Progress

"Enough. This ends here. Wang Teng, you won, but it wasn't a pretty victory.

Lu Mingfei, your attack was inventive, but your defense was far too weak. Go back and train more. Dismissed. Next group."

Wang Teng gave Lu Mingfei a long look, withdrew his soul power, then turned and left.

His gait looked normal, but his right arm hung stiffly at his side. Clearly, the corrosive force had not fully faded.

Lu Mingfei stood where he was, gasping for breath. Every bone in his body screamed as if it were about to fall apart, yet an odd sense of satisfaction rose within him...

He had made Wang Teng suffer a loss. Even if it was only slight, it was enough to make the other party reassess the worth of this so-called genius.

Chen Xiaolu ran over and supported him, his face full of lingering fear. "You really don't care about your life! My heart was in my throat just now!"

Lu Mingfei forced a smile. "Didn't I turn out fine?"

"That was just luck! If Wang Teng had really gone all out, you'd already be lying on the ground!"

Chen Xiaolu stamped his foot anxiously. "Do you know that barrier Wang Teng used just now was his second soul skill? Its defense was ridiculously strong. The fact that you managed to crack it was already terrifying."

Lu Mingfei did not reply. He lowered his head and looked at the tattoo on the back of his right hand.

The Black Dragon King tattoo lay quietly across his skin, looking harmless enough. But when he had driven it with all his strength earlier, he had clearly felt that silver-white power deep within his body stir again.

It was like a fish lurking in deep water. Sensing the violent fluctuations in his soul power, it had tentatively surfaced for an instant before quickly sinking back down.

He was becoming more and more certain that something else was hidden inside him.

But now was not the time to investigate it.

That night, Lu Mingfei lay in bed, so sore that even turning over was difficult.

Chen Xiaolu brought him a bottle of blood-circulating bruise ointment, then nagged him for a long while before finally leaving.

Lu Mingfei applied the ointment and curled up under the blankets, feeling every muscle in his body protest against the day's overuse.

He closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind so he could sleep, but the battle with Wang Teng kept replaying in his head.

He remembered the flash of shock in Wang Teng's eyes when his soul power barrier cracked.

He remembered how the surrounding trainees' gazes had changed from contempt to gravity.

He remembered Instructor Jin Hu's assessment that it had not been a pretty victory.

Wang Teng had won, but it had not been a pretty victory.

The implication was clear: if Lu Mingfei had also possessed two soul rings, Wang Teng would not have been the one to win.

Soul rings. He needed soul rings.

His soul power had reached level twenty, the threshold for adding a soul ring.

Once he obtained one, his strength would undergo a fundamental transformation.

Then, when he faced Wang Teng again, he would not be so thoroughly suppressed.

Lu Mingfei opened his eyes in the darkness and stared at the ceiling.

A fierce longing surged in his heart...

He wanted soul rings. He wanted to grow stronger faster. He no longer wanted to be pinned to the ground and beaten.

He had to find Hui Liyi. He could not waste his time being bullied.

Early the next morning, Lu Mingfei took the initiative to seek out Zhou Dashan.

Zhou Dashan was sitting in his office, frowning at a stack of files. When he saw Lu Mingfei enter, he raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Instructor Zhou, I wanted to ask when trainees in the beginner camp can go out to hunt soul beasts and obtain soul rings?"

Zhou Dashan set down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and sized Lu Mingfei up from head to toe.

"Generally speaking, once beginner camp trainees reach a bottleneck in soul power, the camp arranges a unified soul-hunting expedition.

You've only been here for around ten days. Although your soul power has reached level twenty, your combat experience is far too lacking. Going soul hunting now would be suicide."

"Then when can I go?"

"One month from now."

Zhou Dashan raised a finger.

"One month from now, the camp will organize a large-scale soul-hunting expedition to the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

At that time, all trainees whose soul power has reached a bottleneck will participate, led by instructors.

What you need to do now is not think about how to hunt soul beasts, but build a solid foundation.

With that body of yours, forget soul beasts—an ordinary hundred-year demon wolf could tear you to pieces."

Lu Mingfei fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Understood. Thank you, Instructor Zhou."

He turned to leave, but Zhou Dashan's voice came from behind him. "Lu Mingfei, I saw your performance in yesterday's combat class.

Your combat instincts are good. You knew to use your martial soul's attributes to break through the other side's defense. That line of thinking is correct.

But your physical condition is average. For the next month, train your stamina and endurance hard."

Lu Mingfei stopped, looked back at Zhou Dashan, and said solemnly, "I will."

From that day onward, Lu Mingfei trained even more desperately.

The daily morning run was five kilometers, but he increased it to ten on his own.

The required physical training sets were one hundred reps, but he did two hundred.

In combat class, Jin Hu threw him around until his nose was bruised and his face swollen, yet he never took a day off.

In soul power control class, he repeatedly practiced the precise output and recovery of soul power, constantly reducing the intervals between releases.

Both Zhou Dashan and Ye Fei noticed that Lu Mingfei's rate of improvement far exceeded that of the other trainees.

His control over soul power became increasingly precise. He could gather and unleash soul power in an instant, requiring almost no charging time.

His physical condition was also improving rapidly.

Though he still could not compare to the older trainees, he was completely different from the skinny kid who had nearly vomited after running five kilometers when he first arrived.

The only thing troubling Lu Mingfei was that mass of silver-white power within his body.

Every night while cultivating, he tried to touch it, but it became increasingly cunning, hiding without a trace every time before he could get close.

Sometimes, he even wondered whether it had all been an illusion.

Yet the warmth that seeped out from his bones after every grueling session was utterly real, as though another soul was watching him from deep inside his body.

One night, a month later.

As usual, Lu Mingfei sat cross-legged on his bed and cultivated.

Just as he calmed his mind and sensed the flow of soul power within his body, that silver-white power suddenly emerged of its own accord.

Unlike before, when it vanished in a flash, it slowly and tentatively extended a wisp of itself toward his senses.

Like a child peeking from behind a door finally gathering the courage to stick out half their head.

Lu Mingfei forcefully suppressed his excitement and cautiously reached out with his senses to touch that wisp of silver-white power.

The instant they made contact, an immense torrent of information flooded into his mind...

The information was chaotic and complex—images, sounds, fragments of memories—so much that he could barely endure it. His head swelled as though it were about to burst.

Within that torrent, Lu Mingfei saw a scene.

In the boundless void, two powerful giant dragons were entwined in battle.

One was black, the embodiment of the abyss itself, every scale swallowing the surrounding light.