Hope and the unexpected

The light was not strong; in fact, it was quite faint.

But in Yang Le's eyes, it represented hope, the hope that he had been seeking but could not obtain for the past few years.

The Grandmaster watched this scene silently, muttering, "Another ironclad rule has been broken."

Those around him, recovering from their shock, understood the meaning of the Grandmaster's words.

For countless years, it has been an ironclad rule in this world that those without Soul Power cannot cultivate.

This also divides people into two categories: Soul Master who can cultivate and ordinary people who cannot.

But what we see before us means that this old rule has been broken, and ordinary people who were born without Soul Power now have the opportunity to cultivate.

The reason it's described as "partial" is because the experiment only succeeded on Yang Le Yang Le, who is Tool Soul Master. Whether it can succeed on Biological Soul Master is still unknown.

In the forest, Dugu Bo stood alone, quietly watching the faint light in the distance, and let out a soft sigh.

"From now on, it will be the era of these people."

He glanced once more at the excessively young Chen Feng, then turned and quietly left.

"Speaking of which, what level of Soul Power does this light represent?" Ning Rongrong asked curiously.

"It's about half a level, maybe even lower, but that's not a problem. The most important thing is to build up your Soul Power from nothing," the Grandmaster said.

"That's right, and Yang Le has only worn this device for a short while, yet he already has almost half a level of Soul Power. If he wears it for a longer time, he might even reach a higher level," Oscar said, pointing to the armband.

Yang Le glanced at his right arm, licked his lips, and asked, "Do you have any more powerful methods to help me increase my Soul Power faster?"

Standing to the side, Dai Mubai said, "Of course there are. The Rune on your arm are only four Rune Group. There are sixteen Rune Group, sixty-four Rune Group, and so on. The question is, can you handle them?"

"I can handle it!" Yang Le said excitedly. "Go ahead and use your strongest fighters, I can handle it!"

"This—" Dai Mubai glanced at Chen Feng subconsciously.

Chen Feng stared at Yang Le for a while, then shook his head and said, "You didn't have any Soul Power before, so four Rune Group were your limit. Don't aim too high. Just let your Martial Soul Quenching slowly. At least you can cultivate now."

Yang Le immediately panicked, "Mr. Chen, please help me get the most powerful Rune. I really can withstand it. See, I didn't utter a sound just now."

"This isn't about whether you speak up or not; it's about the fact that without Soul Power, your physical strength is limited. No matter how strong your will is, you still have to respect the objective facts," Chen Feng said calmly.

Yang Le's mother also advised, "Le, don't be too anxious. Just listen to Mr. Chen and let your Martial Soul Quenching slowly."

Yang Le was still somewhat unwilling. He had finally gotten a chance to change his life, so why was he willing to wait around?

He pleaded, "If the strongest one doesn't work, then one one level stronger than this one will do. Please, Mr. Chen, let me try. I'll bear the consequences myself and won't blame you."

Rune Group? It still seems a bit risky, but— Chen Feng glanced at Tang San and Xiao Wu standing to the side, and nodded slightly, saying, "Since you insist, then let you try. I don't know what would happen to an ordinary person receiving Rune Group, so remember, you're responsible for the consequences."

"Yes, I'll bear the consequences myself, Dad, Mom. Whatever happens to me later, it has nothing to do with Mr. Chen and the others." Yang Le took a deep breath and said solemnly to his parents.

"You----sigh----" Yang Le's mother sighed and didn't say anything more.

Yang Le's father said in a stern voice, "This is a one-time opportunity. If you fail this time, you can never be willful again."

"Okay," Yang Le replied.

He didn't believe he couldn't even withstand a level two Rune. A level two Rune was only four times stronger than a level one Rune. Judging from how he felt when he endured a level one Rune, he should be able to withstand even three times stronger runes.

But the question is, if the number of Rune is four times the original, is its efficiency also only four times greater?

Chen Feng also wanted to know the answer to this question: Is there a qualitative difference between the sixteen -Rune Group and the four -Rune Group? He started directly with the sixteen- Rune Group and couldn't compare the differences between the two.

Now that Yang Le insisted, Chen Feng could see the deep longing in his eyes, so he simply agreed to his request.

