Huo Wu Was Stunned! A Genius!

Chen Jin's tone was calm.

Huo Wu stared at Chen Jin for a long while, trying to find some trace of a lie on his face.

Yet Chen Jin's eyes were as clear as water, without the slightest greed or pretense.

Huo Wu bit her red lip and edged toward the Scale-Armored Lion, one step at a time.

Her gaze remained fixed on Chen Jin. If he made any unusual move, she would react immediately.

Seeing this, Chen Jin simply closed his eyes, showing no intention of paying her any attention.

Huo Wu reached the Scale-Armored Lion and looked down.

At that glance, her pupils contracted sharply.

The Scale-Armored Lion's once incredibly hard, dark-gold scales had been torn apart.

A massive claw mark pierced the Scale-Armored Lion's skull.

The wound was an eerie, charred black, with no blood flowing from it.

It was the result of flames at an extremely high temperature instantly carbonizing flesh and bone.

Huo Wu drew in a sharp breath.

Having fought this Scale-Armored Lion herself, she knew all too well how terrifying this Soul Beast's defenses were.

Several members of Blazing Fire Academy had surrounded and attacked it together, bombarding it with all manner of powerful Soul Skills, yet they had only managed to leave shallow wounds.

Now, however, the wound before her was far larger and deeper than all the wounds they had inflicted over the past few days combined.

It could even be called a devastating blow.

Huo Wu turned to look at Chen Jin.

Just now, Chen Jin had merely raised his hand and used a single move.

Was this what he meant by... testing a new Soul Skill?

Towering waves of shock surged through Huo Wu's heart.

With the terrifying strength Chen Jin had displayed, killing her would be as easy as turning his hand.

At this thought, some of the wariness in Huo Wu's heart gradually faded.

She delivered the finishing blow.

A purple ring of light rose from the Scale-Armored Lion's corpse, pulsing slowly in the air.

That powerful Soul Ring, representing an age exceeding twenty-five hundred years and approaching three thousand, radiated an alluring purple glow.

The light had already begun to dim.

Huo Wu knew she could not delay any longer.

She took a deep breath and sat cross-legged beside the Scale-Armored Lion's corpse.

Bringing her hands together before her chest, she silently circulated the Soul Power within her.

Rings of red flame rose around her body, and the Fire Shadow Martial Soul behind her flickered in and out of view.

Huo Wu beckoned with both hands.

Drawn by her pull, the purple three-thousand-year Soul Ring slowly drifted toward the top of her head.

The instant the Soul Ring merged into her body, Huo Wu shuddered violently.

Energy rampaged through her meridians like a flood bursting through a dam.

The impact of the three-thousand-year Soul Ring far exceeded her expectations.

Huo Wu's lovely face instantly flushed red, and beads of sweat covered her forehead.

While absorbing the Soul Ring, she had to divide her attention, keeping watch over Chen Jin at all times.

Yet Chen Jin remained quietly leaning against the tree trunk.

Time ticked by, second after second.

The clashes of Soul Power within Huo Wu gradually subsided, and her body began to assimilate the violent energy.

Two hours later.

The aura within Huo Wu finally stabilized.

She let out a long breath of stale air, her lashes fluttered, and she opened her eyes.

A glimmer of joy flashed in her eyes.

Huo Wu stood up, Soul Power surging through her like a mighty river.

Two yellow, two purple.

Four Soul Rings pulsed slowly around her body.

The final ring, her deep-purple Fourth Soul Ring, radiated particularly powerful energy fluctuations.

"I finally did it!"

Huo Wu pumped her fist excitedly.

At that moment, all the exhaustion and anxiety of the past several days turned into joy.

She had finally broken through to level forty and become a true Soul Ancestor.

Huo Wu steadied her excitement and turned to look at Chen Jin.

Chen Jin had opened his eyes as well and was watching her calmly.

Remembering her earlier attitude, Huo Wu felt her face grow hot.

She walked up to Chen Jin and lowered her head sheepishly.

"I'm sorry."

Huo Wu's voice grew quiet.

"I was too impulsive just now and misunderstood you. If you hadn't killed this Scale-Armored Lion, I might have had to spend a lot more effort on it. It might even have escaped."

Chen Jin looked at the flustered young woman before him.

Her earlier fieriness and arrogance were gone, replaced by a young woman's bashfulness.

"It's fine."

Chen Jin spoke mildly.

Seeing that Chen Jin did not hold it against her, Huo Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

She raised her head and openly extended her right hand to Chen Jin.

"My name is Huo Wu, a student at Blazing Fire Academy and a level-forty control-type Soul Ancestor. What about you? What's your name? Which academy are you from?"

Chen Jin looked at Huo Wu's outstretched hand but did not take it, merely nodding slightly.

"Chen Jin. I'm on my own now. I don't belong to an academy."

Huo Wu awkwardly withdrew her hand, but his words soon caught her attention.

"You don't belong to an academy?"

Huo Wu looked at Chen Jin in surprise.

"You look about my age, yet you're so strong. On the Douluo Continent, without an academy's resources and guidance, how could someone reach this level by feeling their way through cultivation alone?"

Chen Jin's expression remained calm.

"I once enrolled at Shrek. But for certain reasons, the direction they were taking didn't align with mine, so I withdrew and left."

"Shrek?"

Huo Wu thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"I've never heard that name. It must be some obscure little academy.

"But if your ideals didn't align, there's nothing wrong with leaving.

"It's just that, in the Soul Master World, going it alone without an academy's protection and resources is extremely difficult. Whether it's obtaining Soul Rings or your future development, you'll fall behind others.

"What do you plan to do next?"

"Hunt Soul Beasts."

Chen Jin answered.

"I just broke through to level thirty, so I need to find a suitable third Soul Ring."

After hearing Chen Jin's words, Huo Wu froze on the spot.

Her beautiful eyes widened, filled with bewildered shock.

"What did you say? Level thirty?!"

Huo Wu's voice rose several notches.

"That's absolutely impossible! If you're only level thirty, how could you kill a three-thousand-year Scale-Armored Lion with one strike? And when you subdued me just now, that strength was definitely not something a level-thirty Soul Elder could possess!"

Huo Wu was a level-forty Soul Ancestor, as well as one of Blazing Fire Academy's top geniuses.

In their earlier clash, Chen Jin had subdued her almost instantly, without even giving her room to resist.

And now Chen Jin was telling her he was only level thirty?

This completely defied the common knowledge of the Soul Master World.

Looking at Huo Wu's doubtful face, Chen Jin sighed helplessly.

Two yellow rings of light pulsed around Chen Jin, giving off the fluctuations of Hundred-Year Soul Rings.

Huo Wu's eyes widened as she stared fixedly at those two Soul Rings.

She rubbed her eyes, confirming that she had not seen wrong.

They were indeed two Hundred-Year Soul Rings.

In other words, Chen Jin really was only level thirty and had not even absorbed his third Soul Ring yet.

"How... how is this possible?"

Huo Wu muttered to herself.

"With just two Hundred-Year Soul Rings, what was that strength you displayed just now?"

She could not understand it.

Even a genius with a top-tier Martial Soul could never possess such terrifying combat power at level thirty.