"Surprise?" Hu Liena sneered as if she had heard some big joke. She crossed her arms on her chest and looked down at Ling Ye, "Just these two broken wooden boxes? What kind of surprise can there be? Soul bones? Soul rings? Or a hundred thousand-year-old soul beast cub?" The sarcasm in her words almost overflowed. Several students around who had not yet left and whose attention was attracted by Hu Liena also burst into low laughter.
Ling Ye did not argue, but calmly repeated: "After opening it, there may be surprises. A gold soul coin, an opportunity."
His calmness, or this almost rigid stubbornness, made Hu Liena feel a little interesting, and at the same time, it also made her feel uneasy about being questioned. She was a dignified disciple of the Pope, a genius of the golden generation, but she was treated with such an attitude by a "wasted martial soul" brat from a junior college?
"Huh," Hu Liena laughed angrily, her delicate chin raised slightly, with a provocation of "I want to see what tricks you can do," "Okay! One gold soul coin, right? I'm in a good mood today, so I'll just pass the time!"
Her slender fingers touched the delicate storage soul guide at her waist, and a heavy gold soul coin with an alluring golden luster appeared at her fingertips. Without looking, she flicked her fingers.
Ding!
The golden soul coin drew a beautiful arc and accurately fell into the open clay jar at Ling Ye's feet, making a clear and pleasant collision sound.
“Here,” Hu Liena raised her chin and pointed to the two identical blind boxes on the ground. “Open any one of them and show me what the ‘surprise’ is!” Her tone was full of teasing and disapproval. She was just spending money to have fun.
It’s done! First customer! Ling Ye felt calm, but his face remained expressionless.
He stretched out his little hand and without hesitation, directly picked up the blind box near Hu Liena's feet. The wooden box is slightly heavy in the hand, with a gentle texture.
"Please open it." Ling Ye held the blind box in the palm of her hand and handed it to Hu Liena. According to the rules, it must be opened by the payer.
Hu Liena curled her lips, with an expression of "I want to see what you can do", stretched out two fingers as white as spring onions, pinched the edge of the top of the wooden box with a bit of disgust, and lifted it up casually!
Click.
There was an extremely slight crisp sound, like a machine gun popping open.
The moment the lid of the box was lifted——
Huzzle!
A ray of pure light suddenly burst out from the box! The light was not dazzling, but it carried an indescribable gentleness and spirituality. It instantly illuminated Hu Liena's face with a disdainful expression close at hand, and also illuminated Ling Ye's quiet eyes!
The light is fleeting, as fast as an illusion.
The box is empty.
However, at the moment when the light dissipated!
The joking and impatience on Hu Liena's face froze instantly!
Her beautiful fox eyes suddenly widened and her pupils shrank suddenly! The rosy little mouth opened slightly, as if to scream, but no sound came out! A pure, gentle, yet uncontrollable strange energy flowed along her fingers holding the lid of the box without any warning, like the gentlest stream, and instantly poured into her body!
This energy has no violent impact, no overbearing heat or coldness, it just blends into her own soul power gently but extremely quickly. Like a drop of nectar falling into a thirsty field, it is absorbed instantly and leaves no trace.
But Hu Liena felt it clearly!
That is a real and unfalsifiable sense of improvement! Although it is extremely weak, it is far from enough for her to break through the existing bottleneck of level 28, not even one-tenth of level one. But as a soul master with outstanding talents and meticulous control over her own soul power, she has an almost instinctive sensitivity to the total amount and subtle changes of her soul power!
At that moment just now, her soul power at the peak of level 28 had truly and truly... increased a little!
Although it is insignificant, it is like throwing a pebble into a calm lake. The ripples are real!
"How... how is this possible?!" Hu Liena exclaimed, her voice changing its tone. She lowered her head suddenly, staring at the fingers that were holding the lid of the box. Then she looked at the ordinary wooden box in Ling Ye's palm that was empty, as if no miracle had ever happened. Finally, her eyes were fixed on Ling Ye's still expressionless little face!
The blood on her face faded instantly, and was replaced by a flush of shock, mixed with disbelief, confusion and a kind of throbbing that touched the unknown, her expression was extremely wonderful. The shock brought by that insignificant increase in soul power is far greater than absorbing a thousand-year soul ring! Because this goes against all the common sense of soul masters that she knows!
At the same time, an almost identical, but weaker, warm current quietly flowed through Ling Ye's body and merged into his soul power. He could see Hu Liena's shock clearly. Done! The first living example!
Ling Ye ignored Hu Liena's gaze that almost burned him through, bent down, and put the opened empty wooden box back into his cloth bag. Then, he stretched out his little hand, picked up the only remaining blind box on the ground, and put it back in its place. Finally, he pointed to the signboard at his feet that read "One Gold Soul Coin", and then pointed to the clay jar containing the only gold soul coin. In his clear and calm child's voice, he said to several students around him, including Hu Liena, who were completely stunned.
"The blind box, and the last one."
