"A year has passed. From now on, you can cultivate step by step. Remember your promise to me: do not kill soul beasts unless absolutely necessary."
This was Gu Yuena's request after discovering Lin Bai's rapid progress.
Lin Bai needed her help, and since the request wasn't unreasonable, he agreed.
In return, Gu Yuena shared her insights into spatial attributes, which was key to Lin Bai's rapid progress.
"Don't worry, a promise is a promise. I wouldn't lie to you about something so trivial."
Lin Bai shrugged, seemingly dissatisfied with Gu Yuena's distrust.
After a year together, even the coldest ice begins to melt, especially since Lin Bai was truly mysterious, making people want to investigate. Gu Yuena was no longer as cold as she had been at their first meeting and could occasionally crack a joke.
Gu Yuena nodded slightly. Based on her understanding of Lin Bai, he was a proud human who wouldn't easily break his promise, and that was enough.
She looked at Lin Bai, a hint of doubt in her eyes.
A gentle breeze blew by, and Lin Bai stood in the center of the garden, his eyes slightly narrowed, seemingly blending into the world, every movement exuding a natural charm, perfectly innate.
Finally, Gu Yuena couldn't contain her curiosity and asked, "Did you break through to level forty in your profession? Why do I feel like you've suddenly changed so much?"
Lin Bai turned his head and looked back, chuckling softly. He knew why Gu Yuena had such doubts.
Yesterday was his eleventh birthday, and his new cheat ability went live right on time.
Unlike all his previous cheat abilities, this one was invisible and intangible. It wasn't any item or system, but a kind of ethereal talent.
Lin Bai called it the Innate Dao Body.
This was originally the "perfect evolutionary body" in Daoist legends.
The Innate Dao Body was destined to become a saint. The strength of the meridians and various physical indicators were much higher than ordinary people, almost reaching the realm of perfection.
Lin Bai obtained the special talent of the Innate Dao Body, further enhancing his already powerful abilities. His meridians nearly doubled in width, his soul power limit increased several times, and his absorption speed of heaven and earth's spiritual energy increased several times. Although these effects offset each other, Lin Bai still increased his soul power by three levels within a year.
And this was merely the most insignificant talent of the Innate Dao Body. The most precious aspect of the Innate Dao Body lies in its ability to bring one into harmony with the Dao, making one incredibly close to heaven and earth, as if it were a naturally created physique, making it exceptionally easy to comprehend the rules.
Within his inner world, under the influence of his twin martial souls and Ying Tian, Lin Bai's Innate Dao Body was not an ordinary human form, nor was it the legendary human body and snake tail of Nuwa and Fuxi. Instead, it was a dragon-headed human body, which could be seen as an innate deity born within his inner world. The talent that Gu Yuena didn't believe he possessed was simply fulfilled by him after his birthday.
"Of course not that fast. Level 40 requires too much experience, almost half of all the experience you've gained before. If you're in a hurry to break through, we can stay up all night grinding monsters in the dungeon with you."
Lin Bai naturally changed the subject. Actually, grinding monsters together as a group wasn't very efficient. After finally finding a monster's lair, each person could only kill a dozen or so monsters before the entire lair was cleared out, and the experience gained per person wasn't much.
"No need."
Gu Yuena refused without surprise. Her strength had improved faster than Lin Bai's. At least Lin Bai still needed to cultivate, but Gu Yuena seemed to be increasing her soul power even while eating and drinking. In just over a year, her soul power level was almost catching up with Lin Bai's.
"From now on, we'll grind monsters separately. I'll go with Xiao Wu. She's carrying the burden of avenging her mother's death, yet she still has the mind to go out and wander around. She needs some supervision."
Gu Yuena shook her head, a look of disappointment on her face. She was used to teaching the ferocious beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest, and with a soul beast by her side, she couldn't help but want to teach it a little.
"Alright, then Zhu Qing and I will go together. If we find any skills we can use, we'll exchange them."
Lin Bai didn't know why, but in the past year, he had hardly encountered any BOSSes. Often, as soon as a BOSS appeared, a powerful expert would happen to be on that level and quickly kill it.
By the time he found out, it was too late.
"Okay."
Gu Yuena nodded slightly and turned to leave.
Lin Bai watched Gu Yuena leave, then with a thought, disappeared from the spot and entered the small world.
A year wasn't a long time, but the small world had undergone earth-shattering changes.
The desolate ground was now covered with all kinds of plants. Lin Bai spent a lot of money buying rare plants and medicinal herbs from all over the Douluo Continent at the underground city market. He didn't know what they were for yet, but he considered them as decorations for the small world.
"The environment isn't much different from the outside world, so I can start introducing animals. I'll also get a few soul beasts, with balanced and neutral attributes. When necessary, I can extract their soul power to replenish mine, acting as my 'power banks.'"
Even after developing his spatial attributes, Lin Bai still couldn't make significant changes to his small world. Without external intervention, the growth process of his small world would take tens of thousands of years, so he had been exploring ways to accelerate its growth.
"The small world doesn't need ordinary materials. After all, no matter how large the world grows, it's useless to me. I still need to find high-energy materials, such as divine essence or some rare and precious treasures. Only when the small world grows can it nourish my growth. Let me think, what treasures are there on the Douluo Continent?"
After much thought, Lin Bai realized that the Douluo Continent didn't produce many rare and precious treasures. To search on a large scale, he could only search in the deep sea and underground, or perhaps the so-called three treasure lands.
"With Gu Yuena here, it's difficult to obtain the Dragon King's remains and dragon soul from the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. However, the two springs within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well itself are extremely high-energy substances, a unique advantage. The entire thing can be moved into the small world, along with some unused soul bones, which the small world can absorb."
Lin Bai shook his head. Those were still a bit far off. For now, he could collect equipment from the dungeon and let the small world absorb it.
It didn't matter if it was slow; after all, unused items could be sold anyway, and enough gold coins would suffice. Lin Bai wasn't pursuing great wealth; it was better to accelerate the growth of the small world.
Ying Tian was resting on the grass, and Lin Bai didn't disturb it. After glancing at the vibrant small world, he returned to the outside world.
He left the academy, intending to level up in the dungeon.
On the way, Lin Bai encountered Flander, who had long since returned to Shrek Academy but would occasionally come to Notting City, both to visit Yu Xiaogang and to recruit Lin Bai and his group of geniuses.
"Lin Bai, you'll graduate from the junior academy in less than a year. What have you thought about? Would you like to join Shrek Academy?"
Flander stopped when he saw Lin Bai, intending to persuade him again.
Lin Bai had long wanted to go to Shrek, but Flander was begging him to join. He pretended to be waiting for a high offer, but Flander was habitually stingy and wouldn't act without expecting something in return, offering no real benefits. Every time they met, Flander would just make empty promises, which Lin Bai was getting tired of.
(End of Chapter)