Yu Xiaogang's appearance was like finding half a fly inside a fragrant piece of bread while eating. It utterly killed the appetite.
It also shattered Lin Yang's good mood for the entire day.
After hastily finishing dinner in the cafeteria, Lin Yang prepared to return to the dormitory to cultivate.
But before he reached the entrance, he spotted Zhao Bufan from afar, pacing near the dormitory as though waiting for someone.
Lin Yang thought little of it, but he had barely taken two steps when Zhao Bufan approached him.
"Boss, can we talk?"
Lin Yang was a little surprised. Although he and Zhao Bufan both lived in Dorm Seven, they were not particularly close.
Still, he nodded. "Sure!"
They found a quiet spot near the dormitory and stopped there.
Zhao Bufan was a sixth-year student, already twelve years old, and stood more than a head taller than Lin Yang.
Yet in front of Lin Yang, Zhao Bufan seemed like a primary school child, looking extremely ill at ease.
Lin Yang cut straight to the point. "What do you need?"
Zhao Bufan hesitated, then said quietly,
"Boss, are you planning to go Soul Hunting on your own?"
"That's right." Lin Yang nodded.
The academy allowed students to go Soul Hunting on their own, but it accepted no responsibility if anything happened.
After all, small as the academy was, it occasionally had students from powerful and influential families. Their Soul Rings naturally were not something the academy needed to worry about.
"I knew it." Zhao Bufan nodded, unsurprised.
"Boss, I want to go Soul Hunting on my own too. I'd like to work with you."
Lin Yang was a little surprised. "How?"
"I can find a way to get a Soul Hunting Writ, but I need a Soul Ring at least two hundred years old." Zhao Bufan made no attempt to hide his ambition.
Lin Yang murmured, "A Soul Hunting Writ..."
In Nuoding City, anyone seeking Soul Beasts could only head to the Soul Hunting Forest outside the city's eastern side.
The Soul Hunting Forest was a place Spirit Hall specifically used to rear Soul Beasts. Entering required a Soul Hunting Writ.
Obtaining this writ required guarantees from at least three nobles. Ordinary people really had no way to get one, especially work-study students.
Lin Yang had been worrying about how to obtain a writ, only for someone to hand him a pillow just as he grew sleepy. The timing could not have been more perfect.
"All right. I agree."
Hearing this, Zhao Bufan inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
But Lin Yang stared straight at Zhao Bufan. "Why come to me? I'm only a rank-ten Soul Scholar without a Soul Ring."
"Because I feel you're very strong, boss." Zhao Bufan's gaze flickered as he spoke rapidly.
"During our earlier training classes, I always felt you weren't showing your true strength, boss. You even handled the teacher with ease, so..."
Before he could finish, Lin Yang fixed his eyes on Zhao Bufan and said, enunciating every word,
"I want the truth."
Zhao Bufan suddenly seemed to have been seized by the throat. His flowery flattery stopped short.
As he looked into those black eyes, like deep, icy pools, an invisible pressure enveloped his entire body.
Zhao Bufan felt as though the person before him had seen straight through him, inside and out.
A trace of panic flashed in his eyes. After a long silence, Zhao Bufan sighed softly before saying,
"Actually, that writ... was left to me by my father. My father's cousin knows about it too."
"He's a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster, and he'll come along when we go Soul Hunting. But I... don't trust him."
Although Zhao Bufan did his utmost to avoid them, Lin Yang still keenly sensed the holes in his story.
That writ probably wasn't obtained legitimately, Lin Yang muttered inwardly.
And this classmate of his was certainly no mere farmer's son.
A farmer's son would not have a Soul Grandmaster for a father's cousin.
But... what did that have to do with him?
He only needed to use the writ to enter the Soul Hunting Forest. He could not be bothered to get involved in any of the other sordid nonsense.
"All right, I have no more questions."
Lin Yang's crisp answer stunned Zhao Bufan, forcing all the words he had already prepared back down his throat.
He opened his mouth and stammered for a while before finally exhaling and hurriedly saying with a smile,
"All right, boss. It's settled, then."
"I need to take three days off to fetch the writ. We'll meet at the Soul Hunting Forest in three days."
"All right!"
The two then returned to the dormitory, both tacitly choosing not to tell anyone else about the Soul Hunting trip.
The next day, Zhao Bufan requested leave from the academy, while Lin Yang continued attending classes and cultivating as usual.
On the hill behind Nuoding Academy.
The place was secluded, and students rarely came here, so it had become the spot where Lin Yang regularly practiced his sword techniques.
On a patch of level ground, Blue Silver Grass swayed in the wind. In the center, Lin Yang stood quietly, holding Crimson Interval.
Suddenly, the air changed.
With Lin Yang at its center, the surrounding air began to flow and whirl, sweeping up dust and weeds from the ground.
Hiss-!
A long, powerful breath sounded from Lin Yang's mouth.
With that breath, a trace of scorching heat mingled with the slightly cool breeze around him.
At that moment, Lin Yang had quietly activated the Transparent World.
The world before his eyes instantly changed.
He could "see" every muscle fiber in his body twitching faintly, as though ready to unleash terrifying power at any moment.
He could "see" that when he breathed, he was not merely drawing in air. The Soul Power within him also began resonating with his breathing in a particular rhythm.
Soul Power flowed through the meridians throughout his body and into every limb and bone, supplying his entire body with energy.
Compared with using oxygen to stimulate his muscles and bones, "breathing" with Soul Power produced a more pronounced improvement in his physique.
If the original Breathing Style raised the ceiling of his basic physical capabilities,
then Sun Breathing combined with Soul Power now raised their floor, while also allowing him to tap more fully into his body's potential.
Soul Power had always held all manner of possibilities in this world.
Suddenly, Lin Yang moved.
His movements were not fast. The meter-long Crimson Interval in his hand traced an elegant, simple arc through the air.
Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance!
Boom!
Wherever the blade passed, the air split apart. Flames that seemed almost tangible swept out a three- to four-meter arc with a surging wave of heat.
It was not over yet.
Lin Yang's movements changed again, Crimson Interval flashing sharply in his hand.
Second Form: Blue Heaven!
Third Form: Blazing Sun Red Mirror!
Fourth Form: Mirage Sun Rainbow!
Every form was executed with utmost precision, yet carried a distinctive flair.
Waves of fire danced. Every move carried deadly killing intent, yet was also filled with upright, majestic grandeur.
Like the sun in the sky, it could bring not only destruction, but hope as well.
After completing all twelve sword forms, Lin Yang slowly exhaled a stale breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
As the original Breathing Style, Sun Breathing was universally acknowledged to be difficult.
After incorporating Soul Power, the difficulty of the Breathing Style multiplied.
He not only had to maintain the rhythm of his breathing, but also synchronize his Soul Power with it.
It was like drawing circles forward with one hand while simultaneously drawing them backward with the other.
The slightest error would cause irreversible damage to his body.
That Lin Yang could now accomplish this owed much to his exceptionally high compatibility with Sun Breathing, as well as the extraordinary regeneration of his Demon Blood Martial Soul.
Fortunately, he had succeeded. Sun Breathing and Soul Power had now fused perfectly.
With Soul Power supporting each sword form, their might became extremely formidable, even falling outside the category of Soul Ring skills.
Put another way, they were Self-Created Soul Skills, like the Clear Sky Sect's Clear Sky Nine Absolutes...
The one drawback was that the drain on his stamina and mental strength had multiplied as well.
Even with his current physique, performing all twelve sword forms was enormously taxing.
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