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By now, it could be said that even Su Wen himself no longer obsessively pursued maximum soul ring years. At the very least, he no longer felt the need to push himself to the absolute brink of death just to achieve the ultimate martial soul transformation.
Su Wen's current ability to absorb rings far beyond his level was a "snowball" he had started rolling long ago. As it grew larger and larger, it allowed him to naturally absorb rings with higher years than his peers without actually having to "challenge the limit" in a life-threatening sense. Because he wasn't constantly redlining his capacity, his martial soul wasn't under the kind of destructive pressure that required a "break and rebuild" cycle, meaning his transformations were becoming more stable rather than volatile.
But stability did not mean stagnation.
Su Wen might claim he wasn't "breaking" limits, but in reality, he was constantly elevating them. The snowball effect wasn't just about the years on his soul rings; it was about the foundation he had laid. His cultivation techniques in all fields had reached a state of maturity.
His mental strength was constantly tempered by his Visualization Method, progressing at a speed that left even mental-attribute soul masters in the dust. His Star attribute, his physical tempering methods, and the Divine Power refinement had all pushed his body's endurance to astronomical levels. He hadn't stopped challenging limits; he had simply evolved the challenge into a more rational, controlled form.
From beginning to end, Su Wen believed in only one truth: Knowledge is power.
He walked the path of the scholar, using theory and logic to pave a road to the heavens. Challenging limits? He had done that with his first three rings to ensure his martial soul's quality was high enough to support his future research. Now, that foundation was solid. He no longer needed to gamble with his life.
"Rongrong, go ahead and absorb it."
In the end, Su Wen decided against developing the mental version of the Soul Elevation Method for now.
Under his guidance, Ning Rongrong crushed the pale-gold sphere in her hand. A swirl of golden mist immediately enveloped her. Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Black—four soul rings manifested around her body. Then, a faint white halo slowly began to form outside the fourth black ring.
Very quickly, the white ring turned yellow. Then purple.
The speed was breathtaking. In less than half a minute, the ring had reached the thousand-year mark, and the purple hue continued to deepen, racing toward the black of a ten-thousand-year ring.
Boom!
A heavy pressure suddenly descended. This was the spiritual shock unique to ten-thousand-year rings. Only ten minutes into the process, Ning Rongrong's God-Bestowed ring had already hit the 10,000-year threshold.
As time ticked by, Ning Rongrong's upper limit began to loom. The rate of increase slowed down, becoming more steady and rhythmic.
One hour later.
The ring reached 20,000 years. At this point, the growth became agonizingly slow, testing Ning Rongrong's endurance inch by inch. Every minor increase was followed by a long pause, allowing the pressure to settle and forcing her to decide whether to finalize the absorption or keep pushing.
However, Ning Rongrong remained steadfast.
"Another benefit of the God-Bestowed Soul Ring is that it allows a soul master to clearly experience their limit and safely attempt to challenge it," Su Wen noted.
The ring tests the soul master; once the limit is reached, they can choose to hold that position, using the pressure to temper themselves and slowly raise their ceiling year by year. Ning Rongrong was doing exactly that.
Three days later.
The pressure finally stopped mounting. A 26,000-year soul ring snapped into its final form. A massive surge of soul power flooded into Ning Rongrong's body.
Su Wen breathed a sigh of relief. He watched the final stages of her absorption, occasionally casting "Healing Light" and other soul skills to mend the internal strain her body had suffered during the process.
Ten days later.
Ning Rongrong finally completed the absorption. Su Wen sensed the soul power fluctuations within her and nodded in approval.
Rank 53. Not bad at all.
Normally, a Soul King who absorbs a 10,000-year ring would reach Rank 51 or perhaps close to 52. But because Ning Rongrong's ring was 26,000 years—more than double the usual 12,000-year fifth ring—the feedback was significantly higher.
With the fifth ring acquired, Su Wen followed his plan and led the girls out to sea. This time, Dugu Yan joined them.
"Xiao Wen, traveling like this is way too cool!" Ning Rongrong shouted happily. She was standing atop the head of Xiao Bai, the Great White Spirit Shark, feeling the ocean breeze on her face.
Su Wen had set up a soul power barrier around them, filtering out the harsh spray and salt, making the ride quite comfortable. Dugu Yan was equally awestruck. She had assumed they would be taking a boat; she never imagined they would be riding a deep-sea overlord—a 100,000-year-old Demon Spirit Great White Shark.
Because Su Wen had already established the Academy branches on various islands during his previous return trip, the journey back to Sea God Island took only a month.
During the trip, Su Wen taught the techniques of the Visualization Method to both girls. Disasters and natural phenomena were frequent at sea, providing a vivid environment for visualization. As long as one mastered the core concept, they could achieve results quickly.
Of course, "mastering" it was subjective. The level of one's visualization determined the ceiling of their artistic conception. For this, mental talent was key.
Dugu Yan was a Control System soul master, so her mental strength was naturally higher than average, but still limited. However, with the help of the pages from Su Wen's "Compendium of Ten Thousand Laws," she had successfully opened her Spiritual Sea and grasped the Visualization Method.
She chose to focus on the concepts of Storms and Lightning. As her martial soul evolved, she was gradually moving away from pure poison-based attacks. Storm and Lightning were the pillars of her transformation.
The top-tier thunder-attribute dragon soul bone provided by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had been the first major step in her "dragonification," providing the necessary lightning foundation. The dragon bloodline within her Jade Phosphor Serpent was originally weak, but under the influence of a superior dragon soul bone, it was naturally mutating.
Later, the Earth Dragon Golden Melon provided by Old Jerry—rich in earth-attribute dragon qi—put her evolution on the right track. Earth attributes were inherently inclusive, and Old Jerry's soul skills emphasized this trait, allowing Dugu Yan's martial soul to fully integrate the lightning-dragon qi from her soul bone.
Finally, they arrived at Sea God Island.
"You two go ahead and accept the trials first," Su Wen told Ning Rongrong and Dugu Yan.
(End of Chapter)