Role Card

As he walked out of the room, the enormous villa was completely silent.

A subtle expression lingered on Chen Ling's face.

After absorbing the Eight Spider Spirit Bone and completing his transformation, all the Spirit Bones on his body seemed to have been linked together by invisible threads. Not only had his physical attributes surged across the board, but his spiritual power had also undergone a qualitative leap.

Nether Mirror Insight Eyes and his head Spirit Bone had formed a new, special synergy. The two powers complemented each other, sending his spiritual power soaring once again. This time, the increase was especially outrageous.

The experience was incredibly wondrous, comparable to a top-of-the-line 4K thermal imaging device. His field of vision was absurdly clear.

With a single thought, no detail in his surroundings could escape his notice. Even extreme distances posed no obstacle at all.

He swept his gaze across the villa and did not see Xiao Wu. Only a warm yellow light shone from Liu Erlong's little wooden cabin in the distance.

Chen Ling merely glanced at it before looking away.

The moon was really round tonight, and the moonlight was really white.

A sword shadow emerged behind him and circled his body as he streaked toward the outskirts of Heaven Dou City.

A short while later, Chen Ling returned to the Icefire Yin Yang Well.

The main reason he had specifically used the External Soul Bone's soul skill on Tang San earlier was for the Immortal Herb catalog.

There was really no helping it. He genuinely could not recognize all these rare and exotic plants. Although quite a few Immortal Herbs corresponded to ordinary plants he had seen in his previous life, even then, his knowledge in this field had been extremely limited.

As Chen Ling browsed through the unlocked Immortal Herb catalog in his mind, his hands continued moving, collecting one rare Immortal Herb after another.

The Immortal Herbs growing here were far more abundant than those recorded in the original work, both in variety and quantity.

With so many Immortal Herbs, he had enough to train all his subordinates. Still, there was no need to rush. Cultivating talent had always been a gradual process.

While he was focused on collecting the Immortal Herbs, several slender Blue Silver vines slowly wound their way up from the ground and gently wrapped around his ankle.

Compared to before, Ah Yin had grown much more lushly.

This was thanks to Chen Ling's earlier watering. The Blue Silver Emperor's origin was primarily life-aspected, while the Chaos Power in his body could freely transform into both ice and fire power—and happened to be able to convert into life energy as well. It perfectly suited Ah Yin's growth needs, directly causing her growth speed to skyrocket.

However, Chen Ling keenly noticed that Ah Yin was particularly unusual today.

It was obvious that she desperately wanted to draw close to him, yet was doing everything she could to restrain her instincts, forcibly suppressing her desire for intimacy.

"Interesting."

After putting away the last Immortal Herb, Chen Ling slowly stepped forward and crouched down, studying the Blue Silver Emperor before him with great interest.

Its leaves trembled lightly twice, as though deliberately avoiding his gaze. Yet that appearance of wanting to hide but being unable to escape only made it seem more conspicuous—and especially adorable.

Chen Ling chuckled softly. It seemed Ah Yin's consciousness had already awakened.

He had actually suspected this before. Ah Yin's consciousness was most likely awake all along; she had merely seemed so wilted because she was too weak.

Now, she had clearly recovered.

Looking at the vines around his ankle and the swaying Blue Silver Emperor before him gave him a strange feeling.

A scene had already automatically formed in his mind.

"Madam, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your son, would you? Heh heh heh."

"No... oh ho ho ho..."

As his thoughts ran wild, Chen Ling coughed twice. He had just broken through, and his surging blood and vitality had gone to his head. He truly could not hold himself back. It seemed that after returning, he would need his dear sword sheath to help him properly relieve it.

Chen Ling raised his hand. Invisible sword light slipped from his fingertips, and blood dripped down, beginning to water Ah Yin.

The Blue Silver Emperor suddenly shuddered. After a brief hesitation, her bodily instincts completely overwhelmed her awakened consciousness, and she began absorbing it without reservation.

It was like clearly crying no while being unable to control the body's instinctive response.

Chen Ling's heart stirred, and he separated a wisp of gentle spiritual power, slowly probing into the depths of the Blue Silver Emperor's soul.

He fused a trace of Sever Delusions Sword Intent into it, merely adding a little omniscient perspective. He believed it would have an unexpected effect.

Faced with this vast yet gentle power, Ah Yin made no move to resist. More accurately, she simply had no ability to resist.

Just as Chen Ling leisurely fed Ah Yin, a sudden ding sounded in his mind, startling him so badly that he nearly leaped into the air.

Soul Rings instantly appeared around him as he vigilantly looked around.

[Detected host faction, Cloudcrag Academy. Reward: a random character card suitable for an academy position.]

Upon hearing this, Chen Ling finally withdrew his martial soul and let out a breath.

"Couldn't you just say it all at once?" Chen Ling wiped away a cold sweat.

The system's judgment mechanism had always been rather bizarre. Either both parties had to willingly spar, or the other party had to pose a threat to him and harbor killing intent toward him.

With those two factors combined, the system suddenly chiming when he had sensed nothing was naturally terrifying.

Of course, there was ultimately nothing to fear.

It felt like secretly playing on a phone beneath the blankets in a high school dormitory in the middle of the night, becoming completely absorbed in it, only for someone to suddenly yank away the blanket—then discovering it was just one of your good buddies. Nothing but a false alarm.

If someone had truly been sneaking around trying to kill him, the system would have started rattling off names long ago.

Chen Ling laughed, his gaze falling on the card that had appeared out of thin air in his hand.

The card was warm and delicate in texture, feeling like a fine jade tablet. It could even be swiped at will like a phone screen, allowing him to browse the character entries within.

Chen Ling casually flipped through it twice and nearly threw the thing away.

The first character profile was Xuan Zi, a Rank 98 Super Douluo. He would have been better off without this thing.

Chen Ling patiently continued reading. Most of those that appeared afterward were veteran powerhouses from the original work, but nearly all were figures who only appeared in the following two eras.

Shrek's celestial dragons were gone, and now they had become Cloudcrag's celestial dragons?

Chen Ling found the thought amusing. After all, the descriptions stated the prerequisite plainly enough: complete loyalty.

As for the Cloudcrag Loyalty Gu—

The Loyalty Gu was second only to the Love Gu. Sometimes, even the Love Gu could not compare. Just look at the powerhouses from the two later eras. Chen Ling was not worried about that at all. As long as they were loyal, nothing else mattered.

Even Xuan Zi, whom he had just disliked—even if he pulled off all sorts of absurd nonsense, his loyalty to Shrek could not be denied.

Thinking about it that way, it did not matter. If he drew those absurd fellows, he could simply use them as thugs. They would not need to do anything else.

Chen Ling could not personally take action every time either. With his current strength, most powerhouses were no longer worth triggering rewards for. Defeating Sword Douluo Chen Xin was already enough to spread his name.