In an unknown forest filled with Blue Silver Grass.
A faint bluish glow quietly emanated from every stalk of Blue Silver Grass in the forest.
A single stalk of Blue Silver Grass might only emit a tiny blue light, but when billions of stalks gathered together, they formed a vast ocean of blue.
At this moment, a seemingly ordinary figure sat cross-legged at the center of this blue ocean. His body acted like a devouring black hole, greedily absorbing the surging waves of blue energy.
Suddenly, three soul rings—yellow, yellow, and purple—quietly appeared, neatly arranged on the figure's body in order.
The countless blue specks of light swiftly merged into these three soul rings, imbuing them all with a faint blue aura.
Meanwhile, the countless Blue Silver Grass plants around him, having sacrificed a portion of their essence, began to transform.
The originally crystal-clear Blue Silver Grass became even more translucent, gradually turning into something as dazzling and transparent as sapphire. Even more striking was the golden vein that appeared in the center of each blade of grass, stretching from the root to the tip.
In the next instant, the true monarch awakened!
Under the influence of the azure-golden radiance spreading from the figure at the center of the blue ocean, the ocean of blue grew even larger.
On the ground, every stalk of Blue Silver Grass became crystalline and transparent, growing wildly.
As the blue ocean continued to seep into the figure's soul rings, the three rings developed a deep azure-golden luster. Soon, this luster sank back into the soul rings, leaving them appearing no different from their original yellow and purple colors.
However, the owner of these soul rings could clearly feel that although the types of abilities granted by the soul skills remained unchanged, the essence of the soul rings had transformed.
They were no longer derived from the three soul beasts he had hunted initially but had become Blue Silver soul rings perfectly aligned with his martial soul!
At this moment, even more visible changes occurred.
The youth sitting in the blue ocean saw his muscles tighten slightly, making his entire body appear more proportional. His short black hair gradually turned into long, crystalline blue strands, interspersed with a faint golden glow.
If the previous youth was an ugly duckling, then now he had transformed into a noble and elegant swan. Placed among a crowd, he would undoubtedly be one of the most striking figures—perhaps the most.
Just as his hair color fully changed, suddenly, a faint blue light spread outward from his body, covering a radius of several dozen meters in an instant.
The transformation continued.
One by one, the three soul rings disappeared into the youth's body, while the countless blue lights began to gather around him. A massive halo of blue light gradually formed from the dense accumulation of blue specks.
This blue halo continuously shrank and compressed, its color growing increasingly profound.
Finally, all the blue light condensed into a ring the size of a soul ring, its color shifting to a deep purple.
At the same time, the youth's soul power level broke through its limits, officially advancing to a Level 41 Soul Ancestor.
Slowly opening his misty eyes and gazing at the deep purple fourth soul ring glowing on his body, Tang San's eyes welled up with tears.
"Your Majesty, please do not cry. What is past is past. We need your protection!"
A towering plant, formed from countless waist-thick Blue Silver vines, gently called out to him.
Nodding slightly, Tang San, his vision still blurred, expressed his gratitude to the Blue Silver King before him. "Thank you."
"Your Majesty, it is we who should thank you. It is because of your presence that our vitality has been awakened.
The soul ring you have now obtained was condensed based on the limits of what your body can endure. In human terms, this soul ring is roughly equivalent to one from a seven-thousand-year-old soul beast.
Moreover, it does not come from an external source but originates from within you. It will evolve alongside your increasing capacity to bear it."
The Blue Silver King explained in detail.
Tang San took note of the Blue Silver King's words. He didn't rush to leave. Instead, a faint glow flickered as he released his Blue Silver Grass martial soul.
A small Blue Silver Grass sprout emerged from his right palm. Its crystalline leaves no longer bore the characteristics imbued by the three soul rings. Though it appeared only slightly thicker than ordinary Blue Silver Grass, its sapphire-like appearance was breathtaking.
Especially the golden vein running through it, which exuded an extraordinary beauty.
This was no ordinary Blue Silver Grass—it was the king of plants: the Blue Silver Emperor!
While ordinary Blue Silver Grass was indeed a useless martial soul, the Blue Silver Emperor was undoubtedly a top-tier martial soul, the sole one possessing imperial bloodline.
Gently stroking his Blue Silver Emperor martial soul, Tang San felt as if he could sense the presence of his mother.
Leaving the forest, Tang San saw his father, Tang Hao, sitting cross-legged on a large rock, lost in thought.
Sensing his son's presence, Tang Hao slowly opened his eyes. But when his gaze fell upon Tang San, he froze completely.
