Absorbing Soul Bones, breaking through

"What a coincidence, I still have a Soul Bone here."

Helpless, Lu Cheng pulled a left arm bone from his pocket.

It was the one Ning Cong gave me. Judging from its attributes, it must be Soul Bone second only to the Ultimate Fire, comparable in quality to the Golden Earth Dragon King.

Two 100,000-year-old coins.

"A reward from the academy?" Ma Xiaotao lay in the hot spring, a hint of surprise flashing in her phoenix eyes. The teacher was actually willing to give such a generous reward; it was truly... strange.

"Given by the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, a reward from the academy... Heh." Lu Cheng tossed the Soul Bone aside and chuckled.

Those who expect Yan Shaozhe to show mercy are bound to starve to death.

"What about the academy's reward?" Ma Xiaotao was taken aback.

"Here you go~" Lu Cheng tossed her a storage soul guide diamond ring, which she caught with her slender hand. Her fingers, painted with red cinnamon, tapped open the ring to examine it, her red lips gradually widening, and her beautiful eyes gradually filling with anger.

"Has the teacher gone mad?!"

"I'm going to confront him!" Ma Xiaotao leaped out of the bathhouse in a flurry of activity. "Lu Cheng, let go! Don't stop me! I have to report this to Mu En. Is Shrek really going to just hand over such a powerful genius?"

"..." Lu Cheng turned his head away, and a surge of white flesh rushed in front of him. For a moment, he found it hard to suppress his anger, and his nose felt hot, as if blood was flowing out.

"Clothing."

Lu Cheng said helplessly.

"..." Ma Xiaotao's pretty face flushed red. Even in her memory, she didn't seem to have been looked at like this before. In the past, it was always her who seduced him, but this guy always acted with a straight face and didn't want to look at her twice.

Her slender feet rested on the stones beside the bathing spring, her fair toes clearly defined, her toenails painted with dazzling red cardamom, and the blue veins on her fair insteps clearly visible, making her arches appear even longer and more graceful.

With a casual wave of her hand, a thin veil was draped over it.

The way it enveloped her graceful figure made her even more alluring.

"Dean Yan isn't crazy, but Xiaotao, you know I don't have much of a liking for the Shrek Academy." Seeing this, Lu Cheng, though still passionate, managed to suppress some of his anger.

"..." Ma Xiaotao's face stiffened.

Are you leaving again?

She stared at Lu Cheng with a stubborn look in her eyes.

His tone softened, seemingly pleading.

"Yes." Lu Cheng nodded.

This seems to be an insurmountable obstacle.

Shrek Academy has twice clashed with him, not to mention whether everything in the Simulation Device actually happened in reality... The massacre of Zhang Lexuan's family overnight was indeed the work of Mu En, which means that neither he nor Zhang Lexuan can reconcile with Shrek.

"This time, I'm going to follow you again!" Ma Xiaotao stared intently at Lu Cheng with her phoenix eyes.

"..." Lu Cheng's lips twitched.

Upon hearing this, Yan Shaozhe was terrified...

"Good."

Lu Cheng nodded.

This kind of trust is rare and precious. He really can no longer treat her as a tool to be manipulated at will; she is also a living, breathing human being with flesh and blood.

"That's more like it..." Ma Xiaotao's gaze softened when she saw that Lu Cheng didn't seem to be faking it.

"Absorb the Soul Bone, and I will protect you."

"After absorbing the Soul Bone, we should be able to raise our Soul Power to the Soul Elder. We'll have to go to the Star Dou Great Forest again in a couple of days," Lu Cheng said thoughtfully.

"That would be perfect," Ma Xiaotao said, licking her red lips and giving him a seductive look.

"Let's wait until we get Mother back before we talk about anything else." Lu Cheng said helplessly. No matter what he said, this girl could always find a way to steer the conversation in the right direction.

"Jiang Nannan's mother? The one who adopted you all these years? I'll thank her properly when I meet her." Upon hearing this, Ma Xiaotao's expression became much more serious.

Should I go too?

"You don't need to." Lu Cheng's eye twitched. "You can just protect me."

Having said that, he took off his clothes and, under Ma Xiaotao's teasing gaze, entered the bathing spring. He sat cross-legged in it and took out the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone given to him by Ning Cong, slowly absorbing it.

The Simulation reward, the Martial Soul- Sun-Shooting Bow, basically encompasses the corresponding cultivation talent and physical attributes of talent level 10. Therefore, for Lu Cheng, absorbing the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone is difficult, but not dangerous.

Ma Xiaotao sat leisurely on a rock to the side, her fair little feet stepping into the bathing spring next to her, gently stirring it.

Her beautiful eyes quietly admired Lu Cheng.

Just looking at him gives me an indescribable sense of security.

Despite his young age, he still appears quite composed.

"Buzz..."

A crimson light rose from the pool, flames swirled around Lu Cheng, and as his Soul Bone slowly merged into his body, his cultivation level surged.

Level 27, Level 28, Level 29...

After Lu Cheng completely absorbed the Soul Bone, he took a deep breath, exhaled a puff of white mist, and began to absorb Ma Xiaotao's 100,000-year-old Golden Earth Dragon King Soul Bone again.

He broke through level 30 in an instant, and a huge amount of energy surged within his body.

Without Soul Ring, Lu Cheng could not continue to improve his cultivation, but his enormous energy was temporarily stored, waiting for the moment he obtained his third Soul Ring so that he could ascend to immortality.

"So handsome~"

Ma Xiaotao said as if she were infatuated.

ps...