"Then, Brother Lin, what Spirit Ring would suit me best?"
Ignoring the two teachers clearing the way, Tang Yin's gaze was almost entirely fixed on Lin Yue, her eyes filled with affection and longing.
"Of course, a life-type Soul Beast from the bamboo family. The only question is whether we can find a suitable one."
A Ten-Year Lone Bamboo naturally wasn't worthy of Ah Yin, but what if it were a Soul Beast of the same type that was over six hundred years old?
Bamboo could be said to possess one of the fastest growth rates among all plants, and its vitality was naturally among the toughest. It was absolutely worthy of the life-oriented Blue Silver Emperor.
Yet there was one thing Lin Yue found very strange.
He had once looked through Soul Beast encyclopedias and consulted every teacher and the dean. He had even forced himself through the disgust and challenged Yu Xiaogang directly, asking whether there were any bamboo-type Soul Beasts over a hundred years old.
Yet the answer had left him utterly stunned. The very reason Yu Xiaogang had praised that Ten-Year Lone Bamboo was because Lone Bamboo Spirit Rings had a maximum limit of only ten years.
"There simply are no bamboo-type Soul Beasts that are over a hundred years old in this world."
Even Yu Xiaogang, who had secretly read countless sects' secret Soul Beast manuals, had said so with a cold sneer. It dealt a considerable blow to Lin Yue's confidence, and he could never understand why.
Even something as weak as Blue Silver Grass could have an extraordinary leader like the Blue Silver Emperor. Then there was no reason Lone Bamboo, which appeared weak but actually possessed immense vitality, couldn't produce a powerful king.
After all, even ordinary bamboo plants could be found everywhere in forests. There were countless bamboo groves across the Douluo Continent. How could high-level bamboo-type Soul Beasts fail to emerge?
With doubts about bamboo in mind, Lin Yue no longer focused his gaze on any Soul Beasts. Instead, his eyes swept over one stalk of bamboo after another in the forest, and from time to time, he reached out to touch them, using the system to determine what level of Soul Beast they were.
[Lone Bamboo: Age, twenty-one years] [Lone Bamboo: Age, thirteen years] [Lone Bamboo...] [Jade Bamboo: Bamboo material, usable as an alchemy resource]
"Hmm?!"
A completely different information prompt entered his sight. Lin Yue immediately stopped moving.
His cry made both the head instructor and Yu Xiaogang, who were clearing the path ahead, turn around at once.
Seeing him stop before a stalk of bamboo, Yu Xiaogang's arrogant voice immediately rang out.
"What? You can't move after seeing this bamboo? It's just an ordinary Jade Bamboo. What's so strange about it?"
"Jade Bamboo?"
Lin Yue raised an eyebrow and looked at Yu Xiaogang.
"That's right. It's ordinary bamboo, merely a different variety. This kind of bamboo is tougher than ordinary bamboo."
Yu Xiaogang nodded and assumed a lofty, instructive air.
"Some Jade Bamboo may be tougher than Ten-Year Lone Bamboo. But it's still just ordinary bamboo. Even if you chop it down, there won't be any Spirit Ring."
Haha, ordinary bamboo was tougher than Ten-Year Lone Bamboo. How very "ordinary"...
A strong disdain curled Lin Yue's lips. He took two steps back but did not move any farther, instead staring intently at that Jade Bamboo as if searching for something.
Seeing the contempt at the corner of Lin Yue's mouth and feeling his expertise being questioned again, intense indignation surged through Yu Xiaogang.
This guy again. Every time, he came up with some bizarre theory to refute him. He was practically Yu Xiaogang's nemesis! He always angered him to the point of seeing red!
Now that he had caught an opportunity, Yu Xiaogang would definitely win back all the face he had lost!
"What? You still don't believe me?"
Yu Xiaogang's face tightened as he strode over to the Jade Bamboo.
In front of Xiao San, he would prove today that the theories of a master theorist like himself were invincible.
"Xiao San, watch carefully. I'll chop this bamboo down right now. It isn't a Soul Beast at all, so it definitely won't produce a Spirit Ring."
As he spoke, Yu Xiaogang rolled up his sleeves, swung his axe, and began chopping with great effort.
"My name isn't Tang San. It's Tang Yin."
A cold glint flashed through her eyes. She stepped two paces away as though avoiding a plague god, disgust flickering in the girl's gaze.
Whenever that name was mentioned, Tang Yin could not help recalling the suffering she had endured. She had already decided to abandon the past completely, yet Yu Xiaogang kept calling her Xiao San...
He was simply courting death!
"Enough. Don't mind him."
Lin Yue gently took the girl's little hand and comforted her softly.
The smile of the man she loved instantly dispelled Tang Yin's irritation. She clasped Brother Lin's hand in return, and a faint smile appeared on her delicate jade-like face.
Brother Lin had rarely taken the initiative to hold her hand before...
"Ahem, Director Su, come give me a hand. This thing is a little hard."
After only a few swings of the axe, Yu Xiaogang was already panting. Weak and exhausted, he could only cough awkwardly and ask Su Yan for help.
