Successful Absorption?!

He remembered the light that had shone during his awakening at the Star Luo Imperial Palace, followed by the cold abandonment. He remembered Chen Ran's undisguised contempt and expulsion. He remembered the fervor in Lor Diarra's eyes as he regarded him as an experiment...

In this world, weakness was the original sin!

I refuse to become anyone's dependent!

I won't place my hopes on some illusory Child of Destiny!

Chen Li roared inwardly, every word seeming to be carved out with his soul.

I'll walk my own path!

I'll seize my own power!

Those who looked down on me and abandoned me—I'll make sure that in the future, they won't even be qualified to look up at me!

Become stronger! Grow stronger at any cost! Only with sufficient strength can I control my own fate, protect everything I wish to protect, and obtain everything I desire!

The ambitions of Chen Li extend far beyond this!!!

"Creak... creak..." His clenched teeth ground together with an ear-piercing sound. Cracks appeared in the hard bedboard beneath him from the strength he unconsciously unleashed, while sweat, blood, and dissipating matter from lightning energy left it in a complete mess.

He was like a lone boat at the center of a storm, seeming as though he could capsize at any moment, yet he stubbornly clung to the last shred of clarity in his mind. He crazily drove the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to accelerate the absorption, guiding the violent energy as it repeatedly scoured his body on the verge of destruction and rebirth.

Just as Chen Li was undergoing this exceedingly dangerous absorption beyond his level, Yue Guan, who had just finished handling official matters and arrived at this residential area for Spirit Hall personnel, suddenly halted.

His alluring peach-blossom eyes narrowed slightly as his perception spread out like spilled mercury.

"Hm? This Soul Power fluctuation..." Yue Guan frowned, his gaze instantly locking onto the small building where Chen Li lived not far away. "Is he absorbing a soul ring? And this energy level... something's wrong!"

As a Titled Douluo, his perception of Soul Power fluctuations was exceptionally keen.

"That kid? Could it be that lunatic Lor Diarra..." Yue Guan's expression changed slightly. With a flicker, he vanished from where he stood.

The next moment, he appeared like a ghost before Chen Li's tightly shut door. The energy fluctuations emanating from within were even clearer now, confirming Yue Guan's suspicions.

"Nonsense!" Yue Guan snapped, a flash of anger crossing his eyes. He did not need to break down the door. He merely raised his sleeve and gave it a light sweep, sending out a supple yet irresistible wave of Soul Power.

Crack... bang!

The entire sturdy wooden door, along with its frame, instantly turned into countless particles of dust finer than motes, drifting down in a soft shower as though they had never existed. Yue Guan stepped into the room.

The sight before him made even the well-traveled Chrysanthemum Douluo's pupils constrict sharply!

Chen Li sat cross-legged atop the wrecked bed, his body enshrouded by the intertwined glow of a dark-purple soul ring and rampaging blue-white lightning serpents. Floating above his head and frantically pouring energy into him was, astonishingly, a genuine thousand-year purple soul ring!

What was even more alarming was Chen Li's condition. Blood seeped from every pore of his body, while fine cracks covered the surface of his skin. Blood mixed with sweat and black scorch marks left by the lightning had turned him into a miserable, blood-soaked figure!

His body trembled violently beyond his control, and his face was as pale as paper. Yet he still gritted his teeth, his features twisted by extreme agony. Beneath his tightly shut eyelids, only his eyeballs continued to move rapidly, showing that he was still fighting desperately with sheer willpower.

Lor Diarra! You lunatic! Yue Guan cursed inwardly.

Having a level-ten Soul Master absorb a thousand-year soul ring beyond his level was no different from murder!

No matter how special Chen Li's martial soul was or how solid his physical foundation might be, this was practically a certain-death situation! The violent energy could burst him apart at any moment, or the lingering will of the thousand-year soul beast could directly crush his mind.

Yue Guan flashed forward, appearing before Chen Li as if teleporting. His expression was grave. He raised his well-maintained hand, now wreathed in pale golden chrysanthemum phantoms, and moved to press it against Chen Li's head.

Forcibly interrupting the absorption of a soul ring would cause severe backlash to the absorber, damaging his foundation and possibly even shattering his martial soul—but that was still better than immediately exploding to death! Yue Guan valued Chen Li's potential, but he understood even more clearly that Chen Li's life had to be preserved first.

However, just as his palm was about to touch Chen Li's head,

Another change occurred!

The purple thousand-year soul ring, which had originally been pouring in violent energy as though it intended to destroy Chen Li completely, suddenly became gentle and restrained!

The lightning coursing along the ring no longer rampaged chaotically. Instead, it became orderly, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, transforming into streams of soft yet incomparably pure radiance that surged into Chen Li's crown more quickly, yet also more steadily.

At the same time, the violent energies within Chen Li's body, which had been in utter chaos and clashing everywhere, seemed to have finally found their core and the correct path. They began to be rapidly refined and absorbed.

The rate at which blood seeped from his body visibly slowed. Nourished by newly born energy, the tiny cracks across his skin actually began healing at a rate visible to the naked eye! Though his face remained pale, his aura gradually shifted from chaotic weakness into a deep, powerful rhythm.

"This... he succeeded? The soul ring has begun to fuse?!" Yue Guan's outstretched hand froze in midair, his face filled with incredulous shock.

This completely overturned everything he knew!

A level-ten Soul Master had successfully absorbed a thousand-year soul ring?

This was an unheard-of miracle in the history of soul masters on the Douluo Continent! No, it could no longer be called a miracle—it was practically a divine miracle!

He watched as the soul ring fused faster and faster. Chen Li's aura stabilized and rose at an astonishing pace, while the Soul Power fluctuations that had originally spilled outward, signaling his breakthrough, became increasingly distinct. They had reached the level of a Soul Grandmaster!

Yue Guan slowly withdrew his hand and stood with his hands behind his back. His peach-blossom eyes, usually filled with laziness and amusement, were now as deep as a still pool as they fixed tightly on Chen Li, who was at the crucial point of his transformation. Once the shock faded came a complicated scrutiny and assessment.

This brat... actually endured it? And in this way... Yue Guan's heart churned with turbulent waves. What Chen Li had displayed was not merely the uniqueness of his martial soul, but also an almost obsessive tenacity and terrifying potential that made Yue Guan take notice.

Could this truly be the fortune fate had bestowed upon him? The only path to survival granted by that top-tier martial soul? Yue Guan narrowed his eyes, his gaze seeming to pierce through Chen Li's body in an attempt to uncover the deepest secret within the origin of his martial soul.

At this moment, Chen Li's body no longer seeped blood, and the cracks on his skin had mostly healed, leaving only a layer of dried blood.

His breathing became long and steady. The lightning around him obediently withdrew into his body, while only the last essence of the thousand-year soul ring continued to transform into wisps of purple light, merging into his body and completing the final foundation.