"Ah, I never thought I'd live to see Xiaogang this anxious. If Erlong knew..." Watching Yu Xiaogang pray incessantly, Flender, too, promptly let out a sigh.
Meanwhile, Li Ye was fighting the War Rhino under Spear Old Demon and Sword Old Ghost's supervision.
"Boo-hoo X﹏X, why? Isn't absorbing a Soul Ring just a matter of killing it outside? Aren't you supposed to focus your mind on your Martial Soul after that? Why do I have to fight this rhino?!"
Inside his mental space, Li Ye fled frantically with a face full of misery.
If you asked why he didn't turn around, fight the rhino, and kill it...
Li Ye's response was: If you're so capable, come do it yourself! It's easy to talk when you're not the one breaking your back. My fucking legs go weak just looking at it, never mind fighting it.
"Sword Old Ghost, do you think this kid can do it? Could we have picked the wrong person?" Spear Old Demon asked doubtfully as he watched Li Ye do nothing but run.
"Spear Old Demon, that's where you're wrong. Isn't everyone like this at first? You're passing judgment too quickly. He'll gradually improve," Sword Old Ghost said.
Yet one hour, two hours, and then three hours passed, and Li Ye was still running nonstop.
"Uh, perhaps we really did pick the wrong person."
After running for several hours, Li Ye understood that unless he fought back and did everything he could to kill the War Rhino, he would remain trapped here.
Thinking of Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, Rongrong, Xiao Xue, Dong'er, Nana, and the others waiting for him outside, Li Ye's fighting spirit suddenly blazed to life.
"Come on, let me see what you've got!" Li Ye abruptly turned around, spear in one hand and sword in the other. His gaze turned from timid to ruthless as he charged at the War Rhino.
As though sensing the challenge, the War Rhino kept gathering strength, then erupted with a presence far beyond what it had displayed earlier and charged at Li Ye.
Li Ye wasn't stupid. Naturally, he wouldn't choose to clash with it head-on.
He hurled the spear in his hand at the War Rhino with all his strength, then immediately dropped into a sliding tackle, sliding beneath its belly and slashing a gaping wound across it with his sword.
Taking advantage of the War Rhino's pause of pain, Li Ye quickly ran to its side and drove his sword straight into its eye. He then pulled out the spear embedded in its body, climbed onto its neck, and thrust the spear with all his might into a slightly softer spot at the back of its head.
After this series of movements, flowing like clouds and water, all Li Ye could do was cling tightly to the spear to keep the crazed War Rhino from throwing him off.
What followed was a contest of endurance.
However, inside his mental space, Li Ye felt no physical fatigue. After all, what he expended there was mental power.
As a transmigrator, Li Ye naturally possessed mental power far beyond that of Soul Masters at his stage, roughly at the level of a Soul Ancestor.
Thus, outlasting this rhino until it died was no problem at all-provided Li Ye could keep himself from throwing up.
"Ah, I thought that kid would use the Seven Desolate-Breaking Techniques I taught him. I never expected him to just throw the spear," Spear Old Demon sighed.
"Ah, I thought he'd use the Nine Heaven-Slaying Swords I taught him, too. But in the end, ah!" Sword Old Ghost sighed as well.
"Ah, my ass! Use your techniques, my ass! I only fucking watched them once, and I couldn't even see them clearly! How am I supposed to use them? Do you fucking think I'm Yang Guo?!" The War Rhino happened to carry Li Ye past the two of them. Hearing the two old ghosts sighing away, he couldn't help bursting into curses.
"Uh, who's this Yang Guo he mentioned?"
"Uh, I don't know either."
"How long has it been, Flender?" Yu Xiaogang watched Li Ye, whose expression was pained and who had yet to begin converting the Soul Power within the Soul Ring, then looked at Flender with reddened eyes.
"It's already been six hours. Should we...?" Flender looked at Li Ye with the same distress, speaking somewhat reluctantly.
"No. Let's wait a little longer. I believe Xiao Ye can do it. We can't destroy his future just like this."
Yu Xiaogang naturally knew what Flender wanted to do, but Li Ye had yet to show any signs that his absorption would fail, so he couldn't interrupt him like this.
By the twelve-hour mark, deep night had fallen over Star Dou Forest. Yet Yu Xiaogang and Flender dared not relax for even a moment, staring fixedly at Li Ye as he continued striving to absorb the Soul Ring.
"This shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't! Absorbing the first Soul Ring takes six hours at most, but it's already been twelve hours for Xiao Ye. It shouldn't be like this!" Yu Xiaogang had now completely lost his composure and begun pacing back and forth again.
"Xiaogang, calm down! The Soul Ring Xiao Ye is absorbing far exceeds an ordinary Soul Master's limit, but he's still trying. How can you, his teacher, lose your nerve first?!" Flender held Yu Xiaogang firmly by the shoulders, afraid he might do something he would regret for the rest of his life.
"Flender, how can I calm down? Xiao Ye isn't just my disciple. I think of him as my own child! Now he's suffering like this because of a theoretical conjecture of mine. Tell me, how am I supposed to calm down?!" Yu Xiaogang said in anguish, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.
"Teacher, why are you blubbering like a little girl?"
Just as Yu Xiaogang was leaning against Flender and weeping in anguish, Li Ye finally outlasted the stubbornly resilient War Rhino. Upon leaving his mental space, he happened to witness this scene.
Hearing Li Ye's voice, Yu Xiaogang hurriedly wiped away his tears, turned around, and said, "No, why would I be crying? I was just discussing a few things with your martial uncle."
"Really?" Li Ye gave Yu Xiaogang a doubtful glance, his eyes seeming to say, I already saw everything. Why are you still pretending?
"All right, you little rascal. I was worried sick about you, and here you are making fun of me." Yu Xiaogang crouched in front of Li Ye, chiding him as he examined his body.
"Teacher, once you're done checking, roast some meat for me. I'm a little hungry. I want meat from that War Rhino," Li Ye said, pointing at the rhino's corpse beside them.
Yu Xiaogang had wanted to ask what Li Ye's Soul Skill was, but upon hearing that he was hungry, he no longer had time for any of that. The most important thing now was to make sure the child had enough to eat.
"Xiao Ye, your teacher has been on tenterhooks over you this whole time. He hasn't even had a bite to eat," Flender said, standing beside Li Ye and patting his shoulder as he watched Yu Xiaogang bustle about.
"Martial Uncle, you haven't eaten either, have you?"
"Teacher, roast some extra meat, or there won't be enough for everyone!" Li Ye called to the busy Yu Xiaogang.
"Haha, this kid really knows how to handle things. Xiaogang, you've taken in a fine disciple!" Watching Li Ye run over to help Yu Xiaogang, Flender couldn't help laughing. Then he ran over to lend a hand as well.
"As if I needed you to tell me!"
Before you continue