At night, Lin Xiao sat on his dorm bed and took out a black soul bone from his storage soul tool.
This was the soul bone from the 100,000-year Ghost-Faced Owl that had been sacrificed during the Spirit Ascension Ceremony. Nightmare Douluo had taken it back then, but after going around in circles, it had returned to Lin Xiao's hands.
Previously, his soul power level had risen consecutively, and it took him some time to fully master the sudden increase. Now that so much time had passed, it was time to absorb this soul bone.
Lowering his head slightly to look at it, the soul bone emitted ripples of light, like gentle waves stirred by a breeze on water, or like layers of feathers.
Soul power flowed within his body, and his aura faintly resonated with the soul bone in his hand.
The soul ring and soul bone from the same soul beast were best absorbed by the same person. Although Lin Xiao didn't have this Ghost-Faced Owl's soul ring, its power had already fused into his other soul rings during the Spirit Ascension Ceremony.
Just holding it now, he already felt a faint pull of attraction.
Taking a long breath, Lin Xiao no longer hesitated. Soul power extended to touch the soul bone, and then the bone turned into a stream of light and drilled into his left leg.
In an instant, vast soul power surged from the soul bone, flooding toward the meridians throughout his body.
Feeling the soul power flowing within him, Lin Xiao's expression changed slightly. He didn't use it to break through his soul power level, but instead tried to compress it further.
With memories from his previous life, Lin Xiao wasn't clueless about soul power cultivation. Even though Nightmare Douluo hadn't taught him much, he knew that once one reached Titled Douluo, a qualitative change occurred.
That was the emergence of the soul core.
The so-called soul core was essentially the manifestation of compressing soul power to a certain degree.
Though he knew this, Lin Xiao had never tried it before because his body's strength was far from able to withstand the destruction caused during soul core condensation.
His martial soul, the Higanbana Flower, was considered a tool martial soul and didn't enhance the body like beast martial souls. Despite using some heavenly treasures to surpass ordinary soul masters, his cultivation alone was far from comparable to a Titled Douluo.
But now it was different.
Back in the Star Dou Great Forest, after being injured in battle with the badger beast and absorbing that 100,000-year soul ring, the violent soul power had continuously damaged his body. It was Electrolux who used the power of the Life Gold to help him endure it.
As Electrolux had said, only by breaking could one stand again. As his body was repeatedly destroyed by the 100,000-year soul ring and restored by the Life Gold, each regeneration made his flesh stronger than before.
The final result—being able to withstand a 100,000-year seventh soul ring—was the best proof.
Not to be arrogant, but being able to endure a 100,000-year soul ring meant that even if his physical strength wasn't on par with a true Titled Douluo, it wasn't far off. Now, he could try some things.
Without a senior with deep soul power to protect him, he naturally didn't dare attempt condensing a soul core lightly, but he could start gradually compressing his soul power to lay the foundation for the future.
Thoughts raced through his mind, but his hands didn't pause. The soul power surging from the soul bone flowed through his meridians, merging with his original soul power and, under Lin Xiao's control, transforming into a denser state.
A layer of black light spread from his left leg, enveloping his entire body. Six black and one red soul rings rose automatically, the first five rings also emitting a faint glow, fusing with the soul bone…
That night was a sleepless one for many. The next morning, a crowd gathered in the square of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
Ma Rulong's Grandfather stood at the front, looking at Lin Jiayi beside him. "Director Lin, are you sure your disciple can complete the required soul tools in such a short time?"
Lin Jiayi smiled. "Don't worry, Teacher Ma. As soon as they're finished here, I'll have my disciple rush them over to you."
"Good." Ma Rulong's Grandfather nodded. "Once I gather information on Shrek Academy, I'll send word. They'll be delivered together with the soul tools I requested."
"Mm." Lin Jiayi nodded heavily, then turned to the group of students. "Students, the glory of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy rests on your shoulders."
"We will not disappoint the academy's expectations."
"Go."
There was no overly grand ceremony. Under the watchful eyes of the teachers, two leading instructors took the students out of the academy.
Lin Jiayi watched their departing figures until, after a long while, he slowly withdrew his gaze.
"Sorry, Teacher, I'm late."
By the time Lin Xiao arrived at Lin Jiayi's side, only a few teachers remained in the square.
Lin Jiayi turned upon hearing him. "It's fine; we didn't plan anything too grand anyway. Why so late today? Were you too tired from yesterday's assessment?"
As he spoke, Lin Jiayi looked Lin Xiao up and down, feeling as if something about him had subtly changed, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"A little," Lin Xiao replied, going along with it.
"How's your rest? Yesterday, I showed Teacher Ma your self-propelled soul cannon. It might actually work in the arena. In half a month, how many can you make?"
"I have some fifth-rank soul cannons ready. For sixth rank, if we use pre-existing charged soul tools, starting now, I can at least make one for each of them."
"Good." Lin Jiayi's eyes lit up. "Then these next few days will be hard on you."
"It's fine." Lin Xiao shook his head at Lin Jiayi's expression. His teacher truly cared deeply about the outcome of this Soul Dueling Tournament.
But it wasn't surprising. Throughout the entire Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, few didn't want to defeat Shrek Academy. Later, when the Soul Dueling Tournament was held in Mingdu, the Sun Moon Empire even changed the competition rules to favor flying soul tools.
Perhaps the Soul Dueling Tournament had become an obsession for so many teachers in the academy.
As Lin Xiao accompanied Lin Jiayi toward the soul tool testing area, a student in the distance glanced at him.
Lin Xiao's heart stirred. That student's soul was incomplete, very similar to the disciples of the Holy Spirit Cult—clearly targeting him.
He withdrew his gaze without a trace and sighed inwardly. These past few months, studying soul tools under Lin Jiayi and preparing for the Illustrious Virtue Hall assessment, I really felt like I had become an ordinary student of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
But in the end, he was different from the other students here.
"Teacher, I'll go prepare the materials first," Lin Xiao suddenly said.
"Mm, let me know if you need anything."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are 40 early chapters available on Patreon
[email protected]/facficmax10