Ye Yin silently got up and gently put on his clothes.
On the bed, Dugu Yan was wrapped in a thin blanket, sleeping soundly. Her long, emerald-green hair fanned out on the pillow, and her exposed shoulders were delicate, flushed with a faint reddish hue. The night's passionate exchange, amplified by the Netherworld Essential Oil, had clearly left her exhausted. Ye Yin smiled slightly, quietly closing the door as he left the room.
Just as he was about to leave the grounds of Heaven Dou Royal Academy, he happened to run into another familiar figure: Dugu Bo.
"Hahaha! Little Ye! You've come at just the right time! Quickly, you have to hear about my masterpiece!" Dugu Bo was striding over from another path, his usually gloomy old face now radiant and glowing with excitement, his eyebrows practically dancing. He looked as if he had just won a grand prize.
He grabbed Ye Yin's arm with surprising strength, eager to boast. "You won't believe it! That sissy, Yue Guan! Hahaha! This is all thanks to your black garlic! Tsk, tsk, tsk, you should have seen the look on his face!"
Dugu Bo laughed so hard his beard trembled, and his emerald-green eyes gleamed with a wild, triumphant light. He gestured animatedly as he described the event, clearly relishing the memory of his old rival's torment. "…Although it couldn't kill him, it was more than enough to give him a taste of his own medicine!"
Ye Yin listened quietly, a sense of shock growing within him. He never would have expected the seemingly straightforward Dugu Bo to be capable of such a devious prank. No wonder his own behavior was sometimes a bit abnormal; it seemed he had learned from the best.
Dugu Bo finished his story and clapped Ye Yin's shoulder forcefully. "Anyway, I've used up all that black garlic you gave me. Shouldn't you give your old friend ten or eight more?"
As Dugu Bo's hand rested on his shoulder, the old man's expression suddenly changed. He could feel the terrifying shift in Ye Yin's spirit power.
"You're at Level 50!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock and delight.
Ye Yin nodded. The three Immortal Herbs he had consumed some time ago had already raised his spirit power significantly from Level 40. After absorbing his fourth spirit ring, he was already on the cusp of the next rank. The intimate exchange with Dugu Yan, combined with the potent effects of the Netherworld Essential Oil, had finally pushed him over the edge, allowing him to break through to Level 50.
"Hahaha! Good! Good, kid! This is double the happiness!" Dugu Bo burst into another round of hearty laughter, looking even happier than if he had made the breakthrough himself. "Let's go, let's go! What are we waiting for! I'll personally take you to the Sunset Forest right now! I'll find you the highest-grade fifth spirit ring! I guarantee you'll be satisfied!"
Without another word, he grabbed Ye Yin's arm again. His powerful spirit power enveloped both of them, transforming them into a stream of emerald-green light that shot into the sky, racing towards the Sunset Forest.
The wind howled in their ears as the ground receded rapidly beneath them. As they flew, Dugu Bo enthusiastically began to plan. "The fifth spirit ring is crucially important! Your fourth ring was already at the ten-thousand-year level, so your fifth should be at least twenty thousand years old. Your Spirit is special, so as long as the age is high enough, the type doesn't matter too much. We could even find a thirty-thousand-year-old Spirit Beast of a less powerful species to maximize the age. I'm very familiar with the distribution of Spirit Beasts in the Sunset Forest."
Ye Yin simply allowed the excited old man to carry him through the air. Dugu Bo's speed was incredible; in less than half an hour, they had already reached the core area of the vast forest. The air here was thick with a primal, dangerous aura. The roars of powerful Spirit Beasts echoed from all directions, one after another, making one's heart pound.
Under Dugu Bo's expert guidance, they quickly found their target: a Biphosphorus Seven Wonders Flower, approximately thirty thousand years old. It was clear that Dugu Bo's greatest expertise lay in finding poison-attribute Spirit Beasts.
Ye Yin looked at the strange, beautiful, and deadly plant in front of them and nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. That's the one."
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