The next day, just as dawn was breaking.
Lin Yuan, who had just exited the Cultivate state, heard Father Lin’s surprised voice from outside the cave:
“Strange, could it be my imagination?
How come this Lone Bamboo seems taller and thicker than yesterday?
Could it really be my imagination?”
Lin Yuan walked out of the cave and saw his father pinching his chin, thoughtfully gazing at the deep cyan, straight bamboo right in the center of the bamboo forest ahead, which was a full fourteen meters and nearly fifteen meters tall.
With an amused smile, he said from behind him:
“It must be your imagination.
After all, how could this bamboo grow overnight?”
Father Lin nodded, not thinking too much about it.
He turned around and looked at his son with a solemn expression:
“Ayuan, I just estimated this bamboo.
Even if it is not six hundred years old, it is at least over five hundred years old.
Are you sure you want to absorb it?”
The age of a Lone Bamboo is very easy to identify.
A ten-year Lone Bamboo looks identical to ordinary bamboo on the outside.
Its height is less than ten meters.
A hundred-year Lone Bamboo is deep cyan in color, with faint dark patterns growing on the surface of its stalk, and a height of ten meters.
For every meter increase thereafter, it is another hundred years.
This bamboo has already exceeded fourteen meters.
Clearly, it is a Spirit Beast of over five hundred years.
Lin Yuan smiled and said, “Dad, have you forgotten what Mom has been feeding me for the past year or so?
Now I have this confidence.”
“That’s true.” Father Lin only then remembered that his wife had been secretly feeding their son melted whale Glue for over a year.
It was precisely because of this that they had to leave their hometown and move away from Nuoding City.
Fortunately, every loss comes with a gain.
In Father Lin’s view, it only took his son one year and three months from his Spirit Awakening to his Breakthrough to level ten, upgrading by one level almost every two months on average.
Such a terrifying rate of Soul Power increase was enough to make up for everything they had lost.
Only that child Lin Tian was a bit pitiful; it was unknown whether it was an accident or if he was truly murdered.
He just vanished like that.
To this day, Father Lin still felt indebted to Lin Tian.
Thinking of this, Father Lin sighed, pulled a short blade from his bosom, handed it to Lin Yuan, and then looked at the Lone Bamboo, saying:
“A hundred-year Lone Bamboo cannot think; it only has a tiny bit of simple instinct to sense surrounding dangers.”
“Under normal circumstances, as long as you do not release a large-scale burst of Soul Power, it will not resist.”
“At the same time, it possesses the ability to harden its body and thrust bamboo thorns.
Among Spirit Beasts of the same level, it is considered very easy to hunt, yet its abilities are extremely outstanding.”
“The vast majority of level ten Spirit Masters who lack the ability to hunt other hundred-year Spirit Beasts will often choose this higher cost-effective Spirit Beast when they see a hundred-year Lone Bamboo.”
“You just need to cut off the bamboo stalk and dig out the roots.”
“Precisely because of this, the number of hundred-year Lone Bamboo is extremely scarce.”
“You stand back a bit further first.
In a moment, I will use my Spirit Ability, and you can seize the opportunity to come over and deliver the finishing blow.”
While speaking, two spirit rings—one white and one yellow—rose from beneath Father Lin’s feet.
“First Spirit Ability · Hardening!”
“Second Spirit Ability · Bamboo Sword Thrust!”
Father Lin gave two low shouts, and the two spirit rings on his body lit up one after another, condensing several sharp bamboos in front of him.
Floating in mid-air like Granny Chiyo from Naruto releasing her puppet techniques, the surfaces of the bamboo tips emitted a peculiar hard luster.
At the same time, his hands abruptly spread open, and those sharp bamboos pierced forward at high speed, covering that Lone Bamboo approaching six hundred years of age.
If it were any other Lone Bamboo of equivalent cultivation, without activating the hardening ability, it naturally would not be able to resist these bamboo thorns.
But the Lone Bamboo before them seemed much fiercer than other Solitary Bamboos, almost catching up to animal-type Spirit Beasts of the same level.
