Age of Evolution

Chapter 160 - 160: 160: Lin Zhen’s Unique Skill, Soul

Li Changying had always felt that this person looked familiar, but since he had only turned around once before turning back, she wasn’t sure. Now, as he turned back again, Li Changying was taken aback, “You are Lin Zhen?”

“Guaranteed, how about that? Don’t you recognize me after two years?”

“My God! How…how? That’s great!” Li Changying showed an excited expression, finally meeting an acquaintance at a life-and-death moment. She felt hopeful.

Lin Zhen chuckled, ‘You’ve made great progress in two years. Has your Dantian compressed its air yet?”

Li Changying nodded, “Yes, it has compressed by two-fold. If the Beehive hadn’t been so oppressive, I would have had the confidence to compress it by three-fold.”

“But your progress is not as great as mine. When I entered, I was already a Level Nine War General, while you were only a Level Three. Now you are at the peak of Level Nine, and your strength is shocking. How did you train?” Li Changying still felt it was unbelievable.

Lin Zhen waved his hand, “Let’s talk about that later.”

Swinging his shining silver spear, Lin Zhen pointed at those who were chasing after Li Changying, “All of you, get the hell away from here! Li Changying is my classmate and also my friend. If anyone dares to make a move, these bugs will be your fate!”

The other Martial Artists were frightened by Lin Zhen’s spear-wielding skills and couldn’t help but retreat a few steps. In the past few years, Lin Zhen had gradually become known among the Star Fruit Tree. The Ant Nest Demon King was a name that few had not heard of.

The leading martial artist looked around and said stiffly, “Lin Zhen, this is an internal matter of the Beehive. I advise you not to meddle. Although you are very strong, our brother Zhou Butong is not easy to provoke…! ”

“If you don’t leave, I’m going to take action!” Lin Zhen shook his spear, creating a series of spear flowers. He didn’t waste any time talking to him and directly threatened him with force.

The martial artist dared not say anything more. It was already hard enough to deal with Li Changying. With Lin Zhen added to the mix, it was possible that none of them would make it out.

“Retreat! Lin Zhen, you’re interfering with the internal affairs of the Beehive. Brother Zhou won’t let it go!” He shouted as he left.

“Beehive, I’ll be coming over soon.”

Watching those people leave, Lin Zhen returned to Li Changying’s side.

Seeing that Lin Zhen had scared away the other Martial Artists with just a few words, Li Changying finally felt relieved. Her legs went soft, and she was about to sit down.

“Not here, let’s find a safe place.”

Lin Zhen helped Li Changying, and the two of them walked into the dense woods.

They didn’t go far before they found a very hidden tree hole. Lin Zhen brought Li Changying inside.

Li Changying leaned against the inner wall of the tree hole, panting: “Lin Zhen, how did you end up here? Weren’t you in the Ant Nest?”

“That’s right, but it’s no longer suitable for my cultivation there, so I wanted to come to the Beehive.”

“It’s not easy to get by in the Beehive either. Just look at my condition. Without a particularly strong team, there’s basically no hope.” Li Changying gave a bitter smile.

“It’s alright. In a few days, Jiang Huai and Lou Qingfeng will be coming over, and we’ll be together then.”

Upon hearing Lin Zhen’s words, Li Changying’s spirits lifted, “If that’s the case, then I’ll have the confidence to compete with the others in the Beehive.”

“Don’t think about anything now, just focus on healing. I’ll go out and do something else, and I’ll come back to find you in two days.”

Li Changying nodded in agreement, knowing that her current condition made her unable to do much and that she must heal first.

Li Changying rested and healed her wounds, while Lin Zhen left the tree hole and found another hidden spot to hide.

Once he found the location, Lin Zhen took out a Star Crystal from the Space Ring.

Looking at the Star Crystal, Lin Zhen examined it up and down, then sniffed it in front of his nose. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

“This… this is actually a Spiritual Power Stargem!”

“Hahaha! This is great! I’ve been worried about my spiritual power not being able to advance to Dark Gold, and then I get this thing. With it, I can definitely crush all the War Generals in the War General Stage!”

Lin Zhen had originally thought that obtaining a force stargem or a speed stargem would be satisfying, but he didn’t expect this to be a Spiritual Power Stargem. After absorbing it, it would not only help condense the Dantian air but also stimulate the mind with the unique component it contained. It was a treasure that Spiritual Mind Masters dreamed of.

Lin Zhen’s current Spiritual Power had reached the Golden Peak, and this was basically the limit. He couldn’t hope to make a breakthrough into Dark Gold without reaching the War God Stage.

However, entering the War God stage was not that simple. Lin Zhen had to compress his Dantian air, which was a lengthy process requiring a large amount of Constant Star Crystals. For an ordinary Martial Artist, it would take at least three to five years to succeed. Judging by the Star Fruit Tree, it was evident that Level Nine Warriors had been stuck here for a long while.

