83: Soul Force

Lin Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted. The chaos heavenly extreme sword hovered above Blue Thirteen's head, its tip just three inches from its crown, the Sword Qi it emitted already stirring ripples in the blue aura. He approached slowly, the sound of his boots crushing the sand particularly clear in the dead silence of the desert.

"You can speak?" Lin Yuan's voice was frigid, like an arctic wind. His right hand was loosely clenched, ready to control the chaos heavenly extreme sword to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

"R-reporting... Reporting, Milord..." Blue Thirteen maintained its full prostration, its voice trembling like a candle flickering in the wind. "This subordinate, Blue Thirteen, is the Thirteenth Captain of the Third Legion of the Soul Blue Kingdom... Please spare this subordinate's life... This subordinate can help Milord accelerate the hunting of Rank One Soul Spirits in this realm!"

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes. He had originally thought that Soul Spirits were mindless killing machines, but he hadn't expected Rank Two Soul Spirits to possess such complete sentience, not only capable of normal conversation but also of begging for mercy and negotiating. This discovery was like a flash of lightning, instantly refreshing his understanding of the Soul Ruins Secret Realm.

"Get up and speak." Lin Yuan slightly raised his right hand, recalling the chaos heavenly extreme sword to his side. However, the Law power around him continued to circulate, ready to launch a fatal strike at any moment. "Tell me everything you know about this Secret Realm."

Blue Thirteen seemed to have received a great pardon and cautiously straightened its body. The wound on its chest was still slowly spreading but was much better than before. It crossed its two liquid arms in front of its chest, making a strange gesture, as if saluting: "Milord, please observe. What you outsiders call the Soul Ruins Secret Realm is known among our Soul Spirit race as the 'Heavenly Soul Holy Land,' ruled by countless Soul Spirit Factions..."

As Blue Thirteen recounted the details, a complete map of the Soul Spirit world gradually formed in Lin Yuan's mind. It turned out that the entire Secret Realm was divided into one to nine stars based on the strength of the Soul Spirit Factions, with the gap in power between each star rank being like a chasm.

"The scattered weaklings Milord hunted before cannot even be considered a One-Star Faction." Blue Thirteen pointed to the dissipating remains of a Purple Soul Spirit in the distance. "A faction controlled by at least ten Rank One Purple Soul Spirits, commanding hundreds of Rank One Blue Soul Spirits and thousands of Low-Rank Soul Spirits, is called a One-Star Faction. Two-Star Factions are much stronger, usually centered around dozens of Rank One Gold Soul Spirits, supplemented by hundreds of Purple Soul Spirits and tens of thousands of Low-Rank Soul Spirits."

Lin Yuan keenly noticed a trace of undetectable disdain flash in the ice-blue eyes of Blue Thirteen when it mentioned "Rank One Soul Spirits." This subtle change in expression stirred something in his heart: "Do you Rank Two Soul Spirits look down on Rank One ones?"

"Milord is perceptive." Blue Thirteen's two arms unconsciously swayed, and ripples appeared in the liquid aura. "The hierarchy in the Heavenly Soul Holy Land is strict. Even if a Rank One Soul Spirit Cultivates to gold, its combat power can reach 2,000 Feathers, but without open sentience, it is only fit to serve as cannon fodder in kingdom wars." It pointed to the wound on its chest. "Although this subordinate is only a Rank Two Blue Soul Spirit, my combat power is as high as 5,000 Feathers, and I possess complete sentience. Here, only by advancing to Rank Two is one qualified to receive a name and join the Kingdom's Regular Legion."

Speaking of this, Blue Thirteen unconsciously puffed out its chest, its tone carrying a hint of unconcealed pride: "This subordinate was bestowed the name 'Blue Thirteen' because I rank thirteenth among the thirteen Captains of the Third Legion. You must know that many Low-Rank Soul Spirits never receive a name in their entire lives; when they die, it is as if they never existed."

