After leaving Clearwater Village, Lin Yan followed his grandmother to the Star Dou Great Forest.
Before heading to Shrek Academy, he first needed to obtain his third Spirit Ring.
Outside the Star Dou Great Forest, two carriages stopped before the warning sign. Lin Yan and Lin Yuhuan stepped down one after the other, then the grandmother and grandson headed deeper into the forest together.
"Lin Yan, you already have your first and second Soul Skills, as well as Thunderous Bagua, the innate offensive Soul Skill that came with your Martial Soul. In terms of offense, that is enough for now. What you currently lack is a defensive Soul Skill that can protect you."
"Us Tool Martial Soul users generally have stronger offensive capabilities than Beast Martial Soul users, but we also have a weakness: Tool Martial Souls do not enhance the body much. Our defenses are far inferior to those of assault-type Beast Martial Soul Masters. To ensure our safety, we must possess a defensive Soul Skill for emergencies."
As Lin Yuhuan watched their surroundings, she patiently explained the strengths and weaknesses of Tool Soul Masters to Lin Yan.
"Grandma, do you want me to obtain a defensive Soul Skill for my third Spirit Ring?" Lin Yan asked.
"Mm."
Lin Yuhuan nodded.
Lin Yan also felt that her words made sense, so he did not object. He nodded and said, "Grandma, I'll listen to you."
After enduring several rounds of Soul Beast attacks, the grandmother and grandson passed directly through the Outer Zone and entered the Mixed Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest.
For ordinary Soul Masters, the ideal age for a third Spirit Ring was between sixteen hundred and seventeen hundred years.
However, Lin Yan's second Spirit Ring had already reached eleven hundred years, so his third Spirit Ring naturally could not be judged by ordinary standards.
Before leaving Nine Treasure City, Lin Yuhuan had taken Lin Yan to visit the healing-type Spirit Douluo who had examined him before.
After carefully observing him with his first Soul Skill, the Spirit Douluo concluded that Lin Yan's current physical condition could absorb a four-thousand-year Spirit Ring without the slightest problem.
A four-thousand-year Spirit Ring was already the optimal age for a Soul Master's fourth Spirit Ring!
The two began searching through the Mixed Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Because of Lin Yan's outstanding talent, Lin Yuhuan held extremely high standards for every one of his Spirit Rings. With a preference for going without rather than settling, she would rather spend more time finding the best and most suitable Spirit Ring.
After their tireless efforts, three days later, they finally discovered a Soul Beast on a riverbank in the southern part of the Mixed Zone that satisfied Lin Yuhuan.
It was a large turtle, its pitch-black shell nearly a meter across. It lay comfortably in the soft mud by the riverbank, basking in the sun. Without careful observation, one might not even notice it and mistake it for a rock by the shore.
"Grandma, what kind of Soul Beast is that?" Lin Yan asked curiously as he studied it.
Although he was a transmigrator, that did not mean he knew everything.
When it came to Soul Beasts, he only knew of famous ones like the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear and the Titan Giant Ape. The species he knew did not even amount to one percent of all Soul Beasts.
That was also why Lin Yuhuan wanted him to study at Shrek Academy.
As a Soul Master, one had to possess sufficient knowledge and understanding of Soul Beasts.
Otherwise, how could one find a Spirit Ring with suitable attributes and age?
Lin Yuhuan explained with delight, "This Soul Beast is called an Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise, and it is extremely rare. Turtle-type Soul Beasts are already renowned for their astonishing defense, while the Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise ranks among the very best even among turtle-type Soul Beasts."
"Really?" Lin Yan asked in surprise.
It was hard to imagine that such an unremarkable creature possessed such terrifying defense.
Lin Yuhuan nodded. "You can go test its defense for yourself."
"Alright."
Lin Yan nodded eagerly. As he summoned his Martial Soul, he cautiously approached it.
Seeing that it still seemed asleep and showed no reaction, he tentatively swung his mace at its shell.
Bang—
The turtle shell shook violently.
Under the wolf-fang-like cones of the Black Demon Mace, the shell remained completely unharmed, without even a scratch. Instead, the terrifying recoil left Lin Yan's wrist slightly numb.
When his strike failed, Lin Yan quickly retreated.
At the same time, the pitch-black shell trembled again. Then, a large dark head poked out through the gap in the shell.
Clearly, Lin Yan's blow had not hurt it, but it had awakened it.
"What astonishing defense!"
Lin Yan took a deep breath.
Although that strike had not been enhanced by a Soul Skill, he had used over seventy percent of his strength. Combined with the power of his Martial Soul, it could have directly injured an ordinary Two-Ring Great Soul Master, yet it had not harmed the creature in the slightest.
"I refuse to believe I can't move you at all!"
This time, Lin Yan directly circulated his Soul Power and activated the skill of his first Spirit Ring, Thunder Awakening.
Rumble—
Deafening thunder exploded as streaks of purple-black lightning, each as thick as a baby's wrist, suddenly erupted from the Black Demon Mace.
The lightning crackled, its glow flickering brightly and dimly!
Compared to the lightning power that had erupted when Lin Yan first obtained this Soul Skill, the current Thunder Awakening was visibly much stronger.
It had once been thumb-thick; now it was as thick as a baby's wrist.
That was the power of a percentage-based enhancement Soul Skill.
Theoretically, the stronger Lin Yan's cultivation and attributes became, the greater the boost this Soul Skill could provide.
Lin Yan flashed forward, swinging out another blow bursting with destructive lightning.
Because the Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise had retracted its head into its shell in time, his strike once again landed on its shell.
A dull collision rang out, and lightning immediately spread across the shell.
A force of recoil traveled through the Black Demon Mace in his hand, but Lin Yan had been prepared. He merely circulated Soul Power through the meridians in his wrist and neutralized the recoil.
Physical attacks don't work. I wonder whether lightning attacks enhanced by Thunder Awakening will work?
Just as Lin Yan was thinking this, something completely unexpected happened.
The purple-black lightning spread across the turtle shell. At that moment, a layer of rippling black light suddenly bloomed across its surface, and the lightning that had spread over the shell was actually reflected back, all of it rushing toward the unprepared Lin Yan.
"What?!"
Lin Yan's expression changed drastically.
Moreover, perhaps it was an illusion, but the reflected lightning seemed far stronger than it had been when he unleashed it.
If it hit him, even if it did not kill him, it would strip him of a layer of skin.
At that critical moment, a figure flashed over at incredible speed and instantly carried Lin Yan away, causing the reflected lightning to strike nothing but empty air.
"Grandma, what was that just now? Why was the lightning power I unleashed reflected back at me?" Having narrowly escaped danger, Lin Yan recalled the scene and asked in shock.
"That is the Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise's strongest innate skill: Reflective Light."
"Reflective Light?"
"Mm. Reflective Light can reflect all of an opponent's energy attacks. Moreover, its power is greater than before it is reflected, increasing by around fifty percent."
Hearing Lin Yuhuan's explanation, Lin Yan stared wide-eyed. "Reflect attacks? Doesn't that make this Soul Skill invincible?"
Lin Yuhuan smiled and shook her head. "Of course not. Reflection also has a limit. Once that limit is exceeded, Reflective Light will be unable to reflect the opponent's elemental attack."
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