His lips trembling, Tang Hao stared at Tang San's face, tears streaming down his aged, unkempt visage.
"Ah Yin..."
With a trembling voice, Tang Hao softly called out, then abruptly took a few steps forward. Reaching Tang San, he opened his arms and tightly embraced his son.
"Ah Yin, Ah Yin... Do you know how much I've missed you? Why were you so foolish? Why..."
Tang Hao's voice was almost a sobbing plea.
At this moment, Tang San, overwhelmed with complex emotions, could clearly feel his father's scalding tears soaking his clothes.
So, my mother's name was Ah Yin?
Unconsciously, Tang San too was in tears.
Father and son embraced, neither speaking. After a long while, Tang San finally managed to speak through his difficulty: "Father..."
Releasing his embrace, Tang Hao held Tang San's shoulders and gazed at him, murmuring, "Xiao San, do you know? Your mother was beautiful—so very beautiful. She was the most perfect woman in the world!
Gentle, kind, beautiful... All words used to describe perfection seem to have been created for her.
Now, you finally resemble her a little. I feel as if I see her waving to me again."
Suddenly, Tang Hao tilted his head toward the sky and shouted loudly: "Ah Yin, do you see? Our son has grown up! He has grown up! Ah Yin—"
His intense sorrow deeply moved Tang San. His cries caused everything around them to tremble...
Until a trace of crimson blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. With a final roar to the heavens, he collapsed stiffly to the ground.
Instantly, Tang San's expression changed. Rushing forward, he supported his father's body, placing his hand on Tang Hao's chest and channeling a gentle stream of Xuan Tian Technique internal energy into him.
As the Xuan Tian Technique energy entered Tang Hao's body, Tang San immediately sensed something amiss.
His powerful father's meridians were tangled in multiple places, and his internal organs seemed displaced. His meridian system was in complete disarray.
At this moment, Tang San's heart sank. He had never imagined that his seemingly invincible father, renowned across the continent, was suffering from such severe injuries.
Tang San understood that the danger to his father's body was extreme—on the verge of collapse. Any misstep could lead to sudden death.
Taking a deep breath, Tang San did not hesitate. He adjusted his father's posture, sat cross-legged behind him, and placed his hands, glowing with a soft white light, firmly on Tang Hao's back.
"Hmm—"
After a long while, under the nourishment of Xuan Tian Technique energy, Tang Hao slowly regained consciousness.
Opening his misty eyes and sensing his condition, Tang Hao furrowed his brows and said, "Xiao San, stop. It's useless. I can endure it!"
Hearing this, Tang San slowly withdrew his internal energy, but his expression turned extremely grave. Hesitantly, he said, "Father, your injuries..."
Tang Hao replied indifferently, "It's nothing. After all these years, I've grown accustomed to it. Do you think someone like me, a Title Douluo, would be brought down by such minor wounds?"
"No, Father! Your injuries are extremely severe. If left untreated, you could... at any moment..."
Tang San moved in front of Tang Hao, speaking anxiously.
"At any moment what?"
Tang Hao glared at Tang San. "Die? Death holds no fear for me! If I die, I'll be reunited with your mother! You don't need to worry about me. Your task now is to focus on cultivating and becoming stronger!"
Instantly, Tang San's emotions surged. But before he could speak, Tang Hao interrupted him.
"Enough, let's not talk about this anymore. Xiao San, it's time for you to receive this keepsake your mother left behind!"
Waving his hand, Tang Hao retrieved a long, black lead box.
"Mother's keepsake..."
The box had no lock. Taking it, Tang San placed it on his knees and slowly opened it.
In the next second, an overwhelming surge of energy burst forth from the box, freezing the surrounding air in an instant.
After a long while, with Tang Hao's assistance, Tang San finally recovered. He looked into the box.
Inside the long, rectangular lead box lay a perfectly preserved right leg soul bone.
Among the six major soul bones—torso, head, left arm, right arm, left leg, and right leg—the right leg bone ranked relatively low. However, even though Tang San had never seen other soul bones, he could sense the extraordinary nature of this one.
It was entirely crystalline and azure-golden, shimmering with what seemed like starlight. Most peculiar was the fact that, in his perception, this right leg bone seemed alive, brimming with boundless vitality.
"Xiao San, this soul bone was left to you by your mother!"
At this moment, Tang Hao's gaze also fell upon the azure-golden right leg bone, his expression unusually tender.
Overwhelmed with indescribable emotion, Tang San looked up at his father, tears welling up in his eyes.
