Level Twenty

"Xiao Yi, did you make all of these?"

After Qian Xunji arrived, he quickly spotted the dozen or so Windwalk Talismans Gu Ziyi had made.

"Yes, Teacher!"

Gu Ziyi answered.

"Good, good, good! As expected of my disciple—you haven't disappointed your teacher!"

Qian Xunji immediately burst into laughter.

When he had learned that Gu Ziyi's soul power could be inscribed onto his Talismans through a Spirit Bone, Qian Xunji had already realized that Gu Ziyi might succeed.

Now that he had truly seen Gu Ziyi succeed, Qian Xunji was still immensely delighted.

At the very least, Gu Ziyi's talent for researching soul skills had greatly surprised him.

Not a single person in the Research Department failed to praise Gu Ziyi.

That gave him, as Gu Ziyi's teacher, a great deal of pride as well.

"Teacher, there's me too!"

"It was thanks to my help that Junior Brother succeeded."

Bibi Dong hurriedly spoke up from the side, proudly claiming credit for herself.

"Yes, yes, Dong'er is impressive too!"

Qian Xunji laughed.

"Come, let Teacher take a look at these Windwalk Talismans you made!"

Qian Xunji then examined the Windwalk Talismans Gu Ziyi had completed, confirming that Gu Ziyi had truly succeeded in his research.

"Xiao Yi, have you ever felt that your Martial Soul is actually far from ordinary?"

After the initial excitement, Qian Xunji suddenly asked Gu Ziyi.

Qian Xunji had realized long ago that Gu Ziyi's Martial Soul was not so simple. Its unusual soul skills were one thing, but more importantly, Gu Ziyi's Martial Soul could actually inscribe Spirit Bone soul skills.

That was something no other support-type Martial Soul could do.

Yet Gu Ziyi's Talisman Martial Soul could.

"Yes, Teacher. That's what I think too!"

"When I awakened my Martial Soul back then..."

Hearing Qian Xunji's words, Gu Ziyi did not hide anything. He immediately told him about the strange vision he had seen in his consciousness when he had awakened his Martial Soul.

There was nothing serious about revealing it; it would not change anything.

After hearing this, Bibi Dong blinked, her eyes filled with wonder. She had not expected something like that to have happened when Gu Ziyi awakened his Martial Soul.

"Sure enough, your Martial Soul is not simple!"

"It seems that something went wrong during the mutation, ultimately creating a flaw and causing your Martial Soul's quality to be too low..."

"Yet judging from how your Martial Soul performs, it doesn't seem like a low-quality Martial Soul. Neither its soul skills nor its ability to inscribe Spirit Bone soul skills should be traits of a low-quality Martial Soul..."

"But no matter what, your Innate Soul Power truly is only Level 1!"

Qian Xunji finally sighed, sounding somewhat regretful.

Gu Ziyi also fell slightly silent at those words.

Because he knew what Qian Xunji regretted.

A soul master with Innate Soul Power Level 1 had far too low a limit.

Up to now, no soul master with Innate Soul Power Level 1 had ever cultivated to Level 30 and become a Soul Elder.

The greatest achievement of a soul master with Innate Soul Power Level 1 was reaching Level 29 as a Soul Grandmaster.

Just like Yu Xiaogang's situation in the original work.

Moreover, it was not easy for a soul master with Innate Soul Power Level 1 to cultivate to Level 29. Very few people could manage it.

Only after arriving on Douluo Continent did Gu Ziyi learn that the classification of Innate Soul Power only ranged from Level 1 to Level 10, with Level 10 being Innate Full Soul Power.

There was no such thing as half-levels in the classification of Innate Soul Power.

In other words, Yu Xiaogang's claim in the original work that he had half a level of soul power was merely something Yu Xiaogang had invented himself.

Well, his Innate Soul Power was already low to begin with, so he might as well claim it was even lower. That way, reaching Level 29 with half a level would seem incredibly impressive, and failing to break through Level 30 could not be blamed on him either—after all, he had only half a level, not even a full Level 1.

This was also the issue Gu Ziyi had constantly worried about ever since learning about the circumstances of those with Innate Soul Power Level 1.

It did not matter if he leveled up slowly. He was not afraid of that. What he feared was reaching his limit and being unable to continue leveling up.

In Gu Ziyi's view, only Immortal Herbs could solve that problem.

Or, after reaching Level 29, he could continuously raise the quality of his own soul rings to drive up his Soul Power Level.

But that was far too distant.

Gu Ziyi gained two levels each year, and he still needed eight more years.

Moreover, improving the quality of soul rings required more energy and more time than raising one's Soul Power Level.

Even if this method worked, it would still be a matter for many years later.

Gu Ziyi could not bear that.

So Gu Ziyi had made up his mind to obtain immortal herbs.

And Gu Ziyi already had a plan.

The turning point lay in the Spirit Bone Qian Xunji had given him.

That three-thousand-year Spirit Bone also possessed a state-enhancing soul skill: invisibility!

That was right, invisibility! The soul skill of that Spirit Bone was precisely invisibility.

No matter its quality, an invisibility soul skill was considered a top-tier soul skill.

However, this Spirit Bone's invisibility soul skill had one flaw: after becoming invisible, he could not use any soul skills, or he would immediately be exposed.

It was not very useful in battle, but for Gu Ziyi, it was an opportunity.

If he could create an Invisibility Talisman himself and make further preparations, he might be able to venture into Sunset Forest.

However, Gu Ziyi did not intend to go just yet. At the very least, he had to wait until he broke through Level 20 before he dared to try.

At only a dozen or so levels, he was still far too weak.

Although he would seemingly still be weak after reaching Level 20, he would at least be an entire major level stronger.

Thus, after successfully creating the Windwalk Talisman, Gu Ziyi began developing the Invisibility Talisman.

He had not researched the Invisibility Talisman first because its inscriptions were much more complicated, so Gu Ziyi had used the Windwalk Talisman for practice first.

Three months later, following the successful development of the Windwalk Talisman, the now-experienced Gu Ziyi finally succeeded in creating the Invisibility Talisman as well.

After that, Gu Ziyi stopped researching other Self-Created Soul Skills. Instead, he constantly practiced making Windwalk Talismans and Invisibility Talismans, continuously improving his proficiency.

Whenever he had time, Gu Ziyi sought guidance from Soul Douluo Yue Guan in his study of flowers, herbs, and plants. Since Gu Ziyi had deliberately asked Yue Guan to tell him about the top-grade flora first, he had basically mastered the knowledge of immortal herbs.

In particular, he had recalled all the ones consumed by the original protagonist group, as well as those Tang San had used up, based on Yue Guan's teachings and what he had seen before.

What surprised Gu Ziyi was that Yue Guan knew those top-grade medicinal herbs were called immortal herbs. Yue Guan also referred to them as immortal-grade medicinal herbs.

Buzz—

As time passed, on the day Gu Ziyi had just turned sixteen, he happened to break through the Level 20 threshold.

"Finally, I've broken through!"

Gu Ziyi, who had truly grown into a handsome young man, opened his eyes and excitedly pumped his fist.

He had waited a long time for this day.

After breaking through Level 20, it was time for Gu Ziyi to add his Second Soul Ring to his martial soul.