Bamboo Blade Turmoil

Xie Yue retreated to the edge of the clearing, folded his arms, and slid his Moon Blades back into place at his waist. Hu Liena stood on the other side, her gaze calm.

Neither of them showed any intention of attacking.

The ten-thousand-year mantis's compound eyes swept over Lin Qing and the two at the edge of the clearing before finally settling on Lin Qing directly ahead.

It sensed the fluctuations of his Soul Power, which drew it like a magnet.

Its forelegs slowly rose, and its blade-wings spread slightly, giving off a faint hum.

Lin Qing didn't wait for it to move first. He pressed his left hand to the ground and activated Bamboo Sea Emergence.

Bamboo shot out from beneath the fallen leaves, spreading green-gold light through the dim forest.

Rather than covering the entire clearing, he confined the bamboo to within two zhang of the mantis. Branches crisscrossed into a net, blocking its takeoff routes.

The mantis swung a foreleg. Its sickle-shaped limb struck the nearest bamboo stalk, severing it with a snap.

A second slash, then a third. It chopped through several stalks in the space of two breaths.

Bamboo Sea Emergence kept replacing the stalks, but the mantis slashed too quickly. The new bamboo was cut down before it could grow.

It forcibly hacked a path through the bamboo net, spread its blade-wings, and took to the air.

Lin Qing's pupils contracted. The mantis flew up, looked down through its compound eyes, then dove.

Its foreleg sliced toward the side of his neck with a sharp whistle, nearly twice as fast as it had been on the ground.

Lin Qing twisted aside, and the passive Bamboo Transformation formed a layer of bamboo over the side of his neck. But the mantis's foreleg swung through a half circle in the air, and a second slash followed close behind, striking him in the chest.

A deep crack ran through the bamboo layer, which nearly shattered, and the force drove Lin Qing back three steps.

As he retreated, he released Bamboo Soul, placing a mark on the mantis.

The mantis's movements faltered for an instant, but it was harder to lock onto in the air than on the ground.

It beat its blade-wings, climbed again, then dove toward Xie Yue.

Xie Yue dodged sideways and drew his Moon Blades. A gleam traced an arc through the air, cutting into the base of the mantis's wing.

The mantis recoiled in pain, turned on him, and slashed three times in succession with its forelegs. Xie Yue blocked with alternating blades, but was driven back against a tree.

Hu Liena moved. She raised her right hand, and a layer of purple light poured from her palm, silently covering the entire clearing.

Lin Qing felt a slight dizziness as the purple light swept over him, while the mantis's movements visibly slowed and its altitude dropped by a foot.

It tried to beat its wings, but their rhythm was disrupted, as though it were struggling in water.

"Its mental barrier isn't strong." Hu Liena's voice was quiet but clear. "Xie Yue, control its wings. Lin Qing, break its armor."

Xie Yue didn't answer, but he moved. He darted out from the tree and crossed his blades in a slash at the base of the mantis's right wing.

The mantis tried to dodge, but Hu Liena's purple light was still pressing down on it, slowing it by half a beat.

The Moon Blades cut into the base of its right wing, opening a gash, and the blade-wing drooped halfway down. It struggled to maintain its balance with its left wing, descending toward the ground at a crooked angle.

Lin Qing didn't wait for it to land. He pole-vaulted off a bamboo branch, gathered the power of ice and fire in both palms, and drove them down at the mantis's back armor from above.

The mantis raised its forelegs to block, but its injured left wing threw it off balance, and the angle of its block was off by half an inch.

His ice-and-fire palms struck the center of its back armor. Cold Qi seeped inside, freezing its Soul Power nodes, and heat exploded at the frozen points.

Ice and fire repelled each other, tearing it apart from within.

The mantis's body went rigid. Its blade-wings spread limply, and its forelegs drooped.

It fell from the air and crashed onto the fallen leaves with a dull thud. But it wasn't dead.

Its forelegs were still scraping about, trying to prop up its body. Fine cracks appeared across its shell, spreading from the center of its back armor to either side, but it didn't shatter completely.

Xie Yue walked over and crossed his blades, pressing their tips against a gap in the mantis's neck.

He glanced at Lin Qing, who nodded.

Xie Yue pressed both blades down at once. Their tips pierced the gap and severed the main artery in the mantis's neck.

The light slowly faded from the mantis's compound eyes, and its forelegs fell limp, moving no more.

Lin Qing withdrew his hands and stood beside the mantis's corpse, looking down at his palms.

The light of the ice and fire marks was fading, and the bamboo layer was receding as well.

The fabric over his chest had been slashed open, and the bamboo layer formed by the passive Bamboo Transformation had shattered, leaving a very faint mark on his skin.

