Three days later.
After a strange coolness spread from his right leg, Lin En slowly awoke, a crystalline blue light flashing deep in his eyes.
He slowly stood up. As he stretched, his bones crackled, and he felt strength filling his entire body!
"Excellent! My soul power level has finally broken through to forty. I can get my fourth soul ring!"
Lin En let out a long breath, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face.
At that thought, he moved to the cave entrance. The Eight Spider Lances emerged from his back and slowly shifted aside the boulder blocking it.
As the first ray of sunlight streamed inside, Lin En instinctively narrowed his eyes.
Only after he had fully adjusted to the surroundings outside did he slowly walk out.
Outside, the sky was clear for miles, and the sunlight remained as bright as ever.
Lin En stretched lazily, then leaped down to the ground. Looking at the neighboring cave, which was still silent, he pondered to himself.
Judging by the time, it should be today, right?
A strange look surfaced in Lin En's eyes, but he did not dwell on it. He found a patch of level ground and began setting up camp to wait for Zhu Zhuqing to awaken.
Before long, sounds came from the other cave.
Lin En stopped what he was doing. Zhu Zhuqing pushed aside the boulder, leaped down from above, and quickly came to his side.
"You broke through?"
Sensing the aura of a fresh breakthrough around Zhu Zhuqing, Lin En asked with a smile.
"Yes. Didn't you break through too?"
Zhu Zhuqing likewise sensed the signs of a breakthrough on Lin En and was deeply surprised.
It seemed she had still underestimated Lin En's strength.
"Have something to eat. Afterward, we'll hunt soul beasts and add our soul rings."
Lin En nodded slightly and took the pot of meat soup off the campfire. He divided up the dry rations from his Storage Ring, then ate a hot meal with the soup.
Zhu Zhuqing did not stand on ceremony either. She accepted the dry rations and ate them with the hot soup. This was her first bite of hot food in three days.
Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, Lin En led Zhu Zhuqing to the Star Dou Mixed Zone to hunt for soul rings.
The terrain within the Star Dou Great Forest was complex. Even a soul master like Lin En, who had lived in the forest for a long time, needed to proceed carefully.
They entered the dense woods.
The thick canopy of towering ancient trees completely blocked out the sunlight, leaving the surroundings rather dim. Shrubs and trees filled the area, and visibility was extremely poor.
Seeing this, Lin En immediately summoned Sageross to lead the way and clear the obstacles from their path.
They moved quickly, making their way deep into the mixed zone in less than a quarter of an hour.
Once there, Lin En reminded Zhu Zhuqing to keep quiet and avoid disturbing powerful soul beasts.
The mixed zone held numerous soul beasts, most of them thousand-year and ten-thousand-year beasts. Lower-ranked hundred-year soul beasts generally stayed on the outskirts and would not venture this deep.
Thus, the mixed zone was also a considerably dangerous part of the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Sageross, take us into the sky!"
Lin En had spent a long time searching the forest with Zhu Zhuqing, yet had found no suitable soul beasts.
He therefore decided not to keep painstakingly searching. Flying high into the sky, where the view was unobstructed, would make it easier to find suitable soul beasts.
"Sa-"
Sageross nodded, then beat his wings and flew high into the sky.
Looking down from above, they had an unobstructed view of the ground.
From Lin En's perspective, countless soul beasts lived within the mixed zone, but none were the targets of their trip.
After a lengthy search, Lin En's eyes suddenly lit up.
"A thousand-year Ghost Tiger! And is that... a Ten-Thousand-Year Blade Thornspine Dragon?"
At the edge of his field of vision, Lin En suddenly glanced aside and spotted an enormous draconic silhouette on a nearby peak. It was over ten meters long, its white, blade-like scales interlocking.
Back at Nuoding Academy, he had searched the library for soul beasts suitable for Sageross.
The Blade Thornspine Dragon was one of the most suitable!
"Zhu Zhuqing, I've found a thousand-year Ghost Tiger. It's very suitable for your Hell Spirit Cat."
Lin En turned his head and said to Zhu Zhuqing with a smile:
"My first soul ring also came from a hundred-year Ghost Tiger. The soul skill it grants will be a tremendous help to you."
"A Ghost Tiger?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhuqing immediately nodded and said:
"All right. A Ghost Tiger really is very suitable for me. That's the one I want!"
"Okay, I'll take you there now!"
Lin En took Zhu Zhuqing to the thousand-year Ghost Tiger.
Judging by its size, this thousand-year Ghost Tiger should have been around three thousand years old, making it just right for the strengthened Zhu Zhuqing.
Sageross crippled the Ghost Tiger in three moves and dragged the dying beast before Zhu Zhuqing.
Zhu Zhuqing activated Martial Soul Possession. Her sharp claws and first soul ring lit up simultaneously, and Hell Stab ended the Ghost Tiger's life in an instant.
A bright purple soul ring burst forth and hovered over the Ghost Tiger's corpse.
"Go ahead and absorb it. I'll stand guard!"
Lin En sat cross-legged on the ground and looked at her seriously as he spoke.
"Mm..."
Zhu Zhuqing took a deep breath. After adjusting her physical and mental condition, she began absorbing it.
Several hours later.
Zhu Zhuqing opened her eyes, a black light flashing briefly within them.
"How do you feel? What soul skill did you get?"
Seeing Zhu Zhuqing awaken, Lin En also came out of his meditation, stood up, and asked her.
"My third soul skill is called Netherworld Shadow Clone!"
As she finished speaking, the three soul rings around Zhu Zhuqing lit up-two yellow and one purple. The purple ring immediately shone brightly.
In an instant, Zhu Zhuqing's slender figure split into three, surrounding Lin En from different directions.
"Interesting. Try attacking me!"
Lin En smiled faintly and immediately beckoned to Zhu Zhuqing.
"Watch out!"
As Zhu Zhuqing finished speaking, her first soul ring lit up as well. All three figures raised their sharp claws simultaneously and unleashed Hell Stab.
Lin En's expression remained unchanged. He pushed off hard with both legs and instantly leaped more than ten meters into the air.
After absorbing the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, his body had become as light as a dandelion. The soul skill he had gained was flight, an exceedingly rare skill even among Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.
"What?"
Zhu Zhuqing's beautiful eyes widened in shock. The next moment, the Eight Spider Lances burst from Lin En's body in midair, arranging themselves behind his back like a pair of wings.
As he spread his five fingers, the tips of all eight spider lances behind him curved, and he descended from the sky like a hedgehog.
Zhu Zhuqing's expression changed. She hurriedly directed the other two clones to intercept him while she swiftly retreated.
Bang, bang...
In the blink of an eye, both clones vanished. Lin En raised his hand slightly, and a large crater instantly appeared in the ground.
Not bad in terms of strength. It seems the soul bone has greatly strengthened both my flesh and my meridians!
Lin En looked at the shattered ground and thought silently.
"You seem to have become even stronger?"
Zhu Zhuqing's eyes were filled with complicated feelings. Previously, Lin En's own body had always been his weak point.
But after his breakthrough, his strength, speed, and even his jumping ability had all improved enormously.
"Not bad. It looks like your third soul skill suits you very well too."
Lin En gave a radiant smile.
Although the power of Zhu Zhuqing's third soul skill had not shown itself just now, he knew that the other two clones had disrupted the rhythm of his attack.
All things considered, this soul skill was still quite impressive.
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