Innate Soul Power Potion

Time flew. Another year had passed since the qilin phantom awakened.

He still checked in every morning without fail. When his consecutive check-ins passed seven hundred days, the quality of his rewards quietly improved. They were no longer limited to body-tempering pills or everyday odds and ends; resources that truly benefited cultivation had begun to appear.

[Ding! Today's check-in successful.]

[Reward obtained: Innate Soul Power Potion ×2.]

[Reward description: Slightly improves the user's foundation of Innate Soul Power, raising their Innate Soul Power by up to 2 levels.]

Yan Zu held two vials of clear, pale-gold potion and fell into thought.

The rewards were clearly prepared by the system for his parents. His father, Yan Hu, was thirty-eight, with level 3 Innate Soul Power. His mother, Su Qing, was thirty-five, with level 2 Innate Soul Power. Although their Innate Soul Power was less than ideal, for commoners, awakening it at all was a great stroke of luck.

Through his cultivation of the Nine Yin Manual, he had come to understand one thing: what was called "innate" was not entirely unchangeable. This peerless cultivation art from Blue Star had always emphasized "defying the heavens to change one's fate," and the system's rewards made the impossible possible.

Perhaps these can improve my parents' cultivation talent, Yan Zu thought.

He did not give his parents the potions immediately. Instead, he first tried a drop himself. It entered his mouth and became a warm, gentle current of energy that sank into his dantian, merging perfectly with his own Nine Yin Soul Power without the slightest rejection.

"Just as I thought, it's harmless." He was relieved.

That night, under their son's watchful gaze, Yan Hu and Su Qing each drank a vial of Innate Soul Power Potion.

At first, nothing unusual happened, but after midnight, they felt their Soul Power surge almost simultaneously. Yan Hu's Iron Axe Martial Soul appeared on its own, and two Soul Rings rose above the axe: the first was white, the second yellow. Such was the helplessness of a commoner Soul Master. Weak back then, he had only been able to hunt a seventy-year Soul Beast for his first Soul Ring.

Now, under the potion's effects, his long-stagnant Soul Power began to assault the bottleneck at level thirty!

Su Qing was equally delighted. Fine golden lines appeared along the veins of her Green Grain Martial Soul's leaves, a sign that its origin had been strengthened. She could feel that her healing ability had improved considerably.

Early the next morning, Yan Hu opened his eyes, a brilliant light flashing in their tiger-like depths. "I... I broke through to level thirty!"

The Innate Soul Power Potion had not only changed his established Innate Soul Power level, but also thoroughly strengthened the foundation of his many years of cultivation. It had remedied all the hidden injuries and defects left by a commoner Soul Master's lack of resources, allowing him to cross that threshold.

But level thirty was only a bottleneck.

To become a true Soul Elder, he still needed to hunt a Soul Beast and obtain a third Soul Ring.

"Father, don't rush," Yan Zu said calmly. "The third Soul Ring is crucial. We can't be careless. Your body is in better condition than ever, so you can easily withstand a Soul Ring of a greater age."

"Greater age?" Yan Hu gave a wry smile. "I'd be lucky to hunt a three-hundred-year Soul Beast. How could I dare hope for more?"

"Hire a Soul Hunting team," Yan Zu said directly. He took a small cloth pouch from his storage bracelet and poured out a hundred Gold Soul Coins. "I saved these."

Of course, he had accumulated them through check-ins over the past year. To keep his parents from growing suspicious, he had prepared an explanation long ago.

Yan Hu and his wife exchanged looks. A hundred Gold Soul Coins was no small sum to them.

"Zu, this money..." Su Qing hesitated.

"Grandpa Whitebeard left it to me." Yan Zu lied without a change of expression. "He said that when you reached level thirty, you should hire a better Soul Hunting team instead of taking the risk yourselves."

Yan Hu fell silent for a moment, then nodded firmly. "All right. We'll do as you say."

His son had shown such thoughtfulness. If he refused again, he would only be letting the boy down.

A few days later, Yan Hu and his wife went to Nuoding City and spent eighty Gold Soul Coins to hire an experienced Soul Hunting team. Led by a Soul Ancestor, the team worked seamlessly together and specialized in hunting Soul Beasts under a thousand years old on the outskirts of the forest.

