Shy Qian Renxue

Upon hearing the child's explanation, Qian Renxue's purple eyes flickered.

Lu Jing's explanation was logical and closely related to the fundamentals of Soul Master cultivation, so she couldn't help but take it seriously.

She looked at Lu Jing's eyes, which were incredibly serious and far beyond his years, and the doubt in her heart gradually gave way to a strange sense of trust.

"Increase the absorption limit of Soul Rings..." she murmured, her eyes growing fervent.

This was an irresistible temptation for any Soul Master aiming for the peak!

With this thought, she no longer refused. She tightly hugged the jade box and said with a serious expression, "I believe you! So... how do I use this?"

"It needs to be refined and purified with powerful Soul Power to remove impurities and retain the purest essence."

Lu Jing explained, "It's best if a fire-attribute Soul Master, or someone with heavenly cultivation like your grandfather, handles it."

Qian Renxue's eyes flashed with brilliance. "In that case, let's go find Grandpa for help!"

She was decisive and immediately pulled Lu Jing, heading straight for the grand hall where Qian Daoliu meditated.

"Grandpa!"

Qian Renxue hurried to Qian Daoliu with the jade box, her voice carrying a hint of undisguised excitement. "Quick, help me refine this Whale Rubber!"

Qian Daoliu had just finished his meditation. He opened his golden eyes, a hint of annoyance at being disturbed mixed with the authority of an elder.

His gaze swept over the jade box in his granddaughter's arms, then to Lu Jing standing calmly beside her. He frowned slightly. "Whale Rubber? Xiao Xue, what do you need this for?"

As someone who had lived for over a hundred years, he had naturally heard of its "unconventional" uses.

"Grandpa, it's not what you think!" Qian Renxue quickly recounted Lu Jing's explanation, especially emphasizing its effects on body tempering and increasing the absorption limit of Soul Rings.

After listening, Qian Daoliu's golden pupils showed the first obvious ripple.

His scrutinizing gaze fell upon Lu Jing, as if trying to pierce his soul. "A discovery from ten thousand years later? Increasing the Soul Ring absorption limit? Is this true?"

His voice was deep and carried immense pressure, as if the very air in the hall had solidified.

"This junior would not dare to speak carelessly. This is one of the recognized secret techniques in the Soul Master world of later generations," Lu Jing nodded, confirming it was indeed so.

Qian Daoliu was silent for several breaths.

He had lived a long life and possessed vast knowledge, deeply understanding the infinite and wondrous uses of rare items.

Lu Jing's identity and his earnest attitude made him choose to believe.

After all, even if it was useless, there would be no significant loss.

But if it were truly as he said, its significance for the Martial Soul Hall, and for Qian Renxue, would be too immense!

"Good!"

With this thought, Qian Daoliu no longer hesitated. He agreed, "This old man will refine it for you!"

He extended his right hand, fingers spread, and a vast, pure, and sacred golden Soul Power instantly enveloped the two pieces of Whale Rubber in the jade box.

Under the refinement of the purest Soul Power of a Level 99 Peerless Douluo, the two ten-thousand-year-old Whale Rubber pieces melted into liquid at a visible speed, their impurities being stripped away and incinerated strand by strand.

The Whale Rubber, which already seemed extraordinary, now exuded a surging life essence like a tide. Its color turned into the purest liquid amber, crystalline and radiant!

A peculiar fragrance that made one feel comfortable all over, with bones and muscles singing in unison, permeated the hall.

Looking at the two balls of extremely pure amber liquid suspended in his grandfather's palm, and feeling the immense energy contained within, Qian Renxue's beautiful eyes sparkled.

"Right."

At this moment, she suddenly remembered something and looked at Lu Jing, her gaze filled with a hint of inquiry. "Why did you think of giving this Whale Rubber to me to absorb? Shouldn't it be for Wang Dong'er?"

Lu Jing shook his head, his tone calm. "I gave it to her, but she refused."

"Refused?" Qian Renxue and Qian Daoliu both looked surprised.

Such a precious treasure, and she refused it?

"Mhm."

Lu Jing nodded, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness. "She said she ate too much of it as a snack when she was little and was already sick of it, which is why her second Soul Ring could absorb a thousand-year level."

"What?!"

"Second Soul Ring? Thousand-year?!"

Qian Renxue and Qian Daoliu exclaimed almost simultaneously!