Lin Yuan nodded thoughtfully, his fingertip unconsciously tapping lightly on the hilt of the chaos heavenly extreme sword. He suddenly realized that this seemingly chaotic and disorderly Soul Ruins Secret Realm had actually developed a complete civilization System. The value of this discovery was far greater than simply hunting a few Soul Spirits.

"Tell me the specifics of your Soul Blue Kingdom." Lin Yuan commanded, while secretly circulating his Divine Thought, branding every word Blue Thirteen spoke into his Sea of Consciousness.

Blue Thirteen immediately lowered its head respectfully: "Reporting, Milord, the Soul Blue Kingdom is a Three-Star Faction, ruled by the great Soul Blue King. The kingdom has a total of Three Great Legions. Each legion is commanded by three Rank Two Purple Soul Spirits acting as the Chief and Deputy Legion Commanders, and oversees five hundred thousand Low-Rank Soul Spirits..."

Lin Yuan listened while quickly analyzing the intelligence. According to Blue Thirteen's description, the Soul Blue King should be a Rank Two Gold Soul Spirit, with a strength of at least tens of thousands of Feathers. The total number of Soul Spirits in the entire kingdom exceeded 1.5 million, and this was only a Three-Star Faction. If it were Four-Star or Five-Star... he dared not imagine how massive those factions would be.

"You just said you could help me hunt?" Lin Yuan suddenly changed the subject, a sharp light flickering in his eyes. "How exactly would you do that?"

Blue Thirteen's blue eyes immediately lit up, like two flickering ghost flames. "Milord, with this subordinate's status, I can conscript one Two-Star Faction and ten One-Star Factions to serve the Soul Blue Kingdom. This subordinate can gather all of them and offer them for Milord's... disposal." It clearly hesitated when saying the last two words, and its liquid body rippled unnaturally, but the instinct for survival compelled it to continue: "This will be more than ten times faster than Milord searching around by himself."

A sharp light flickered in Lin Yuan's eyes. This proposal was indeed extremely tempting, but he wouldn't easily trust a Soul Spirit that had just tried to kill him. With a thought, the divine sense tree in his Sea of Consciousness swayed, and a wisp of the pressure of the Law of Space-Time quietly released.

"Why should I trust you?" Lin Yuan's voice was cold as a blade, and simultaneously, that wisp of pressure pressed down on Blue Thirteen like Mount Tai.

Blue Thirteen immediately trembled violently, its liquid body nearly dissolving. It hastily used its arms to shield the wound on its chest, its voice filled with terror: "Milord, please observe! This subordinate can first take you to the nearest Two-Star Faction Garrison! After you confirm this subordinate's sincerity, then decide whether to spare my life!"

Saying this, it suddenly made a move Lin Yuan hadn't expected—it plunged two liquid fingers into the wound on its chest and forcibly dug out a pulsating blue core, which it presented to Lin Yuan in its hands. The core pulsed like a living thing, emitting a faint blue light.

"This is this subordinate's Soul Core Fragment; please accept it, Milord." Blue Thirteen's voice was distorted by pain. "If this subordinate harbors even a shred of ill will, Milord can crush it at any time and cause this subordinate to suffer Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering!"

Lin Yuan stared at the pulsating blue light mass, his Divine Thought perceiving the pure Soul Power contained within. He reached out and took it. The Soul Core Fragment was chillingly cold to the touch, like holding a piece of ten-thousand-year-old cold jade. The moment he made contact, the System prompt sounded timely:

[Acquired: Blue Thirteen's Soul Core Fragment]

[Effect: Controls the life and death of the Soul Spirit]

[Can be exchanged for: 50 million Experience Points]

Lin Yuan's lips curled slightly. He put the Soul Core Fragment into a specially made jade box in his storage space. "Lead the way." He said lightly, while secretly placing a triple Restriction array on the jade box.

Over the next two days, Lin Yuan witnessed what truly efficient hunting meant. With Blue Thirteen acting as an "insider," hunting Soul Spirits became as simple as harvesting crops.