Oscar opened his eyes. The glow of his third soul ring finally stabilized, and he had successfully broken through rank thirty to become a true Soul Elder.
Dai Mubai was the first to step forward. He patted Oscar on the shoulder and said cheerfully, "Little Ao, congratulations! Come on, tell us, what's your third Soul Skill?"
Oscar had been brimming with excitement, but at the question, the smile on his face visibly froze, and half his enthusiasm vanished. He waved a hand dismissively. "Forget it. Let's wait until we get back."
"No way, tell us now!" Ma Hongjun immediately protested, squeezing up beside him. "Don't tell me you're afraid we'll laugh at you?"
Oscar hesitated, then gave them a warning first. "You're not allowed to laugh, all right?"
Everyone nodded solemnly, but the corners of their mouths had already begun to tighten despite themselves. They were clearly holding back laughter, ready to "erupt" at any moment.
Oscar drew a deep breath as though making up his mind about something, abruptly straightened his back, and shouted, "Your daddy has a Mushroom Sausage!"
Pfft-
The moment that vividly evocative Soul Skill name came out, almost everyone burst out laughing. Only Lin Kong remained expressionless, because he had long known about this "iconic scene."
Oscar glared at them indignantly. "You clearly just promised not to laugh!"
"Hahaha-"
His words only made everyone laugh harder. Even Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing covered their mouths and snickered, while Xiao Wu laughed so hard she could barely breathe.
Oscar simply stopped bothering to keep up appearances. With one hand on his hip and the other holding the Mushroom Sausage high, he declared loudly, "Do you know what this Soul Skill does?"
Everyone was having too much fun laughing, and for a moment, no one had the inclination to pay him any attention.
"What does it do?" Lin Kong spoke up at just the right moment, offering him a step down.
Oscar immediately climbed the ladder he had been offered and announced smugly, "The effect of my third Soul Skill is-flight!"
Urk-
That single word seized everyone by the throat. The laughter stopped abruptly, their expressions froze, and they were left speechless.
What the ability to fly meant in the Soul Master World needed no further explanation. It was an ability countless Soul Masters dreamed of!
Lin Kong pressed, "How long does it last?"
Oscar cleared his throat twice, shifted his feet, and quietly hid behind Lin Kong. His voice sounded a little sheepish. "The duration... one minute."
"Fuck!"
Everyone immediately swore in unison, their earlier shock turning to speechlessness-You little punk, taking that huge pause in the middle of your sentence. You're deliberately keeping us hanging, aren't you?
Zhao Wuji clapped his hands, forcibly cutting through their clamor. "All right, all right, calm down. Oscar has obtained his third soul ring. It's time we left. The Star Dou Great Forest isn't a place to linger."
"Wait!" Tang San suddenly spoke up. "We can't leave yet."
Zhao Wuji's expression darkened, and he shot him a cold glare. "Can't? Why? This is the Star Dou Great Forest. Every extra minute we stay means another measure of danger."
"Tang San, since when did you start taking huge pauses between your words too?" Lin Kong added unhurriedly.
Zhao Wuji, who had been both angry and anxious, actually forced himself to calm down at that teasing remark. The others also reined in their emotions and turned to look at Tang San in unison-We're not in a hurry anymore, but you still have to explain your reason, don't you?
Tang San had originally wanted to act mysterious amid everyone's questions, only for a single remark from Lin Kong to pull the rug out from under him. He felt terribly stifled. Drawing a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down and slowly spoke:
"I've reached rank thirty now. I need a third soul ring."
"Impressive, impressive!"
There was not the slightest trace of shock on Lin Kong's face, as though he had expected this outcome all along. He even clapped his hands unhurriedly, his tone perfectly composed.
"Teacher Zhao, since Tang San has reached rank thirty too, why don't we stay and help him find a suitable Soul Beast?" Lin Kong took the opportunity to suggest.
He had mastered the art of redirecting attention to the point of perfection, instantly drawing everyone's focus to their next task.
Sure enough, Zhao Wuji's train of thought was led astray. He nodded thoughtfully. "Mm, naturally. But it's getting late now. We need to move somewhere else to camp for the night. The Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent's blood smells too strong. Who knows what powerful Soul Beast it might attract?"
"Move out!"
At his command, everyone immediately packed their belongings and prepared to relocate.
Tang San stood where he was, feeling so stifled he could practically have started smoking.
He had been calculating how shocked and impressed everyone would be when he announced that he had broken through rank thirty, letting him enjoy the emotional gratification of being the moon surrounded by admiring stars. Yet that burst of delighted surprise had not even lasted five seconds before one casual remark from Lin Kong dragged them back to reality-this was the Star Dou Great Forest, where danger lurked on every side, and no one had the leisure to hold some congratulatory ceremony for his breakthrough.
Tang San silently raised his eyes and looked at Lin Kong's retreating back, his gaze filled with indignation.
He cursed inwardly, Lin Kong! Earlier, you even thanked me so solemnly that I thought you'd changed your ways and become a better person. Who would've thought you'd still be such a hateful bastard, always pulling the rug out from under me!
"Tang San! What are you spacing out for?!"
Zhao Wuji's furious roar suddenly rang out. Distracted, Tang San had stumbled and nearly pitched headfirst onto the ground.
Tang San: "..."
He gritted his teeth, suppressed all the frustration and resentment filling his heart, and silently followed the rest of the group without another word along the way.
The group traveled swiftly for several kilometers before finally finding a flat clearing with an open view. Zhao Wuji chose a spot near a water source and directed everyone to pitch their tents and spend the night there.
Early the next morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten, Lin Kong and the others were already awake and full of vigor. Zhao Wuji, on the other hand, fell straight asleep the moment his head touched the pillow in his tent, and slept for a full five hours.
Although he was a Soul Saint whose spiritual power far surpassed that of ordinary people, sleep was necessary to maintain his peak fighting strength. The forest was relatively safe during the day, giving him the perfect opportunity to catch up on sleep in peace and conserve his strength for the dangers of the night.
But as a result, the time everyone had to search for Soul Beasts during the day was considerably reduced.
The days passed, and in the blink of an eye, two days quietly slipped away. They scoured the nearby wooded hills, but still failed to find a Soul Beast suitable for Tang San.
Nevertheless, the trip was not entirely without gains. Over those two days, Lin Kong and the others joined forces to deal with several waves of attacks from Soul Beasts that did not know better. From their initial slight awkwardness to their later seamless coordination, their cooperation grew increasingly fluid, and they had begun to resemble a genuine team.
And...
After every Soul Beast they killed, Lin Kong would take his short sword and carefully dissect its corpse, trying to find a Soul Bone despite the minuscule odds. At first, Ma Hongjun, Dai Mubai, and the others would eagerly come over to lend a hand, but after working away four or five times in a row without seeing so much as a single unusual bone fragment, they gradually lost interest.
After all, the chance of a Hundred-Year Soul Beast dropping a Soul Bone was close to zero. Even for a Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the odds were pitifully low.
In the end, only Lin Kong remained in the clearing beside the campsite, crouching beside a Soul Beast's corpse and tirelessly searching through it, his figure looking particularly persistent in the setting sun.
That night...