Lin Yuan's Cheat

Zhu Qing felt exceptionally conflicted.

If she resented him, he had saved her.

If she did not resent him...

She had been seen completely naked. If her rescuer had been a woman, it would have been fine, but if it had been a man, she truly would have wanted to cry without tears.

But then again, who exactly had saved her?

Zhu Qing looked around and saw that aside from rubble and ruins, she was the only one in the cave. The only exit left was that ventilation shaft.

In her current state, she definitely could not climb out to investigate.

Left with no other choice, she took a clean set of clothes from the storage Soul Tool she carried and changed into them.

Then she sat cross-legged, recovering her Soul Power while using it to accelerate the healing of her injuries.

Soul Masters all recovered at astonishing speeds.

Early the next morning, Zhu Qing's injuries had recovered somewhat. She could barely move, so she immediately leaped out through the ventilation shaft to investigate outside.

What she saw nearly scared her to death.

At the foot of the mountain, a group of Ten-Year Soul Beasts were fighting over and gnawing on corpses.

Though those corpses had already been chewed beyond recognition, she could vaguely identify them from their clothing. They were precisely the people who had pursued her alongside her sister, Zhu Zhuyun, last night.

What shocked her even more was the familiar tattered robe she spotted among them.

She recognized that robe. Only stewards of the Zhu family who had reached the rank of Soul Emperor were qualified to wear it.

"What exactly happened last night?"

Zhu Qing murmured in terror, her pupils contracting as her gaze swept across the surroundings. Other than the Ten-Year Soul Beasts at the foot of the mountain, there was not a single person in sight.

Clearly, after saving her last night, that person had left.

Meanwhile.

In another cave far away from Zhu Qing.

Lin Yuan looked at the Martial Soul in his hand, identical to that Ten-Thousand-Year Golden Thunder Bamboo, and could not stop grinning.

He had discovered this just after absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Golden Thunder Bamboo soul ring.

His original Lone Bamboo Martial Soul had, after six years of cultivation by the Heavenly Vial, risen in quality to roughly twenty thousand years.

Setting aside the Green Liquid he could not collect during rainy weather, as well as the Green Liquid consumed to cultivate his first soul ring, Lone Bamboo, and second soul ring, Thousand Illusion Bamboo, the quality of his Lone Bamboo had increased by an average of three to four thousand years each year.

Adding the enhancements to his Martial Soul from his first three soul rings, the quality of his Lone Bamboo Martial Soul was roughly equivalent to a thirty-thousand-year Lone Bamboo.

Yet after absorbing this Ten-Thousand-Year Golden Thunder Bamboo soul ring, it had directly evolved into Golden Lightning Bamboo identical to Han Li's true body.

Although its age had decreased.

There was no doubt that the quality of his Martial Soul had undergone an unprecedented improvement.

After all, Lone Bamboo was absolutely incomparable to Golden Lightning Bamboo.

Forget a thirty-thousand-year Lone Bamboo. Even a Hundred-Thousand-Year Lone Bamboo was far inferior to this ten-thousand-year Golden Lightning Bamboo.

The most obvious evidence was the change in his first three soul skills.

His first soul skill had changed from Lone Bamboo Throw to the Evil-Breaking Spear!

It was roughly three meters long!

Its entire body was emerald-gold. Based on the original bamboo staff, it now had a spearhead similar to the blade of the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, though one-third shorter and thicker.

The shaft retained the natural pattern of bamboo joints, with a warm, jade-like texture rather than the cold feel of metal.

Fine golden lightning patterns covered the spear. When he did not activate the Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Formula, the lightning remained restrained within it. Once activated, golden Evil-Exorcising Divine Thunder coursed and danced over the spear, crackling arcs of electricity coiling around it.

The original fifty-percent increase in strength and attack power had also risen to one hundred percent.

It could be said to have granted Lin Yuan comprehensive improvements.

His second soul skill had changed from Bamboo Forest Mirage to Bamboo Forest Illusory Sea.

Not only had its suppression of enemy spiritual power and enhancement of his own spiritual power increased from roughly ten percent to twenty percent, but the maximum coverage area of the mirage had also surpassed three hundred meters in diameter.

It was enough to carve out a battlefield suited to Lin Yuan.

Once Lin Yuan reached Soul Sage, surpassing a diameter of one thousand meters should not be a problem.

The most crucial change was the clones created by its mirage.

They were no longer mere illusions, but possessed actual attack power.

He could create up to four clones, each possessing roughly one-tenth of the main body's strength.

Lin Yuan currently possessed four soul rings. Every additional soul ring he gained in the future would increase the number of clones by one, and their strength would rise as well.

At most, he could create nine clones with attack power.

Their strength could reach up to one-third of the main body's.

His third soul skill, Golden Shadow Formula, had not changed in form, but it had become instantaneous and required no charging.

Moreover, the bamboo spikes and bamboo leaves it fired were incomparable to before, whether in sharpness or toughness.

After absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Golden Thunder Bamboo soul ring, the effects of the Black Jade Divine Bamboo Lin Yuan had previously refined finally manifested, allowing his Soul Power to break through to level forty-five.

At the same time, it granted him a fourth soul skill called Azure Origin Possession.

While this skill increased Lin Yuan's attack power, speed, defense, strength, and immunity to all negative conditions by two hundred percent, it also combined the strengths of Han Li's Azure Essence Sword Shield and Giant Sword Technique, granting Lin Yuan exceptionally formidable defense.

In this state, he could also infuse Evil-Exorcising Divine Thunder into the Evil-Breaking Spear created by his first soul skill, causing it to grow enormous.

This greatly amplified its destructive power.

At the same time, Lin Yuan finally understood how Han Li had previously discovered him while evading his spiritual detection.

After absorbing Han Li's soul ring, Lin Yuan had gained a domain like Han Li's.

It was called the Azure Origin Domain.

Within the domain, all vegetation became Lin Yuan's eyes and ears.

Han Li had discovered him through the bamboo by the previous cave entrance.

As for how Han Li had evaded his detection.

It was because of the Azure Origin Domain's basic skill, Breath Concealment.

Its ability rivaled Old Devil Han's Qi Concealment Formula.

It could perfectly conceal the fluctuations of Lin Yuan's own Soul Power.

As long as Lin Yuan wished it, he could disguise his aura as that of an ordinary bamboo stalk, a Soul Scholar, a Soul Master, a Grand Soul Master, or a Soul Elder.

If he deliberately hid, then even if a Titled Douluo intentionally released spiritual power to search for him, they would find nothing.

If he paired it with his second soul skill, Bamboo Forest Illusory Sea, and concealed one or two soul rings, then even standing before that Titled Douluo, the other party would be unable to discover that he was a level forty-five Soul Ancestor.

"This Breath Concealment skill is stronger than the methods my Supreme Sacred Heaven and Earth Technique and Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Formula use to conceal my aura by suppressing my own Soul Power fluctuations."

"The latter still needs to be paired with Bamboo Forest Illusory Sea. Even then, if a Titled Douluo deliberately investigates, there is still a risk of exposure. Breath Concealment is different. It can truly restrain one's aura without being detected."

"It is truly perfect for a hunter like me who walks in darkness."

There were only two or three days left until Shrek began classes. Xiao Wu and Tang San should already have arrived in Suotuo City.

This time, Shrek's admissions.

Would inevitably become a chaotic battle among transmigrators.

Originally, Lin Yuan had not planned to join the excitement as he had when Meng Baichuan, Meng Yiran, and Dai Mubai enrolled last time.

Now that he had the Azure Origin Domain, however, he could disguise himself as a Soul Master in his teens and investigate, seeing which transmigrators were there.