Kongqing Bamboo!

With Old Butler standing guard at his side, Lin Rong had no need to worry about his safety and could devote himself fully to absorbing the Soul Ring.

The Nine Bend Vine Dragon rooted in the ground rapidly shrank, turning into a streak of cyan light that appeared in Lin Rong's hands.

After several breaths, Lin Rong adjusted himself to his peak condition and summoned the Kongqing Bamboo Soul Ring.

Drawn by the summon, the Kongqing Bamboo Soul Ring slowly floated above the Nine Bend Vine Dragon before finally settling around Lin Rong's martial soul.

The power contained within the Soul Ring poured into Lin Rong's body all at once, like a dam bursting.

This power filled his dantian, forming a Cyan-Silver vortex.

Almost the instant this power surged into his dantian—

Without Lin Rong needing to refine it himself, his consciousness instinctively began circulating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.

The Cyan-Silver currents circulated through his meridians in cycles, gradually being absorbed and refined by Lin Rong in the process.

Although this Soul Ring's age was considerably higher than the last one's, Lin Rong was no longer the person who had possessed only Rank 10 Soul Power back then.

On top of that, he already had experience absorbing a Soul Ring once before.

Lin Rong absorbed this Soul Ring even faster than he had the last one.

Time passed second by second.

Just as the process of absorbing the Soul Ring was about to end, the Cyan-Silver currents that Lin Rong had nearly completely refined suddenly began to glimmer with specks of silver light.

The silver light flowed through Lin Rong's body before finally reaching his Spiritual Sea of Consciousness, where it condensed into the form of Kongqing Bamboo.

Spiritual Sea of Consciousness.

Lin Rong's spiritual power condensed into his form. Staring at the Kongqing Bamboo before him in great shock, he said uncertainly:

"Soul tremor? No!"

"Even a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's soul tremor is merely a soul impact born from resentment. It could never form a tangible soul entity."

Lin Rong could not help but think:

I thought Kongqing Bamboo was merely extraordinarily intelligent. I never expected its soul power to be this formidable as well.

Could this Kongqing Bamboo be one of those legendary Soul Beasts with a unique nature?

Lin Rong admitted that he had miscalculated this time.

He truly had not expected a Soul Beast he had encountered so casually to possess such extraordinary origins.

But Kongqing Bamboo should not celebrate too soon. If it wanted to perish together with him, it needed to have the ability to do so first!

As Lin Rong pondered, silver flames ignited all over Kongqing Bamboo's body. It then transformed into a streak of light and rapidly closed in on Lin Rong.

At the same time—

Lin Rong's martial soul, the Nine Bend Vine Dragon.

Upon the Banyan Tree trunk, the Banyan Tree root shaped like a cyan true dragon finally opened its long-slumbering azure-gold dragon eyes.

"Roar~"

A long and resounding dragon's cry echoed throughout the Spiritual Sea of Consciousness.

The next instant.

The Banyan Tree root in the form of a cyan true dragon bloomed with pale cyan light.

The light condensed in the air, transforming into an Azure Dragon.

Its horns resembled a deer's, its head a camel's, its eyes a rabbit's, its neck a snake's, its belly a mirage's, its scales a fish's, its claws an eagle's, its paws a tiger's, and its ears an ox's.

Majestic and imposing, it was utterly extraordinary.

After appearing, the Azure Dragon rode the clouds and mist, blocking Kongqing Bamboo's path.

It then transformed its body into a cage, tightly imprisoning Kongqing Bamboo beneath its draconic form.

Lin Rong controlled his body and floated above Kongqing Bamboo, looking down at it.

Though Kongqing Bamboo was imprisoned so thoroughly that it could not move, the silver flames around its body burned even more fiercely. Yet they seemed incapable of harming the Azure Dragon in the slightest.

The scene was reflected upon the sea of consciousness. As the flames flickered, ripples spread across the water, blurring the view.

"What, can't figure it out?" Lin Rong watched Kongqing Bamboo struggle futilely and explained with amusement:

"Let me tell you!"

"Humans can awaken their martial souls at the age of six. The martial souls they awaken come in every conceivable form and encompass everything."