If Chen Feng didn't agree now, he worried that the kid might do something reckless on his own. It was better to let the kid try it when all the safety measures were in place, and also to collect some experimental data.

"Boss Dai, let's carve a Rune Group for him," Chen Feng said to Dai Mubai.

"Okay." Dai Mubai didn't hesitate and took out his Carving Knife to begin.

Tang San walked over and took off the armlet. Returning, he gestured to Chen Feng with the armlet in his hand, then pointed to the jade pendant on his wrist.

Xue Bing looked at Chen Feng with an inquiring gaze.

Chen Feng shook his head. "Let's use this one."

Tang San had prepared more than one type of armlet. He had prepared three armlets each of the four- Rune, sixteen- Rune, and sixty-four -Rune sets. His gesture to Chen Feng was a question to see if they wanted to switch to the sixteen- Rune Group of armlets.

Chen Feng naturally refused. One must take things one step at a time. He would first try changing the Quenching Rune to level two and see how things went.

This is also an advantage of Rune; they can be upgraded piecemeal, allowing you to test the limits and effectively control the risks.

The sixteen Rune were more complex than the four Rune, and took longer to carve. Dai Mubai was sweating a little while carving, but he still managed to finish.

Yang Le still managed to hold back his cry, which shows his remarkable endurance. But as Chen Feng said, no matter how strong one's will is, one must respect objective facts.

When Tang San placed the armband on Yang Le's arm again, Yang Le felt the familiar warmth from the armband. However, this time the warmth did not flow into his body as a stream of heat, but rather rushed in like a surging tide.

The once gently flowing heat became scorching, then burning, and then bursting, causing Yang Le to cry out in pain.

At the same time, blisters appeared on his arm, Starting Point from the Rune, and quickly began to spread outwards.

Seeing that things were going badly, Tang San quickly removed the armlet from Yang Le's arm.

That's right, this time he didn't put the armband on Yang Le, but instead held it in his hand and stuck it on. The effect was actually the same, but the Rune connection could be interrupted at any time, which was one of the advantages of external Rune.

"《Cun Zhi》"

"Ugh----Ah----" Yang Le groaned in pain. He could grit his teeth and endure the pain caused by the Rune inscription, but the pain caused by the dense blisters was now beyond his limit.

Because the pain was no longer limited to one spot, but spread throughout the upper half of his arm, if Tang San hadn't quickly removed the armband, his entire arm might have been ruined.

His parents looked anxious and regretful, but they had no treatment options and could only watch helplessly.

"Xiao Feng, should Xiao San and I use our Martial Soul Fusion Skill?" Xiao Wu asked Chen Feng while shielding her eyes with her hand.

For some reason, the sight of the dense blisters on Yang Le's arm made her feel a stinging sensation all over her body, making her extremely uncomfortable.

If Chen Feng knew how she felt, he would tell her it was called trypophobia, and that he had the same problem. He turned his Chen Feng away and stopped looking at Yang Le.

"Please use it; treating so many blisters might be a bit troublesome."

"Okay." Xiao Wu, with her eyes covered, waved to Tang San. Tang San walked over with the armlet in hand and hugged Xiao Wu.

A gigantic, Soft Bone Rabbit phantom appeared and spat out a stream of green energy towards Yang Le. Upon receiving this energy, Yang Le immediately felt much more comfortable.

But soon, he felt an itching sensation on his arm, caused by the growth of new skin beneath the blisters.

Instinctively, Yang Le reached out his left hand to scratch his right arm, Dai Mubai quickly stepped forward and grabbed him, stopping him from moving. Ma Hongjun also grabbed Yang Le's right hand to prevent it from moving around.

"Itchy----So itchy----" Yang Le looked like he wanted to scratch his heart and liver. He felt that the itching was coming from the Bone Douluo in his right arm. He wished he could cut off his whole arm to feel comfortable.

At this moment, he felt deep regret, regret for not heeding Mr. Chen's advice, otherwise he wouldn't be suffering like this now.

Yang Le originally thought that since he could endure the pain of Rune, he should also be able to endure the pain if the experiment failed.

But now reality has taught him that there are things in this world more painful than pain itself: itching, and the inability to scratch.

The Jade Rabbit Pounding Medicine's medicine-pounding technique was quite effective; in no time, the blisters on Yang Le's hands turned into dead skin, which was gently peeled off, revealing new skin.

