Tonight, I'll Show You What I'm Capable Of!

Lin Ye raised his arm to block.

The icy sword energy sent the Moon Blade flying.

He followed with a kick that hurled Xie Yue twenty meters away.

"Fourth Soul Skill—Surging Magma!"

Yan, who had just been knocked a hundred meters back, charged in again.

He slammed both hands into the ground.

In an instant.

The earth cracked open.

Dazzling dark-red light burst from the fissures.

Scorching waves swept forward, and jets of white-hot lava shot skyward in their wake.

Lin Ye pressed a hand toward the ground...

The Mystic Ice True Dragon behind him instantly received his command.

It circled once in midair, then lowered its head and breathed out a torrent of extreme cold.

Before the two forces even met, the surging magma rapidly solidified.

Yan's pupils contracted.

"How is that possible?"

His Martial Soul came from the bloodline of a Fire-Attribute Soul Beast of the Primordial Era.

Its top-tier fire attribute had made him unstoppable among his peers, yet Lin Ye had completely suppressed him.

He tried to pull away.

But the extreme cold poured down at that moment, like ten thousand icy needles piercing his arms.

The flow of his Soul Power suddenly stalled. Ice crystals raced along his meridians, freezing him into an ice sculpture in the blink of an eye.

Yan had faced Lin Ye head-on to buy Hu Liena and Xie Yue time for their Martial Soul Fusion.

But...

Yan had lost too quickly.

Hu Liena and Xie Yue's Martial Soul Fusion was only half complete.

Lin Ye saw his chance and lunged forward.

He forcibly pulled Xie Yue away from Hu Liena.

The separation caused a backlash in both Xie Yue and Hu Liena. Their Soul Power seemed to drain away in an instant, leaving their faces deathly pale.

"You lost."

One had been frozen into an ice sculpture.

The other two lay on the ground, gasping for breath.

The Spirit Hall Golden Generation had completely lost the ability to fight.

"Hiss..."

"They lost?!"

Everyone from Spirit Hall, teachers and students alike, was stunned.

They had lost three against one?

Was this really the Golden Generation the current Pope took such pride in?

Their opponent might have been a Five-Ring Soul King, but they still should not have lost so badly.

The outcome was settled!

The Spirit Hall group slunk away.

Hu Liena glanced back...

Only then did she realize that Douluo Continent had Soul Masters more talented than the Golden Generation.

A profound sense of loss swept over her, and over everyone from Spirit Hall Academy.

After the Spirit Hall group had gone some distance.

Ghost and Chrysanthemum suddenly appeared.

The chill in their gazes made everyone present lower their heads, not daring to meet their eyes.

Gui Mei said to the Golden Generation, "Once this training expedition is over, the three of you will go to Death Canyon."

He had witnessed the entire fight.

Only one sentence could describe it: that loss had been ugly as hell.

"Yes."

A chill ran down all three of their spines at the mention of Death Canyon.

It was a savage region on the border between the Star Luo Empire and Spirit Hall.

Soul Beasts roamed everywhere, and poisonous miasma ran rampant!

Countless unknown dangers lurked there as well.

"Carry on."

With that, Ghost and Chrysanthemum vanished again.

They had not stepped in earlier because wagers between Soul Masters were sacred. Either side that broke one would struggle to find a place in the Soul Master World.

Besides...

What could they have done if they had stepped in?

Killed the members of the Imperial Fighting Team?

These young people all had powerful backgrounds.

One was a descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, another was Dugu Bo's granddaughter, and the rest came from second-tier families in Heaven Dou City.

Without an order from the Pope of Spirit Hall, they did not dare start a war on a whim.

Still...

It was Lin Ye who had truly caught their attention.

"Can someone really become a Five-Ring Soul King before turning twenty?"

"We just saw it happen."

"Don't you find it hard to believe?"

"Yes. It's monstrous. No Soul Master has ever cultivated this fast in the records of Douluo Continent."

"We should look into that kid's background."

"Save it. All we need to do is report to His Holiness the Pope when we get back. The rest isn't our concern."

"..."

Yue Guan no longer wanted to work himself to the bone for Spirit Hall.

He had spent decades there and still had not received a single Soul Bone.

Elsewhere.

The Imperial Fighting Team had won a resounding victory in its first battle of the expedition, and everyone was beaming.

Yet...

Lin Ye told them to take the Rainbow Elk and leave immediately.

The reason was simple.

The noise from the fight might draw other Soul Master teams or large Soul Beasts.

Besides...

What if Spirit Hall came back with reinforcements?

Seeing Lin Ye's decision, Qin Ming could not help praising him inwardly.

That was a captain!

Lin Ye was not only stronger than the others; he had plenty of wilderness survival experience, too.

They traveled for several hours.

At last, the group set up camp beside a stream.

"Osler and Yu Feng, stand guard. Yu Tianheng, gather wood for tonight's fire. Shi Brothers, put up the tents."

"Lingling."

"It's yours."

Lin Ye assigned everyone a task, then dropped the Rainbow Elk in front of Ye Lingling.

Fortunately.

The Rainbow Elk's last breath had held out long enough. Otherwise, they would have had to find Ye Lingling another fourth Soul Ring.

"Thank you, Captain!"

Ye Lingling's face lit up with excitement.

After all those twists and turns, the Rainbow Elk would become her Soul Ring after all.

"What about me?"

Everyone had something to do.

Only Dugu Yan had not been given a task.

"You..." Lin Ye grinned. "Once the tents are up, you can warm my bed."

Dugu Yan joked back, "As long as you don't mind me poisoning the sheets."

Two hours later.

The nine-thousand-year-old elk was roasting over the fire, filling the air with the rich smell of meat.

Lin Ye took a bite...

The energy in the meat seemed to quicken the flow of Soul Power through his body.

Just then.

Ye Lingling successfully absorbed her fourth Soul Ring.

Because of the nature of the Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul, the Soul Skill she gained was also a healing skill.

However...

The nine-thousand-year Soul Ring gave her five times as much healing power as her first three Soul Skills combined.

She walked up to Lin Ye, brimming with excitement. "Captain, thank you."

It was all thanks to Lin Ye.

She did not mean only the Rainbow Elk's Soul Ring. More importantly, Lin Ye had given her the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid earlier.

That Immortal-Grade Herb had been the key to absorbing a Soul Ring above her level.

"That's it?"

"I thought you'd give me something a little more substantial."

"Exactly."

"At the very least, you should give the captain a kiss."

Yu Tianheng led the teasing from the sidelines, deliberately putting on a disappointed face.

Ye Lingling ignored them.

Well...

If these busybodies weren't watching, she would definitely do what she had done last time.

After dinner.

Lin Ye sat meditating in his tent.

Without Shui Bing'er beside him, he could only cultivate alone.

Just then.

A head poked in. "I'm here to warm your bed."

Lin Ye had never imagined that Dugu Yan would actually act on what he had said that evening.

"Come on in."

What else was there to say?

Time to get to it!

"Shh..." Dugu Yan said, both embarrassed and delighted. "Keep your voice down. Don't let them hear."

"Keep my voice down?"

"You should be telling yourself that."

"Tonight, I'll show you what this big ice sculpture can do!"