Because the Flame-Devouring Owl was so rare, even Lin Zhan, a poor student who had worked his way up from the bottom, fell victim to its trap.
He never expected that the Flame-Devouring Owl not only looked like an owl, but also had a neck that could rotate freely like an owl's.
Even a Flame-Devouring Owl with less than five hundred years of cultivation managed to leave Lin Zhan in a sorry state; his eyebrows were burned off, and much of his hair was burned away.
After a lot of struggle, Lin Zhan used his soul power to suppress and imprison the Flame-Devouring Owl's entire body, his tone icy cold, "Yu'er, hurry up and kill it for me!" Seeing
Lin Zhan like this, Lin Yu was a little afraid. To avoid being hurt by Lin Zhan's fatherly love, so… Brother Owl, don't blame me!
Holding the Qiu Mo dagger forged by the divine craftsman Lou Gao, Lin Yu swiftly plunged it into the Flame-Devouring Owl's head.
The cold light of Qiu Mo was sharp, cutting through butter like a knife, directly piercing the Flame-Devouring Owl's skull.
The Flame Devouring Owl didn't even have time to let out a scream before it died instantly, a dark yellow spirit ring appearing above its corpse.
With the Flame Devouring Owl's death, Lin Zhan, his anger somewhat subsided, looked at the dark yellow spirit ring and advised Lin Yu, "This Flame Devouring Owl must be at least 480 years old. Should we get a different one?"
Lin Yu put away Qiu Mo, hesitating slightly. He was only a few decades past the so-called standard age limit, and he trained regularly, so there shouldn't be any problem.
"No need, Dad, this is fine. I think it should be okay."
Seeing Lin Yu's determination, Lin Zhan didn't say anything. Lin Yu had his own ideas, and naturally, he had his own path to walk. As his father, he wouldn't interfere too much, only offering a helping hand if Lin Yu strayed.
With Lin Zhan's permission, Lin Yu sat cross-legged on the ground and, following the method Lin Zhan had taught him beforehand, drew the spirit ring to his side. He
then released his martial soul, attempting to place the spirit ring on top of it and absorb its power.
The moment the spirit ring was absorbed, Lin Yu suddenly felt an immense pressure, causing a tearing pain throughout his body.
However, Lin Yu's will remained unwavering. He endured the excruciating pain while continuing to circulate his soul power and refine the spirit ring.
Initially, a soul master's first absorption of a spirit ring is very slow; even a ten-year spirit ring might take an hour.
Lin Yu withstood the pressure from the spirit ring itself, enduring a full hour, finally completing the crucial step of absorbing the spirit ring.
Above Lin Yu's head appeared a small bird with azure-blue feathers, red eyes, and disproportionately large wings—his martial soul, the Emerald Demon Bird.
Because of its wings, which exceeded the normal size of an Emerald Demon Bird, Lin Yu called it the Giant-Winged Emerald Demon Bird.
After absorbing a yellow spirit ring, the Giant-Winged Emerald Demon Bird noticeably swelled, now reaching the size of a rooster. Crimson feathers also appeared among its tail feathers, a clear upgrade in its martial soul quality resulting from absorbing the Flame-Devouring Owl's spirit ring. Having
absorbed the spirit ring, Lin Yu opened his eyes, unabashedly wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve. "It wasn't easy, but thankfully I succeeded."
Although he said this, Lin Yu was also cautious. He knew his physical abilities were still too weak and needed improvement.
As for the method of improvement, he had already devised one. While its effects would be somewhat limited for him, it was easy enough, and currently the only method he could devise.
Seeing Lin Yu almost collapsing to the ground, Lin Zhan felt a touch of relief in his eyes, but a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he said with a hint of disdain, "Alright, alright, it's just absorbing a spirit ring, why are you making such a fuss? Tell me what spirit skills you got."
When it came to spirit skills, Lin Zhan became serious. His Emerald Demon Bird spirit was mutated, and the early spirit ring combinations weren't very harmonious.
Now that he's settled down and started a family, he's paying extra attention to the soul rings he chooses for his future generations.
Lin Yu adjusted his soul power and chuckled awkwardly, "Um... Dad, don't laugh at me!"
"Stop dawdling!"
After being lightly kicked by Lin Zhan, Lin Yu straightened himself and released his martial soul.
A pair of azure wings appeared behind Lin Yu, quite large and with a wingspan of four and a half meters, more than half again as large as the three-meter wingspan of Lin Zhan's martial soul after it was attached.
As the yellow soul rings surrounding Lin Yu flickered, a red light emanated from beneath his wings, and a crimson beam of light transformed into a feather-like phantom behind him.
Lin Zhan was quite puzzled, unable to understand what Lin Yu's soul skill was all about.
But just then, as Lin Yu activated his soul power, the feather-like phantom formed from the red beam of light suddenly flew out, striking a tree less than fifty meters away from Lin Yu, a tree as thick as a bowl.
The tree struck by the feather snapped instantly, much to Lin Zhan's surprise. "Not bad!"
But that wasn't all. Besides the broken section, the trunk and crown of the tree were also radiating flames, clearly about to burst into flames.
Lin Zhan reacted quickly, using his soul power to extinguish the flames. The flames disappeared, but a red glow still lingered on the tree, as if it were burning.
"Hehe, how about it, Dad? This is my first soul skill, Crimson Owl Light. It can bombard with feathers. As long as the enemy is injured by Crimson Owl Light, they will be burned. But if they can block it unharmed, there will be no additional burns."
Seeing Lin Yu's happy smile, Lin Zhan, whose eyebrows had been burned by the Flame Devouring Owl, also smiled knowingly. "Good, my eyebrows weren't burned for nothing. At least they've given us our family's inherited soul skill, right?"
Having accompanied Lin Yu to obtain his first soul ring, Lin Zhan didn't intend to linger any longer. Instead, he directly took Lin Yu and flew out of the Soul Hunting Forest. After informing the patrol captain, the father and son returned directly to the Lin family's manor nearby.
Then, after leaving Lin Yu behind, Lin Zhan excitedly went to the library to continue compiling his "Complete Collection of Lin Family Inherited Soul Ring Candidates."
Lin Yu originally planned to tell his mother the good news, but who knew that the servants said that the lady had gone to Heaven Dou City to listen to music at the Moon Pavilion with other noble ladies.
This left Lin Yu quite frustrated, so he returned to his courtyard and began to ponder his martial soul and soul skills.
Lin Yu had witnessed the improvement in the quality of his martial soul; its appearance itself had changed considerably.
His soul power hadn't increased much, barely reaching level twelve (Tang San, after awakening, cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Technique, accumulating considerable soul power over three months).
Only when Lin Yu saw the feathers on his martial soul's tail and the appearance of his first soul skill did he recall the signature move of Kong Xuan, nearly invincible below the saint level in the Investiture of the Gods—the Five-Colored Divine Light.
He naturally couldn't compare to Kong Xuan, nor could he unleash the Five-Colored Divine Light, but that didn't stop him from borrowing the idea and trying to replicate it.
After all, it was the Five-Colored Divine Light; even with his infinitely weakened version, it was still enough to dominate a small place like the Douluo Continent.
(End of Chapter)