With a soft exhale, Xiao Wu's entire body became like a supple spring.
Using her knees pressed against Lin Yang's abdomen as a fulcrum, she snapped backward to her limit, forming a taut, powerful bow.
Whoosh—!
A stronger explosive force instantly transferred into Lin Yang's body.
Their falling trajectory jerked upward and forward. Lin Yang's path suddenly changed, and he landed solidly on the far side of the ravine.
Thud!
He hit the firm ground with a muffled sound.
But as the anchor of that force, Xiao Wu's body, as light as a drifting leaf, slipped from his arms and tumbled down into the depths of the ravine.
A powerful sense of weightlessness wrapped around her. Xiao Wu stared steadily at Lin Yang. There was no regret in her eyes—only faint disappointment.
She didn't know why she had made that decision. By the time she came back to her senses, she had already moved on instinct.
But this was fine too. She would take it as repayment for him saving her.
Xiao Wu slowly opened her arms, ready to accept death.
At that instant, she felt something coil around her waist.
A tremendous force surged, like a pair of invisible hands yanking her out of the abyss.
When Xiao Wu opened her eyes again, she saw that familiar face.
"You…."
Her mind stalled for a second.
What had… just happened?
Lin Yang smiled. "Nice teamwork. But I haven't fallen so low that I need to sacrifice a girl to save my life."
Xiao Wu's face flushed red in an instant, like a pot of boiling water bubbling over.
She suddenly realized that her seemingly "heroic sacrifice" was completely redundant—like taking off your pants just to fart.
Lin Yang had already planned his way out. When would it ever have been her turn to play the martyr?
Of course, she could never admit that. She could only stubbornly argue,
"I-I know. I just wanted to be extra sure, that's all."
"I see."
Lin Yang nodded in apparent understanding.
"So I was overthinking. In that case, when do you plan on getting off me?"
Only then did Xiao Wu realize she was cradled in Lin Yang's arms, princess-style.
She sprang away like a startled bunny, scrambling out of his embrace and hopping to the side.
Lin Yang chuckled, then turned his gaze to the Gengjin Sword Bamboo.
Right now, a deep purple soul ring was slowly floating above the sword bamboo, radiating a soft wave of soul power.
Xiao Wu looked at the soul ring with a complex expression, then asked worriedly,
"Are you sure you want your second ring to be a five-thousand-year ring?"
A five-thousand-year soul ring could already serve as the fourth ring for an average soul master.
Yet Lin Yang was taking that as his second ring.
This was no longer about courage. It was suicide.
"Yeah." Lin Yang nodded.
"There aren't any soul beasts nearby. Keep watch for me."
With that, Lin Yang sat down cross-legged.
The Nichirin Blade appeared in his hand, and he used his soul power to pull the soul ring, guiding it onto the blade.
In an instant, a majestic tide of energy surged into his body like a breached floodgate, raging violently as if eager to blow him apart.
But Lin Yang was already very familiar with this feeling.
He immediately activated the Great Sun Meditation, refining the soul ring while channeling the overflowing energy into his Demon God Body martial soul.
Watching from the side, Xiao Wu witnessed an astonishing sight.
As Lin Yang absorbed the soul ring, two additional purple soul rings appeared at his feet, slowly circling around him.
The soul power fluctuations in those rings grew stronger by the minute.
Xiao Wu stared wide-eyed, her face filled with shock.
Two thousand-year rings?
How…?
She quickly understood. The yellow rings she had seen before had been disguises. This was his true soul ring configuration.
This guy… was he really just a commoner?
Not only did he have twin martial souls, but the rings on each martial soul all exceeded the usual age limits.
So this was his hidden secret.
No wonder he was so strong—even a Soul King was no match for him.
Yet he was only a single year older than she was.
Time passed slowly. Night approached, and the wind atop the ravine grew sharper and colder. Even Xiao Wu had to use her soul power to resist the howling chill.
She glanced at the darkening sky, then at Lin Yang with quiet concern.
He had been absorbing the soul ring for a long time, but his soul power remained steady. Nothing seemed wrong.
Pursing her lips, Xiao Wu could only continue to guard his side.
Before long, the purple ring enveloping the martial soul suddenly contracted, then reappeared, settling alongside the yellow ring at Lin Yang's feet.
Lin Yang opened his eyes and rose in one smooth motion. A soul power aura even stronger than before spread out around him.
His soul power had reached level twenty-seven.
The Nichirin Blade's second soul skill: Armor Break.
It ignored seventy percent of physical defense and fifty percent of energy defense. With every level of soul power, the bonuses increased by one percent.
With this soul skill, Lin Yang had the confidence to face soul masters stronger than he was in a head-on fight.
On top of that, the first soul ring on his Demon God Body martial soul had increased to three thousand years, and the second to five thousand five hundred years.
The improvement wasn't as dramatic as when he had absorbed the hundred-thousand-year soul bone.
That was only natural—these were only thousand-year rings.
Of course, this time Lin Yang's biggest gain wasn't just that.
He summoned Hizama again. The long, sharp Nichirin Blade was now sheathed in a strange layer of bone.
The sheath was entirely black, shot through with natural dark gold lines, hugging every curve of the blade like a living thing.
Curious, Xiao Wu came closer, staring at the bone layer for a few seconds before suddenly frowning and blurting out,
"An external soul bone?"
Exactly. Even Lin Yang himself hadn't expected it.
While absorbing the Gengjin Sword Bamboo's soul ring, he had actually obtained an external soul bone.
And it was perfectly suited to his Nichirin Blade martial soul—a scabbard-type external soul bone.
External Soul Bone — Hidden Edge.
Its ability was extremely simple: it could store a single full-power strike from its user and release it later in one burst with a single draw of the blade.
Most importantly, the release required no additional soul power.
In other words, Lin Yang had gained an extra full-power outburst for free.
In a life-and-death struggle, this was a trump card that could flip the situation entirely.
Xiao Wu curled her lip. "You really stepped in dog shit. Even an external soul bone drops into your lap."
"Luck is part of strength."
Lin Yang stroked Hidden Edge, the delight on his face impossible to hide.
Xiao Wu snorted, then warned seriously,
"You'd better not let anyone see that. Once it's exposed, those who want to kill you for it won't just be Soul Kings."
External soul bones ranked only below hundred-thousand-year soul bones. Even a Title Douluo would find that temptation hard to resist.
Thinking of that, Lin Yang could only smile wryly.
It wasn't just this external soul bone. He also had a hundred-thousand-year soul bone and the Blue Silver Emperor.
Once any of that leaked, the top experts across the entire continent would flock to him, fighting to the death over his body.
Right and wrong wouldn't matter. This was just how a world of the strong worked.
Looking at it that way, his situation wasn't all that different from the bunny beside him.
So, unless he fully fused with the soul bones, for now he couldn't easily reveal his Nichirin Blade martial soul.
If he had no other choice, he would simply have to make sure every witness stayed silent.