"Come, try it on me." Dugu Bo stood with his hands behind his back, prepared to personally experience the power of this soul skill.
This was one of the uses of a teacher—allowing a disciple to gain a basic understanding of their own combat strength.
"Dread Dream Flashback!"
As Zhao Liuyun's voice fell, his third soul ring suddenly pulsed with a faint light.
Dugu Bo felt his vision go dark as a sudden dream state submerged his consciousness.
He seemed to see himself collapsed beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, his entire body corroded by lethal toxins, dying in agony.
Then he saw his granddaughter, Dugu Yan, abandoned by Yu Tianheng, hunted down by enemies after losing her protection.
He even saw his own panic when he first discovered the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, nearly being poisoned to death after touching the Snowy Swan Kiss—
Scene after scene acted like sharp needles, piercing the most fragile parts of his heart.
Unspeakable fear struck his mind like crashing waves.
Dugu Bo's expression turned stern as his powerful mental energy suddenly vibrated, instantly tearing the brief dream to shreds.
"Phew—" He let out a long breath, his eyes revealing a hint of admiration.
"This soul skill can actually strike directly at the depths of one's heart, awakening the most feared memories. Even if you know it's fake, it triggers a very real shudder."
"Ordinary Soul Emperors won't be able to block it, and even Soul Saints will be delayed by it!"
Dugu Bo's eyes flickered. The leisure he had felt after detoxifying and condensing a soul core vanished, replaced by an indescribable sense of tension in his heart.
"Are there side effects?"
Smoothing out the slight tremor in his heart, he praised loudly, "What a fine Dread Dream Flashback!"
The side effects varied from person to person. Some would be enraged by fear and erupt with even greater combat power; others would lose their composure, unable to even mobilize their soul power, making soul skills difficult to perform. If used against a coward, it might even shatter their courage entirely, scaring them to death on the spot.
"Teacher, please, stop praising me." Zhao Liuyun smiled slightly.
Just now, he hadn't used [Hypnosis] to ignite the fear, nor had he used [Dream Entry] to interfere with the dreamscape, much less used Dragon Might to suppress the mind beforehand. This wasn't the strongest version of Dread Dream Flashback he could release.
If he employed all those methods together, the power of this soul skill could likely crush an opponent in an instant.
Zhao Liuyun immediately thought of this ruthless application. If he ever made a true enemy in the future, he might give it a try.
Feeling fortunate for his future enemies, Zhao Liuyun skillfully butchered the Dragon-Wolf corpse, pocketing the flesh of a nearly ten-thousand-year-old beast with dragon bloodline.
Dugu Bo then used his soul power to send Zhao Liuyun back to Heaven Dou City, returning him to the Dugu Manor.
The morning light already filled the courtyard, but Zhao Liuyun was in no hurry to return to the Ye Manor. Instead, he found a quiet room to sit cross-legged in meditation.
Understanding exactly how much experience he had gained this time was the most important thing.
From nine in the morning until noon, Zhao Liuyun remained immersed in meditation. In three hours, his experience grew by 180 points, averaging as much as 60 points per hour. This was already equal to a whole night of bitter cultivation previously!
Even without the bonus from [Focus Lv2], it would still be 30 points.
Thanks to the miraculous effects of the immortal herbs and the tempering of the soul ring, his base talent had leaped from 8 points to 20 points—a full 2.5-fold increase.
Running the Mysterious Heaven Skill added an extra 2 points. The two Extraordinary Meridians he had cleared, which were highly beneficial for absorbing external energy, added another 8 points.
It could be said he had caught a massive wind in a single leap; the path of cultivation ahead had suddenly become wide and clear.
Zhao Liuyun's gaze burned with fire. At this rate, he could obtain 300 [Soul Master] class experience points in a single night. Over a year, that would reach a staggering 109,500 points!
The peak of Level 36? The three levels of 37, 38, and 39 required no more than sixty thousand experience points combined. Even relying solely on his own meditation, he could directly break through to Level 40 in half a year at most!
And this wasn't even calculating the enhancement from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
At this thought, Zhao Liuyun's heart burned, but he suddenly calmed down. He took out paper and a pen from his storage ring, spread out a sheet, and began writing a letter to his other teacher—Shi Nian.
According to the original agreement between the Ye family and Shi Nian, he was supposed to rotate every half year to continue learning advanced spirit-related content. But who would have expected that Zhao Liuyun would become the disciple of the Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo, causing his schedule to be delayed by another half year.
Which was now.
