Level 18!

The first soul ring's absolute limit was 423 years—this was an iron law verified by countless cases!

Yet this six-year-old child before her, this abandoned son of the Star Luo Empire's Dust Family who had been judged yesterday as incapable of absorbing any soul ring at all, had just shattered that iron law to pieces before her very eyes with a thousand-year soul ring.

"No wonder..." Bibi Dong slowly drew in a breath, and deep within those eyes that were always as still as an ancient well, an extremely complex glimmer flickered—shock, scrutiny, calculation, and a faint trace of something even she herself did not recognize as agitation.

She understood in an instant why Yue Guan had made such a massive commotion.

"No wonder you went to such lengths to seal this place, even going so far as to use soul power to knock unconscious every steward and low-rank soul master nearby who might have sensed the anomaly."

If this matter were to spread, the shockwaves it would trigger would be incalculable.

Not only would Chen Li personally become a target for everyone, but it would also shake the inherent understanding of many soul masters, and might even provoke challenges to the existing theoretical framework of Martial Soul Hall.

Without almost any hesitation, Bibi Dong raised her jade-like hand, and a deeper, more majestic purple-black soul power, as if imbued with the very laws of existence, quietly spread outward.

This power did not crudely clash with Yue Guan's force field; instead, like the most masterful weaver, it silently reinforced and encrypted Yue Guan's Chrysanthemum Domain, layering over it a mark of absolute authority belonging to the Pope.

Those Titled Douluo-level perceptions that had still been circling and probing at the periphery, upon being swept by this soul power fused with the Pope's authority, retracted sharply, swiftly, and respectfully, like tentacles burned by flame.

The Pope herself had personally reinforced the seal and clearly expressed that this matter ended here. Within Martial Soul Hall, no one was foolish enough to continue prying into secrets under the Pope's explicit protection.

Within the force field, silence returned, leaving only Chen Li's steady, deep breathing and the faint, mysterious hum of energy as the Purple Soul Ring merged with the Lightning Martial Soul.

Bibi Dong's gaze fell upon Chen Li once more. This time, her scrutiny no longer carried the previous detachment or the air of appraising goods, but rather resembled someone gazing at a treasure—or a weapon—that had suddenly revealed world-shaking value, urgently needing to be deciphered and controlled.

"Once he fully completes the absorption and stabilizes his realm," Bibi Dong's voice returned to absolute calm, but every word carried immense weight, "bring him to the secret chamber in the Palace of the Pope. This matter is to be classified as one of the highest secrets of the Hall. The training plan concerning him needs to be redrawn."

Yue Guan bowed in response: "As you command, Your Majesty the Pope." The curve of his lips deepened. He knew that from this moment on, Chen Li's fate within Martial Soul Hall would be completely transformed. And he himself had undoubtedly secured a crucial position within that transformation.

Having given her instructions, Bibi Dong's form transformed into a stream of purple-gold light, silently dissipating from the spot as if she had never been there.

As the Pope of Martial Soul Hall, the ruler of the continent's largest soul master organization, she had mountains of decisions to make and strategies to lay out; she could not remain here for long.

Elder-level figures like Yue Guan were more often deployed as top-tier combat power and executors of special missions, while she was the one who controlled the overall situation and bore all the heavy burdens.

The Pope had departed, and the layer of purple-black reinforced force field dissolved along with her, but Yue Guan's own Chrysanthemum Domain remained in place, merely retracting some of its external pressure to become more restrained, ensuring absolute privacy in this place.

Yue Guan's gaze fell back upon Chen Li, who sat cross-legged in the center of the room. The shock and solemnity in his eyes gradually gave way to a gleam of cunning mixed with appreciation, smugness, and calculation.

"Good lad... I never imagined you could bring me such a great surprise." Yue Guan muttered to himself, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing more eerie and satisfied.

He could already see it: this rough stone he had picked up by chance was shedding its dust, revealing the dazzling brilliance of the fine jade within.

Success would naturally be a tremendous boon. Chen Li's value would skyrocket, and Yue Guan, as the one who discovered this talent, would naturally share in the credit. In the future internal struggles and resource allocations of Martial Soul Hall, he would hold another extremely weighty card.

As for failure? Hah, that would simply be Lor Diarra's fault—that research madman's reckless haste and disregard for the experimental subject's safety. What did it have to do with Yue Guan?

He was the one who had arrived in time to protect and salvage the situation.

Yue Guan casually pulled over a nearby chair that was still intact, sat down gracefully, propped his chin on one hand, and let his gaze sweep occasionally over Chen Li, who was consolidating his realm, and occasionally toward the solemn sky of Martial Soul City outside the window, as countless thoughts intertwined in his mind.

At this moment, Chen Li's consciousness was immersed in a wondrous afterglow of transformation.

It was as if he had stepped from a scorching, boiling magma hell directly into a warm, pleasant immortal spring. The excruciating pain that had nearly torn his soul apart had vanished like smoke, replaced by streams of pure, gentle yet vast power.

Like snowmelt in spring, it flowed unceasingly through his damaged meridians, nourishing his withered cells, repairing every hidden injury. A wave of comfort surged over him, almost intoxicating.

His spiritual power turned inward, and he clearly saw the scene within his dantian's energy sea. The lightning heart, representing the origin of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, now beat more powerfully and steadily, and the electric light flowing across its surface seemed to carry a faint trace of purple.

And there, at the periphery of this heart's core, a deep, condensed Purple Soul Ring floated silently like a planetary ring, slowly rotating. An extremely stable and harmonious energy channel had been established between the two, as if this thousand-year soul ring had always belonged there.

What stirred his spirit even more was the change in his soul power. He could feel his Soul Power Level shooting up like a rocket, from the stagnant level ten all the way to a brand new height, Level eighteen!

From the peak of Soul Master, he had leaped straight past Soul Master and stepped into the threshold of Soul Grand Master! He was only two levels short of the twenty required to obtain his second soul ring! The energy infusion from a single thousand-year soul ring was terrifying indeed!

He focused his perception on that Purple Soul Ring, and soon, specific information about it and the ability it granted surfaced in his mind like instinct:

[Host: Chen Li]

[Martial Soul 1: Logia Type · Rumble-Rumble Fruit]

[Soul Ring 1: [Thousand-year Soul Ring (Quality: Fine) (Upgradable)]]

[Soul Skill 1: Lightning Strike - Law Breaker]

[Effect: Releases an extremely condensed deep purple lightning bolt with the property of magic-breaking. This lightning possesses extremely high penetration and destructive power against energy shields, soul skill defenses, barrier-type effects, and can greatly weaken or even directly pierce through such defenses at the same level. It also has an additional disruptive effect against elemental and mental-type soul skills.]