Two axe strikes had only carved a tiny notch into the Jade Bamboo. At Yu Xiaogang's pace, it would probably take ten minutes just to chop down one stalk.
As a three-ring Soul Elder, Su Yan was also rather helpless before Yu Xiaogang, who looked impressive but was all bark and no bite.
To end this farce as quickly as possible, he could only use Martial Soul Possession. Seizing the axe, he struck twice, and the Jade Bamboo snapped cleanly at its base.
The instant the Jade Bamboo fell, Yu Xiaogang immediately perked up again. His bent waist straightened at once.
"See? What did I say? Nothing happened, did it?"
Dragging the severed bamboo stalk behind him, Yu Xiaogang held his head high and puffed out his chest like a victorious general, looking disdainfully at Lin Yue.
"A Soul Beast? Something with no ability to resist at all, how could it possibly be a Soul Beast? Even a Ten-Year Lone Bamboo would shake its leaves and struggle a little after being chopped twice. This Jade Bamboo is nothing more than ordinary bamboo."
"There are no bamboo-type Martial Souls over a hundred years old in this world. Stop entertaining such fantasies."
Faced with Yu Xiaogang's pretentious scolding, Lin Yue's expression did not change. He merely frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping uneasily through the forest.
Five meters, ten meters, fifteen meters, twenty meters, twenty-five meters...
Not bad. It looked like the problem wasn't too serious. It should still be manageable.
"Brother Lin, what are you looking at?"
Noticing that something seemed wrong with Lin Yue, as though he were facing something terrifying, Tang Yin tensed as well. Purple light flashed through her beautiful eyes as she continuously scanned their surroundings, but she found nothing.
"Ah Yin, your eyesight is better than mine. Help me count how many Jade Bamboo stalks there are nearby. What area do they cover exactly?"
"Huh?"
Although she had no idea what Brother Lin meant, Tang Yin's eyes flashed, and she carried out his command decisively and swiftly.
"Not counting the one that was chopped down, there are twenty-three Jade Bamboo stalks nearby. They're spread across a roughly circular area with a diameter of thirty meters."
Among those twenty-odd Jade Bamboo stalks, seven were especially thick and sturdy, while the other dozen or so were comparatively slender and tender, not particularly remarkable.
Naturally, the one Yu Xiaogang had chopped down was one of the slender stalks.
Seeing the confusion in Ah Yin's eyes, Lin Yue grinned. His voice was soft, yet it seemed exceptionally tranquil amid the rustling bamboo grove.
"Ah Yin, do you know? In a sense, bamboo cannot really be considered a single living organism."
"What nonsense? Are you spouting bullshit? How is bamboo not a living organism? If bamboo isn't a living organism, then what is Ten-Year Lone Bamboo?"
Seeing that this kid had started talking nonsense, Yu Xiaogang immediately jumped out and interrupted sharply.
Yet beneath Yu Xiaogang's seemingly arrogant manner, there were clearly traces of panic in his expression, as though he were fierce on the outside but weak within.
Staring at the contempt in Lin Yue's eyes, Yu Xiaogang had a faintly bad feeling. It seemed that what this kid was about to say would completely overturn his theories, perhaps even everyone's understanding.
Ignoring Yu Xiaogang, who resembled a clown leaping about, Lin Yue picked up the hoe, took two steps forward, and continued in a calm voice.
"Why is a ten-year Lone Bamboo called Lone Bamboo? Because it only has one stalk, so as long as the stalk itself is severed, it dies."
"But the bamboo above the soil is far from its true body. The 'bamboo' aboveground isn't the Soul Beast itself, but rather its arm—or perhaps an organ it uses to absorb light and air."
"A bamboo grove is essentially one single individual. The bamboo stalks flower together, wither together, and share the same cycle of life and death. Their true body..."
"Is the tangled, interconnected root system buried beneath the soil!"
The instant the words left his mouth, Lin Yue raised the hoe high and smashed it down. At the exact center of the twenty-three Jade Bamboo stalks, he dug out a clump of dark soil.
The instant he broke open the earth, the entire bamboo grove's aura changed!
A heavy, vortex-like pressure surged from every direction! Everyone's expressions changed dramatically!
Lin Yue's actions seemed to have completely awakened some ferocious beast buried deep beneath the soil. The twenty-three Jade Bamboo stalks swayed in the wind, their leaves trembling and rustling continuously. The ground beneath everyone's feet became uneven, as though something terrifying were about to burst forth.
"Little Lin, what is going on?"
Head Instructor Su Yan's eyes widened as he stared at the ground in disbelief.
Within his field of vision, one swollen mound of earth after another burst through the ground, radiating endless killing intent!
The next instant, as if sensing something, the head instructor grabbed Yu Xiaogang and Tang Yin. With a stomp of his feet, he shot several meters into the air!
The instant he leaped up, emerald bamboo blades burst from the countless small mounds that had just risen, like sharp swords, stabbing the spot where they had been standing until it was completely impenetrable!!