All his guesses had come true. So, his mother had been the transformed Blue Silver Emperor!
"Absorb the soul bone your mother left for you. Protecting one's child is something every mother would willingly do."
With a lingering gaze at the right leg bone, Tang Hao gently stroked his son's blue hair.
"Mm!"
Tang San nodded heavily.
The absorption of the soul bone proceeded smoothly, as if it were infused with a mother's love for her child. In a very short time, Tang San successfully assimilated this ten-thousand-year-old right leg bone.
This ten-thousand-year-old Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone did not grant Tang San a significant increase in soul power; his level remained at 41. However, it greatly expanded his meridians, laying an incredibly solid foundation and vastly improving the quality of his soul power.
Moreover, Tang San noticed that his innate fourth soul ring, gained after his martial soul's reawakening, had subtly shifted from deep purple to the black of a ten-thousand-year soul ring.
Previously, his body's limit for soul rings was around seven thousand years. However, absorbing the soul bone enhanced his physical constitution, and the ten-thousand-year right leg bone significantly strengthened his body, raising his soul ring tolerance to the ten-thousand-year mark.
In Tang San's understanding, black ten-thousand-year soul rings were exclusive to five-ring Soul Kings.
Additionally, he gained two ten-thousand-year soul bone skills.
As he silently sensed the effects of the two soul bone skills, Tang San's face suddenly lit up with excitement. Filled with joy, he turned to Tang Hao and exclaimed, "Father, I can heal your injuries!"
Tang San knew that his father's internal injuries were severe.
The Xuan Tian Technique, as a supreme Daoist cultivation technique, possessed strong healing properties.
However, due to his current level of 41, compared to his father's status as a Title Douluo, the gap was too great. His Xuan Tian Technique energy alone couldn't fully heal his father's injuries.
Originally, Tang San planned to wait until he grew stronger before treating his father's wounds. But now, everything had changed.
After receiving his mother's legacy—the ten-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone—one of the two ten-thousand-year soul bone skills he gained was a healing-type skill: Wildfire Cannot Destroy the Grass, It Grows Again With the Spring Wind
Unlike ordinary healing skills that merely addressed symptoms, a ten-thousand-year healing-type soul bone skill could address the root cause—even for someone as powerful as a Title Douluo.
Moreover, the soul bone skill Wildfire Cannot Destroy the Grass, It Grows Again With the Spring Wind even possessed the ability to regenerate severed limbs!
With this, wouldn't his father's injuries be easily resolved?
Although limited by his current soul power level, the actual healing effect of this skill on his father Tang Hao would be significantly reduced, perhaps even negligible.
But negligible did not mean nonexistent. While it might take just one or two treatments for peers, it would now require dozens, or even hundreds, of treatments to fully heal.
---
Time passed quickly; four months flew by.
The effects of the immortal herbs were extraordinary, and their true benefits went far beyond the immediate boosts and changes experienced upon consumption.
Through continuous cultivation, aside from Xiao Wu, who hadn't consumed the Yearning Heartbroken Red, and Dai Mu Bai, who hadn't received an immortal herb, everyone else's strength skyrocketed across the board.
The talent boost from consuming the Ice-Fire Immortal Herbs, combined with the cultivation speed enhancement from the Nine Breaths Qi Absorption Technique, allowed Chu Chengzhou to advance at a pace of nearly one level per month before reaching the Soul Ancestor rank.
After breaking through to the Soul Ancestor rank, although the accumulation required for further advancement slowed his progression somewhat, over the course of four months, he still reached Level 45.
Of course, this was also due to his fourth soul ring being derived from an eleven-thousand-year-old Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear, meaning his soul power level wasn't just barely entering Level 42 after the breakthrough.
As for Xiao Wu, though she hadn't consumed the Yearning Heartbroken Red, the boost from the Nine Breaths Qi Absorption Technique ensured her cultivation speed wasn't slow either. Currently, she had already broken through to Level 48.
With several months remaining before the official start of the Soul Master Tournament, at her current rate of advancement, Xiao Wu would likely reach Soul King level by the time the tournament began.
Their cultivation speeds were extraordinary, but Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun weren't far behind either.
Among the seven members of the Lan Ba Academy team, aside from Xiao Wu and Chu Chengzhou, who had already advanced to the Soul Ancestor level, the first to break through to Level 40 wasn't one of the four who had consumed immortal herbs, but rather Dai Mu Bai, who hadn't received one.
This wasn't because Dai Mu Bai's cultivation talent surpassed those who had consumed immortal herbs, but rather because he was older and already close to Level 40.