Even with the Dark Star inside Lin Zhen’s body allowing him to absorb Constant Star Crystals freely, the process wouldn’t be much faster. So, the growth of his Spiritual Power would not be possible in the short term.

Only this, the Constant Star Crystal of spiritual power, could allow Lin Zhen to make a breakthrough at this moment.

Feeling that his current state was perfectly fine, Lin Zhen placed the crystal in front of his dantian.

Threads of dark gold energy began to enter Lin Zhen’s body, not only increasing his dantian energy but also his mental power.

However, the growth of his mental power didn’t require Lin Zhen’s control; he was only concerned about the increase in his dantian energy.

At the peak of a Level Nine Martial General, no matter how much one cultivated, their dantian energy would not increase further. It could only be achieved through external forces. While inside the Star Fruit Tree, that external force was the Constant Star Crystal. With a large amount of energy infusion, Lin Zhen’s dantian finally began to change.

Instead of expanding, it was contracting!

If the density of the dantian energy before was a bowl of water, after absorbing the Constant Star Crystal, the density became that of mercury!

However, its capacity remained the same, still located within his dantian.

At the same time, Lin Zhen’s mental power also underwent changes.

The dark gold energy within the Constant Star Crystal entered Lin Zhen’s mind, gradually adding a touch of dark gold color to his previously fully gold mental power in his Spiritual Consciousness Sea.

The amount wasn’t much, only occupying about five percent of his Spiritual Consciousness Sea, but it allowed Lin Zhen to genuinely enter the realm of a Dark Gold Level Spiritual Mind Master.

The absorption of both dantian energy and mental power lasted a full three hours. By the time Lin Zhen opened his eyes, it had already become dark inside the Star Fruit Tree. It was now nighttime.

However, a faint golden light emanated from Lin Zhen’s eyes, allowing him to clearly see everything in the darkness.

“Night vision! I finally have night vision. I have always heard that Dark Gold Level Spiritual Mind Masters can see in the dark. Now it seems that the legend is true. No matter what dim environment, I will be able to perceive everything clearly.”

After inspecting his dantian energy, Lin Zhen found that he had finally broken through the limitations of the peak of Level Nine Martial Generals and entered the first stage of compression.

Although he hadn’t yet completed a full compression, it was a good start.

But Lin Zhen didn’t stand up just yet; he still had something else to do. Now that he was a Dark Gold Level Spiritual Mind Master, Lin Zhen wanted to attempt a legendary technique.

Soul Lock!

Soul Lock was a technique that once flourished among the stars. It was considered an evolved version of Mental Shock, which could temporarily control a person’s thoughts. The even more advanced and harder to cultivate technique than Mental Shock was Soul Lock.

Soul Lock could control a person’s soul, directly breaking their soul defenses, easily turning them into an idiot, and making them follow the user’s commands.

However, cultivating Soul Lock had very high requirements for Spiritual Mind Masters. It was best to have a Dark Gold Level spiritual power to begin cultivating, and one’s own soul had to be extremely strong. Otherwise, there was a strong possibility of backlash or even being controlled by the opponent. Such examples were common in previous lifetimes, so many Spiritual Mind Masters who had learned Soul Lock were unwilling to use it because it was too risky.

As a result, the technique Soul Lock was eventually eliminated, and no Spiritual Mind Masters were willing to use it. It naturally lost its value because you’d never know if your opponent’s soul strength exceeded yours. One failure, and there was no chance to start over again.

It was this worthless technique that Lin Zhen was able to purchase and learn, which of course was of little use. However, things were different in his current life.

In this life, his soul strength was extremely strong, and he was confident that almost no one had a stronger soul than he did. Therefore, he had already begun cultivating Soul Lock. The occasional flashes of soul-piercing light in his eyes while on the central tree branch were the result of cultivating Soul Lock.

That was the technique he intended to use against Brother Guang and other Martial Generals who compressed their dantian energy. It was just that his mental power was slightly insufficient and couldn’t be fully utilized.

To use Soul Lock, the first requirement was Dark Gold Level mental power. At this point, Lin Zhen finally met all the prerequisites.

As for the steps of Soul Lock, Lin Zhen had long been familiar with them. After several attempts, he had mastered the basic process and only needed a target to try it on.

Checking the time, it was almost midnight. Lin Zhen stepped out of the tree hole.

The darkness around him was no longer an issue for Lin Zhen. He stepped on his shield and quickly ascended into the sky, creating streaks of light while returning to the direction of the Ant Nest.

Having narrowly escaped during daylight, Lin Zhen wouldn’t give Brother Guang another chance this time.

The night was a forbidden zone for Martial Artists, and no one would be out at this time. Lin Zhen flew quickly, and many insects couldn’t keep up with his speed. Familiar with the route, it took less than two hours for Lin Zhen to return to the entrance of the Ant Nest.

It was quiet and silent at the Ant Nest.

He walked up to the entrance, and the first tree hole was the largest and most spacious, which was where Brother Guang lived.

Lin Zhen pushed open the door with one hand, silently walked in, and then gently closed the door..