Breaking Through Level 30

After dispersing the two long blades formed by her Second Soul Ring, Zhu Zhuqing poured Soul Power into her hands.

Swish!

Two sharp sounds of air being torn suddenly rang out through the space.

Two long blades identical to the Netherworld Mantis's twin sickles appeared in Zhu Zhuqing's hands.

Unlike the energy blades condensed by her soul skill, the two blades in Zhu Zhuqing's hands were physical objects.

This was the External Soul Bone Zhu Zhuqing had obtained—Blade Edge!

It had only one effect: Armor Break!

Against opponents of the same level, it could ignore all defenses and directly inflict true damage.

For every Major Realm higher than her opponent, the Armor Break effect would decrease by twenty percent.

It could be used in conjunction with her Second Soul Skill.

After activation, the consumption required to condense blade energy was reduced by fifty percent, while the Armor Break effect of the blade energy rose to one hundred percent.

It could be said that after obtaining this soul skill, Zhu Zhuqing held an overwhelming advantage against anyone below her level or at the same level.

She simply did not know what would happen if this sort of rule-based attack clashed with another rule-based ability.

For example, what would happen if she used Blade Edge to strike Xiao Wu's Invincible Golden Body?

Would the Invincible Golden Body's defense be stronger, or would Blade Edge's attack be greater?

There was a solid reference point right there. She definitely had to try it when she got the chance!

Zhu Zhuqing nodded deeply in agreement.

After testing the effects of her soul skill and Soul Bone, Zhu Zhuqing was satisfied.

As expected of the soul skill she had risked leaving her family to obtain. Its effects were truly excellent!

After indulging in her delight for a while, Zhu Zhuqing summarized her gains from this trip.

First, because she had absorbed a Soul Ring beyond her level, but had not absorbed it in time, her body had absorbed part of the Soul Ring's Soul Power as well. As a result, her Soul Power Level had only risen to Level 24.

Then, the External Soul Bone that had suddenly appeared had used most of its Soul Power to strengthen her body, so it had only increased her Soul Power by one level.

Overall, all the resources from the Netherworld Mantis had allowed Zhu Zhuqing to rise to Level 25 in one go.

Even her physical strength had increased significantly.

Roughly...

Her current physical strength should be comparable to that of a Soul Beast over a thousand years old.

In other words, without relying on Soul Power, her physical abilities alone allowed her to rival an ordinary Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

That description should be quite fitting!

"Level 25. At my current Cultivation Speed, I should be able to raise my Soul Power to Level 30 in about a year.

But after that, I'll have to face an unknown period of cultivation stagnation. Ultimate Attribute—it really makes people love and hate it!"

Whenever Zhu Zhuqing thought about the difficult days awaiting her after Level 30, she felt as though her future was shrouded in darkness.

"No, I can't just sit around and wait when I encounter a problem!"

Zhu Zhuqing shook her head. When faced with a problem, she had to find a way to solve it. Otherwise, letting it remain would only bring her more trouble.

"Extreme Power may be formidable, but its consumption is equally immense. After Level 30, the Extreme Martial Soul will likely begin purifying and compressing Soul Power on its own.

The Extreme Martial Soul will use its own method to compensate for its weakness of insufficient Soul Power."

Zhu Zhuqing stroked her chin as she thought.

In truth, purifying Soul Power did not bring any drawbacks to Soul Masters. On the contrary, because purified Soul Power was sufficiently refined, an ultimate Soul Master's Cultivation Speed would rise again after Level 70.

It could be said that if one possessed a good Martial Soul, there were times when one did not need to worry about the road ahead at all. One only needed to cultivate, and the Martial Soul itself would map out the path.

"Purifying Soul Power is indeed beneficial, but if Soul Power becomes too pure, the speed at which my Soul Power Level advances will greatly decrease.

The only way to solve this is to increase the rate at which I absorb Soul Power!

But my talent is already Innate Full Soul Power. How much higher can it possibly go?"

For a time, Zhu Zhuqing's thoughts spun wildly.

"Soul Masters who possess Martial Soul Fusion can actually cultivate in tandem, and their Cultivation Speed is much faster than when cultivating alone!

Since I can already use a Self Martial Soul Fusion Technique, there shouldn't be any problem with using Martial Soul Fusion to cultivate by myself, right?

And then there's the fact that I have so much time each day to cultivate, but so much of it is wasted because of other matters.

If I can make use of that time, that should count as another method."

After considering many possibilities, Zhu Zhuqing ultimately retained only two ideas.

One was to complete coordinated cultivation through Martial Soul Fusion.

The other was to find a way to reclaim the extra cultivation time that was being wasted.

There was still one year left. As long as she could accomplish either one within that year, she would hardly need to worry about cultivating her Soul Power.

Although she had found a direction, Zhu Zhuqing still had many things to do each day, which made it impossible for her to focus on one matter all the time.

And so, time slowly passed.

During this time, Zhu Zhuqing attempted Self Martial Soul Fusion cultivation many times, but nearly all of them ended in failure.

Then she researched a method for cultivating Soul Power around the clock—integrating Soul Power cultivation into her body's instincts, so that every breath she took would be cultivation.

But that was also difficult to achieve.

As for her control over Soul Power, Zhu Zhuqing could now perform delicate manipulations such as turning Soul Power into threads.

Moreover, due to her precise control over Soul Power, Zhu Zhuqing could effortlessly use many Self-Created Soul Skills that relied solely on Soul Power control.

There was also her blade practice.

Since she had no teacher, she could only wield two long blades and spend an hour every day practicing slashing, chopping, and thrusting to improve her proficiency with the blade.

Within the familiar Mountain Valley, Zhu Zhuqing sat cross-legged between the cliffs. Beneath her was a massive Tai Chi Diagram.

Black Cat and White Tiger stood atop the yin eye and yang eye respectively.

The two Martial Souls drove the Tai Chi Diagram, drawing in the Soul Power of heaven and earth and pouring it into Zhu Zhuqing's body.

This was the method Zhu Zhuqing had developed to solve the problem of slow Soul Power cultivation after Level 30.

The only issue was that the disturbance was far too great. Once she began cultivating like this, her secret of possessing Twin Martial Souls was practically exposed.

But if she wanted to make everything operate inside her body, there simply was not enough space within her to perform it.

This was simply making things difficult for her, Fat Tiger.

Now, nearly a year had passed since she broke through Level 25.

Without realizing it, her Soul Power Level had reached the Level 29 Peak.

Today, she intended to use this Tai Chi Great Formation to break through Level 30 in one fell swoop.

Reaching Level 30 at the age of nine had nearly closed the gap between her and Qian Renxue.

As the Tai Chi Diagram seized vast quantities of Soul Power, Zhu Zhuqing's Soul Power bottleneck rapidly began to loosen.

Boom!

A massive amount of Soul Power entered Zhu Zhuqing's Dantian. At the instant she stepped into Level 30, Zhu Zhuqing felt as though the world before her had changed completely.

After Level 30, the Cultivation Speed of an Extreme Martial Soul would decrease drastically. Likewise, only after Level 30 could an Extreme Martial Soul truly display its might.