Two Years

Two years had passed since Chen Mo had set out to travel the continent with his underling Lin Yaodong, his younger sister Chen Mo, the rabbit Xiao Wu, and the freeloader Dugu Yan.

Over those two years, everyone had improved considerably.

In immortal cultivation, Chen Mo himself had reached Qi Refining Thirteenth Layer Great Perfection. All he needed was a Foundation Establishment Pill to attempt a breakthrough.

In the Blood Refiner System, he had completely finished the Health Preservation Realm and begun the Body Refining Realm.

Body refining had five layers: skin refining, flesh refining, bone forging, organ refining, and blood cleansing.

Chen Mo had only just finished skin refining. The most obvious improvement it brought was to his defenses: as far as his physical defense went, damage from Soul Rings under five thousand years old could barely get through it.

Chen Mo was now at the flesh refining stage, and his overall strength had reached 120,000 jin. Flesh refining and bone forging were stages in which physical strength increased rapidly.

Chen Mo could foresee that once he finished body refining, his strength would reach a million jin, and he would be able to completely defend against Soul Skills under ten thousand years old.

And that would not take too long. Chen Mo estimated he could achieve it in just two or three years, all thanks to the solid foundation he had laid earlier.

As for his progress as a Soul Master, well.

He was still a level-ten Soul Scholar.

Over those two years, Chen Mo had taken Lin Yaodong and the other three through nearly every city on the continent. On average, they spent three to five days in each city, looking for anything they could use. As a result, Chen Mo's storage space was nearly full.

During that time, to train Lin Yaodong, they spent three days fighting at the local Great Soul Arena in almost every city they visited. Chen Mo had also made quite a bit of money from it.

Lin Yaodong had started with Soul Fighting matches at the Soul Master level. After only a few matches, Chen Mo had him fight Soul Grandmasters. When he saw that Lin Yaodong still won with ease, he had him fight Soul Elders.

Against Soul Elders, victory was no longer guaranteed. Even when he won, it was a hard fight. The Soul Skills granted by Thousand-Year Soul Rings did considerable damage to him, far exceeding his body's ability to recover.

The Health Preservation Realm's strength lay in its powerful vitality, not in defense or physical strength.

Although he was constantly taking beatings, his strength had also grown steadily. These were all things he had to go through.

Since he had chosen the Heart Blade cultivation technique, he needed to fight constantly for his strength to grow quickly. Which expert who walked the saber path had not fought his way out of mountains and seas of corpses?

Of course, even if Lin Yaodong had chosen a path other than the saber, Chen Mo still would not have let him off, strengthening him in all sorts of ways.

In two years, Lin Yaodong had advanced by leaps and bounds, fighting his way from Soul Masters all the way up to Soul Ancestors. The Heart Blade technique he cultivated was also nearly at first-layer perfection.

And now.

Tianshuo City, Tianshuo Great Soul Arena.

Lin Yaodong said, "Lin Yaodong, level-ten Soul Scholar. Martial Soul: Poppy Flower. Please enlighten me."

Holding the Exquisite Long Saber, Lin Yaodong spoke to the Soul Ancestor across from him.

The Exquisite Long Saber was a second-tier weapon Chen Mo had opened from a treasure chest. It came from the Dungeon.

Lin Yaodong had slain quite a few enemies with it. This time, however, was not a fight to the death, so he would avoid killing if he could.

Li Yan said, "Li Yan, level-forty-eight Battle Soul Ancestor. Martial Soul: Rock Giant. Please enlighten me."

Once both sides had finished the formalities, they began to fight.

Although Lin Yaodong was only a level-ten Soul Scholar and did not even have a Soul Ring, Li Yan did not dare let his guard down in the slightest. A man's name was like a tree's shadow.

Lin Yaodong had indeed made quite a name for himself over the past two years. As a Soul Scholar without even a Soul Ring, he had defeated numerous Soul Ancestors.

Many people and factions on the Douluo Continent were particularly interested in him, but in the end, every one of them had returned with broken wings.

After all, with Chen Mo there, unless they sent an expert above the Soul Douluo level, they could only become Chen Mo's experience babies.

On the most dangerous occasion, Chen Mo and the others had been besieged by a full twenty-eight experts at the Soul King level or above, including a level-eighty-one Soul Douluo. They had nearly forced Chen Mo to use his trump cards, but thankfully, all five of them had dealt with their opponents.

No, to be precise, it had been three people and one beast. Dugu Yan was only a freeloader, and with merely Soul Elder cultivation, she was not qualified to take part in the battle.

At the time, Chen Mo's younger sister Chen Mo had already reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining and could control flying swords to kill enemies. Even she had killed three Soul Kings in that battle.

Lin Yaodong, meanwhile, had forced a Soul King into a fight to the death and killed him at the cost of severe injuries.

As for Xiao Wu, that female rabbit was fierce as hell now.

Curious about the difference between Soul Beasts and demonic beasts, Chen Mo had given her a cultivation technique suited to demonic beasts-the Moonlight Art.

After all, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast corresponded to the fourth tier. Chen Mo was also afraid she would get out of control, so he had only told her how to absorb Moonlight Power, not how to use it. He had also made a contract with her, turning her into his spirit beast.

Otherwise, Chen Mo would not have dared court death for real. If she really became a fourth-tier great demon of the immortal cultivation world, he would have to use his strongest trump cards to keep her in check.

