Thousand-Year Violent Rabbit, Meeting Gu Yue

The soul spirit absorption went far more smoothly than Tang Wulin had imagined.

He sat cross-legged in the meditation room beside the soul spirit storage room, cradling the purple-glowing soul spirit orb in both hands as he slowly closed his eyes.

Leng Yaozhu stood nearby with her arms folded, watching him intently. Faint ripples of soul power circulated around her, ready to respond to any unexpected developments.

Unlike hunting soul beasts to obtain soul rings, absorbing a soul spirit was a much gentler process.

A soul spirit was itself the tamed soul of a soul beast. As long as one's spiritual power was strong enough, establishing a contract would go smoothly.

Tang Wulin's innate Spirit Connection Realm spiritual power showed its tremendous advantage here. His consciousness surged into the soul spirit orb like a tide, making contact with the sleeping Violent Rabbit soul spirit.

He encountered no resistance whatsoever throughout the process.

The purple light within the soul spirit orb slowly faded, replaced by a pale purple ring that rose from beneath Tang Wulin's feet and slowly revolved around his body.

Waves of soul power poured out of him, sending ripples through the air.

Soul power level: eleven.

Tang Wulin opened his eyes. Before he could even feel the changes in his body, he noticed a small, fluffy creature in front of him.

A rabbit.

It was snowy white all over, with soft pink features, two long ears standing upright on its head, and two signature buck teeth sticking out. It looked utterly harmless, so adorable it could melt anyone's heart.

The only unusual thing was its eyes. Deep within its blood-red pupils, a faint glimmer of gold seemed to swirl.

Tang Wulin blinked, and the rabbit blinked too.

"Violent Rabbit bloodline?" Tang Wulin muttered uncertainly. "It doesn't look very violent..."

Leng Yaozhu's eyes lit up the instant she saw the little white rabbit. She bent down and reached out to pet it. "What an adorable rabbit..."

Before she finished speaking, the seemingly dim-witted little white rabbit suddenly turned its head. Its blood-red eyes fixed on Leng Yaozhu as it bared its teeth, its face fierce. Then it actually spoke in a human voice:

"Don't call me adorable. Call me boss!!!!"

Leng Yaozhu's hand froze in midair. She stood there, utterly stunned.

Tang Wulin was stunned too.

Yet a second later, the rabbit returned to normal, tilting its head and blinking its big, blood-red eyes. It looked dopey and adorable again, as though that ferocious expression had been nothing more than an illusion.

Leng Yaozhu recovered and clicked her tongue in wonder. "This soul spirit... is no ordinary one. A mutant variety really does have its quirks."

As Tang Wulin looked at the little white rabbit before him, an inexplicable sense of familiarity welled up inside him.

Why does this rabbit look more and more like a cartoon character from an anime I watched in my past life? That fierce nature hidden beneath a dopey, adorable exterior is exactly the same.

"I'll call you Snowball." Tang Wulin patted the rabbit's head.

Snowball nuzzled his palm and let out a soft, sweet little cry, seemingly quite pleased with the name.

Only then did Tang Wulin settle his mind and begin examining the first soul skill he had obtained.

Teleportation.

Teleportation within twenty meters, consuming only one percent of soul power and ignoring all terrain.

The description was simple, but the mechanics it contained were terrifying. Twenty meters might not sound like much, but in actual combat, it meant he could instantly appear behind an enemy, beside them, above their head, or anywhere else he wanted.

Ignoring terrain was even more outrageous. Walls, obstacles, even open air—none of them could stop his movement.

The corners of Tang Wulin's mouth lifted before he knew it.

The Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit martial soul truly lived up to its status as a prime example of a mechanics-based build. Teleportation, Intangibility, Invincible Golden Body—every soul skill was a top-tier survival or gap-closing ability.

But this martial soul had an obvious weakness: insufficient strength. A rabbit was no tiger, after all. Its ability to clash head-on was limited.

Tang Wulin, however, was different.

The Golden Dragon King bloodline flowed through his veins. What did that mean?

A stat monster among stat monsters, with strength, defense, and recovery all maxed out. A mechanics monster paired with a stat monster—this was no longer a matter of one plus one equaling two. It was a qualitative transformation.

Standing nearby, Leng Yaozhu naturally sensed the details of Tang Wulin's soul skill as well. She frowned slightly, a flicker of surprise crossing her eyes.

"Teleportation? Teleporting within twenty meters while ignoring terrain? The Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit's soul skill... is actually this unusual?"

In all her years, she had seen countless beast martial souls, but this was the first time she had encountered one like the Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit, which offered teleportation right from the start.

