Qian Renxue's Counterattack

Su Cheng was walking toward the Elder Hall when a flash of golden light streaked in from the side, and a figure lunged at him.

The two were about to collide head-on.

Su Cheng raised a finger and tapped the center of her smooth forehead.

"What are you doing?"

Looking at the blonde girl before him, who had already grown to his chest height, he looked utterly helpless.

"Teacher, you really don't have to do this. My grandfather said I don't need to worry about the Ninth Soul Ring."

Qian Renxue looked up at Su Cheng, her eyes—already beginning to show peerless beauty—sparkling like stars.

"Who said I was worrying about your Ninth Soul Ring?" Su Cheng said blandly.

Qian Renxue rolled her eyes at that, making it clear that he should stop being stubborn. "I saw it at my grandfather's place."

"Your Martial Soul only needs one Ninth Soul Ring, right?"

"So that means..." Qian Renxue suddenly realized. "I can start absorbing a 100,000 Year Spirit Ring at level eighty?"

She did not doubt that, with this teacher's help, she would be able to accomplish that someday.

"I believe that, for a soul master, the Martial Soul Avatar is even more important than the Eighth Soul Skill."

"The Martial Soul Avatar..."

Qian Renxue repeated the words under her breath before suddenly understanding.

Her eyes widened, and she stared at Su Cheng in utter disbelief.

"That's impossible... I can't do it..."

"Don't worry. I'll help."

Su Cheng patted her shoulder. "First, advance to Soul Ancestor. You're just a child; you don't need to worry about anything else."

If there was a chance for Qian Renxue to absorb a 100,000 Year Spirit Ring at level seventy, Su Cheng did not know what Qian Daoliu would do or whether he had a way to obtain such a Spirit Ring.

Still, it was always better to be prepared.

"I'm not a child anymore," Qian Renxue said unhappily. "You're not that much older than me."

"As long as I'm older than you."

Su Cheng replied casually without slowing his pace as he headed toward the back mountain.

Qian Renxue gave a soft snort and followed after him.

"Teacher, what exactly is going on with your Martial Soul?"

"What do you think?"

Hearing his question, the girl voiced the guess she had just made. "Does it have something to do with the attributes Spirit Rings add to Martial Souls? Soul masters' Martial Souls have different attributes too. A malignant mutation in a Martial Soul seems to be a change in its inherent attributes."

Su Cheng nodded. "You've got some insight. At least you haven't been reading books for nothing."

Limited by the knowledge and perspective of this plane, it was already impressive that she had thought that far.

The entanglement of attributes within a Martial Soul was far more complicated than it appeared.

Even though Su Cheng understood the principles of the Five Elements' generation and restraint, and had long had some ideas and flashes of inspiration, putting them into practice had still required years of accumulation.

He did not hold anything back and proceeded to give her a rough explanation of the theories behind Martial Soul mutation and second awakening.

Qian Renxue could not help falling silent after hearing it.

Over the years, under Su Cheng's guidance, she had read quite a few books as well, yet she knew she would never possess Su Cheng's kind of brilliance.

This teacher always found another path, discovering roads no one else could imagine.

Many times, the most crucial and difficult step was always that initial Flash of Inspiration.

"Learning without thought is futile; thought without learning is perilous." Seeing Qian Renxue lower her head in contemplation, Su Cheng continued. "I had you read more before in order to broaden your horizons. You're gifted, but your accumulated knowledge was insufficient. Blind thinking is nothing more than building a tower on sand. The more fanciful ideas you have, the easier it is to stray onto the wrong path. Now that you've read enough, you need to think more instead. Otherwise, that knowledge will only shackle your brilliance. Figure it out slowly yourself."

"..."

As they spoke, the two arrived once more at the back mountain behind Spirit Hall, then entered a dim dungeon.

There was no one else in the dungeon at the moment. Only burning torches set into the walls provided illumination.

Inside a cage at the end of the dungeon, a Holy Light Beast that had just passed ten thousand years was tightly bound. Its broad wings drooped limply to the ground behind it, while its powerful limbs were covered in wounds.

Hearing the disturbance, it slowly opened its eyes and looked toward the newcomers. Its once bright, dazzling snow-white fur had long since lost its luster, yet even so, the pure and holy aura surrounding it still gave off a sense of sanctity.

This Holy Light Beast was Qian Renxue's target for this trip.

Though it looked grievously wounded and near death, it was actually extremely powerful and possessed formidable regenerative abilities under sunlight. That was why it had been imprisoned underground, where it could be suppressed.

"Do it." After taking a look and confirming that it had completely lost the ability to resist, Su Cheng spoke to Qian Renxue beside him.

Qian Renxue nodded, took a deep breath, and retrieved a longsword from her Soul Tool before stepping forward.

Then, with a single thrust, she cleanly ended the soul beast's life.

A black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring slowly emerged.

Su Cheng nodded to himself, unable to help sighing at how fortunate they had been this time.

There were quite a few soul beasts with sacred or evil attributes, but soul beasts that possessed those as their primary attributes were exceptionally rare—far rarer even than soul beasts with ultimate attributes.

Had they not been lucky, they likely would have had to find a fire-attributed soul beast for Qian Renxue's fourth Soul Ring. But its enhancement to the Angel Martial Soul would clearly have been inferior by more than a little.

More importantly, this Holy Light Beast's age was practically perfect.

After all, Qian Renxue's earlier Soul Rings had not been acquired through Cross-Year Absorption. Exceeding ten thousand years for her fourth Soul Ring was already the limit.

Even that was only possible because Su Cheng had constantly given her extra training over the past few years to strengthen her Physical Body and Spiritual Power, combined with the profound foundation of her Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul.

"Very good. You can begin preparing to absorb this Soul Ring."

Su Cheng looked at Qian Renxue, signaling that she could proceed to the next step.

Su Cheng had long since taught her the specific method of using Silver Needles to stimulate Acupoints, as well as the Acupoints themselves.

Qian Renxue did not answer. She took another deep breath, silently removed Silver Needles and the prepared medicine from her Soul Tool.

Seeing this, Su Cheng prepared to leave the dungeon first and stand guard for her outside.

"Teacher, wait."

A faintly trembling voice suddenly came from behind him.

"What is it?" He stopped, turning back in confusion.

What entered his sight was Qian Renxue standing there with her head lowered.

Her face was obscured by the shadows cast by her hanging golden hair, making her expression impossible to see.

The fingers gripping the needle case seemed to be trembling slightly.

"I've never practiced identifying those Acupoints. Please help me, Teacher."

"?"

For a moment, Su Cheng did not even understand what she was saying.

Only after a while did he speak again. "What did you just say?"

"I don't know how to use Silver Needles to stimulate Acupoints. Please help me!"

Su Cheng's tone grew increasingly grim. "Qian Renxue, have you lost your mind?!"

When absorbing her fourth Soul Ring, the main Acupoints that needed stimulation were located along the Ren Meridian and Dai Meridian, almost all concentrated around sensitive areas such as the abdomen and waist. How could he possibly do it himself?