Outside the Evil Spirit Forest,
A large swathe of trees had collapsed. A peculiar and strange soul beast lay in the center of the broken trees.
This soul beast looked like a red balloon with four tentacles. A single red eye was in the middle of the tentacles, and the body of the balloon had a diameter of over one meter.
There was a cluster of brown stripes around the red eye. Two of the four tentacles were blue, and the other two were earth yellow.
This unique soul beast was a member of the Evil Eye race, a Mental attribute soul beast unique to the Evil Spirit Forest. Judging from the color of its tentacles, this Evil Eye possessed three attributes: Mental, Water, and Earth.
The Evil Eye race, besides its mandatory Mental attribute, could potentially possess other attributes, making it an all-purpose soul beast.
However, for the Evil Eye race, the fewer innate attributes, the stronger its innate talent.
Grayish-yellow fluid flowed from the claw marks on the Evil Eye's eyeball. This ten-thousand-year-old Evil Eye, with mediocre talent, had clearly died.
Beside its corpse, a black soul ring floated up and down. In the center of the soul ring, Wang Lin, whose right arm bore blood-red patterns, was absorbing the soul ring with bated breath.
The complex patterns on the black soul ring slowly faded. Long Xiaoyao, standing not far away, was already aware of this.
His attention was mostly focused on Wu Yun, who was completely shrouded in a black robe nearby. Three days had passed since they left Rising Sun City and succeeded in soul hunting.
The old Black Dragon still hadn't figured out how his disciple had managed to convince a madwoman and calm her emotions down in those three days.
He didn't believe Wang Lin's theory had convinced Wu Yun. An Evil Soul Master driven mad by torture like Wu Yun couldn't be sobered up with just a few words.
Soon, the patterns on the black soul ring completely disappeared. The dark soul ring abruptly plunged into Wang Lin's body. Wang Lin's aura instantly solidified.
He opened his eyes, which shone with brilliant light, and gently exhaled a breath of white air.
Swish!
Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black—four soul rings emerged from his body, circling around Wang Lin. A look of joy appeared on his face.
Starting today, he was a genuine Soul Ancestor. More importantly...
Wang Lin's storage soul tool flashed. A small, rubber-like ball landed in his right hand. The small ball was constantly kneaded and deformed in Wang Lin's hand, but it never burst open.
With the spiritual power boost provided by the 12,000-year soul ring, Wang Lin could now perfectly control the power of his right hand.
Now he finally didn't have to worry about accidentally crushing his "little brother" while using the toilet.
"How do you feel, Little Linzi?"
Seeing Wang Lin awaken, Long Xiaoyao came closer. Wang Lin snapped out of his trance and gestured with his right hand.
"I'm very well, Master. I no longer have to worry about the strength being out of control. Let's head back!"
Wang Lin stood up. This time, upon returning, he needed to thoroughly examine the condition of his body. In short, there was a lot to do, and the upcoming period would be very busy.
"Then let's go back."
Long Xiaoyao nodded, not asking any further questions. Wu Yun, standing quietly beside them, merely nodded as well.
The Evil Eye corpse on the ground had been checked beforehand and contained no soul bone. The trio did not linger and flew straight towards Mingdu.
Their speed was fast. The weakest among them, Wang Lin, was carried by Long Xiaoyao. The Evil Spirit Forest was not far from Mingdu.
It took less than two hours for the trio to return to Mingdu.
Standing beneath the tall buildings on Mingdu's streets, although only three months had passed since he left, Wang Lin felt an inexplicable fondness for the city.
However, he felt little nostalgia for Star Luo City, where he had lived for twelve years. Perhaps it was because Star Luo City no longer held anyone he cared about.
"Let's go, home."
Although he primarily lived in the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, Wang Lin returned to his small courtyard once every seven days, so he was already familiar with the route.
Passing through the winding and complex roads, as he approached the alley where his courtyard was located, Wang Lin saw a little bald-headed boy and several other small children squatting at the entrance of his yard.
They were gathered together, doing something unknown.
Wang Lin recognized both the little bald-headed boy and the other children.
Seemingly noticing Wang Lin's return, the moment the trio entered the alley, the little bald-headed boy looked as if he had seen a ghost and turned to run back into his own yard.
But Wang Lin would not let him get away with it. Invisible telekinesis immediately enveloped the little bald-headed boy. The boy floated in the air, his two short legs kicking desperately, but he didn't move an inch.
The other children instantly scattered. Wang Lin strode up to the little bald-headed boy and held out his palm to him.
The little bald-headed boy reluctantly extended his hand to Wang Lin. Peeled pine nuts appeared out of thin air, falling into Wang Lin's hand.
It wasn't until the little bald-headed boy's face turned red from exertion, and the pine nuts in Wang Lin's palm piled up into a small hill, that no more pine nuts fell.
Only then did Wang Lin put the little bald-headed boy down. He pinched a handful of pine nuts and rubbed the little bald-headed boy's head with his other hand.
He habitually wanted to transfer a trace of soul power into the little bald-headed boy's body to nourish his meridians, but remembering his current condition, he withdrew his hand and let the little bald-headed boy go.
The little bald-headed boy ran back into his own yard without looking back.
Wang Lin smiled, watching the little bald-headed boy leave, his face filled with nostalgia. He picked up a pine nut and threw it into his mouth.
Long Xiaoyao was accustomed to this sight. He shook his head and pushed open the courtyard gate.
Wang Lin then turned to Wu Yun, splitting the pine nuts and handing half of them to her, saying to himself.
"Eat up. They taste good."
The little bald-headed boy's name was Wang Songguo. As a neighbor's child, although Wang Lin didn't return often, one time Wang Lin brought back a pancake, which Wang Songguo saw.
The child was greedy. Wang Lin used the pancake to ask for his name and martial soul. Learning that Wang Songguo's martial soul was the Pine Nut.
The young and innocent Wang Songguo was tricked by Wang Lin into exchanging his pine nuts for a pancake. Little did he know that one pancake bought Wang Lin almost a year of ruthless exploitation.
Later, every time Wang Lin caught him, Wang Songguo had to willingly contribute a handful of pine nuts.
Hmm, Wang Lin wasn't a bad person. He occasionally exchanged them for candy, but he always helped nourish Wang Songguo's meridians afterward.
Just as Wang Lin was about to walk into the courtyard, a middle-aged man suddenly walked out of Wang Songguo's house. The man's back was slightly hunched, and his right leg was visibly lame.
The man, holding the reluctant Wang Songguo by the hand, called out: "A'Lin, why have you been gone so long?"
"Uncle Wang, hunting for soul rings delayed me," Wang Lin said with a smile upon seeing the middle-aged man. The man was Wang Songguo's father, named Wang Dawei. He was a retired veteran of the Sun Moon Empire and a Rank 2 Soul Engineer.
Once, Wang Lin was "robbing" Wang Songguo and was seen by Wang Dawei. Instead of reprimanding Wang Lin, Wang Dawei told his son to get along well with him.
Of course, Wang Lin's actions were not excessive—just teasing a child. Moreover, Wang Lin was wearing the uniform of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy at the time.