The Two-Thousand-Year Flame Spirit Fox Soul Ring (Part Four)

In his eyes, his disciple's life was worth far more than a Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

If Lin Chen truly reached the point where his body was about to rupture, he would halt the absorption without hesitation. He would rather leave Lin Chen severely injured, his foundation damaged, than let the Soul Ring burst him apart.

Yet his gaze remained fixed on Lin Chen. Even under excruciating pain, the boy's body trembling slightly, his teeth stayed clenched and his eyes resolute. He never entertained the slightest thought of giving up, gritting his teeth as he persisted in refining the energy without retreating an inch.

The Soul Power Mo Yuan had gathered finally dissipated, and he suppressed the urge to intervene.

He knew that interrupting Soul Ring absorption midway was the gravest taboo.

Once forcibly halted, not only would all previous efforts go to waste, but the Soul Master's origin would suffer a devastating blow. Their Martial Soul's foundation would be damaged, leaving an Old Internal Injury that was difficult to heal and jeopardizing their future cultivation.

Since Lin Chen could still endure and his will remained firm, he chose to trust his disciple.

"Hold steady."

Mo Yuan spoke softly, his voice laden with hope and solemn concern,

"Survive this trial, and you'll be reborn in flesh and bone."

From then on, Mo Yuan stopped paying attention to anything beyond his vigil, devoting himself entirely to guarding Lin Chen. His aura spread out fully, securing the entire absorption area.

He sensed and blocked every rustle of wind through grass, every potential threat, before it could approach.

Time passed slowly, every minute and second an unbearable ordeal.

Rampage energy never ceased to surge, continuously transforming Lin Chen's flesh and the foundation of his Martial Soul.

Throughout the lengthy refinement, Lin Chen's pain only intensified.

Tiny beads of blood gradually seeped through his crimson skin, slowly emerging along its texture until they covered his entire body.

It was a sign that the repeated swelling pressure and scouring of the overwhelming energy had pushed the tiny blood vessels beneath his skin beyond their limits, finally rupturing them.

The fine beads of blood continually gathered and flowed, sliding down his skin. Soon, they soaked his clothes. His once-neat garments became wet and sticky with blood, clinging tightly to his swollen body.

It was not merely his skin and flesh. Deep within him, his bones gave off a series of faint, crisp cracks as the Soul Ring's immense vitality and domineering energy nourished, scoured, and reshaped them.

Crack, crack. Crack, crack...

The faint sounds from his bones continued without pause, particularly distinct in the quiet woods.

These were not the sounds of bones breaking from damage, but of transformation as they rapidly grew, strengthened, and reformed under the energy's nourishment.

His bone density kept increasing, his frame quietly lengthening and growing taller. His tendons, bones, meridians, and flesh all evolved together, remaking him in flesh and bone.

Agony pierced his entire body, reaching deep into his marrow. Every inch of growth, every reshaping, brought the torment of tendons tearing and bones splitting, far beyond the pain of flesh alone.

Fine beads of cold sweat covered Lin Chen's forehead and slid down his cheeks, mingling with the blood seeping out. He looked bedraggled, yet unyielding.

His eyes remained tightly shut, his teeth clenched. No matter how the pain swept through his body, he forcibly steadied his mind without the slightest wavering, desperately maintaining the circulation of Soul Power as he persevered through the refinement.

At the critical moment when his body was enduring the utmost torment and nearing exhaustion, Liuli beside him was the first to reach an opportunity for transformation.

Under the continuous nourishment and scouring of vast amounts of pure fire energy, a tiny pink bud of flesh quietly emerged from the previously smooth, rounded base of Liuli's tails. Small and tender, it trembled slightly, brimming with newborn vitality.

This new bud of flesh was the beginnings of the Third Fox Tail.

The bud grew slowly, lengthening, thickening, and firming little by little. Its original pink gradually took on a faint crimson hue, carrying the pure luster of fire as its texture became increasingly fluffy and soft.

The new fox tail grew slowly but steadily. Every fraction it extended, every inch it gained, voraciously absorbed the excess fire energy around it, greatly easing the pressure on Lin Chen and gradually bringing the Rampage energy into a calm, orderly flow.

