Seeing Xiao Wu again

"I just wonder whether the Heavenly Vial can keep improving the quality of this Golden Lightning Bamboo."

The Heavenly Vial had collected a drop of green liquid a few days ago, and Lin Yuan had yet to use it.

There were still a few days before Shrek Academy opened.

So, after testing the wonders of the Golden Lightning Domain, Lin Yuan removed his disguise and suppressed his aura to rank eighteen or nineteen. Then, like an ordinary soul master with a little talent, he openly made his way to a nearby town.

Being free of the worry that other transmigrators might target him felt incredibly refreshing.

After arriving in town, Lin Yuan ordered a table full of dishes and satisfied his appetite.

Then he rented a room and asked for a tub of bathwater.

Just as he stripped off his clothes and prepared to take out the Heavenly Vial, pour out the green liquid, and cultivate, something caught his attention.

To his surprise, the Thousand Illusion Bamboo Wisdom Skull inside the soul tool ring hanging from his neck had vanished into thin air.

That made him think of a possibility.

Without hesitation, he returned to the Star Dou Great Forest that very night and selected a ten-year-old Sacred Soul Grass of the spiritual type on its outskirts to accelerate its growth.

If a spiritual-type soul beast like this dropped a soul bone, there was a very high chance it would be a Wisdom Skull.

After killing the now hundred-year-old Sacred Soul Grass, Lin Yuan obtained a Wisdom Skull and placed it beside the head soul bone from the ten-thousand-year-old Golden Lightning Bamboo. Just as he had suspected, the Golden Lightning Bamboo Head Soul Bone devoured the Sacred Soul Grass Head Soul Bone.

After devouring the Sacred Soul Grass Head Soul Bone, the Golden Lightning Bamboo Head Soul Bone gave off noticeably stronger energy fluctuations.

Lin Yuan was both surprised and delighted.

"To think the Golden Lightning Bamboo Head Soul Bone can improve its quality and age by devouring other soul bones from the same body part."

"I still have Han Li's original body."

"If I use the Heavenly Vial to grow it into a new Golden Lightning Bamboo soul beast..."

"Then, in theory, couldn't I create an entire Golden Lightning Bamboo soul bone set that evolves by devouring other soul bones?"

The thought left Lin Yuan bubbling with excitement.

He immediately sought out a safe place, eager to absorb the Golden Lightning Bamboo Head Soul Bone.

He killed the soul beast occupying a cave high above the ground, then released his second soul skill, Bamboo Forest Illusory Sea, at the entrance, creating a bamboo forest to conceal it. By now, he was thoroughly practiced at the process.

Lin Yuan buried the Heavenly Vial beneath a ventilation opening and covered it with the magic treasure fragment.

Then he sat cross-legged on a rock in the center of the cave, held the golden, gleaming skull in both hands, pressed it to his forehead, and slowly closed his eyes.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, he tilted his head back and opened his eyes. After six continuous years of martial soul evolution, his features had fully matured into a handsome face. Suddenly, two clusters of golden lightning rose from his eyes.

Almost instantly, the two clusters converged and shot across more than ten meters at a bizarre angle that an ordinary person could scarcely follow, striking the cave ceiling.

With a thunderous explosion, a hole roughly three meters wide was blasted straight through the ceiling. Sunlight streamed through it and fell across his face.

Lin Yuan nodded in satisfaction. This head soul bone from the ten-thousand-year-old Golden Lightning Bamboo was a Wisdom Skull.

Besides greatly increasing his spiritual power to the Soul Sage level, it had granted him a skill called Evil-Exorcising Divine Light.

It could perfectly fuse his spiritual power with Evil-Exorcising Divine Thunder and fire them together.

Even if an enemy blocked the Evil-Exorcising Divine Thunder, they would struggle to defend against the spiritual impact.

More importantly, with Evil-Exorcising Divine Thunder serving as its carrier, the spiritual power would lose its connection to him once fired. Even against someone with greater spiritual power, he would not have to worry about spiritual backlash.

It also inflicted additional damage on those with demonic, ghostly, evil, or dark martial souls.

Aside from its age, it was an exceptionally perfect soul bone.

"Time to head to Suotuo City."

With the soul bone fused, Lin Yuan reached out and put away the Heavenly Vial, which had spent the whole night absorbing moonlight.

He hurried toward Suotuo City without stopping.

Absorbing the soul ring and soul bone this time, along with all the travel involved, had taken quite a while.

He had to pick up the pace, or he would miss the opening of that transmigrator free-for-all.

At that thought, Lin Yuan could not help feeling a little envious of those transmigrators with powerful backers.

Not one of them played fair.

They even had Titled Douluos accompanying them when they went looking for the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, leaving him no opportunity to act.

Otherwise, that soul bone might not have been beyond his reach.

Having missed out on a soul bone that granted flight, he could only trudge along the hard way.

And so, to avoid missing this grand spectacle, learn the other transmigrators' capabilities as early as possible, and plan for the future, Lin Yuan pressed on.

He traveled day and night.

Apart from recovering his soul power and stamina, he spent every moment on the road.

At last, he reached Suotuo City early on the morning Shrek Academy opened.

As soon as he reached the city gates, Lin Yuan saw the guards watching the people passing through.

When they showed no unusual reaction upon seeing him, he entered.

Once inside, Lin Yuan did not rush to Shrek Academy. Registration would not begin for another two hours, and arriving either too early or too late was less than ideal. There was no need to hurry.

Lin Yuan had left the Suotuo City Intermediate Soul Master Academy after the uproar over Meng Baichuan's and Meng Yiran's deaths had died down.

Now, returning a year later, he found the city noticeably more crowded.

Walking down the street, Lin Yuan saw a dense sea of heads everywhere he looked.

Even when the entire Dragon Snake Family had mobilized to search for Meng Yiran's killer, placing the whole city under lockdown and allowing people into Suotuo City but not out, it had never been this crowded.

Lin Yuan was speechless. Could a whole horde of transmigrators be hiding in this sea of people?

Fortunately, he now had the Golden Lightning Domain's Breath Concealment skill and had suppressed his aura to rank eighteen or nineteen. Otherwise, he would have turned around and left at the sight.

Oh well. I haven't had a decent meal in days. I've been eating dry rations until I'm almost sick of them. I should find somewhere to eat first and ask around about what's happened in Suotuo City while I'm at it.

With that thought, Lin Yuan headed toward an area packed with restaurants.

"Oh, Lin Yuan! It's you!"

A fairly familiar voice came from behind him. Lin Yuan turned around, and the sight of the person who had called out left him speechless.

It was none other than Xiao Wu, whom he had not seen in five years.

He had never expected that, even after five years, she would still recognize him. He had long since grown from a little Soul Scholar who had yet to obtain his first soul ring into a tall, one-hundred-and-eighty-centimeter Soul Ancestor.

His appearance had changed completely, yet she had still recognized him. It was practically cheating.

At that moment, Xiao Wu and Tang San were sitting at a stall eating breakfast. With so many pedestrians passing by, Lin Yuan had not noticed them at first.

Seeing Lin Yuan turn around, Xiao Wu was overjoyed. She quickly stood and came over to greet him.

Beside her, Tang San could only rise helplessly and follow.