When he reached the edge of the crater, Lin Mo sucked in a breath of cold air.
He estimated its diameter at seventy meters and its depth at around twenty.
The Golden Crocodile King lay motionless at the bottom of the crater.
Most of the golden scales covering its body had shattered.
Its more vulnerable belly was a bloody mess, with much of its innards exposed.
But it still had a breath of life left!!
Its belly rose and fell ever so faintly!!
"Spiritual skull bone skill-Spiritual Pierce!!"
Not daring to hesitate, Lin Mo attacked immediately.
In an instant, the dying Golden Crocodile King was dead for good.
A mass of ink-black light slowly rose, hovering quietly above the corpse.
It was a soul ring!
A soul ring nearly twenty-one thousand years old!!
"Excellent!! But absorbing it right here would be a little too dangerous."
As he gazed at the gleaming black soul ring, a flash of wild delight crossed Lin Mo's eyes.
Still, he did not rush to absorb it.
The danger was not the soul ring, but the soul beasts nearby.
"I need some cover or camouflage first."
Lin Mo looked at the crater before him, his brows drawing together as he considered his options.
A moment later, he stamped his right foot down hard.
Through the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, he made blue silver grass sprout from the earth and spread steadily outward.
In the blink of an eye, dense roots began covering the top of the crater.
"Not enough. It looks too conspicuous from outside."
Lin Mo shook his head and flew straight out of the crater.
Sweeping his gaze around, he looked toward the shattered riverbed not far away.
The Blazing Terror Bird's self-detonation had broken the river apart, sending the water flowing in different directions.
"If I divert the river water over here, that should do the trick, right?"
Looking at the patch of green beneath his feet, Lin Mo had a flash of inspiration.
A thick layer of blue silver grass, concealed beneath river water.
He refused to believe any soul beast could discover him underneath!
He put his plan into action immediately, snapping several large trees in a few blows and dragging them to the riverbank to divert the water into the crater beside it.
Before long, the blue silver grass on the surface was submerged.
Lin Mo nodded in satisfaction and leaped back into the crater.
"Splash~"
Water splashed in all directions, reaching just above his feet.
It was neither too deep nor too shallow. All it needed to do was provide some concealment.
"Good. I'll just let the river water trickle down."
Wasting no more time, he controlled the blue silver grass to open a gap.
He quickly jumped into the pit beneath it.
Then he sealed the entrance completely.
"Twenty-thousand-year soul ring, here I come!!"
Gazing at the black ring of light before him, Lin Mo sat cross-legged in excitement.
He began guiding the soul ring into his body.
Unlike the smooth absorption last time, this energy was exceedingly violent.
Although the Golden Crocodile King had not harbored much malice toward him.
After all, he was merely someone who had "scooped up a bargain."
The true culprit was the Blazing Terror Bird.
But twenty-one thousand years of soul power, coupled with a powerful bloodline, was no joke.
Violent energy rampaged through his meridians.
The Golden Crocodile King's lingering will roared inside Lin Mo's mind!!
Waves of soul-shaking assaults crashed over him like a rising tide.
It felt as though countless needles were stabbing into his mind.
Had he not possessed a Soul Emperor's physique and spiritual power.
Lin Mo probably would not have survived even the first wave.
A quarter of an hour.
Half an hour.
As time passed, the assaults on his soul finally began to weaken.
The phantom of the Golden Crocodile King gradually grew indistinct as well.
Finally, it let out an unwilling roar and vanished completely.
The onslaught against his body and soul was finally over.
Lin Mo's tightly knitted brows slowly relaxed. Now it was time to enjoy the fruits of his efforts.
Time slipped by.
There was no sunlight in the pit, no sound, and no sense of time.
After an unknown stretch of time, Lin Mo finally opened his eyes.
Crimson-gold light flashed, making even the darkness pale.
The boy stood and stretched, his bones crackling.
"This feels amazing! I finally have a real combat soul skill!!"
Lin Mo threw his head back and laughed, his voice echoing through the pit.
The next second, he pushed off with both legs and leaped!
"Blazing Sun Serpent, first soul skill!!"
He clenched his right fist and drew it sharply back, gathering power.
The pitch-black soul ring appeared instantly, pure soul power surging wildly within it.
"Golden Crocodile Heaven-Splitting Strike!!"
His fist howled through the air, blasting toward the blue silver grass barrier overhead with destructive force.
The Blazing Sun Serpent martial soul, its body as thick as a python's, opened its savage, blood-red maw.
A phantom of the Golden Crocodile King flickered into view.
The enormous crocodile head overlapped with the Blazing Sun Serpent's head.
Crimson-gold light cleaved through all the darkness!
Boom!!!
A thunderous explosion rang out as a massive opening was torn through the blue silver grass barrier and the river water above it.
Water burst upward, scattering like raindrops.
Lin Mo stood at the edge of the pit, feeling the boost in strength his beast martial soul provided.
This sensation was completely different from the Eye of Myriad Phenomena.
The Blazing Sun Serpent martial soul gave him the feeling that sheer strength could shatter ten thousand techniques!!
"Not enough. The serpent martial soul is still too weak. I need to evolve it into a true dragon martial soul!!"
Lin Mo clenched his fists, his gaze firmer than ever before.
If he had lacked the means, he could have let it go.
But now, with the help of a trace of the Golden Sacred Dragon's bloodline, his Blazing Sun Serpent martial soul had successfully grown a pair of horns.
With such a broad, open road before him, how could he pass it up?
"For my second soul ring, I'd better absorb another soul beast with a dragon bloodline. But there's no rushing it right now. I'll head back to the cave first."
Putting away his martial soul and soul ring, Lin Mo activated the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone.
He instantly rose into the air and flew straight toward the cave.
But before he had flown far, a deafening roar rang out.
"Roar, roar, roar~!!"
Lin Mo frowned and instinctively looked toward the sound.
A fiery-red phantom flickered in the distance.
"Is that... a fire... fire dragon??"
Pushing the Eye of Myriad Phenomena's vision to its limit, Lin Mo finally made out its form.
Indeed, it was a fire dragon!
But it was not a soul beast. It seemed to be a martial soul!!
Instinctively, the boy thought of a woman.
"Could it be her? There probably aren't more than a handful of fire dragon martial souls on the entire continent, right?"
Almost certain of his guess, Lin Mo decided to go take a look.
After all, anyone coming to the Star Dou Great Forest was most likely here to obtain a soul ring.
Perhaps he could gain something from this?
"I wonder how strong this woman is now. Don't disappoint me too much."
Once he was close enough, Lin Mo chose to approach on foot.
After all, if he flew straight over, he would probably be discovered immediately.
Sensing the increasingly intense fluctuations of soul power, he instinctively slowed his steps.
Soon, a scorched stretch of forest came into view.
"Dean Liu, I'll stand guard for you. You can absorb the soul ring without worry."
A somewhat aged voice reached his ears.
Lin Mo instinctively ducked into the bushes beside him.
With only one eye peeking out, he secretly watched what was happening at the center of the battlefield ahead.
Before you continue