The Moonlight Art was a cultivation technique that drew on moonlight to absorb moon essence, combining it with one's own demonic power to produce Moonlight Power.

Of course, Xiao Wu combined Soul Power with the moon essence in moonlight to produce Moonlight Power.

Each time she finished cultivating, Chen Mo could sense that her presence had grown a little more terrifying.

Chen Mo could sense two kinds of energy in Xiao Wu's body: one was Soul Power, and the other was Moonlight Power.

Chen Mo had not told Xiao Wu how to use Moonlight Power, so she could only use it in a very primitive way, far less skillfully than she used Soul Power.

Even so, using Moonlight Power instinctively was dozens of times stronger than using Soul Power. Its energy level was simply too high.

Chen Mo reckoned that even if he reached Foundation Establishment, his true essence would still be inferior to Xiao Wu's Moonlight Power.

In that battle, it was because Xiao Wu was so strong that Chen Mo had not used his trump cards.

At the time, Chen Mo had dealt with the strongest opponent, the level-eighty-one Soul Douluo, while Xiao Wu had faced most of the remaining opponents, including two Soul Saints and nearly twenty-odd Soul Kings and Soul Emperors. She had even had strength to spare to look after Lin Yaodong and Chen Mo.

The strength Xiao Wu had displayed by now was no less than that of an ordinary Soul Douluo. Moreover, because she absorbed Moonlight Power, her body grew stronger every day, and her strength increased daily.

When the day came that all the Soul Power in her body had transformed into Moonlight Power, there would probably be no one on the Douluo Continent who could stop her. She could probably even smash the weaker gods of the Divine Realm to pieces, and that was without her having been given the complete Moonlight Art.

If she were given the complete technique, she might really become something like a fourth-tier great demon of the immortal cultivation world, with combat strength approaching that of a God King of the Douluo World.

Before she was given the Moonlight Art, Xiao Wu had thought every day about how to escape. Now she no longer seemed in a hurry to leave. Without using his trump cards, Chen Mo could not keep her there.

Xiao Wu was now the team's fighter and specialist cook, specializing in rabbit-related dishes such as spicy rabbit head and hot and spicy rabbit legs.

Ever since Xiao Wu had eaten roast rabbit through her tears that one time, her eyes had lit up as though she had discovered a new world. She had now learned more than a dozen ways to prepare rabbit.

Tianshuo Great Soul Arena.

Long saber in hand, Lin Yaodong was the first to charge at his opponent.

Li Yan shouted, "First Soul Skill, Boulder Thrust!"

Several enormous rock spikes suddenly erupted in Lin Yaodong's path and beneath his feet.

Lin Yaodong dodged nimbly and soon reached his opponent.

Li Yan was clearly a regular in the Soul Arena, with a wealth of combat experience. He did not panic.

Unhurriedly, he used his second Soul Skill: Giant Rock Armor.

A thick layer of rock armor quickly covered his body.

Lin Yaodong already had an idea about the rock armor covering Li Yan. Against heavy defenses like these, sabers and swords were too brittle; they would only shatter his own weapon.

Only heavy weapons such as giant hammers and axes would be effective.

But the strength in his hands was considerable. At full force, he could blast this big lump apart.

Lin Yaodong traded blows with Li Yan for a while, then suddenly switched his long saber to his left hand and instantly gathered strength in his right.

Boom!

Lin Yaodong struck Li Yan's arms with all his strength, sending his whole body flying into the air.

Li Yan had a terrible feeling, but he could not exert any force. To make matters worse, his boulder armor had been unable to withstand that tremendous force and had already collapsed. He was now completely defenseless.

Lin Yaodong was experienced, and naturally would not waste such a good opportunity.

His long saber returned to his right hand, and he raced behind Li Yan and struck twice with the back of the blade. Two bloody welts immediately appeared on Li Yan's back.

The instant Li Yan landed, the long saber was already pointed at his throat.

It had all happened in the flash of lightning and the strike of flint. Before the spectators could figure out what had happened, they saw Li Yan sent flying, followed by a long saber pointed at his throat.

Even the announcer froze for a moment.

Only after coming to his senses did he loudly announce, "The winner of this match is Lin Yaodong!"

Not many spectators in the stands cheered for Lin Yaodong, however. Instead, they thought the match had been fixed.

After all, Lin Yaodong's fighting style was somewhat different from that of an ordinary Soul Master.

Clean and decisive, with no wasted movement, he used the simplest, most direct methods to kill his opponent or render them unable to fight.

He was becoming more and more like a true saber wielder.

This fighting style was destined to be neither particularly entertaining nor flashy.

It was completely unlike Soul Masters exchanging blows and showing off their skills by clashing Soul Skills.

So it was no surprise that the spectators in the stands reacted this way.

But to those who truly knew their craft-the Soul Masters who fought year-round-Lin Yaodong was truly terrifying.

It was as though Lin Yaodong had been born purely for slaughter and battle. Whether controlling the rhythm of a fight or using his strength, he did everything just right.

They asked themselves and concluded that even they would lose against Lin Yaodong.

If it were a fight to the death, the odds of dying would be even greater.

Li Yan looked at Lin Yaodong with lingering fear, cupped his hands, and thanked him. "Many thanks for showing mercy just now..."

Lin Yaodong said nothing. He merely nodded, then left the Soul Arena.