The sixth year since Zhao Liuyun became a soul master.
God-King Tang was still in the sixth grade at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.
Zhao Liuyun should have been sitting in a carriage heading for Fasno City and Canghui Academy to learn new mental energy cultivation methods from Shi Nian and master more mental energy techniques he had created or inherited.
With the [Precision] trait, Zhao Liuyun was confident he would no longer be like before, taking half a year just to learn one.
However, he was about to become a Soul Ancestor—
Given his physique, soul power, and mental energy, his fourth soul ring would be sufficient to absorb a powerful ten-thousand-year soul ring. Relying on Shi Nian alone was simply not secure enough.
"Better to cultivate quietly in Heaven Dou City for half a year first, then set out after hunting for the fourth soul ring!"
Having made his decision, Zhao Liuyun asked the Ye family to deliver the letter to Canghui Academy. He himself returned to his daily routine, continuing his day-to-day cultivation.
His afternoon shifts at the Ye Family Clinic could not be interrupted. One hundred thousand experience points were hard to save; it would be heartbreaking to use General Experience to level up. Furthermore, when the class reached Lv3, there might be a restriction based on the number of successful treatments. It would likely be difficult to find more patients like his teacher Dugu Bo—those with an "incurable disease" that was actually easy to fix.
Thinking it over, the slow grind was the safest choice.
In the mornings, he continued to read as usual. He had finished the last few medical books in the Ye family's library in just three days. The library at the Dugu Manor was mostly about the Way of Poison, full of novel knowledge. Unfortunately, the collection was sparse and only lasted a month. The experience gained was 120 per session.
After finishing those, Zhao Liuyun went to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Library.
The imperial library possessed its own majesty. It was magnificent, with a high vaulted ceiling, and a sense of solemnity permeated the carved beams and painted pillars. Sunlight filtered through stained-glass windows, casting mottled, kaleidoscopic shadows across the white jade stone floors in a brilliant display. The air was thick with the faint scent of ink and the unique aroma of old paper—quiet and profound.
Zhao Liuyun sat cross-legged under the bookshelves to read. Since most students at Heaven Dou Royal Academy were noble children, the library was usually sparse. His status as Dugu Bo's only disciple was quite useful. Occasionally, a few students would pass through, but aside from familiar faces like Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan, almost no one disturbed him.
The collection in the hall was diverse. Although a morning of reading only yielded 80 experience points—not as generous as the selected classics from his family—it made up for it in sheer volume. Zhao Liuyun was almost entirely immersed in the ocean of knowledge, losing track of time.
It wasn't until he had been reading at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy for a month that a clean-looking young man with a straight nose and square jaw, dressed in spotless moon-white robes, stepped through the morning light and arrived.
His pace was light and his aura weak. Zhao Liuyun didn't notice him at first, but as the footsteps drew closer, it was clear he was heading in his direction.
Thinking for a moment, Zhao Liuyun shifted his position to make some room. He figured he might be blocking someone's path to the books. The library was quiet, but not empty; he had encountered similar situations once before during this month.
"'From Level 4 Innate Power to Title Douluo—The Correlation Between Willpower and Soul Power Cultivation Speed,' written by the independent cultivator Red Wolf Douluo five hundred years ago."
A warm, gentle male voice sounded in Zhao Liuyun's ear.
The person wasn't here to read? He was coming for me?
Feeling curious, Zhao Liuyun looked up. It was a young man leaning slightly forward. Though his features were ordinary, his brow carried the composed air of someone long accustomed to a high position. At this moment, the young man was looking at him with a smile, like a refined gentleman who was approachable and respectful to talent.
Ordinary looks, high status, weak strength—
Xue Qinghe? No, it was Qian Renxue!
Coming to Heaven Dou Royal Academy would inevitably attract her attention.
"You've read this book too?" With a glance, Zhao Liuyun naturally regained his composure, still keeping most of his focus on the yellowed pages.
Xue Qinghe's gaze was peaceful. "An isolated copy from five hundred years ago, almost a legend. Do you really dare to believe what's written inside?"
The fact that Zhao Liuyun was Dugu Bo's only disciple was no secret in the upper echelons of the soul master world. His past cultivation speed had been fast, but a Level 5 innate power had never caught her eye.
Only now—
The education board had reported Zhao Liuyun's cultivation level as a Level 37 Soul Elder. Only eleven years old, yet already Level 37!
Qian Renxue had been startled and had hurried over to see this boy who broke all conventions with her own eyes.
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi