A Shocking Turn of Events!

"All right, but no matter how you look at it, there's no need to come this deep into the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for a Second Soul Ring, is there? The Soul Hunting Forest would have been enough, and it's safer there."

Seeing how young Lin Qingchen was, Qin Ming instinctively assumed he had only just broken through to level twenty.

When Lin Qingchen heard that, he understood what Qin Ming was thinking.

"Sorry, Teacher Qin Ming. I came here to hunt for my Third Soul Ring. The empire has cleared out practically all the thousand-year Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest, so I couldn't find a Soul Ring suited to me there."

"What? Your Third Soul Ring!" Qin Ming said in disbelief, his voice changing pitch by the end.

At those words, not only Qin Ming but also the others around him turned to look, their expressions varied.

"You're not lying to me, are you?"

Lin Qingchen sighed. "Why would I lie to you?"

As he spoke, two Soul Rings, one yellow and one purple, appeared behind him.

"What? Your Second Soul Ring is already a thousand-year ring!?" Qin Ming was so shocked that his voice went out of tune, though he didn't even notice.

Yu Tianheng also stared at Lin Qingchen in disbelief.

He came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and prided himself on having seen and heard plenty. What hadn't he seen before? But he really had never seen anything like this.

What did he mean, breaking through to level thirty at such a young age? And what did he mean, having a thousand-year Soul Ring as his second?

Where were the rest of them supposed to put their faces now?

"Gulp-"

Qin Ming swallowed and hurriedly asked, "Um, little brother, may I ask how old you are this year?"

"Ten years and a month or so, I think? Is there a problem?"

Qin Ming desperately wanted to say, "There's a huge problem," but he forced himself to hold it in.

Breaking through to level thirty at only ten years old was beyond what the word genius could describe.

At least, as far as he knew, he had never heard of such a genius anywhere.

He was simply a monster!

But after his initial shock, Qin Ming's heart instantly grew eager.

No, I have to get him to join Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

With that thought, he squeezed out a smile. "Um, you haven't graduated from junior Soul Master Academy yet, have you? Is there anywhere you want to go after graduation? Why not come to our Heaven Dou Royal Academy? As the best academy in the Heaven Dou Empire, I guarantee you'll receive the best resources and instruction. What do you say?"

Lin Qingchen thought for a moment. "I actually graduated early. As for going to Heaven Dou Royal Academy... I suppose I could."

"That's wonderful!" Qin Ming was overjoyed and hurriedly glanced at the others.

"Qingchen will be your junior schoolmate from now on. Remember to take good care of him when the time comes. Don't let him be mistreated, understood?"

At Qin Ming's words, the others all warmly greeted their junior schoolmate. Even the usually stone-faced Yu Tianheng and the exceedingly reclusive Ye Lingling were no exceptions.

"Ahem, all right, Qingchen, do you have a Soul Beast in mind yet? If you do, why not tell me? We can see if there's a chance to help you hunt it while we're here," Qin Ming suggested at once.

"As for a choice, I do have some idea, but..."

Halfway through his sentence, Lin Qingchen's gaze suddenly sharpened.

He had felt something was wrong from the start. By rights, with the Rift Ruins Earth Dragon dead and the battle over, the surrounding environment should have returned to normal, with the power of the wood element dominant.

Even the power of the fire element brought about by Qin Ming's raging flames had dissipated, so why was the power of the earth element declining so slowly?

Was it because this was the Rift Ruins Earth Dragon's territory, and it had soaked the place in its scent?

Seeing Lin Qingchen frown, Qin Ming hurriedly asked, "Qingchen, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

He thought the aftereffects of the battle just now might have affected Lin Qingchen somehow.

"Something's wrong, watch out!"

Lin Qingchen suddenly shouted, and the person he meant was Ye Lingling, who stood at the very edge of the group, closest to the Rift Ruins Earth Dragon's corpse.

"Boom!!!"

But the words had barely left his mouth when the Rift Ruins Earth Dragon's corpse suddenly exploded, sending blood and flesh flying. Sand and stones swept through the air, and visibility plummeted.

Amid the blur, three smaller Rift Ruins Earth Dragons flew out of the indistinct mass of blood and flesh, heading straight for Ye Lingling, who was closest to them.

One of the Rift Ruins Earth Dragons opened its enormous maw, full of terrifyingly sharp teeth, and bit toward Ye Lingling's head. Its sharp fangs drew closer and closer to her neck!

But at that hair's breadth from disaster, a figure suddenly appeared beside Ye Lingling. With one arm, he wrapped her delicate body in his embrace and carried her out of the Rift Ruins Earth Dragon's attack range, while his other hand blocked its flight path.

"Crack-"

Ye Lingling came to her senses and looked up at the person holding her, her face pale.

"Lin Qingchen, your hand..."

"I'm fine."

Lin Qingchen glanced at the Rift Ruins Earth Dragon, which was less than three meters long, then flung it away with a wave of his hand.

He didn't know where the creature had come from, but its cultivation wasn't actually very high. After he activated his First Soul Skill, Five Elements Divine Body, it had failed to fully pierce his defenses, leaving only a few tiny spots of blood on his arm.

Ye Lingling also looked at Lin Qingchen's arm and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that there were only a few tiny spots of blood.

"Cough, cough, cough-"

"What just happened?"

The dust slowly settled, and the others gathered together. Qin Ming activated his Martial Soul and cautiously observed their surroundings.

But there was no sign of the three Rift Ruins Earth Dragons anywhere. They had probably burrowed into the ground amid the chaos.

Ye Lingling released her Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul. Along with a faint fragrance, a petal-like white light drifted onto Lin Qingchen's arm. It was the Nine Heart Begonia's unique Soul Skill, "Healing."

That was right. Despite its simple name, the Soul Skill's effect was surprisingly powerful: if it was called healing, it would surely heal.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Qingchen's arm was completely restored, with no sign that it had been injured at all.

In response to Qin Ming's question, Ye Lingling raised her pretty face, still somewhat drained of color, and said softly, "Lin Qingchen saved me just now. Otherwise..."

Otherwise, she would have died.

She didn't say it, but the others naturally understood what she meant.

"Qingchen, what happened just now?" Qin Ming looked at Lin Qingchen beside him. He had called out a warning too, so he must have sensed something?

Lin Qingchen shook his head. "I don't know either. I just sensed that the energy remaining inside the Rift Ruins Earth Dragon suddenly grew active, and then its corpse exploded. Three smaller Rift Ruins Earth Dragons burst out from inside it."

"How is that possible? Wasn't it already dead?"

"Who knows? Perhaps they were its offspring? After all, we don't know much about this kind of Soul Beast."

Qin Ming was at a loss too. After all, what the Soul Master World currently knew about this Soul Beast really was limited to things like the fact that it lived in the earth and launched surprise attacks from underground.

A bizarre situation like this was truly unheard of.

"Forget it. It's very dangerous here now, and we don't know where those three Rift Ruins Earth Dragons went. We'd better leave quickly," Qin Ming said.

"That's right, let's hurry and leave," the others agreed.

But Lin Qingchen didn't move.