Before Zhu Ziyang floated a diamond-shaped crystal, spinning rapidly with intertwined gold and silver light. It radiated dense spiritual fluctuations alongside a mysterious energy unique to it – his first soul core.
His consciousness was immersed within it, observing every detail. The soul core was transparent and colorless at its base, its upper half etched with golden patterns and its lower half with silver, matching the hues of his own eyes.
This was his Spiritual-Destiny Soul Core – the Heaven-tier core residing in his upper dantian, representing the "Spirit" among the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit. It fused his spiritual power, golden destiny power, silver destiny power, and pure soul power. In essence, it was a tri-attribute soul core containing spiritual, time, and space properties.
He was elated. After housing it within his upper dantian, he forced himself to remain calm despite the surging excitement.
His soul power and spiritual power were almost completely drained by its creation, leaving him feeling hollow, but he wasn't worried. With a soul core, both soul power and spiritual power would now regenerate several times faster than before.
All of this signaled one truth: Before the Super Douluo realm, no bottleneck could stop him now.
His heart brimmed with countless insights about his soul power, spiritual realm, soul rings, soul skills, and soul bones. But he needed to recover before consolidating them.
Opening his eyes, he saw Mu En and Xuan Zi gazing at him with deep concern. He smiled and nodded reassuringly.
"Good child, don't speak yet – focus on recovery," Mu En said, his face glowing with pride. "A six-ring Soul Emperor with a soul core… you've made history again. I have no doubts about it."
Zhu Ziyang smiled wordlessly, then retrieved the half Emperor-grade Snow Lotus from his Starflame Ring. Its nourishing power was perfect for his current state. With Bing Di now on his side, the seal Xue Di had left on the lotus was nothing but decoration.
Without hesitation, he devoured it in a few bites and closed his eyes to restore himself.
An hour and a half later, he stood up, feeling unprecedentedly powerful.
"Ziyang, congratulations," Mu En said warmly, his eyes filled with relief and joy. "Condensing your first soul core, and one of spiritual attribute at that, means the Three Treasures Triple Core method poses no obstacles for you."
"Hehe, it's all thanks to your guidance and Elder Xuan's support," Zhu Ziyang replied modestly.
"In the end, it's your own ability." Xuan Zi sighed with sincere envy. He had once attempted the Three Core path but failed due to lacking both talent and mental fortitude.
"Indeed. Without your strength of will and innate gifts, no external help would have sufficed," Mu En agreed firmly. "Your soul power should be around level 64 now, correct?"
"Peak level 63," Zhu Ziyang checked and confirmed.
"Hahaha, level 63… I'm already eager to hear of our victories in this year's Elite Tournament!" Mu En's eyes glimmered with anticipation. "With your current power, unless another team has at least one Soul Douluo – no, more than one – I can't see how we could possibly lose. Ziyang, show them your brilliance on that stage. This era… it belongs to you."
"I will, Teacher," he replied with a calm yet confident smile.
Mu En asked no further questions. Instead, he turned to Xuan Zi. "Let's head back. Bring the Illusory Heaven Purple Spirit Dragon's body as well – it'll be quite useful."
"Hehehe, even if you hadn't asked, I would have." Xuan Zi laughed gleefully. "Dragon meat is the most delicious delicacy in the world. The inner court disciples deserve a feast!"
His glowing expression made Zhu Ziyang pity the dragon. Truly tragic. It must have offended Heaven itself to end up dead and devoured like this.
On the journey back to Shrek Academy, he finally had time to examine his gains.
Undoubtedly, the soul core was the greatest harvest. But alongside it was his leap in spiritual realm.
Before, his spiritual cultivation had been at the Peak Tangible Intangible stage. Now, with the combined support of the dragon's skull bone and his soul core, he had advanced to the Formed and Substantial stage, fully stable and solid.
This third tier of spiritual cultivation allowed for materialization of spiritual power, granting soul masters the ability to manifest their souls outside their bodies temporarily.
His spiritual sea had expanded several times over, filled with pristine, transparent spiritual energy. It had returned to its innate, immaculate state. At its center lay his enlarged spiritual island, now no longer barren. A grand palace stood there, housing the soul spirit eggs of Xue Di and Bing Di, as well as the Silver Dragon Wolf's soul crystal. Beside them sat a majestic throne.
Electrolux rested leisurely on the shore, fishing with a rod that had neither line nor hook.
Above the spiritual sea, the sky no longer displayed the old projections of his Ultimate Light, Ultimate Ice, or Death energies. Instead, a gentle gold-and-silver sun illuminated it – the manifestation of his Spiritual-Destiny Soul Core.
With its existence, his spiritual power would now grow autonomously, even without cultivation, though at a slow pace. How slow? To reach his current realm from nothing would take three to four centuries.
Moreover, since his soul core fused both golden and silver destiny powers – with spatial and temporal attributes respectively – his abilities of Time Stop and Space Transfer had improved greatly.
"Teacher, you look quite relaxed," he said with a smile, now standing beside Electrolux within his spiritual sea. Reaching the Formed and Substantial stage allowed him to manifest here.
"Hahaha, my disciple has achieved so much. Why shouldn't I relax?" Electrolux chuckled. "Ziyang, before you know it, gods themselves will take notice of you."
"Haha, let's hope so," Zhu Ziyang laughed lightly.
Exiting his spiritual space, he checked the four new skills gained from the Illusory Heaven Purple Spirit Dragon.
Skull Bone Skills:
Illusory Heaven Gaze: The dragon's ultimate technique, releasing a soul-piercing beam that plunged targets into illusions. Weaker-willed foes would wither away trapped in endless dreams. When Zhu Ziyang activated it, a purple crystalline eye would appear above his head, casting the devastating gaze.
Purple Spirit Shield: Utilizing the dragon's innate mental immunity, this skill formed a shield resembling its scales that absorbed all spiritual attacks.
These skills filled his defensive gaps, ensuring he could now both attack and defend spiritually.
Soul Ring Skills (via the Repose of the World Reaper Scythe):
Judgmental Mind Slash: Imbued the scythe with Ultimate Light, slashing multiple times. The light attacks damaged enemies' minds, erasing their will to fight.
Judgmental Radiant Ring: Condensed radiant light into a halo, granting all allies within a 50% boost to soul power and spiritual power.
Though slightly less impressive than the bone skills, these soul ring abilities still delighted him. After all, they came from a hundred-thousand-year ring – how bad could they possibly be?
By the time they returned to Shrek Academy, it was late at night. Zhu Ziyang headed straight to his room, ready to rest.
The night was deep and silent.