Ah Yin

With the old business settled, he felt a wave of relief and changed course toward the mountain behind Holy Soul Village.

Even from far away, he could see the hundred-meter waterfall. Its raging waters crashed down from on high with a thunderous roar.

The sight made Ye Yan's teeth ache. Not only could he not swim, he was afraid of heights. But there was no helping it. For a Soul Bone, never mind a cliff-even a mountain of blades or a sea of fire was worth braving.

First, he summoned his blue silver grass to test its toughness after being strengthened by a Soul Ring. Yes, with his current strength, he could not tear it apart with his bare hands.

Ye Yan summoned five more vines and wrapped them tightly around the large trees on both banks. Then he gritted his teeth, forced himself not to look down, and slowly lowered himself along the cliff face.

The violent torrent sent him swaying before slamming him hard against the rock wall. Fortunately, his body was tough enough that he suffered nothing worse than a few bruises.

After descending another dozen meters or so, Ye Yan vaguely spotted a concealed cave entrance and successfully teleported inside.

The cave was dim. A stalk of blue silver grass stood on the stone platform in its center-the original body Ah Yin had left behind after sacrificing herself. Years without sunlight, however, had left her stems and leaves yellow and withered.

Ye Yan gently stroked her leaves, carefully dug her out, and tucked her into his robes to keep Xiao Wu company, warning Xiao Wu not to sneak any bites.

After taking care of Ah Yin, Ye Yan searched thoroughly. Before long, he retrieved a lead box from the rock wall overhead. Inside lay a dark green, diamond-shaped Soul Bone.

Looking at the treasure before him, he wanted nothing more than to absorb it immediately. But this was Old Haozi's private turf, after all. For the sake of his life, fleeing came first.

He teleported back above the waterfall and fled north. A dozen days later, he had reached a desolate mountain that did not even appear on the map.

Finding a hidden crevice in a rocky cliff, Ye Yan blocked the entrance, collapsed, and fell asleep. His nerves had been stretched taut all these days, and he had only dared to snatch two to four hours of sleep each day.

Now that he finally relaxed, he did not wake again until the morning of the third day. The first thing he did was check on Xiao Wu and Ah Yin inside his robes.

Aaaah!

You idiot, Xiao Wu!

With no one feeding her these past two days, she had nearly gnawed all of Ah Yin's stems and leaves clean off. Poor Ah Yin was barely clinging to life.

Ye Yan hurriedly circulated his Soul Power to nourish her, while opening a crack to let sunlight in and watering her with drinking water.

Only after working until evening did he manage to save her. Whew. Ye Yan breathed a sigh of relief. If Ah Yin had died, he would have regretted it to death.

A gentle, mature woman like her was exactly his type, and her legs were so long, too. He could hardly imagine how comfortable resting his head in her lap would be~

Poking the foolish Xiao Wu's forehead, Ye Yan took out a huge pile of carrots and surrounded her with them. Absorbing the Soul Bone would take him several more days, and he could not let her wreak havoc on Ah Yin again.

Once he had settled the two of them, Ye Yan sat cross-legged, placed the Soul Bone against his left leg, and began absorbing it. An azure glow illuminated the entire crevice.

Five days later, he successfully refined the hundred-thousand-year right leg bone. Its first Soul Skill was a healing skill called Everlasting Vitality, the ultimate secret art of the Blue Silver Emperor, sovereign of the plant kingdom.

It could restore even a severed arm to its original state, making it incredibly powerful. With it, Ye Yan no longer needed to worry about getting hurt in battle and could remain in peak condition at all times.

The other Soul Skill was called Flight. In the Douluo world, unless someone was a flight-type Soul Master, they could only soar through the skies after becoming a Titled Douluo.

This Soul Skill gave him greater mobility and more varied ways to fight at this early stage, when he lacked Soul Skills the most. Perhaps it was not the strongest, but it was certainly the best suited to Ye Yan right now.

Moreover, after absorbing the Soul Bone, his Soul Power could nourish Ah Yin more effectively and speed up the recovery of her cultivation. If he added the tenfold growth rate of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well on top of that...

Tsk, tsk. He hardly dared imagine how fast it would be.

After tidying up, Ye Yan tucked the two of them back into his robes and set off for Suotuo City, even though he no longer lacked that little bit of travel money.

But just because I don't need it doesn't mean I can leave it for Tang San. Wouldn't that be the idiocy of handing resources to the enemy?

Along the way, Ye Yan entered a somewhat larger city and bought a new, up-to-date map of the continent.

Half a month later, following the map, he arrived in Suotuo City, known as Barak's granary. Towering buildings stood everywhere, making him briefly wonder whether he had transmigrated back to modern times.

No wonder so many commoners here were wealthy enough to fork out ten Gold Soul Coins as an application fee-even for a private academy with no credentials whatsoever.

After wandering around the city for a long time, he finally found Flender's general store in an inconspicuous corner.

Ye Yan's first impression was that it was tiny, shabby, and old. Brother, let's be honest. No wonder even a direct disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, with treasure-detecting abilities, failed to discover this rutilated gold. Someone would have to have bubbles in their brain to come browsing in this dump.

He opened the shop door. A middle-aged man with a shoehorn-shaped face lay resting in a rocking chair with his eyes closed. Ye Yan ignored him and started searching the shop, soon finding the black-and-gold stone in a corner.

Ye Yan picked it up and hefted it in his hand. Quite heavy.

"Boss, I'll take this. Name your price."

Flender looked up, then immediately lost interest. A kid this young was clearly penniless. He adopted a take-it-or-leave-it attitude.

"Not expensive. A hundred Gold Soul Coins."

Ye Yan knew exactly what kind of person he was. Haggling would earn him a tongue-lashing, while paying outright would only make the price rise. Without drawing attention to it, he exposed the storage belt at his waist and took a pouch of Gold Soul Coins from it.

Flender's gaze sharpened, and his expression instantly turned serious. Staring at him, he asked where the belt had come from.

Ye Yan looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"My teacher gave it to me. Do you recognize it?"

Flender was startled and exclaimed that Ye Yan was actually his disciple. Then he turned away and waved a hand, generously giving Ye Yan the crystal for free.

After thanking him, Ye Yan left the little shop. Heh heh heh, Prison Xiao Gang's name really does carry weight. But since you're playing the devoted-brothers game, you can head down the road to death together later!

He also took the opportunity to replenish his everyday supplies. Prices were much higher in a big city, and another chunk of his robbery proceeds disappeared, making Ye Yan lament how quickly money slipped through his fingers.

After resting there for a day, he hired a carriage to take him to Heaven Dou City. Little snake girl, wait patiently for me. Your little husband is coming right away! ꒰˶>ᗜ<˶꒱