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Five minutes later, Bai Chen finished absorbing the energy within his body and slowly opened his eyes.
His soul power had finally broken through the bottleneck, successfully reaching rank thirty.
Next came choosing his two immortal herbs, and after that he could leave here and go hunt his third soul ring.
Bai Chen walked up to the Wondrous Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum and plucked it in the manner described in the herbal compendium. Since it had already been subdued, the chrysanthemum offered no resistance whatsoever throughout the entire process — it went perfectly smoothly.
Watching Bai Chen begin to consume the Wondrous Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum piece by piece, Zang Xin flew back to Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang's side and asked, "Well then — is the child's performance satisfactory enough for you?"
"…I can only say he far exceeded my expectations."
Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang let out a long breath and said with a grave expression, "I really must admire your faith in him. From what I know, people who wield evil-attribute martial souls almost inevitably fall to become dark soul masters — let alone someone who possesses the power of ultimate evil like him. Aren't you afraid he'll turn to darkness in the future?"
"On that matter, you only need to attach yourself to him and observe up close for a while."
"Fair enough."
Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang hummed in acknowledgment and let the topic drop.
When it came down to it, even if Bai Chen truly did fall and become a dark soul master, it wouldn't change his own decision. He was a soul beast — he and humans had never been on the same side to begin with. How to handle dark soul masters was a headache for humanity to deal with. As far as he was concerned, as long as Bai Chen was strong enough, even if he killed tens of millions of people, it wouldn't be his concern.
"Though that said…"
A dark-attribute herb wasn't necessarily the most suitable type for Bai Chen — there was an ability of his more worth enhancing than his dark attribute.
When Bai Chen finished absorbing the Wondrous Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum, he felt as though his entire being had changed. This was, after all, an immortal herb of the ten-thousand-year level — the magnitude of enhancement it granted to the human body went without saying. What's more, when consumed directly like this, the Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum — just like normal cultivation — was unable to raise Bai Chen's soul power level, so its full medicinal effect had been channeled entirely into enhancing his physical strength. By conservative estimate, the chrysanthemum had elevated his physical strength at least to the Soul Saint level, possibly even higher.
Furthermore, according to what Bai Chen knew, immortal herbs didn't only boost one's current stats — more importantly, they enhanced one's potential. With the ten-thousand-year Wondrous Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum as a foundation, Bai Chen's future cultivation of his physical body would be far smoother sailing.
Just then, a purple figure descended before Bai Chen and said calmly, "Bai Chen, my name is Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang — I am the king of all immortal herbs. I have taken a liking to your potential and wish to become your soul. What do you say?"
Soul beasts tended to be blunt and direct; Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang had no intention of hiding anything from this future master of his. Bai Chen's eyes lit up immediately.
"That would be wonderful."
If he remembered correctly, in the original story Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang had been Tang舞麟's soul, and the soul skill he brought with him was called Devour Heaven and Earth — a skill that could rapidly swallow the surrounding natural energy and temporarily triple the user's cultivation. It was a remarkably simple yet highly effective amplification-type soul skill.
On the surface, Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang seemed incompatible with him, but in truth, even just that one devour-type ability was more than enough for Bai Chen. He was quite curious what sparks would fly when his own dark evil devour power combined with the Devour Heaven and Earth ability. And in this era of Douluo III, getting a beast-level soul was incredibly difficult. A beast-level soul provided an all-around boost to a soul master — soul power, spirit power, and physical strength all fully covered. Even setting aside soul skills, the base-stat enhancement it granted Bai Chen would be no less than what he had just gained from the ten-thousand-year Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum.
Seeing Bai Chen agree so decisively, Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang was also in high spirits — this showed that in Bai Chen's eyes, choosing him as a soul was something that required no hesitation at all. He smiled and said, "Good. You won't regret this. Come — this is the second herb I've chosen for you."
As he spoke, he extended his hand, and somehow, a long slender vine appeared in his previously empty palm.
"A ten-thousand-year Void-Space Vine. We don't have any herb here that perfectly matches your dark-evil attribute, but this Void-Space Vine possesses both devour-power and spatial-power. For you it's an absolute treasure — it can greatly amplify your devour speed, and its properties complement my own abilities perfectly."
"Thank you for your trouble, Senior."
Bai Chen quickly accepted the Void-Space Vine from Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang's hand. For him, this was truly one of the most fitting immortal herbs possible.
"Alright, start absorbing it quickly. With me here beside you, your absorption speed should be quite a bit faster."
Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang was growing fonder of this child Bai Chen by the minute. He clasped his hands behind his back, stood steadily beside Bai Chen, and a gentle fragrance began slowly drifting outward.
Catching that scent, Bai Chen felt his mind sharpen instantly. Without further delay, he consumed the Void-Space Vine in the manner recorded in the herbal compendium and began absorbing it.
If the sensation from the Wondrous Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum had been scorching heat and forceful strength, then the sensation from the Void-Space Vine was emptiness and hollow stillness. It seemed to give him nothing at all — yet strangely, he could distinctly feel an unusual force flowing into his body. The sensation of simultaneously existing and not existing was deeply uncomfortable, but fortunately Bai Chen could sense that the dark evil power within his body was indeed growing enormously with the Void-Space Vine's help.
Unlike his previous growth, the Void-Space Vine's power was directly enhancing his dark evil devour-force — not merely adding to it in quantity, but elevating it qualitatively as well.
What Bai Chen didn't know was that while he was absorbing the Void-Space Vine, black smoke was continuously rising around his body outside. Drawn by that smoke, enormous amounts of natural spiritual energy were being absorbed by Bai Chen into his body, rapidly refining his constitution. This was not only the effect of the Void-Space Vine itself — Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang was also making subtle adjustments from the sideline.
With the divine realm gone, ascending to godhood was harder than ever before. He had to find ways to strengthen Bai Chen's constitution, so that Bai Chen might one day touch that legendary realm.
This process continued until Bai Chen's body could no longer absorb any more natural spiritual energy, at which point he opened his eyes once more. Due to the Void-Space Vine's influence, he hadn't noticed what had just occurred around him. He stood up and moved his body — his expression looked a little odd.
Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang asked with concern, "What's the matter? Do you feel unwell somewhere?"