When he heard about such a special dragon species, Xiao Lin immediately ran to an inn in Dragon City and specifically ordered a water-type soul beast dish containing true dragon blood.
In the open-style restaurant, Xiao Lin stared silently at the red carp before him, its body adorned with two dragon whiskers.
King Carp?
Xiao Lin gently picked up a piece; the carp's flesh jiggled like jelly, translucent and springy.
In his surprise, Xiao Lin popped it directly into his mouth.
"Ah~"
Unbelievable — the moment he bit down, Xiao Lin's eyes widened.
The tender, springy carp meat, paired with a unique numbing, tingling sensation, was completely irresistible.
"Well, well! Little brother, you know what's good!"
Suddenly, a voice spoke right by Xiao Lin's ear.
He looked up to see a middle-aged man wearing a blue waterproof fishing outfit, now sitting across from him.
"Mind sharing the table?"
The middle-aged man was naturally sociable. After ordering the same dish, he began chatting with Xiao Lin on his own.
"This carp is called the Crackling Carp — the best part is the tender belly meat."
"Mhm, mhm."
Faced with the man's enthusiasm, Xiao Lin found himself a bit overwhelmed.
In the end, the man's warmth pulled Xiao Lin into conversation for a while.
The middle-aged man's name was Kong Yan, a Grand Soul Master from Dragon City. Usually, he helped the city's soul masters hunt soul beasts for a living.
But Xiao Lin didn't quite understand what Kong Yan had said at first.
Kong Yan's outfit was waterproof, not insulated against lightning. Didn't that mean he wasn't hunting in the nearby soul beast forest — Thunder Gorge?
That outfit looked like something meant for diving. Getting soaked while hunting near a lightning-charged gorge sounded like a great way to get fried.
Kong Yan then laughed and explained.
It turned out Thunder Gorge was far too dangerous. Without at least a Soul Elder and guidance from a high-level soul master, it was absolutely off-limits.
Not because the soul beasts there were particularly lethal — but because the environment itself was unfit for human survival.
Even a Soul Saint, if they stayed too long in Thunder Gorge, would become a lightning rod.
One bolt, and an ordinary soul master would be reduced to ash.
Kong Yan himself was just an ordinary Grand Soul Master.
Besides, the Dragon City area had plenty of big rivers and dense waterways. Many water-type soul beasts here had excellent potential; hundred-year soul beasts were more than enough.
Xiao Lin couldn't help but smile after hearing this.
So it wasn't, as he'd briefly suspected, that the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect was deliberately denying these soul masters hunting opportunities.
Shedding the darker thoughts, Xiao Lin noticed something else odd in Kong Yan's words.
"Surely the soul masters here don't all pick water-type soul beasts, right?"
It was a simple question — normally, what martial soul a person awakened was random. What about those who didn't awaken water-attribute martial souls?
"Those folks have to travel farther. North to the extreme north for ice-attribute beasts, or south, to other soul beast forests."
Kong Yan's reply made Xiao Lin nod slightly. Perfect. He'd been looking for underfunded soul masters to experiment on with self-condensing soul rings.
This place had the perfect conditions — it was practically tailored for him.
"Oh, by the way, Brother Kong — I heard there's a Thunder Emperor Dragon clan in Thunder Gorge. Has no one tried to hunt those dragon-type soul beasts?"
Xiao Lin's eyes gleamed with interest.
"Of course people have tried! But how many could actually pull it off? The Thunder Emperor Dragon is a true-dragon soul beast. Even at the thousand-year level, it can take on ten-thousand-year soul beasts solo!"
"Most soul masters already struggle to absorb even a sub-dragon species."
Kong Yan said this casually between mouthfuls of food.
A true dragon, lightning attribute — perfectly within Xiao Lin's target range for his next soul ring.
Xiao Lin made a mental note of this soul beast. He still regretted skipping the Thunderwing Heavenly Dragon — the electromagnetic flying one — last time. It had nagged at him all night.
"Brother Lin, just between us…"
Kong Yan suddenly leaned closer, whispering in Xiao Lin's ear.
Xiao Lin's heart stirred; he feigned curiosity.
He knew this couldn't really be a secret — anything introduced this way rarely was.
But for the sake of gossip, Xiao Lin listened — and got a bombshell.
"I'm telling you, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect's young sect master originally planned to absorb a Thunder Emperor Dragon's ring as his fourth soul ring. But that day — no one knows how — the sect master nearly got dragged off by the Thunder Emperor Dragon to vent its lust!"
Kong Yan delivered this with absolute confidence, like he'd witnessed it himself.
Xiao Lin was floored by the absurdity.
Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect's young sect master — wasn't that Yu Tianheng?
Yu Tianheng — that Yu Tianheng — experiencing something like that? This gossip was feral.
Xiao Lin didn't believe a word of it.
Still… was the Thunder Emperor Dragon really that impulsive? For rumors like this to even exist?
Xiao Lin glanced inward, at the Ice-Fire Dragon King in his spiritual sea. They looked proper enough.
Because of the Thunder Emperor Dragon's peculiarity, Xiao Lin specifically asked the Ice-Fire Dragon King whether they knew of this species.
Naturally, neither of the two Dragon Kings had heard of it. But they had sensed a powerful presence nearby — a trace of Dragon God aura.
The Ice-Fire Dragon King speculated that this "Thunder Emperor Dragon" might carry a wisp of Dragon God blood.
Remembering the Dragon God's legendary battle with the Thunder God, the two Dragon Kings became more certain of the Thunder Emperor Dragon's lineage.
But even if the Thunder Emperor Dragon carried a drop of Dragon God blood, the two Dragon Kings dismissed it as unworthy of their notice.
They did, however, say that if Xiao Lin absorbed the Thunder Emperor Dragon's soul ring, they could refine it with their own dragon qi afterward.
That alone satisfied Xiao Lin greatly. His fifth soul ring — decided. It would be the Thunder Emperor Dragon.
After finishing their meal, Kong Yan invited Xiao Lin to join the upcoming dragon-catching event.
Xiao Lin declined.
The reward — a thousand-year soul bone — didn't interest him at all.
He had more important matters to attend to.
A day later.
Xiao Lin found a poor boy.
His name was Ku Lin, a student at Dragon City's junior academy. Ten years old. Martial soul: a wrought-iron staff. Innate soul power: level 2.
He had just reached level 10 and was preparing to spend a fortune hiring powerful soul masters to travel to the extreme north to hunt a soul beast.
He wanted a hundred-year soul ring — a good-quality one — but he was painfully frugal.
His family was poor. He lived alone with his 23-year-old mother.
After years of saving and scraping by, they'd only managed to collect seven gold soul coins.
In Dragon City, the children's martial soul awakenings were handled by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect.
Those with potential joined the sect. Those without — like Ku Lin — became soul masters but never received stipends from the Spirit Hall.
Because Spirit Hall had no presence here at all.
Xiao Lin suddenly realized he might have just discovered another reason the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect would one day be destroyed.
With less than eight gold soul coins to his name, even the junior academy teachers in Dragon City wouldn't bother hunting a soul beast for him — let alone anyone else.
Ku Lin had nearly given up, considering settling for a decent ten-year soul ring instead.
And then Xiao Lin appeared.
(Originally, I wanted to write about the dragon-catching event, but I was afraid readers would think it filler, so I had to abandon that side quest for now. Still, I couldn't bring myself to delete it entirely, so instead, I've revealed the male protagonist's next soul ring target. Sorry about that, dear readers.)
(End of chapter)