Ten Thousand Years for the Fourth Ring

A black Soul Ring hovered above the Darkwater Shadow Leopard's corpse, radiating a Pressure far stronger than a Thousand-Year Soul Ring's in every direction.

Ling Yun sat cross-legged in the shallow water. Rather than draw in the Soul Ring immediately, he first brought himself to peak condition.

Tang San stood a few meters away, his brow still furrowed.

Thirteen thousand years.

Even after Ice and Fire Body Tempering, that age was an outrageous leap for Ling Yun. Enduring the impact of Soul Power was one thing; surviving the Soul Shock left behind by a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was another.

"You can still change your mind," Dugu Bo said, arms folded. "I can find you another Soul Beast, one six or seven thousand years old. With your talent, there's no need to throw your life away for a Soul Ring."

Ling Yun opened his eyes and glanced at the black Soul Ring before him. "We already killed it. Making me pick another now would be a little disrespectful."

Tang San's mouth twitched.

If the Darkwater Shadow Leopard could still speak, it would probably have asked for a little less respect.

Ling Yun stopped joking. Soul Power flowed from him, and a pulling force settled over the black Soul Ring.

In the next instant, the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring contracted sharply, engulfing Ling Yun in dense black light.

The moment the Soul Ring entered his body, all ease vanished from his face.

Violent Soul Power flooded his meridians, many times fiercer than when his Second Soul Ring had broken the thousand-year mark. This time, though, Ling Yun's body was no longer what it used to be.

After the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot completed his Ice and Fire Body Tempering, his meridians had grown more resilient, and his bones and flesh much stronger. The Darkwater Shadow Leopard's Soul Power was fierce, but nowhere near strong enough to tear his body apart.

Dugu Bo watched for a while, then nodded slightly.

"His body should hold up."

Tang San remained tense. "The real danger hasn't come yet."

No sooner had he spoken than Ling Yun's body jolted.

The Soul Power battering his meridians suddenly went still. Then a beast's roar, thick with Spite, seemed to explode deep inside his mind.

The Mist Marsh around him vanished.

When Ling Yun opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a Pitch-Black Space.

Ahead of him, the Darkwater Shadow Leopard slowly emerged.

Unlike before, all its wounds had disappeared. It had grown larger, too, and its blue-black eyes were fixed on Ling Yun.

This was the Soul Shock left behind by a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

It had no physical body, but it could strike directly at a Soul Master's mind. If his will broke, the absorption would fail at best; at worst, his mind would be damaged.

The Darkwater Shadow Leopard growled and sprang.

Ling Yun instinctively tried to dodge, only to find he couldn't use his Soul Skills at all.

This was not reality.

Speed, Wave Treading, Water Shadow Clone—none of them mattered here.

"No wonder nobody normally tries a ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring."

As the Darkwater Shadow Leopard closed in, Ling Yun finally understood what made it so troublesome.

A Soul Beast attacking your mind didn't care how your Martial Soul was built.

The Darkwater Shadow Leopard's claws came down.

Ling Yun raised both arms to block. The blow sent his spiritual form sliding back several meters, and searing pain followed. His body hadn't been hurt, yet the pain felt sharper than a real slash.

Once. Twice.

The Darkwater Shadow Leopard barely gave him room to breathe. Ling Yun could dodge at first, but as time dragged on, mental exhaustion mounted fast.

Outside, Tang San had noticed something was wrong.

Sweat beaded on Ling Yun's forehead, but his Soul Power showed no sign of running wild. His body clearly wasn't the problem.

"The Soul Shock has begun."

Dugu Bo said nothing. At this stage, no outsider could help.

Ling Yun had to face it himself.

Inside the Mental Space, the Darkwater Shadow Leopard knocked Ling Yun back again. After landing, he did not get up right away. He sat there rubbing his wrist.

"That's about enough."

The Darkwater Shadow Leopard, of course, didn't understand. It lunged again, but this time Ling Yun did not dodge.

Just as its claws were about to fall, a dark-blue figure appeared behind him.

Greninja.

Ling Yun froze for a moment.

This was a mental world where he couldn't use Soul Skills, yet his Greninja Martial Soul had still appeared.

In the next instant, man and frog moved almost as one.

Ling Yun raised a hand.

Greninja raised a hand too.

Their spiritual power merged completely.

For the first time, the Darkwater Shadow Leopard, which had seemed so enormous, faltered before their connection.

Ling Yun understood at once.

He couldn't use Soul Skills here, but his Martial Soul was part of his soul.

If this was a contest of mind and will, Greninja had never been something separate from him.

"You could've told me we could take it two against one."

Ling Yun rose and charged.

The Darkwater Shadow Leopard swiped. Ling Yun turned aside, Greninja's figure almost perfectly overlapping his. Every movement they made was in uncanny sync.

He had no Soul Skills, but the combat experience he had built over the years had not vanished.

The Darkwater Shadow Leopard relied on speed, so he matched it with his reactions.

It excelled at pouncing for the kill, so he read where it would land.

The lingering spirit that had overwhelmed him at first soon grew fainter and fainter.

In the end, it was only the will left behind by a dead Soul Beast, not a living thirteen-thousand-year-old Darkwater Shadow Leopard.

They crossed paths once more. Ling Yun drove a fist into its head, and Greninja's fist struck at almost the same instant.

The Darkwater Shadow Leopard stopped dead. Then it began to crumble from the head down. The Mental Space shattered, and Ling Yun's eyes snapped open in the real world.

The black Soul Ring settled into place. Yellow, purple, purple, black.

Four Soul Rings pulsed slowly around his body.

Tang San had expected it, but when he saw the black Soul Ring stabilize, his gaze still hardened and his fists clenched tighter.

A ten-thousand-year Fourth Soul Ring. Why could this guy always do what should have been impossible?

Dugu Bo was more direct. "Now that you've succeeded, try out the Soul Skill. I want to see whether what you risked so much for was worth it."

Ling Yun was curious himself. After feeling it out for a moment, a strange look entered his eyes.

His fourth Soul Ring lit up.

A faint mist rose from beneath his feet and spread rapidly. The marsh was already thick with fog; in the blink of an eye, Ling Yun vanished completely from sight.

Tang San immediately activated his Purple Demon Eye.

But this time, instead of a clear figure, he saw countless blurred fluctuations of Soul Power shifting with the mist.

"That's no ordinary fog."

Tang San quickly reached his conclusion. "It scrambles his aura too."

He had barely finished speaking when a hand came to rest on his shoulder from behind.

Tang San's body went rigid.

Ling Yun's voice sounded beside his ear. "Little San, can you see me this time?"

Tang San turned.

There was nothing behind him. More than ten meters away, the fog parted and Ling Yun appeared again.

Fourth Soul Skill: Mist Veil.

It created a wide field of mist that hid his form and Soul Power fluctuations while greatly boosting his burst speed. Used with Water Shadow Clone and Wave Treading, it could leave an enemy almost unable to tell which figure was the real one.

Ling Yun rubbed his chin, quite pleased with the Soul Skill.

There was just one problem: however he looked at it, this ability did not seem suited to sparring at the academy.

Especially when paired with Water Shuriken.

You couldn't see him or find the real body, and then a rapidly spinning blade of water suddenly appeared beside your neck.

Ling Yun thought for a moment, then looked at Tang San.

Tang San caught his gaze and instinctively had a bad feeling.

"Little San." Ling Yun smiled with exceptional warmth. "Once we're back at the academy, how about another practice match?"