The moment Father Lin activated his Spirit Ability, it actually actively hardened its body.
Clang clang!
Amidst a harsh sound resembling metal collisions, Father Lin’s bamboo thorns were deflected one after another.
The angered Lone Bamboo went completely berserk, actually waving its branches and leaves like a swimming snake, sweeping over frantically.
“Not good, this Lone Bamboo has mutated!
Ayuan, run!”
Father Lin was greatly shocked.
Seeing that there was no way to dodge, he instinctively raised his hands to protect his front.
Right at this moment, Lin Yuan moved.
He had pulled out his short blade at some unknown time, faint blue electric arcs flickering along the blade.
As soon as it was drawn, he had already rushed in front of Father Lin, hacking left and right.
Every single slash landed accurately on the whipping branches, leaving Father Lin dizzy with confusion.
In no time at all, the branches were chopped to pieces, scattered all over the ground.
A flash of electricity shone in Lin Yuan’s eyes as he rushed toward the nearly six-hundred-year-old Lone Bamboo with a momentum surpassing Usain Bolt’s 100-meter sprint.
The Lone Bamboo waved its remaining branches, firing dozens upon dozens of thick bamboos in an attempt to intercept him, but they were all dodged by Lin Yuan with agile footwork.
Occasionally, there were some he couldn’t dodge, but they were all cut off by Lin Yuan’s blade, which carried blue electric arcs.
Seeing the danger getting closer and closer, under its instinct, the Lone Bamboo actually fused its remaining branches into a thick bamboo stick, violently throwing it at Lin Yuan like a cannonball.
“Too slow.”
Lin Yuan executed a sliding tackle to dodge the thrown bamboo stick, followed by a sparrowhawk turn to arrive right in front of the Lone Bamboo.
Gripping the blade with both hands, he poured all the cultivation power of his Five Thunders Heavenly Heart Formula into the short blade.
With a single slash downwards.
Snap!
The blade snapped, and the Lone Bamboo also lost its ability to resist, being cut in half horizontally one meter above the ground, its entire thick and long body sent flying.
By this time, Father Lin was already dumbfounded.
He opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say.
After holding it in for a long time, he finally squeezed out this sentence: “Ayuan, how…
how did you become so powerful?”
“Oh, you mean this?
One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and a ten-kilometer run every day.
After practicing like that for a while, I ended up like this.”
Lin Yuan turned around and said.
Father Lin continued to ask: “Then what was that blue electric arc from earlier?”
“That’s a Spirit mutation.
Actually, the Spirit I awakened back then wasn’t a Lone Bamboo, but a Thunder Bamboo.” Lin Yuan said as he walked to the bamboo stump and began digging out the roots.
This Lone Bamboo, stimulated and grown by the Palm Heaven Bottle, was so fierce; perhaps there would be some surprise inside?
Hearing the words Spirit mutation, Father Lin became even more baffled.
But before he could ask anything else, he saw Lin Yuan already unearthing a palm-sized, translucent left leg bone radiating a faint cyan light from the roots of the bamboo stump.
At the same time, a relatively deep yellow spirit ring slowly emerged, hovering above the bamboo stump.
“There really is a Spirit Bone.” Lin Yuan felt a slight surge of joy in his heart.
Although he didn’t know if it was the special ability of this Palm Heaven Bottle or just a coincidence.
But this nearly six-hundred-year-old Spirit Bone was enough to sell for one or two hundred thousand gold coins during this Douluo era when even a Titled Douluo found it difficult to possess a single Spirit Bone.
It could resolve his current predicament of lacking enough gold coins to purchase high-age whale Glue.
“Quick, quickly put it away, quickly put it away, make sure no one sees it.”
Father Lin couldn’t care about investigating his son’s bizarre martial prowess anymore.
He hurriedly stepped forward, took off his coat, and wrapped up the Spirit Bone, acting just like a thief.
Lin Yuan smiled, ignored him, sat cross-legged right on the spot next to the spirit ring, released his Lone Bamboo martial soul, and began absorbing this spirit ring.