hatred in his heart.

As for Ah Yin, who had been reduced to a single blade of grass after her sacrifice, she had been left behind the waterfall to await a rebirth with no end in sight.

"So that's how it is."

Ah Yin's leaves slowly drooped.

"Hao never intended to let me recover."

"He only wanted to preserve proof that I was still alive."

"As long as I was not completely dead, he could tell himself that there was still room to make up for what happened back then."

Long Tian did not interrupt her.

The Blue Silver Emperor had already given her answer.

"I chose to sacrifice myself back then so that he could live."

"I hoped Hao could take care of Tang San, and I hoped they could live peacefully."

"But he sent Tang San to Shrek, then took the initiative to assassinate a fourteen-year-old soul master in order to eliminate Tang San's opponent."

"This is not the outcome I wanted to see."

Ah Yin raised her leaves once again.

Golden patterns continuously gleamed within the Nine-Colored Divine Light.

"Long Tian."

"You said just now that you could help me recover?"

"I can."

Long Tian looked at the Blue Silver Emperor in his palm.

"The Rainbow Dragon's Heart can provide life energy."

"My true dragon bloodline can also help you condense your origin once more."

"But right now, you only have a single seed left."

"To recover enough to take human form will still require a long time."

Ah Yin gently swayed her leaves.

"How long would it take to recover to the point where I can sacrifice myself?"

Long Tian's gaze tightened slightly.

"You plan to sacrifice yourself again?"

"That's right."

The Blue Silver Emperor's spiritual fluctuations gradually calmed.

"I have already sacrificed myself once."

"After losing a hundred thousand years of cultivation, returning to human form would still take a long time."

"Even with the Rainbow Dragon's life power, I may not be able to wait until that day."

"Rather than remain in this stone cave, I would rather make my own choice."

A blue-gold leaf fell into Long Tian's palm.

A pure aura of life slowly spread from the leaf.

"You saved me."

"And you helped me see through these years of waiting."

"If you are willing, I can become your fourth soul ring."

Long Tian did not immediately agree.

"After the sacrifice, your soul and origin will both enter the soul ring."

"Even if you retain your consciousness, you will still be bound by my martial soul."

The Blue Silver Emperor's leaves lifted gently.

"I understand."

"But your Rainbow Dragon possesses the life element."

"As long as you are willing to preserve my consciousness, I will have a chance to condense a body again in the future."

"This time, it is not for Tang Hao."

"This is a choice I am making for myself."

Long Tian looked at the Blue Silver Emperor in his palm.

"I agree."

"When the Rainbow Dragon reaches a higher level in the future, I will help you condense a body again."

"Before that, your soul may remain within the Rainbow Dragon's Heart."

Ah Yin did not hesitate any longer.

"Begin."

Long Tian sat cross-legged in the center of the stone chamber.

The Rainbow Dragon's Heart pounded fiercely.

Thump!

Dense life essence surged from his chest.

The Nine-Colored Divine Dragon circled above the stone chamber, and a cluster of emerald-green radiance condensed between its dragon claws.

The Blue Silver Emperor floated up from his palm.

Its slender roots entered the life radiance, greedily absorbing the power within.

Bluesilver Grass grew from the ground one stalk after another.

Blue blades of grass spread across the walls.

The Blue Silver Emperor's body also rapidly changed beneath the nourishment of the life essence.

Half a person's height.

A person's height.

Dozens of thick vines extended from around its main stem.

Every vine was covered in brilliant golden patterns.

The origin aura belonging to the hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor descended upon the stone chamber once more.