Lor Diarra's scholarly impatience was instantly replaced by razor-sharp intensity. He did not even fully release his martial soul; he merely exerted force beneath his feet.
Whoosh!
His figure became a blurred afterimage. In almost the blink of an eye, he crossed dozens of meters and appeared beside the Lightning Pattern Vine Snake!
His speed far surpassed that of an ordinary Soul Emperor!
Only after he came to a stop did six soul rings abruptly appear around him.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black!
Chen Li's gaze sharpened. Lor Diarra, who looked like some crazed researcher, was actually a six-ringed Soul Emperor! It was completely impossible to tell from his appearance. He had not expected him to be this powerful...
At the same time, Lor Diarra clenched his right hand in the air. A long, narrow tool-type martial soul in the shape of a scalpel quietly appeared, its blade flowing with pale cyan wind-attribute Soul Power.
Before the Lightning Pattern Vine Snake could even react, the scalpel in Lor Diarra's hand turned into a thin cyan line and swept precisely across its fatal weak point seven inches below its head!
Slash!
The wound was incredibly thin, yet deep enough to expose bone. The Lightning Pattern Vine Snake's body suddenly stiffened, the light in its eyes rapidly dimming as it slid limply down the rock wall, nearly dead.
The entire process was clean and efficient, without the slightest hesitation. It showed that Lor Diarra was not merely a researcher, but also a Soul Emperor with extensive combat experience who understood how to efficiently acquire "experimental materials."
"Come, finish it," Lor Diarra said to Chen Li.
A flash of lightning passed, and Chen Li personally killed the Lightning Pattern Vine Snake.
A bright Yellow Soul Ring slowly rose from the vine snake's corpse.
"Quick! While its energy is at its most active!" Lor Diarra instantly switched back into researcher mode. He stared fixedly at the soul ring and Chen Li while raising his writing board before him, pen poised to record.
"Use your Soul Power to touch it and try absorbing it! I want to see the full collapse process!"
"Yes." Chen Li strode forward and directly extended a finger, guiding his Soul Power toward the Yellow Soul Ring.
The moment he touched it, the familiar sense of rejection and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's disdain within him arrived right on schedule.
Buzz... Boom!
The Yellow Soul Ring violently trembled, its light flashing chaotically. Then, as if detonated from within, it exploded into a cloud of golden mist that quickly dispersed into the air without leaving a trace.
"As expected! A direct collapse of its energy structure! It isn't rejection—it's... destructive incompatibility!" Lor Diarra muttered as he recorded at high speed, his eyes wide behind his glasses and brimming with the excitement of someone discovering a new continent.
"Record: When the test subject contacted the target Lightning Pattern Vine Snake's 362-year soul ring, the soul ring's internal stable structure was struck by an unknown force and collapsed from the inside out, leaving behind no absorbable residual energy.
Hypothesis: The martial soul's source rank or energy nature exceeds the soul ring's carrying limit by far, causing an overload phenomenon... Interesting, too interesting!"
At the same time, a system notification sounded in Chen Li's mind:
[ Ding! ]
[Obtained Hundred Year Soul Ring*1 (Quality: Flawed)]
A good start. He had obtained one... Just seven more, and he could raise the thousand-year soul ring's quality to [Excellent].
Chen Li lightly rubbed his fingers together inside his sleeve, forcefully suppressing the anticipation in his heart.
"Not enough! Too few samples! Not enough variables!" Lor Diarra abruptly raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the beast pens like an eagle searching for prey.
"Continue! Switch to different attributes! Different ages! I want to see whether all soul rings react the same way, or whether it only applies to certain attributes or ages!"
Over the following period, Chen Li practically became a humanoid soul ring destroyer in Lor Diarra's hands. With the fervent researcher's assistance, one Hundred Year Soul Beast after another was swiftly and precisely killed.
Chen Li only needed to step up and deliver the finishing blow, then draw the soul rings over with his Soul Power and watch them shatter and vanish one after another.
Lor Diarra was completely immersed in gathering data. He recorded at astonishing speed, sometimes frowning in thought and sometimes crying out excitedly. He entirely ignored Chen Li's presence, treating him only as a device that produced valuable phenomena.
"Earth attribute, collapse speed slowed by 17%... Wind attribute, collapse pattern is dispersive... Light attribute, a brief burst of radiance before collapse! Wonderful! Every attribute has subtle differences! What does that prove? It proves that his martial soul is not simply rejecting them—it is conducting some kind of extremely high-level appraisal and rejection!!"
Meanwhile, Chen Li silently reaped system notifications: [Obtained Hundred Year Soul Ring*1 (Quality: Inferior/Flawed)]...
Before he realized it, he had quietly gathered all the materials he needed.
At last, after another Soul Beast's soul ring shattered, Lor Diarra stopped writing. He scratched his already somewhat messy graying hair, his face flushed with a mixture of confusion and extreme excitement.
"How strange... This is truly an unprecedented anomaly! In theory, martial souls and soul rings exist in a complementary relationship. Even when their attributes conflict, it usually only makes absorption difficult or reduces the effect. This kind of direct collapse of a soul ring's foundational structure... I've never heard of it!"
Lor Diarra suddenly turned his head, his blazing gaze fixed on Chen Li as though he wanted to dissect him and study every inch in detail.
Suddenly, Lor Diarra seemed to think of an extraordinarily bold—even downright insane—idea. A terrifying gleam burst from behind his lenses!
"Kid! Have you... ever tried a thousand-year soul ring?" His voice was slightly warped with excitement as he leaned forward, carrying an unquestionable pressure.
Chen Li's thoughts raced, and he appropriately showed a trace of hesitation. "A thousand-year soul ring? Sir, I only have level ten Soul Power. According to the common knowledge of the Soul Master world, it's impossible for me to withstand the spiritual shock and energy impact of a thousand-year soul ring. Wouldn't that be courting death? I haven't tried."
"Common knowledge? Hahahaha!" Lor Diarra suddenly let out several short, shrill laughs, filled with disdain for common knowledge. "In the face of unknown phenomena, common knowledge exists to be broken!
Your situation itself has already surpassed common knowledge! It is common knowledge that level ten Soul Power cannot absorb a Hundred Year Soul Ring, yet you are now even bursting Hundred Year Soul Rings apart! So when facing a thousand-year soul ring with a higher energy level and a more stable structure, will your martial soul destroy it in the same way, or... will it produce a different reaction?
For example, could the increased strength of the soul ring instead allow it to reach some critical point of temporary stability? Even a moment of stability would be enough to prove one of my hypotheses!"
The more he spoke, the more excited he became. He gestured wildly, completely immersed in his own theoretical deductions. "Yes! We have to try a thousand-year soul ring! This will be a crucial control experiment!
It could greatly advance my understanding of your martial soul's true nature! It may even overturn part of the foundation of existing soul ring absorption theory!"
Before you continue