Yan Zu did not go with them. He stayed in the village and continued cultivating.

He could feel that his bones were now as dense as refined iron, and the explosive power contained in his muscle fibers was enough to shatter a century-old tree with one punch. Most importantly, his communication with the qilin phantom was growing smoother.

Little one, release a little vitality, Yan Zu commanded in his heart.

The jade-colored qilin in his spiritual world raised its little head and breathed out a wisp of pale-green vapor. It passed through Yan Zu's body and drifted onto a pot of withered orchids on the windowsill.

A miracle happened.

The orchid regained its vitality at a speed visible to the naked eye, sprouting new shoots and forming buds ready to bloom.

Yan Zu nodded in satisfaction.

Although the qilin had not truly awakened, that wisp of vitality alone was enough to help him deal with many situations.

One day, Yan Zu was practicing the Basic Sword Control Art in the courtyard as usual.

It was a reward he had received after a full year and a half of consecutive check-ins. A low-level sword art, it seemed ordinary, yet contained the fundamentals of the sword. Yan Zu knew that no matter how powerful a martial art was, it needed a foundation to support it.

He pressed his fingers together and used them as a sword, tracing a profound arc through the air.

There were no fluctuations of Soul Power, no sword Qi sweeping about, yet the air made a faint tearing sound.

"Fine swordsmanship!" Yan Hu exclaimed from behind him.

Yan Zu lowered his hand, turned, and smiled. "Father, you're back? Did the Soul Hunting go smoothly?"

Yan Hu roared with laughter, his tiger-like eyes full of excitement. "Smoothly! It couldn't have gone better! Thanks to the Soul Hunting team we hired, I got an eight-hundred-year Soul Ring!"

"Eight hundred years?" Yan Zu was surprised.

Given his father's strength, he could indeed absorb an eight-hundred-year Soul Ring, but being able to absorb one did not mean he could hunt the beast that produced it. After all, eighty Gold Soul Coins was not a particularly large sum. He had originally thought the Soul Hunting team would only help hunt a Soul Beast around five or six hundred years old. He had not expected them to obtain one above that level.

"As luck would have it," Yan Hu recounted enthusiastically, "we were originally looking for an Ironback Bear around five hundred years old, but we ran into an injured Great Strength Vajra Bear with a full eight hundred and eighty years of cultivation. Senior Soul Ancestor badly wounded the beast, and I took the chance to land another blow with my axe. We actually managed to kill it."

"A Great Strength Vajra Bear..." Yan Zu fell into thought.

It was a top-tier earth-attribute Soul Beast, renowned for its defense and strength-perfect for his father's Iron Axe Martial Soul.

"Father, what is your Third Soul Skill?" he asked, his gaze falling on Yan Hu's Martial Soul.

Yan Hu grinned and fully released his Iron Axe Martial Soul. Three Soul Rings-white, yellow, and yellow-pulsed around the axe.

The third Soul Ring was the deep-yellow, eight-hundred-year Soul Ring.

He swung the Iron Axe and shouted, "Third Soul Skill-Immovable Vajra!"

A thick layer of earth-yellow light erupted over the axe. Yan Hu's muscles swelled instantly, and his skin took on a metallic sheen. He looked like a vajra arhat.

"Is that a defensive Soul Skill?" Yan Zu keenly detected the fluctuations of Soul Power.

"Attack and defense in one!" Yan Hu laughed. "Once activated, it increases my strength and defense by fifty percent for three minutes. And..." He suddenly brought his axe down at a stone block in the courtyard.

Before the blade reached it, a streak of earth-yellow axe light shot out from his body and split the block in two.

"I can also project axe light, increasing my attack range by five meters!" Yan Hu was as excited as a child. "This Soul Skill is practically tailor-made for me!"

Yan Zu praised it inwardly.

"Congratulations, Father," Yan Zu said sincerely.

"Zu, remember this: no matter what happens, your mother and I will always be with you." Yan Hu looked at Yan Zu and spoke earnestly.