"The martial soul I awakened is called the Nine Bend Vine Dragon. It was created through the fusion and mutation of my parents' martial souls, the Dragon Soul Vine and the Thousand Leaf Banyan."

"Since it is a fusion mutation, it naturally inherited the traits of both martial souls."

"The Thousand Leaf Banyan's traits are, first, its luxuriant branches and leaves, and second, its developed roots."

"Why don't you think about what the Dragon Soul Vine's trait is?"

Knowing Kongqing Bamboo could not speak, Lin Rong continued with his own answer:

"Of course, it's the dragon soul!"

"Only because my martial soul is mutated."

"To fully unleash the power of the Nine Bend Vine Dragon, I need to absorb the soul rings of two soul beasts: the Thousand Leaf Banyan and the Dragon Soul Vine—Azure Vine."

"You can think of them as two seals. I need to absorb the corresponding soul beasts to undo them. Only then can the Nine Bend Vine Dragon martial soul truly be considered flawless."

"The dragon soul of the Nine Bend Vine Dragon originates from the Dragon Soul Vine. Therefore, if I want to wield the dragon soul's power, I need to absorb a Dragon Soul Vine soul ring."

"My first soul ring came from the Thousand Leaf Banyan. My Second Soul Ring was you, Kongqing Bamboo. Only my Third Soul Ring was the Dragon Soul Vine."

"In other words, I cannot use the Nine Bend Vine Dragon's dragon soul power in the outside world."

"But unfortunately, this is the Spiritual Sea of Consciousness. What appears here is not the physical martial soul, but its Martial Soul Origin."

"Thus, while the dragon soul's origin needs the Dragon Soul Vine to carry it in the outside world, here, there is no need at all!"

After explaining, Lin Rong coldly watched Kongqing Bamboo, whose soul power had already burned away by more than half. He no longer wasted time, and the Azure Dragon, linked to his will, struck and completely erased Kongqing Bamboo.

Outside.

Lin Rong was enveloped within a pillar of starlight. It was Old Butler's first soul skill: Falling Star.

Gradually, a trace of color returned to Lin Rong's face, which had turned deathly pale at some point, and his weak breathing began to normalize.

After returning from the Spiritual Sea of Consciousness, Lin Rong leaned against Old Butler, gasping heavily as though he had narrowly survived a disaster.

In the mental space just now, Lin Rong had merely forced himself to remain calm while bluffing Kongqing Bamboo.

Though the dragon soul's power was formidable, its consumption was also enormous for the current Lin Rong.

Moreover, using the dragon soul's power before obtaining the Third Soul Ring was not without side effects.

The forcibly summoned dragon soul could not kill Kongqing Bamboo the instant the Azure Dragon restrained it.

At that time, Kongqing Bamboo's soul power had only just begun to burn. All of the Azure Dragon's power was used to restrain Kongqing Bamboo, leaving it with no spare power to kill it.

Had Kongqing Bamboo realized this and abandoned more than half its soul power to break free from the Azure Dragon's restraint, the remaining soul shock alone would have been enough to inflict irreparable mental damage on Lin Rong.

It might even have turned Lin Rong into an idiot.

Fortunately, Kongqing Bamboo had been intimidated by Lin Rong's words. Believing there was no hope left, it did not choose to do so.

Fortunately, this had taken place within the Spiritual Sea of Consciousness. Lin Rong's body there was condensed from spiritual power, so it would not display the deathly pallor of his face outside.

Otherwise, the moment Kongqing Bamboo saw Lin Rong's pale face, it would have known that both sides were already at the end of their rope.

No matter how impressive or eloquent Lin Rong's words had been, they would have been useless.

After this incident, Lin Rong realized something.

Everything he had experienced before had gone far too smoothly. Though he appeared cautious on the surface, arrogance and conceit had long since taken root in his heart.

Kongqing Bamboo possessed such high intelligence; Lin Rong should have anticipated that something like this might happen.

Yet his arrogance had made him dismiss a soul beast with less than a thousand years of cultivation.

Fortunately, he had narrowly escaped with his life this time, and it also made Lin Rong realize this fact.