A month ago, Dai Mu Bai's soul power had broken through to Level 40.
Three days later, just as Flender was preparing to take Dai Mu Bai to the Sunset Forest, Zhu Zhuqing, who had advanced to Level 37 after consuming her immortal herb, also broke through to Level 40.
Without hesitation, Flender gave Zhu Zhuqing three days to consolidate her soul power, planning to take both Dai Mu Bai and Zhu Zhuqing to the Sunset Forest for hunting soul rings together.
But another surprise arose. Ning Rongrong informed Flender that her soul power level was nearing Level 40 and would break through in just a few days.
Hunting soul rings in a soul beast forest depended on luck. Sometimes, it could take ten days or even half a month to find a suitable soul beast.
Rather than making separate trips to the Sunset Forest every time someone broke through, it made more sense to wait and go together. Besides, not only was Ning Rongrong close to Level 40, but even Oscar, a food-system soul master, was nearing that threshold and was expected to break through within the month.
Seeing this, Flender agreed.
After all, the students were the ones breaking through, while the teachers leading the hunting trips would be himself, Liu Erlong, or Zhao Wuji.
Pooling the hunting trips together would save effort.
Seven days after Zhu Zhuqing's breakthrough, Ning Rongrong reached Level 40. Another half month later, just two days ago, Oscar also broke through to Level 40.
Thus, except for Ma Hongjun, whose soul power level remained at 37 after his initial advancement (due to his lower baseline), six of the original Shrek Academy students had now reached Level 40 or higher.
With everyone else on the team reaching Level 40, Ma Hongjun couldn't help but feel a bit disheartened and envious.
Of course, if Ma Hongjun was merely disheartened and envious, then Dai Mu Bai was outright jealous and resentful.
Consider this: when Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing first enrolled in Shrek Academy, they were at levels 26 and 27 respectively, while he was already at Level 37—a full ten-level gap!
But now? Their soul power levels had caught up to his!
And Ma Hongjun, whom he had once looked down on, though currently three levels behind him, was advancing so rapidly that Dai Mu Bai estimated it wouldn't be long before Ma Hongjun surpassed him.
But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that his number-one romantic rival, Chu Chengzhou, not only flirted with his nominal fiancée but had long since surpassed him by an incomparable margin.
How could he not feel envy, jealousy, and resentment?
---
The night before setting out for the Sunset Forest, in the teacher's dormitory of Lan Ba Academy, Flender, preoccupied with thoughts, knocked on Zhao Wuji's door.
Knock knock knock—
Inside the room, Zhao Wuji, contemplating whether to indulge in some "self-care" before bed, suddenly heard a knock at the door.
"Who is it?"
Interrupted mid-thought, Zhao Wuji grumbled irritably.
"It's me, Flender. I need to talk to you."
Flender's voice came from outside the door.
Though annoyed, Zhao Wuji couldn't ignore his old friend. He got up and opened the door.
Squeak
The door opened.
"Flender, what brings you here so late?"
Zhao Wuji asked, clearly displeased.
"Let's talk inside."
Glancing around to ensure no one—especially Liu Erlong—was nearby, Flender walked straight into Zhao Wuji's room.
After closing the door and pouring Flender a glass of water, Zhao Wuji waited silently for Flender to continue.
"Old Zhao, are we good brothers?"
Adjusting his glasses, Flender asked seriously.
Zhao Wuji rolled his eyes. "Spit it out. Don't beat around the bush."
"Fine, I'll get straight to the point. Old Zhao, tomorrow morning, pretend you've got a stomachache. Leave the Soul Hunting trip to the youngsters and stay back at the academy."
Flender nodded, getting straight to the point.
According to the original plan, the soul-hunting trip tomorrow would involve Flender, Liu Erlong, and Zhao Wuji leading the group.
Though the Sunset Forest wasn't far from Tian Dou City, soul hunting wasn't something that could be completed in a day. They'd inevitably spend the night there.
And conditions in the wild, especially in a soul beast forest, were naturally worse than those at the academy.
For instance, accommodations: the seven students would share one tent, while the three teachers would share another.
Yes, one tent for three teachers.
Flender felt that his old buddy Zhao Wuji was… somewhat redundant.
"A stomachache? Flender, why would I suddenly get a stomachache?"
Zhao Wuji asked, confused.
"Old Zhao, we're brothers, aren't we? Just tell me if you agree or not!"
Flender avoided elaborating, as this matter wasn't easy to explain.
Zhao Wuji: "."
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