Even Qian Daoliu, who had seen many storms, now had a face full of disbelief and shock!

The second Soul Ring absorbing a thousand-year level? This was almost impossible in his understanding!

The theory of Soul Ring limits was an ironclad rule in the Soul Master world of his era!

Even his proud granddaughter, Qian Renxue, had only managed to absorb a seven-hundred-year level for her second Soul Ring, which was close to the limit!

Qian Renxue was so shocked she covered her mouth, her purple eyes wide open.

If the body-tempering effect of the Whale Rubber Lu Jing had mentioned earlier made her excited, then Wang Dong'er's extravagant treatment of "eating too much as a snack allowed her second Soul Ring to be thousand-year" delivered a massive cognitive shock!

The foundation of the sect ten thousand years later, had it already become so profound?!

"So, she didn't need it."

Lu Jing looked at the shocked pair and added, "Sister Xue, hurry and absorb it while it's hot. The refined essence state won't last long."

Qian Renxue suppressed the shock in her heart and nodded, carefully wrapping her portion of the amber liquid with her Soul Power.

Just as she was about to absorb it, she seemed to remember something and suggested, "You should absorb it here with me too. With Grandpa protecting us, it's the safest."

Upon hearing this, a rare, slightly awkward bashfulness appeared on Lu Jing's face.

He touched his nose and lowered his voice, "I won't be here."

"Why?" Qian Renxue and Qian Daoliu both looked at him with confusion.

Lu Jing coughed lightly, his gaze drifting, "This... although the Whale Rubber's body-tempering effect is powerful, when refining and absorbing it, especially for the first time with high-quality ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber... it will... it will agitate the Blood Essence within the body, causing one's... desires to become rather strong and difficult to control. It requires... finding a place that is absolutely quiet and undisturbed to focus and resolve it..."

He tried to say it tactfully, but the meaning was already very clear.

"Desires?!" Qian Renxue subconsciously repeated, then immediately understood!

Although she was already a Soul Elder, her mind far surpassed that of her peers, her body was, after all, still that of a nine-year-old girl!

Suddenly hearing such a direct and somewhat taboo word from Lu Jing's mouth, and related to what she was about to experience, an indescribable shyness instantly surged to her cheeks!

"Swish--!"

That originally noble and aloof, stunningly beautiful face rapidly flushed with a vibrant, dewy crimson, like the morning glow reflecting on snow, spreading all the way to her small earlobes and slender neck!

She subconsciously tightened her grip on the jade box, her long eyelashes fluttering in panic. For a moment, she didn't dare to look at Lu Jing, nor at Qian Daoliu beside her, whose expression had also become somewhat strange.

The immense vital energy in the great hall seemed to carry a hint of ambiguous heat.

"Wha... what nonsense are you talking about..." she mumbled like a mosquito, so ashamed she wished she could disappear immediately!

Qian Daoliu, after all, was an old monster who had lived for a hundred years. After the initial surprise, he immediately understood the situation.

Seeing his granddaughter's embarrassed appearance, a knowing and helpless smile flashed in his eyes.

He coughed authoritatively, breaking the subtle awkward atmosphere, and said to Qian Renxue, "Little Xue, since that's the case, you should do as Little Jing does and return to your room to absorb and refine it with peace of mind!"

"Yes, Grandpa!"

Qian Renxue felt as if she had been granted amnesty. Clutching her amber "hot potato," she lowered her head, not daring to look at Lu Jing again. Like a startled fawn, she practically fled in disarray, her high heels clicking on the smooth floor, leaving a series of hurried and flustered "tap-tap" sounds as she quickly disappeared around the corner of the hall.

Lu Jing watched the rapidly disappearing golden figure, touched his nose, and bowed slightly to Qian Daoliu, "Thank you for your trouble, Great Enshrined. This junior will take his leave."

With that, he also held his portion of the Whale Rubber essence and turned to leave.

In the vast and empty hall, only Qian Daoliu remained.

He looked in the direction his granddaughter had disappeared, then at Lu Jing's retreating back, a complex and unreadable expression on his dignified face.

The secret of ten thousand years, a body-tempering method that subverted cognition, and those two little guests with special identities... it seemed to foreshadow that the pattern of this continent might be quietly changed by these two unexpected "stars" that had fallen.

His golden eyes narrowed slightly, as if piercing through the palace's barriers, gazing towards a vaster and unknown future.