Level Twenty-Four / A New Ability

Blades of wind rapidly condensed and shot toward them. More than a hundred Wind Blades sliced through the air, carrying a momentum that was hardly inferior to a Soul King's Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill.

"Damn it..."

Despair rose in Gu Qingyu's eyes.

It seemed their journey through the Spirit Ascension Platform was about to end here.

She only felt sorry for the little boy named Tang Wulin. He was still so young; she hoped this would not leave him with any psychological trauma.

Just as she thought this, she suddenly felt her body grow light.

An arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her directly into the air, carrying her high above the ground.

"Ah! Wh-what is this?"

She heard Han Lingyi's startled cry. Turning her head, she found that Han Lingyi had also been swept into the air by the waist.

Beneath them, more than a hundred Wind Blades swept through the spot where they had just been standing. Dozens of gashes instantly appeared in the ground, and even several nearby trees were caught in the attack, slowly toppling over.

Who else could have saved them but Bai Chen?

Although they had been more of a hindrance than help throughout this journey, their intentions had been good. Bai Chen could not simply stand by and watch three kind people die before his eyes.

Besides, even for Bai Chen, dealing with so many Soul Beasts was no easy task. At a time like this, he still needed a few helpers.

Bai Chen said calmly,

"We can't stay in the air for too long. Prepare for battle."

He currently had both girls in his arms, while the Evil God Hook had Li Shaohan wrapped up. It could be said that all his attack methods had been sealed. He did not dare remain airborne in this state for long. If a flying Soul Beast spotted them, they would be doomed.

"Wulin, you..."

Gu Qingyu had just begun to speak when Bai Chen beat his wings and dove sharply downward, landing on the ground.

He set them down and said evenly,

"Any questions can wait. Our top priority right now is resolving the crisis in front of us."

"He's right, Sister Qingyu."

The one who unexpectedly spoke up for him was Li Shaohan, who had been hostile toward him all along. Li Shaohan took a deep breath and forced a somewhat stiff smile.

"We paid a high price to get in here. We can't leave so soon."

"...You're right."

Gu Qingyu glanced at the two Soul Rings circling Bai Chen's body and asked in a deep voice,

"Tang Wulin, can we hand command of this battle over to you?"

Under normal circumstances, she would never let a six- or seven-year-old child command her.

But this was a special situation. Judging by everything that had happened, Bai Chen was clearly the most suitable person to take command.

Gu Qingyu was kind, not stupid. After seeing Bai Chen's performance, how could she fail to realize that he had been pretending earlier?

Bai Chen nodded steadily.

"Mm, leave it to me."

Level 24

The place where Bai Chen had brought them down was directly in front of the wolf pack.

While they had been talking, the distance between the two sides had already shrunk to the point where they were about to clash at close quarters.

This distance was just right for them. If they pulled back any farther and the wolf pack unleashed another group Wind Blade attack, they would still have no choice but to flee in defeat.

Bai Chen spread the wings behind his back and flew into the air once more, shouting in a low voice,

"I'll handle the Wolf King. Help me hold off the other enemies."

With that, he flew directly over the dozens of Wind Demon Wolves ahead and headed straight for the largest Wolf King.

This was the advantage of a top-tier flying Martial Soul. If it had been him from either of the other two eras, it would have been difficult to bypass the wolf pack blocking his path. He could only have forced his way through with raw strength.

But with a flying Martial Soul, he could break through from the air.

Naturally, the wolf pack would not simply watch. As a howl rang out, the Wind Blade Dance from before appeared once again and swept toward Bai Chen alone.

Bai Chen twisted and darted through the air, dodging whatever he could. When he could not evade them, he used the Evil God Hook to shatter them.

Even so, several wounds inevitably appeared on his body.

Fortunately, just then, several Wind Demon Wolves let out pained howls. The other three had also begun fighting, and Bai Chen immediately felt the density of the Wind Blades decrease considerably. He was finally able to land safely in front of the Wind Demon Wolf King.

This Wind Demon Wolf King was a full five meters long. Seeing Bai Chen descend from the sky, it did not panic. Instead, it took a step back and signaled for the two Wind Demon Wolves beside it to step forward.

Once Soul Beasts reached the Millennium level, they possessed a certain degree of intelligence. Wolf-type Soul Beasts, already known for their cunning, were even more so.

However, before it could issue any further orders, Bai Chen had already charged forward at high speed. The Evil God Hook pierced through the Century Soul Beast Wind Demon Wolf on the left, while his tiger claw sent the other Century Soul Beast Wind Demon Wolf flying to the ground.

Bai Chen had heavily wounded even a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Century Soul Beasts posed no threat to him at all.

Black light rose up. After devouring the energy of yet another Wind Demon Wolf, Bai Chen felt his cultivation improve once again. He was only one step away from breaking through to the next level.

"Wooo..."

Watching its two subordinates get instantly defeated, the Wolf King bared its fangs at Bai Chen threateningly. At the same time, a cyan sphere of light rapidly condensed above its head, with dozens of Wind Blades visibly spinning at high speed within it.

This was its killing move. After seeing its two right-hand subordinates swiftly crushed, the Wolf King's contempt had vanished.

It intended to use this move to tear Bai Chen to pieces.

But it would never have the chance to release the attack.

It only felt its vision blur. By the time it came back to its senses, Bai Chen's Evil God Hook had somehow already pierced through its skull.

"Awoo—"

The Wolf King immediately let out a huge howl of agony, struggling desperately with its final remnants of life.

But it was all futile. Other than making it die faster, it served no purpose.

Black-red light gradually devoured the Wolf King starting from its head. As pure energy entered his body, the bottleneck of his level shattered, and Bai Chen finally reached Level 24.

"Whew, that wasn't easy."