This martial soul was hardly famous on the Douluo Continent, and it seemed no powerful figures had emerged with it throughout history. Had everyone underestimated it?

Leng Yaozhu looked at Tang Wulin, her gaze taking on a deeper meaning. This disciple seemed to have even more potential than she had imagined.

Tang Wulin did not remain immersed in the joy of gaining a new skill for long. He soon calmed down and began planning his next steps.

Although he had managed to get a thousand-year soul spirit for free this time by "selling his good looks," Soul spirits only grew more expensive as one progressed. Moreover, the Golden Dragon King bloodline within him needed vast quantities of life energy to feed it. The rate at which that thing burned through money was downright terrifying.

Make money, develop, get stronger.

He had no intention of growing at the sluggish pace of the original story. Spending ten years in grueling cultivation before emerging into the world? That was far too slow.

In this life, he had awakened the Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit Martial Soul. He was taking the brute-force route of combining powerful mechanics with monstrous stats. Steamrolling everything in his path was the right way forward.

"Master." Tang Wulin raised his head and looked at Leng Yaozhu. "I want to go to the Spirit Ascension Platform."

Leng Yaozhu raised an eyebrow. "The Spirit Ascension Platform? You've only just finished absorbing your soul spirit. Don't you want to familiarize yourself with your soul skill first?"

"The best way to get familiar with it is through real combat." Tang Wulin grinned. "Besides, the soul beasts in the Spirit Ascension Platform can increase a soul ring's age. It's the perfect chance to try it out."

Looking into his sparkling eyes, Leng Yaozhu could not help smiling. This little fellow had more daring than she had expected. She nodded.

"All right. I'll take you there."

The Spirit Ascension Platform was one of the Spirit Pagoda's core facilities. It used soul guidance technology to simulate a soul beast forest, allowing soul masters to fight virtual soul beasts within it.

After a soul beast was killed, the age of one's soul ring would increase at a certain rate. Although it was not particularly efficient, its advantage lay in its safety. Dying inside the Spirit Ascension Platform was not true death; one would merely suffer intense pain.

Tang Wulin lay down in the simulation pod and closed his eyes. His consciousness soon sank into a vast forest.

Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting patches of light and shadow across the ground. Beast roars sounded in the distance, and the air was filled with the scents of vegetation and earth.

Everything felt incredibly real. Had he not known beforehand that this was a virtual space, Tang Wulin would almost have believed he had truly entered a soul beast forest.

He stretched his arms and legs, feeling the soul power flowing through his body, then set off deeper into the forest.

He had not gone far when he heard a commotion ahead.

The sounds of fighting, beast roars, and... a young girl's voice?

Tang Wulin quickened his pace and passed through a patch of shrubs. The sight before him made him pause.

A little girl with a ponytail was being chased by a pack of soul beasts. She looked only five or six years old, with a petite frame, but her movements were remarkably agile. As she retreated, she waved her hands and unleashed soul power attacks, driving back the lunging soul beasts one after another.

Her expression was calm, without a trace of panic. Clearly, this was not her first time facing such a situation.

Tang Wulin thought the girl looked familiar, as though he had seen her somewhere before.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

A hundred-year avian soul beast hidden in the canopy suddenly swooped down, its sharp talons aimed straight at the girl's back.

The girl was fully focused on dealing with the soul beasts in front of her and had not noticed the danger behind her at all.

Tang Wulin moved almost instinctively.

With a thought, he activated Teleportation.

The next instant, he appeared behind the girl, one hand firmly gripping the avian soul beast's talons.

The soul beast's razor-sharp claws were less than an inch from the girl's back, yet they could advance no farther.

The girl seemed to sense something and abruptly turned around. Her clear, wide eyes met Tang Wulin's gaze.

Tang Wulin grinned. "Are you all right?"

He tightened his grip and hurled the hundred-year avian soul beast away. It slammed into a tree trunk and dissolved into specks of light.

The girl stared blankly at Tang Wulin without saying a word.

As he looked at the girl before him, an indescribable feeling welled up inside him, as though something unseen was drawing them together.

That feeling... was very strange.

But he did not dwell on it. He simply smiled and held out his hand. "My name is Tang Wulin. What's yours?"

The girl looked at his hand, hesitated briefly, then gently took it. "Gu Yue."

P.S. To answer the question about soul skills and what the Violent Rabbit provides: this thousand-year soul spirit can provide three soul skills, so please be patient.

Violent Rabbit. A rabbit.

I think it would be related to strength, speed, explosive power, and so on... Teleportation makes plenty of sense.