Chen Ci sat cross-legged on the ground. Ah Yin had closed the stone chamber's entrance behind him to keep the aura from his absorption of the Blue Silver Emperor's Soul Bone from leaking out.
For Chen Ci, the lord of Soul Beasts, Ah Yin had personally led the way, opened the mechanism, and stood guard over him.
She had truly spared no effort. Even her own son, Tang San, had never received such treatment.
A translucent blue-gold Soul Bone, radiating pulses of life, floated quietly in the air. The Blue Silver Emperor's Seed of Life also hovered there, taking the form of a married woman with long blue hair and a long blue dress.
This married woman was none other than Ah Yin. She knelt before Chen Ci and said reverently:
"Great lord of Soul Beasts, I am the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, Blue Silver Emperor Ah Yin. Sensing your bloodline, I awakened of my own accord and summoned you here.
"This is my Seed of Life. It can help your Blue Silver Grass evolve into the Blue Silver Emperor.
"It will make you stronger in the human world, adding flowers to an already splendid brocade."
With that, Ah Yin reached into the deep cleavage at her chest and took out the Seed of Life, presenting it to Chen Ci with both hands.
Ah Yin personally merged it into Chen Ci's Blue Silver Grass. In an instant, every blade of Blue Silver Grass within a radius of ten thousand li around the mountain behind Holy Soul Village released tiny motes of blue light.
An intense aura of life erupted, all of it pouring into Chen Ci's body.
By the time Chen Ci opened his eyes again, everything had fallen silent.
His two stalks of Blue Silver Grass had grown thicker as a result, their leaves as beautiful as sapphires.
Ah Yin continued reverently:
"Great lord of Soul Beasts, your Blue Silver Grass has successfully transformed into the Blue Silver Emperor. Next, you must absorb my Soul Bone."
The hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone comprised an entire right leg, rather than a separate calf or thigh.
Ah Yin stroked Chen Ci's right leg, merging the Blue Silver Emperor's right leg Soul Bone into it little by little.
As the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone merged into him, Chen Ci felt all the meridians in his body become unobstructed in an instant.
But because he had yet to obtain a Soul Ring, his Soul Power could not increase.
Still, Chen Ci could feel that his future cultivation speed would soar by a substantial margin.
He had no choice. If he did not seize this moment to obtain the Blue Silver Emperor's legacy, while Tang San was hunting for his first Soul Ring and Tang Hao had gone along to protect him...
Then who knew how long he would have to wait for another opportunity? Until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse?
But it was worth it. The sooner he acquired the Blue Silver Emperor's right leg bone, the more time the Soul Bone would have to grow, and the stronger it would become in the future.
What was more, the Blue Silver Emperor's Soul Bone came with a heaven-defying Soul Skill: Flight!
Its Soul Power consumption was frighteningly low, too. It was utterly absurd.
If this was not a cheat handed to Tang San, how could a native plant-type Soul Beast possibly provide a flight-type Soul Skill?
On the Douluo Continent, flight was a skill even more coveted than an increase to every attribute.
Fortunately, that coveted Soul Skill now belonged to him, Chen Ci.
Chen Ci only wanted to say one thing: Tang Hao, your wife is so luscious.
Feeling the Blue Silver Emperor's vast life force, Chen Ci could only find it laughable when he thought of a certain fool who would be duped by Grandmaster into absorbing poison-attribute Soul Rings that ran counter to that life force.
Hearing Chen Ci's quiet chuckle, Ah Yin asked curiously:
"Honored lord of Soul Beasts, may I ask what you are laughing about?"
Chen Ci had no intention of hiding it from Ah Yin. He was rather curious how she, the Blue Silver Emperor, would react upon learning that her son was going to absorb a poison-attribute Soul Ring.
"Ah Yin, on my way here, I met a child whose Martial Soul was also Blue Silver Grass. He seemed to have some of the Blue Silver Emperor's bloodline, too."
At the mention of the Blue Silver Emperor's bloodline, Ah Yin's heart wavered.
But she soon cast that feeling aside.
Because she now belonged to Chen Ci. She had already offered him everything she had.
Still, Ah Yin felt some concern for this son she had only met a few times, and she asked:
"My lord, what happened to that child afterward?"
"He took a teacher, who was once my teacher as well.
"But he forced me to become his disciple, while Tang San joined him willingly.
"He declared that the first Soul Ring he intended to find for my and Tang San's Blue Silver Grass was Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo."
Before Chen Ci could finish, Ah Yin interrupted him, saying with a frown:
"How could that possibly do?"
Chen Ci smiled.
"Why the rush? There's more.
"Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo was only his fallback choice, though. His real intention was probably to have Blue Silver Grass absorb a poison-attribute Soul Ring, giving it a deadly poison."
Ah Yin grew even more anxious. This concerned her son's future:
"That is even worse! Both Blue Silver Grass and the Blue Silver Emperor follow the path of life force. How could they absorb poison-attribute Soul Rings?
"A poison-attribute Soul Ring would be even worse than Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo!"
Chen Ci looked at Ah Yin and said teasingly:
"You seem very concerned about this child."
A conflicted expression appeared on Ah Yin's stunning face.
"My lord, the child you spoke of should be my son. But please do not misunderstand.
"I already belong to you now.
"Compared to the great cause of restoring the Soul Beasts, personal attachments amount to nothing."
Chen Ci was very satisfied and said:
"Good. Now I'm going to hunt for a Soul Ring."
When Blue Silver Grass transformed into the Blue Silver Emperor, it could acquire a self-evolving Blue Silver Emperor Soul Ring.
But Chen Ci had not chosen that Soul Ring, because although his Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass...
The bloodlines of the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King were still more important. By the same token, their Soul Skills were also far more overpowered.
Besides, with the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King bloodlines, the age of his Soul Rings would likewise increase on its own in the future.
With that comparison, the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Ring's advantage vanished completely.
Now he had obtained the Blue Silver Emperor's vitality, along with the physical strength provided by the golden dragon king bloodline, the elemental resistance provided by the silver dragon king bloodline, and a Super Divine Artifact, the Golden Dragon Spear.
Obtaining his first Soul Ring alone should no longer be difficult.
His Soul Ring absolutely had to come from a dragon-type Soul Beast. As for its attribute, that was not especially important.
What mattered was that it possessed a dragon bloodline.
To find a Soul Beast with a dragon bloodline, he might as well head straight to the Star Dou Great Forest.
Apart from the ocean, it was the largest gathering place of Soul Beasts.
Once he decided to go, Chen Ci set off immediately.
No sooner had Chen Ci left the stone chamber than Ah Yin began erasing every trace of his visit.
She handled the cleanup flawlessly.
Now nourished by Chen Ci's bloodline, Ah Yin had escaped her former state of being neither truly alive nor truly dead, and resembled a Soul Spirit.
It was only because her Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring was with Tang Hao that she could not bestow a Soul Ring on Chen Ci.
Meanwhile, far away in the Soul Hunting Forest, an ominous premonition suddenly arose in Tang Hao's heart.
Little San was perfectly fine right before his eyes. He had even absorbed a Mandala Snake of over four hundred years, close to his limit, as his first Soul Ring.
The future looked bright.
Why did it feel as though someone had raided his home behind his back?
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