Though Liu Erlong had not fully activated her Spirit Possession, she had transformed into a raging female tyrannosaurus. With just two powerful claw strikes, the ten-thousand-year Azure Wolf King was a bloody mess. The poor beast didn't even know why it was being attacked. It had only spotted the group of humans from a distance, decided they looked like trouble, and was about to leave. Before it could even turn its head, however, a massive dragon claw had slapped it across the face.
With two loud smacks, the Azure Wolf King was knocked unconscious. Liu Erlong's control over her strength was perfect; the beast was stunned but not dead. She stood back, waiting for Ye Yin to come and deliver the final blow. Seeing Liu Erlong's sudden transformation into such a wild state, everyone who didn't know her true nature was left completely dumbfounded. One second she was smiling and embarrassed, the next she was attacking with brutal efficiency.
"Ye Yin," Liu Erlong called out, her voice still sharp, "aren't you going to come kill the Azure Wolf King and absorb its spirit ring?"
"Okay!" Ye Yin responded. He walked forward and gave the unconscious Azure Wolf King a casual kick to the head.
Liu Erlong immediately frowned. "Why are you kicking it? Just take your knife, stab it in the eye, and finish the job."
But as she spoke, she noticed something was wrong. The Azure Wolf King, which had still been breathing faintly just a moment ago, suddenly went still. A black, ten-thousand-year spirit ring slowly began to emerge from its body.
The others were too far away to notice the details, but Liu Erlong was instantly bewildered. Even though she had beaten the Azure Wolf King half to death, a casual kick shouldn't have been enough to kill it. Even a dagger to the eye wouldn't be an instant kill; she would have still been wary of the beast suddenly waking up for one last counterattack.
Did that one kick really kill it?
She crouched down to examine the wolf's body. On the outside, it looked fine, but she could sense that its insides had suffered a severe impact. Its brain had been rattled so violently that it had turned to mush. She looked up at Ye Yin with wide, questioning eyes, only to find him smiling back at her.
"You…" she began, about to ask how he'd done that with a single kick, but Ye Yin spoke first.
"Sister Erlong, it wouldn't be good to give you that side effect right now in front of everyone," he said with a knowing look.
"[Resentment from Liu Erlong +30!]"
Liu Erlong's face instantly flushed a deep red. "No! What are you talking about all day? What side effect? Who asked you for a side effect! I wanted to ask…"
Her words were once again cut off.
"Oh, you want to ask about the timing, right?" Ye Yin continued, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Don't worry. I'll secretly give it to you when we're resting tonight, so no one will see."
"[Resentment from Liu Erlong +40!]"
Liu Erlong nearly exploded with anger. Why is it always about the side effects? Can't he talk about anything else? I wanted to ask how he killed a ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast with one kick, not about when he was going to use his stupid ability on me!
Although, a small part of her admitted, the feeling from the side effect was… quite good. It was probably just like the real thing. She didn't know what the real thing was like, but she imagined it was like that—much, much more satisfying than being alone, anyway.
Liu Erlong let out a cold snort and stood up abruptly. "You can absorb the spirit ring yourself!" With that, she turned and walked away.
Ye Yin simply sat down cross-legged and began to absorb the spirit ring without hesitation. The black ring swiftly enveloped his body. While others might have to be extremely careful when absorbing a ten-thousand-year spirit ring, Ye Yin faced no problems at all. Both his physical body and his mental force had reached an incredibly formidable level.
The immense power within the black spirit ring flowed continuously into his body. Just half an hour later, a new black spirit ring slowly materialized beneath him. His ten-thousand-year fourth ring was a success.
"A ten-thousand-year fourth ring… he's making history," everyone couldn't help but exclaim as they watched.
Seeing Ye Yin's new ring, Dai Mubai felt a surge of envy so strong it was almost painful. If only he were a girl, then maybe he could have a ten-thousand-year fourth ring too.
"What is your fourth Spirit Ability?" This was the question on everyone's mind.
Ye Yin's first three Spirit Abilities were all abnormally powerful, with both positive and negative effects. His fourth ability was likely to be similar.
Ye Yin nodded. "My fourth Spirit Ability also has two versions. The first is a positive effect, Mental Blessing. The second is a negative effect, Mental Curse."
"Mental?" When they heard his explanation, everyone froze. What did that even mean? Would it just make them mentally ill?
Ye Yin looked curiously at the Shrek Academy members. "Who wants to try it first? To test the effect?"
Swish!
In an instant, four figures found themselves at the very front: the self-proclaimed "Four Swordsmen of Shrek Academy"—Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, and Tang San. They looked around, bewildered, realizing that everyone else had taken a large step backward at the same time.
"Good!" Ye Yin declared with a grin. "In that case, you four can be the first to try my fourth Spirit Ability! Fourth Spirit Ability, Mental Curse!"
Before the four of them could protest, Ye Yin's fourth spirit ring flickered, and four beams of light shot out, striking each of them.
Mental Curse Effect: Makes the target perform a specific action when a keyword is triggered.
Dai Mubai: Knocks people unconscious when he hears profanity.
Oscar: Gets scared when he sees someone sleeping.
Ma Hongjun: Breathes fire when startled.
Tang San: Feeds people a 'ji ba' when he hears a cough.
After the curse was applied, everyone watched intently, but nothing happened.
"What's going on?"
"Why isn't there any visible effect?"
The group began to discuss it amongst themselves. The Four Swordsmen were just as confused.
"Yin Ge, why doesn't your Spirit Ability have any effect?" Ma Hongjun asked. They had been worried it would be some terrible curse, but now it seemed like it was a dud. They had resisted the negative effects of his other abilities before, so they weren't too concerned.
"Yeah, Yin Ge, your new ability isn't that good," Dai Mubai added mockingly. "Why don't you cast it on us again and try? This ten-thousand-year Spirit Ability is just so-so."
Ye Yin listened to their taunts without saying a word, a hesitant look on his face. Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but smile. It seemed that not all of Ye Yin's Spirit Abilities were overwhelmingly powerful.
He coughed loudly to get everyone's attention.
"Everyone, quiet down and listen to me."
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