Changing How Soul Masters Cultivate?

"It's all right, you have us now! You've met Qing Tong already, haven't you?" Jiang Shengyu leaned forward and patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder.

Huo Yuhao nodded. "I have. Cousin has already gone to Shrek Academy."

After saying that, Huo Yuhao thought for a moment, then added, "She also Imprinted my martial soul."

"She Imprinted your martial soul?"

Jiang Shengyu put on a surprised expression and murmured, "Both Teacher and I told her not to Imprint martial souls carelessly. Why would she Imprint yours? Yuhao, can I see your martial soul and soul skill?"

Huo Yuhao did not refuse. He showed Jiang Shengyu his Spirit Eyes Martial Soul and Mental Detection Sharing.

Naturally, Jiang Shengyu clicked his tongue in amazement at his soul skill. His gaze fell on the white soul ring before Huo Yuhao, as warm and lustrous as jade, and he said, "Yuhao, don't lose heart! Although your first soul ring is a trash Ten-Year Soul Ring, your cousin will help you!"

From within Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Sea of Consciousness, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm shouted, "Trash? What trash? He's the trash! I'm furious! How does this youngster talk? Damn it—!!"

"Brother Sky Dream, calm down. My cousin doesn't know you exist..." Huo Yuhao soothed Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his mind.

"Hmph! I'd like to hear how exactly he plans to help you!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm snorted coldly and waited for Jiang Shengyu to continue.

Jiang Shengyu took in the changes in Huo Yuhao's expression and continued, "I can help raise the age of your soul rings. Of course, not right now. I'm still researching the exact method."

"What?"

Huo Yuhao and Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his Spiritual Sea of Consciousness cried out in unison.

"Soul ring ages can be raised?" Huo Yuhao asked incredulously.

Soul rings came from soul beasts. Weren't they fixed from the moment they formed? Yet Jiang Shengyu claimed that a soul ring's age could be increased. This was completely unheard of!

Jiang Shengyu smiled and displayed his martial soul and soul rings to Huo Yuhao.

A Crescent Moon rose behind him like rippling water. One purple and one black soul ring pulsed in rhythm, and the ink-black ring exuded an oppressive aura.

"Black! A Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!" Huo Yuhao's eyes widened in shock, unable to believe it.

"Who taught him that Soul Ring Configuration? How could he dare attach soul rings like that? Isn't he afraid of exploding to death?" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's tone was filled with shock. Even he was stunned by Jiang Shengyu's utterly unconventional Soul Ring Configuration.

Jiang Shengyu said, "A year ago, my second soul ring was still at the thousand-year level. It just recently rose to the ten-thousand-year level."

"What?"

Huo Yuhao completely lost the ability to think. Could soul ring ages really be increased after they were acquired?

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm cried out even more incredulously, "How is that possible? How did he do it? I've lived for so long, yet I've never heard of such a thing!"

Huo Yuhao voiced that very question.

Jiang Shengyu explained, "A soul ring's age represents the cultivation of the soul beast that produced it. But among those called ten-thousand-year or hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, how many truly lived to that age? It's simply that the energy they accumulated was vast enough to meet that standard, so they were called Ten Thousand Year or Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."

"Therefore, in theory, as long as a soul ring is supplied with energy and soul power, its age should increase just like a soul beast's. Unfortunately, I've only just begun this line of research, and I still have no way to reproduce it in others."

"But that alone is already astonishing!" Huo Yuhao murmured.

Jiang Shengyu nodded slightly. "Yes! Once my research succeeds, soul masters will no longer have to risk their lives hunting dangerous high-level soul beasts just to obtain high-quality soul rings!"

Hearing this, Huo Yuhao frowned and raised a different point. "But... the Soul Bones produced by Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts can't be replaced by this method of raising soul ring ages. With that flaw, hunting Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts is still unavoidable."

"Ah, I really wonder who invented this method of cultivation. Attaching soul beast bones to one's own body... are soul masters like that truly human, or are they soul beasts?" Jiang Shengyu sighed.

Hearing Jiang Shengyu's lament, Huo Yuhao quietly replied, "A cultivation method passed down for so many years must have its reasons, shouldn't it?"

"There's no reason for this kind of soul master cultivation method to have been passed down for so many years!"

Jiang Shengyu shook his head, stared at Huo Yuhao, and said solemnly, "In the foreseeable future, once soul beasts near extinction, the profession of soul master—and the human civilization built upon it—will collapse as well!"

"Is it really that serious?"

Huo Yuhao's expression changed. "Then what should we do?"

He took the bait!

Hearing Huo Yuhao's question, Jiang Shengyu rejoiced inwardly, though his expression remained perfectly calm. He said to Huo Yuhao, "That is the other research project I'm conducting. I want to change how soul masters cultivate."

"Change how soul masters cultivate?" Huo Yuhao's pupils constricted, and he froze as though struck by lightning.

If anyone else had said such words in front of Huo Yuhao, he would certainly have thought they were insane. But Jiang Shengyu had just shown him a soul ring whose age had been raised!

If it was Jiang Shengyu, perhaps he really could do it?

Jiang Shengyu nodded. "That's right! At its core, a soul ring is merely a medium that carries a soul master's soul power and soul skills. It does not necessarily have to come from a soul beast! For example, my sister and I have never hunted a single soul beast to attach soul rings."

Huo Yuhao was stunned. "Then your soul rings..."

"Exactly! Our soul rings formed naturally after our Soul Power Levels broke through!" Jiang Shengyu said to Huo Yuhao. "I'm researching the principles behind this. Once I succeed, it will be a complete revolution! Yuhao, are you willing to help me?"

By now, Huo Yuhao had been left dizzy by the successive bombshells Jiang Shengyu had thrown at him. Even Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his mind fell silent.

Only after a long while did Sky Dream Ice Silkworm mutter to himself, "Could he really be a genius?"

Huo Yuhao clenched his fists, looked at Jiang Shengyu, and said, "I am!"

"Excellent! Yuhao, welcome aboard! From now on, you are a member of Soul Hall! Let us work together to build a glorious future where humans and soul beasts coexist peacefully!" Jiang Shengyu patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder with a gratified expression.

"Mm!" Huo Yuhao nodded heavily, then asked, "What is Soul Hall?"

Jiang Shengyu gave Huo Yuhao an overview of Soul Hall. After hearing it, Huo Yuhao grew even more excited.

"Not only does it research new cultivation methods, it awakens martial souls for everyone free of charge and even provides subsidies to registered soul masters? Even Shrek Academy wouldn't do such things! This is Soul Hall? How great!"