"Waaah----Finally----" Yang Le looked at his arm, which had recovered, and his expression was a mix of crying and laughing. He felt like he could play Ji Gong (a legendary Chinese monk).

Yang Le's mother took two steps forward and tapped him on the head, "You brat! Still trying to be tough?"

"I won't be stubborn anymore! Mom, I'll never be stubborn again!" Yang Le said, still shaken.

Compared to what I just experienced, all the grievances I suffered in the past are nothing! They were just some verbal insults, not worth mentioning at all.

"I've been very happy in the past, and I will definitely live a good life from now on," Yang Le said, wiping away her tears.

It's true that happiness is always relative. Yang Le was ostracized, subjected to emotional abuse, and verbally insulted since childhood, which made him feel that life wasn't worth living and he started to feel depressed.

But if you let him experience what he just felt, he would immediately realize that his past life wasn't so bad after all, at least he still had parents who loved him.

After removing and healing the level-two Rune from Yang Le's body, his Rune experiment was considered complete. Although there was a minor mishap, Chen Feng considered it to have gone very smoothly.

Furthermore, even after removing the armlet, Yang Le could still continue cultivating, which shows that the effect of Quenching Rune on him is long-lasting and will not disappear when Quenching stops.

Yang Shu's experiment proceeded without any surprises, but the results were not obvious, which was normal. The process of going from zero-level Soul Power to half-level Soul Power is a process of creating something from nothing, which can be seen with the naked eye.

Yang Shu's Innate Soul Power was only level one. Although it wasn't high, this level was enough to qualify her for cultivation, creating a pitiful, thick barrier between her and Yang Le.

The increase of half a level of Soul Power was not significant for Yang Shu, and it was not even certain that he had actually increased by half a level.

After Yang Shu got off the wooden bed, Chen Feng clapped his hands and began to summarize. "Alright, today's experiment is complete, but the whole experiment is not over yet. The effect of Quenching Rune is long-lasting, so it will take quite some time to see obvious results. You will continue to wear these armbands and report to me every month to see if there are any changes in your bodies."

"So, we need to live in this Academy?" Yang Shu asked.

"Yes, you can stay in the dormitory here, which will make it easier to observe. Of course, if you don't like that, you can find somewhere else to stay, and I can reimburse your accommodation expenses," Chen Feng said, looking at the two of them.

Yang Le and Yang Shu exchanged a glance and began to discuss it with their parents. They quickly made a decision: to stay.

There's no reason not to leave; not everyone has the opportunity to strengthen their Martial Soul.

"Speaking of which, what's the name of this method that can strengthen the Tool Spirit?" Liu Erlong asked curiously.

"Let's call it the Soul Tempering Method, a technique that can Quenching Martial Soul," Chen Feng said without much hesitation.

"Soul Tempering Method? That's a good name, simple and clear. I just don't know if it will work on those with zero Soul Power and Biological Spirit," Dai Mubai said.

"We'll find out after another test. Today's experiment has confirmed the safety of the Rune. Ordinary people can withstand a level one Rune Group, so we don't need to worry about accidents like before," Tang San said while tidying up the area.

"Xiao San is right. We can expand the number of participants in the experiment and let all kinds of Martial Soul try it," Chen Feng agreed.

Oscar glanced at Chen Feng, then hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but didn't.

Chen Feng didn't notice this and was about to continue speaking when he saw a fat black cat emerge from the woods.

"Xiao Hei? What brings you here?" he asked, somewhat surprised.

Xiao Hei pointed with its paw in a certain direction behind it, patted its belly, and then meowed twice.

Is it hungry? No, the direction it's pointing seems to be... Chen Feng followed the direction of the Xiao Hei finger, and as if he had thought of something, he said to Yang Wudi, "Clan Leader Yang, I have some things to take care of. Why don't you take Yang Le and Yang Shu to rest? They look a bit tired."

o

"Alright, I'll show them around the Academy," Yang Wudi said.

"Let's go together. I'll show you around and arrange your accommodations," Flender said as he walked over.

After the group left, Liu Erlong asked in confusion, "Xiao Feng, what happened?"

Chen Feng looked into the forest and said, "If nothing unexpected happens, the Ironclad Earth Dragon should be about to give birth."