If Xie Yue hadn't controlled the base of its wing and Hu Liena hadn't suppressed it mentally, he couldn't have survived a second dive on his own.

Xie Yue put away his Moon Blades, glanced at the mantis on the ground, then looked at Lin Qing.

"A ten-thousand-year Soul Beast? Fighting one alone is courting death." With that, he turned and walked out of the forest.

Hu Liena walked up to Lin Qing and glanced at the mark on his chest. "Can you still walk?"

"Yes."

She asked no more and turned to follow Xie Yue.

As its forelegs drooped, their blades still faintly reflected the light.

He walked at the back, going over the battle in his mind.

Bamboo Sea Emergence couldn't trap it, Bamboo Transformation couldn't block a full-force slash, Bamboo Soul could only disrupt it for half a breath, and the power of ice and fire had to be injected at close range.

Without Xie Yue controlling its wings and Hu Liena suppressing it, he wouldn't even have had a chance to get close.

He closed his eyes and prepared to absorb the Soul Ring. Within his sea of consciousness, the Chaos Lone Bamboo stood quietly.

The first three bamboo segments glowed steadily, while the fourth trembled violently, fine patterns appearing on its surface.

Although he could form Soul Rings himself, he could absorb a Soul Beast's abilities while forming a Soul Ring to influence the abilities of his new Soul Skill, allowing him to conceal himself better.

Then a light welled up from within the fourth bamboo segment. It was a pure, sharp green-gold light with a cutting quality.

Of course, this was what was happening within his spiritual sea of consciousness.

The Chaos Lone Bamboo had long since simulated the green-gold Soul Ring as a black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.

The light seeped from the surface of the segment, spread down the stalk, and gathered at the roots before surging through his meridians into Lin Qing's right arm.

A sharp pain shot through his right arm, as though countless tiny blades were traveling through his meridians.

He gritted his teeth without making a sound. The power gathered, compressed, and spun within his right arm, finally condensing into a point in his palm.

A Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath his feet.

Green-gold. A color never before seen on the entire continent. Fine blade patterns appeared on the Soul Ring's surface, like water that had been sliced by countless blades.

The Soul Ring circled Lin Qing's body once and came to rest steadily beneath his feet, alongside the first three.

The fourth Soul Ring. Ten thousand years. After returning to his quarters, he rested for a while to recover his vitality. A night passed.

Lin Qing opened his eyes and looked down at the green-gold Soul Ring beneath his feet.

He raised his right hand, and with a thought, a crescent-shaped blade of green-gold light formed before his palm. It was about a foot long, its edge gleaming coldly.

Bamboo Blade Storm.

He stood up and unleashed it at a distant tree. The tree was about ten zhang away, its trunk as thick as a bucket.

He compressed the blade of light in his palm, gathered his strength, and pushed forward.

Countless green bamboo leaves formed ten zhang away, a small number of them emitting a golden light.

He clenched his hand into a fist, and the countless Chaos bamboo leaves spun sharply, shredding everything in that space like a tornado.

Under the ravages of Bamboo Blade Storm, the sturdy trunk was reduced to scattered fragments and broken branches. Its power was actually terrifying to such an extent.

Lin Qing closed the window, retreated to the bedside, and sat down.

He looked down at his right palm. The twin ice and fire marks were still there, and a new mark had appeared deep within it: an extremely fine green-gold blade pattern.

He closed his hand, and Bamboo Breath circulated once through his body.

The fourth bamboo segment glowed steadily, the Soul Ring had formed, and both forms of Bamboo Blade Storm were usable. The fourth Soul Ring: ten thousand years, green-gold, blade patterns.

Early the next morning, Lin Qing went to the main building to register his Soul Ring. The gray-robed man opened the register and wrote in the "Fourth Soul Ring" field: "Ten thousand years, green-gold, source: ten-thousand-year mantis from the western area of the northern hunting grounds."

He looked up at Lin Qing, something more in his gaze, but asked no questions. He simply closed the register. "Training as usual tomorrow."

As Lin Qing left the main building, he ran into Lu Qingya. Lu Qingya was leaning against a corner of the corridor, clutching a strip of cloth, as though waiting for someone.

When he saw Lin Qing come out, he straightened, his gaze lingering for a moment on the faintly visible green-gold Soul Ring beneath his feet.

"Fourth Soul Ring?"

"Mm."

Lu Qingya watched him for a while, then nodded. "Not bad." With that, he turned and left.

Lin Qing stood in the corridor, watching his back disappear around the corner, then headed toward the training ground.

[End of Chapter Thirty]