Tang San, Soul Power, Level 0!

"Lin Jing!"

Tang San's brows knitted together, and his voice was thick with panic.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop it!"

"Stop right now!"

Veins bulged across his forehead, and his eyes were full of desperation.

But Lin Jing wasn't in the habit of taking orders from others.

Feeling the Soul Power inside him slowly rise, Lin Jing's brows gradually furrowed.

This rate of improvement... was really nothing special.

Too slow.

Through the feedback from the Dark Blue Silver Grass, Lin Jing could clearly sense what was happening inside Tang San.

In just this short while, Tang San's innate full Soul Power of level ten had already dropped straight to level seven.

The extraction was fast, but on Lin Jing's end, the amount of Soul Power he gained was pitifully small.

"This conversion rate... is a total rip-off, isn't it?"

Lin Jing couldn't help cursing to himself.

At this rate, even if he drained all ten levels of Tang San's innate full Soul Power,

he'd probably only gain about one and a half levels of Soul Power.

Still...

One and a half levels...

That would do.

After absorbing the 100,000-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, his Soul Power was around level eighteen and a half.

Add that extra one and a half levels, and he'd break through the level-twenty bottleneck with room to spare, officially reaching the threshold of a Soul Grandmaster.

Not only was the conversion rate for absorbing Soul Power worrying, but the speed was unbelievably slow, too.

This move could only be useful if his opponent was completely restrained.

If they had even the slightest ability to struggle, it wouldn't work.

If he really wanted to raise his Soul Power Level without limit, he'd still have to absorb blood...

Just then, a crisp notification rang in his mind.

[Ping!]

[Host, your Dark Blue Silver Emperor could originally only increase its cultivation by absorbing blood.]

[But Tang San's Martial Soul is an unawakened Blue Silver Emperor, and its Martial Soul Origin is close to yours. That's why you can absorb his Soul Power and make it your own.]

"So that's how it is."

The confusion in Lin Jing's heart cleared, and a look of sudden understanding crossed his face.

"I knew it. There's no way I could've misjudged my own Martial Soul."

"Lin Jing... please..."

Tang San's voice trembled as he stared fixedly at Lin Jing.

"Stop... please, stop..."

His voice grew weaker, edged with a sob.

His Soul Power had now been drained down to level five. He was starting to panic.

Even as someone who had crossed over and lived a second life, he could hardly keep calm in the face of this.

But what he thought was different from what he showed.

"Damn you, Lin Jing!"

"Once I've made my Hidden Weapons... I'll show you what it means to have brought death upon yourself!"

Lin Jing couldn't care less about Tang San's words or thoughts.

He calmly felt his own Soul Power climb as Tang San's rapidly dried up.

Level five...

Level three...

Level one...

At last, Tang San's Soul Power was completely gone.

His innate full Soul Power of level ten had been drained dry.

"'Tang San, Soul Power, Level 0! Rank: Low Tier!'"

Tang San's eyes went utterly dull as he felt the emptiness within him.

It was over.

Everything was over.

The six years he'd spent cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill had all gone to this guy who'd always been against him!

Yet Lin Jing furrowed his brows.

He had drained every last bit of Soul Power from Tang San, but his own Soul Power was stuck at the peak of level nineteen, just a hair short of level twenty.

"Tch."

Lin Jing clicked his tongue and glanced at Tang San's trembling wrist.

"Then I'll just take a little more..."

As he spoke, the Dark Blue Silver Grass plunged straight into Tang San's wrist.

Warm blood flowed slowly through the Dark Blue Silver Grass and into Lin Jing's body.

Tang San's eyes flew wide. His lips moved, but he couldn't even summon the strength to scream. All that came out was a rasping wheeze.

He hadn't just drained all my Soul Power—he was going to drink my blood, too!

Was this what the world of Soul Masters was like? Compared to the world I'd lived in before, it was downright dangerous!

At that moment, Tang San finally understood the cruelty of the Soul Master world.

As the blood poured into him, the stagnant Soul Power within Lin Jing finally began to move again.

"Boom—"

An invisible wave of force burst from Lin Jing.

Level twenty!

Lin Jing slowly opened his eyes, feeling the abundant Soul Power within him. A satisfied smile curved his lips.

Soul Grandmaster.

Holy Soul Village, at the entrance.

It was still early.

The sun hung in the east, far from its highest point in the sky.

Standing beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance, Lin Jing glanced up and estimated the time.

There was still a while until noon.

After absorbing Tang San's Soul Power and breaking through to level twenty, he didn't want to wait another moment.

Once he absorbed his Second Spirit Ring, he'd not only become a Soul Grandmaster, but would also unlock another draw from the Special Opportunity Roulette.

Lin Jing was aiming for a thousand-year Soul Beast for his Second Spirit Ring.

That five-hundred-year Whale Rubber, combined with the boost to his physique from the Vast Sea Glazed True Dragon,

would be enough to let him withstand a thousand-year second ring.

But his destination wasn't Star Dou Forest. It was Soul Hunting Forest.

What kind of place was Star Dou Forest?

It was one of the continent's most notorious danger zones. It wasn't as if thousand-year Soul Beasts roamed everywhere and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts were as common as dogs,

but they certainly weren't rare. With bad luck, he could run into some creature that had lived for tens of thousands of years, and then he'd be done for.

After his last draw from the Special Opportunity Roulette, he'd become thoroughly convinced that his luck had run out.

He'd just been getting ready to hide in Holy Soul Village for a couple of days when that damned rat came looking for him.

There was no telling whether he might run into a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast on the outskirts of Star Dou Forest.

Soul Hunting Forest was different.

It was essentially a hunting ground the empire kept stocked. The Soul Beasts there were generally not very old, but there were still a few thousand-year ones.

With Lin Jing's current strength, he could handle a thousand-year Soul Beast on his own without much trouble.

He was confident of that.

If he ran into two at once...

He might get hurt and take a beating, but it wouldn't be too big a problem.

Any more than that, though, and it'd be a fight to the death.

In short, Star Dou Forest was far too unpredictable, full of too many variables.

He didn't like gambling with his life.

He'd try his luck at Soul Hunting Forest first.

If he found a suitable thousand-year Soul Beast, he'd take it down and smoothly absorb his Second Spirit Ring.

If there wasn't one...

Then he'd have no choice but to take a risk and figure out a way to go to Star Dou Forest.

With All Rivers Run into Sea and "Wildfire never dies; the spring breeze blows it back to life," he wasn't too worried, anyway.

Lin Jing considered both possibilities without dwelling on them for long.

That was how it went: try the safe option first. If the safe path didn't work, then consider taking a risk.

With that, he set off.

His destination was Soul Hunting Forest, outside Nuoding City!

Time passed slowly, and the sun climbed directly overhead.

Lin Jing walked through the gates of Nuoding City.

He'd originally planned to head straight to Soul Hunting Forest, but then he remembered that he didn't have a permit.

It wasn't a big deal, though. He vaguely recalled that in the original story, Big Shit Yu Xiaogang had explained it to Little Scumbag.

As long as a Soul Master's Soul Power reached the point where they needed to hunt for a Spirit Ring, they could apply for a permit at Spirit Hall.