“Nana?” A concerned and calm male voice sounded. A tall, straight-looking young man with a stern and handsome face quickly left the crowd and walked over. He was wearing the same senior college uniform as Hu Liena, his short silver hair stood up at the roots, and his eyes were as sharp as an eagle. It was Hu Liena’s brother, Xieyue. He was obviously attracted by his sister's unusual startling breath.
Xie Yue walked to Hu Liena and was keenly aware that her sister's state was extremely wrong. He followed Hu Liena's gaze and looked at Ling Ye, as well as the simple signboard at Ling Ye's feet that read "One gold soul coin opens a blind box", and the only remaining wooden box next to it, which was also rough. His brows immediately furrowed, with scrutiny and a hint of displeasure in his eyes.
"What's going on?" Xieyue asked Hu Liena in a low voice, with a protective tone in her voice. He didn't know Ling Ye, but he was a student from a lower-grade academy, dressed in ordinary clothes, and his martial spirit... seemed to be a useless martial spirit? How could my sister be so upset?
Hu Liena seemed not to have heard her brother's question. Her eyes were fixed on Ling Ye, and her voice was trembling with a suppressed but still unstable voice: "Just now... what was that just now? That energy... it melted into my soul power! Although it was very small, I felt it! My soul power... really improved a little!" She almost gritted her teeth and said the last few words, each word weighing as much as a thousand pounds.
Hearing this, Xie Yue’s pupils shrank suddenly! Improve soul power? A broken wooden box? His first reaction was ridiculous! This is simply more ridiculous than saying that the sun rises from the west! There is absolutely no shortcut to improving your soul power, except for long-term hard training, the qualitative changes caused by absorbing soul rings and soul bones, or taking some extremely rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures! Can something made by a six-year-old child improve soul power? Or is it an improvement that Nana can confirm personally?
After the sense of absurdity, there is great surprise. Xie Yue knows her sister too well. Hu Liena is proud and confident, and her perception of her own soul power is extremely keen. She would never joke about something like this, let alone lose her temper like this. Could it be that...there's really something weird about that broken box?
“Nana, what nonsense are you talking about?” A rough voice with obvious disbelief and mockery interrupted. An unusually burly red-haired boy who looked like a small iron tower squeezed through the crowd and stood in front of the crowd. His name is Yan, he is also one of the core members of the Golden Generation, the Martial Soul Flame Lord, with a fiery and direct personality. He happened to be passing by nearby and witnessed the whole process of Hu Liena paying to open the box. Naturally, he also heard her earth-shattering exclamation.
Yan crossed his arms with his chest, with an undisguised sneer on his face, and said loudly to Hu Liena: "Is this a broken box? Increase your soul power? Nana, you must be too tired from practicing these days and have hallucinations. Right? Or was he deceived by some kind of deception?" He looked at Ling Ye up and down with eyes full of suspicion and provocation, "A gold soul coin? Ha! Boy, did you get into Wuhundian Academy by defrauding money? You are not a coward!"
Yan's words were like injecting a catalyst into the solidified air around him. The students who were originally shocked by Hu Liena's reaction also came to their senses at this moment, with expressions of suspicion, spectatorship and even gloating reappearing on their faces.
"Brother Yan is right! Can a broken wooden box increase the soul power? Even if you kill me, I don't believe it!"
"That's right! Has Senior Nana been frightened by this kid?"
"One gold soul coin! This little ghost has such a dark heart!"
"Abandoning a martial spirit is a waste of a martial spirit, just do some crooked things!"
The discussion was noisy again, even louder than before, with obvious distrust and malice directed at Ling Ye. Hu Liena's shocking reaction before became evidence of Ling Ye's "cheating". After all, can something created by a useless martial soul increase soul power? This challenges their common sense.
Hu Liena's face turned pale and her chest rose slightly due to Yan's questioning and the surrounding discussions. She opened her mouth and wanted to refute, but found that she could not accurately describe the mysterious and unreasonable experience just now in words. The energy is real and the feeling of uplift is real, but how to prove it? Do you want to say in public that you have a little more soul power than your twenty-eighth peak? This sounds more like quibbles!
Just when Hu Liena was angry and anxious, Xie Yue frowned, and the atmosphere became tense.
Ling Ye spoke. His voice was still calm, even with a hint of the unique crispness of a child. In this noisy questioning, it reached everyone's ears clearly:
"The blind box, there is the last one." He pointed to the only remaining wooden box at his feet, and then pointed to the clay containing Hu Liena's golden soul coin. Jar, "One gold soul coin, open once. Is it a lie? You will know if you try it?"
His eyes calmly swept across Yan's face full of disbelief and provocation, and finally fell on Xie Yue, as if to say: The thing is here, the opportunity is also here, believe it or not, it's up to you.
This calm and almost arrogant attitude instantly ignited Yan's anger!
"Okay! Good boy!" Yan laughed angrily. He stepped forward, his burly figure bringing an overwhelming pressure, "You still have a tough mouth! Okay! Today, Mr. Yan, I will make your scam completely exposed! I will also let Nana see clearly what kind of thing you are!"