He sighed softly and shook his head.

It was not as though he had never tried cultivating normally these past few days, but the speed could only be described as crawling like a turtle.

It was no exaggeration to say that, at his cultivation speed these days, a full year of normal cultivation might not equal the improvement a single Millennium Soul Beast in the Spirit Ascension Platform could bring him.

Bai Chen did not remain immersed in his thoughts for long. After all, the danger posed by the wolf pack had not yet been fully resolved.

After steadying himself, he threw himself into battle once more.

After losing the Wolf King's leadership, the wolf pack's morale and combat strength both declined noticeably. One minute later, the wolves that had once seemed so overwhelming had been slaughtered to the last.

Only then did the four of them truly relax.

Gu Qingyu looked at Bai Chen with a complicated expression.

"Little brother, you..."

However, Bai Chen interrupted her before she could finish.

"Thank you for looking after me along the way, but I have important matters to attend to. Let's part ways here."

After saying that, he gave them a courteous nod, then turned and left without looking back.

Gu Qingyu watched him go, opening her mouth, but in the end, she could not bring herself to ask him to stay.

They had thought they were taking care of a child, only to find that they had been the ones cared for instead.

After Bai Chen walked beyond their line of sight, he let out a slight sigh of relief.

He had not lied to them with those final words. He truly did have something urgent to do.

He looked around, and after confirming that no one was nearby, he extended a hand toward the tree before him.

The next moment, specks of cyan light gathered in front of his palm and eventually condensed into a sharp Wind Blade that shot straight ahead.

Bang!

A slash mark immediately appeared on the tree.

"Hmm..."

Bai Chen stared at the mark and fell into thought.

During the slaughter of the wolf pack, after killing one of the Wind Demon Wolves, he had suddenly felt as though something extra had appeared within his body.

The sensation was somewhat similar to absorbing a Soul Ring. A sudden intuition had arisen in him that, if he wished, he could release Wind Blades like those Wind Demon Wolves.

The facts proved that his intuition had been correct.

But the power of this Wind Blade was rather subtle.

Whether in terms of condensation speed or power, it was far inferior to the authentic Wind Blades he had just seen.

Moreover, whenever he released this Soul Skill, he felt as though his Soul Power was circulating with great difficulty. Could this really be considered a Soul Skill? He had never felt this way when using his two genuine Soul Skills.

"..."

Bai Chen narrowed his eyes and raised his hand once again.

Well, the consumption of this Soul Skill was not particularly high. He could try it a few more times and see what happened.

The discovery that he could obtain new Soul Skills through Devouring Power was far too important to Bai Chen. He needed to thoroughly study the mechanics of this ability.

Thus, for the next hour, Bai Chen remained in this area researching his newly acquired ability.

Whenever a Soul Beast happened to pass by, he would casually kill it to replenish his Soul Power.

After an hour passed, Bai Chen finally gained a preliminary understanding of this ability.

First and foremost, the power of this Soul Skill was not fixed.

Bai Chen discovered that as the number of times he practiced increased, both the release speed and attack power of the Wind Blade were slowly improving. At the same time, the sluggish sensation in his Soul Power circulation when releasing the Soul Skill was gradually disappearing.

Although it still could not compare to a true Soul Skill, at this rate, raising this Soul Skill's power above the average level was only a matter of time.

New Ability

If one used games as an analogy, Soul Skills were like game skills with proficiency requirements. Generally speaking, Soul Skills naturally bestowed by Soul Rings started with proficiency above ninety percent. Therefore, no matter how inept the user was, they could still release the Soul Skill normally.

This was also the greatest difference between the Soul Skill system and other systems, including magic systems. Soul Skills were simply too convenient. For the vast majority of Soul Masters, the inherent power of a Soul Skill was already sufficient, and there was no need for further development.

But Bai Chen's situation was different. Although he could gain skills through devouring, the proficiency of those skills had to be built up from scratch.

That was why the Wind Blade he released for the first time had been so weak. Its experience bar had been empty, and its proficiency had not yet been raised.

As proficiency increased, both the skill's release speed and damage multiplier would improve, while its Soul Power consumption would decrease significantly. If Bai Chen raised this skill's proficiency to ninety percent, it would be no different from obtaining another Soul Skill.

With that, the issue of this Soul Skill's power had received a preliminary answer.

But this ability still carried many unresolved mysteries.

First, what were the conditions for obtaining Soul Skills through devouring?

This ability definitely could not activate without conditions. Otherwise, considering the number of Soul Beasts Bai Chen had killed so far, he should have dozens of Soul Skills by now.

There had to be restrictions and conditions behind this ability.

Bai Chen guessed that the first condition was probably attributes.

The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger itself possessed six attributes: evil, time, darkness, space, hurricane, and lightning. This Martial Soul should only be able to obtain abilities related to those six attributes, perhaps with strength included as well.

The fact that the first Soul Skill Bai Chen gained through devouring was Wind Attribute had initially proven this. If he could only obtain Soul Skills related to those six attributes in the future, then it would be fully confirmed.

As for the second condition, it was probably like Soul Bones: a matter of probability.

Bai Chen had killed dozens of Wind Demon Wolves, yet he had only taken the Wind Blade ability from one of them.

This meant that he could not obtain Soul Skills from opponents with a one-hundred-percent success rate.

He could not say what the exact probability was, but since he had triggered this ability so quickly, it was probably not low enough to be despairing.

As for further conditions and restrictions, he would have to explore them slowly.

No matter what, this discovery was absolutely good news for Bai Chen.

When he had fought Huo Yuhao before, he had discovered his current problem: his offensive methods were far too limited.

Why had he not relied on his ability to fly and wage guerrilla warfare against Huo Yuhao? Because Huo Yuhao had long-range attack methods, while he did not...