"Then we won't go for now." After thinking for a moment, Lin Feng set aside the idea of visiting the Worship Hall.
"Your grandfather is still perfectly fine. We can find a way to meet him later. We can't sacrifice all three of us just to see him once."
Silence lingered within him for a while before Qian Renxue's voice sounded.
"I understand."
Lin Feng said nothing more. His gaze fell on the green spider in his right hand, and he suddenly remembered something else.
"Right, there's also the matter of the Death Spider Emperor."
"After absorbing the Soul Ring earlier, I never found a chance to test it. Now we can see whether it was affected."
As his words fell, he mobilized his Soul Power, and the Soul Devouring Spider Emperor in his palm lit up with an emerald glow.
A yellow Soul Ring slowly appeared.
Then, with a thought from Lin Feng, the green carapace gradually turned black, and the spider's legs grew thicker and stronger.
Death Spider Emperor!
Almost the instant the Martial Soul finished transforming, the yellow Soul Ring vanished outright.
Lin Feng's eyes lit up at the sight. He switched his Martial Soul back to the Soul Devouring Spider Emperor, and the yellow Soul Ring reappeared.
He repeated this several times, and the changes between the two forms showed no abnormalities whatsoever.
"The Soul Devouring Spider Emperor has a Soul Ring, but the Death Spider Emperor doesn't!"
The black spider in his palm moved its front legs. Bibi Dong was also carefully sensing the changes in herself.
"The Death Spider Emperor has no connection to that Soul Ring. It can still have its own Soul Rings attached."
Hearing this, Lin Feng could no longer suppress his smile. Didn't this mean he had three Martial Souls?
The Soul Devouring Spider Emperor, the Death Spider Emperor, and the Six-Winged Angel-he could attach a full twenty-seven Soul Rings in the future!
"Don't celebrate just yet."
Bibi Dong's voice sounded again.
"In that case, leave the Death Spider Emperor's Soul Rings alone for now. Wait until you're stronger and your body can withstand Soul Rings of greater ages before attaching any to it."
Lin Feng nodded.
Naturally, he understood the reasoning.
Even if he went Soul Hunting now, he would get another Hundred-Year Soul Ring at most. Once his body grew stronger in the future, however, he could start directly with a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.
The difference between the two was far from small.
"Then I'll keep cultivating the Soul Devouring Spider Emperor and leave the other two for now." Lin Feng put away his smile and added, "I don't plan to tell Teacher about the Death Spider Emperor, either."
"Decide for yourself."
Bibi Dong did not object. The fewer people who knew about something like this, the more advantageous it was for them.
After withdrawing his Martial Soul, Lin Feng opened the wooden box on the table again and looked at the piece of thousand-year whale rubber inside.
The benefits of having three Martial Souls were still a long way off.
His most important task right now was to build up his body first.
The next day, he began taking whale rubber!
With his first dose, a warm sensation gradually spread from his abdomen to his limbs.
Following his instructions, Lin Feng circulated his Soul Power and slowly absorbed its medicinal potency. That night, he cultivated until very late before resting.
During his daily training the next day, Lin Feng clearly felt that his body did not tire as easily as before.
Though the effect was not dramatic, it completely set his mind at ease.
Whale rubber really worked.
After that, he began having people keep an ongoing lookout for whale rubber, taking it in separate doses according to his cultivation progress.
During the day, he studied under Pope Bibi Dong, practicing the coordination of Martial Soul Possession and Soul Skills. At night, he listened to the guidance of his other two Martial Souls and addressed the problems that had accumulated during the day.
Whatever Pope Bibi Dong required him to practice, he could always receive another, more detailed explanation after returning to his room.
Sometimes, Lin Feng had barely finished describing his problem before Martial Soul Bibi Dong had already guessed what Pope Bibi Dong intended to teach next.
"Did she tell you to control the speed of devouring first?"
"How did you know?"
"That was exactly how I trained back then."
Lin Feng grinned as he listened.
The same teacher taught him from morning to night, so he did not even need to explain his cultivation progress all over again.
Through repeated use, he also grew increasingly proficient with Death Feast.
At first, refining the devoured energy still took considerable time. Later, he could swiftly process most of it after a battle ended.
Qian Renxue, meanwhile, shared a great deal of combat experience with him.
Every time he returned from Soul Hunting, Lin Feng would recount what had happened to her. Where he could have acted sooner, when he should have withdrawn his web, and when he should have pressed the advantage and pursued-they discussed each point one by one.
At first, he merely practiced according to her suggestions. Later, when he encountered similar situations, his body could react a step ahead.
As his cultivation grew, he gradually learned how to put his advantages to use.
At the very least, he no longer merely poured Soul Power into his Martial Soul as he had just after awakening.
Whenever he accompanied his teacher or the academy's Soul Masters on a Soul Hunt, the Soul Beast corpses that still held residual energy all became cultivation resources for him.
While others absorbed Soul Rings, he devoured beside them.
By the time they left the forest, Lin Feng's Soul Power would often have increased a little more.
His Soul Power rose, and his body constantly grew stronger as well.
Finally, after reaching level twenty, he entered the forest with Pope Bibi Dong once again and hunted down the first Thousand-Year Soul Ring for his Soul Devouring Spider Emperor.
Though the absorption process was far from easy, he endured it.
Second Soul Skill, Soul Devouring Spider Web.
It could release sticky, venomous webs to entangle a target, and he could also tighten the threads to pull enemies toward him.
With this Soul Skill, his Death Feast no longer had to wait for others to approach.
Some time later, Lin Feng broke through to level thirty. This time, Pope Bibi Dong selected an eight-thousand-year Scarlet Armor Demon Spider for him.
This kind of Soul Beast lived year-round in scorching rocky terrain. Its carapace was hard, and it possessed strong resistance to heat.
After absorbing its Soul Ring, Lin Feng obtained his Third Soul Skill, Spider Emperor Devil Armor.
When he used it, emerald-green spider armor covered his entire body, increasing his strength and defense, while six sharp spider legs could grow from his back.
Together with his arms after Martial Soul Possession, he could attack with eight spider legs at once.
A thousand-year Second Soul Ring, an eight-thousand-year Third Soul Ring.
As Pope Bibi Dong watched this disciple grow little by little, she put increasingly more care into nurturing him.
And through day after day of cultivation, Lin Feng gradually adapted to this world.
In the blink of an eye, six years passed.
Spirit City, a cultivation room.
Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes, raised a hand, and clenched his fist. The Soul Power within him flowed through his meridians before finally settling into calm again.
"Level thirty-five."
He rose and walked over to the mirror.
The youth in the mirror was tall and slender, with little of his former childishness remaining in his features.
Twelve years old, level thirty-five.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Lin Feng's lips curved slightly. "Tang San probably hasn't broken through to level thirty at this point, has he?"