Mo Yuan, who had remained tightly wound and deeply anxious, keenly caught the signs of transformation in Liuli. The tension and solemn concern in his eyes immediately eased a little, and he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The emergence of the third tail's nascent form meant that the Soul Ring's energy was aligning precisely with the Martial Soul origin, achieving a deep compatibility. It was no longer rampaging chaotically. The absorption had entered the proper course, greatly increasing its chances of success.

Though his anxiety eased slightly, his vigilance did not diminish. Instead, it became even more thorough and stringent.

Disturbance was the greatest taboo at the critical moment of a Soul Master's breakthrough and transformation. If an outside Soul Beast intruded or someone interfered now, the lighter consequences would be failure at the brink of success and damage to the Martial Soul. At worst, the body would burst apart, killing the Soul Master and destroying the Martial Soul.

Mo Yuan fully spread his Soul Power across the woodland, keeping every movement and every Soul Beast's aura within a hundred-meter radius firmly under his awareness.

Any low-level Soul Beast that tried to approach was silently intimidated, driven back, and expelled by his invisible Soul Power, without a sound or the slightest disturbance to Lin Chen's refinement.

Time flowed quietly, and a full two hours slowly passed.

The daylight filtering through the woods gradually shifted. The scattered patches of light dimmed, the sky slowly darkened, and the light beneath the trees grew ever gloomier.

Four hours, six hours...

Mo Yuan stood silently on guard, his mind tightly focused without a moment's relaxation. He kept track of the time inwardly, having long since lost count of how many times he had raised his hand to scatter and drive away low-level Soul Beasts that wandered into the area.

The long wait was tedious and agonizing, yet he remained quietly at his post, patiently waiting for Lin Chen to complete his transformation. He neither urged him nor disturbed him.

At the center of the woodland, Lin Chen and Liuli remained seated in refinement. The energy around them circulated steadily and orderly, with none of its earlier Rampage instability, yet there was still no sign of the process ending completely.

Only when dusk fully shrouded the woods and the entire outskirts of Star Dou sank into darkness did Mo Yuan's gaze return to Liuli, his eyes suddenly stirring.

After several hours of nourishment, tempering, and growth, Liuli's new fiery-red tail had fully taken shape.

Its length, fluffiness, and luster had all caught up with the original two fox tails. The three tails were equal in length and symmetrical in form, their crimson sheen flowing as they moved with supple grace, fully formed and stable.

The completion of the three tails meant that the Martial Soul's transformation was finished, its compatibility with the Soul Ring had reached perfection, and the absorption had entered its final stage.

It's almost over, Mo Yuan thought, the heart that had hung in suspense for so long finally settling.

Sure enough, mere moments later, the immense Soul Power circulating around Lin Chen abruptly drew inward. The restless energy throughout his body settled completely, and every Rampage sensation of scorching heat, swelling pain, and tearing vanished.

His eyelids, which had remained still for so long, slowly opened.

A clear, luminous gleam burst from his eyes. The pain and strained endurance were gone, replaced by a deep reserve of pure, substantial Soul Power and the calm composure that followed his breakthrough and transformation.

Lin Chen slowly inhaled and exhaled, regulating his aura. Then he braced his hands against the ground and steadily rose to his feet.

At the same time, Liuli beside him rose as well, gently extending its body and lazily stretching into the air.

Its three fluffy, silky crimson fox tails gave a gentle shake and sway, floating with graceful liveliness and making it look even more spirited and adorable, its bearing strikingly magnificent.

With all three tails spread, its aura was entirely different from before, faintly revealing the extraordinary presence of an advanced Martial Soul.

Once it finished stretching, Liuli immediately bounded over to nuzzle Lin Chen affectionately, gently pressing its furry head against his leg, docile and clingy.

There was a sweet, guileless playfulness to that gentle pressure. Caught off guard, Lin Chen, who had only just stood and had not yet fully steadied his aura, was actually nudged a small step backward.

Steadying himself, Lin Chen lowered his head and immediately sensed the earth-shaking changes within his body.