Daily Cultivation

Inside the training room, Wang Qi stood before a chunk of hundred-refined iron half a man's height. Golden Flame gathered in his right hand, continuously compressed from the size of a basketball until it was no bigger than his little finger.

He pinched it between his fingers, twisted, flicked, and snapped in one fluid sequence.

Boom! The Golden Flame rapidly expanded, instantly enveloping the pig iron. Its scorching heat turned the iron's surface red-hot in an instant.

"Still not enough. Even if the flames are compressed dozens of times over, I still can't achieve the result I want."

The Golden Flame traits attached to his Martial Soul were exceptionally good. Both its temperature and its adhesion were powerful; once it touched something, it would inflict an effect similar to Amaterasu from Fire Shadow.

But such an ability was too one-dimensional. The enemy would not even need to study it carefully. Wang Qi could casually think of countermeasures himself.

For example, they could cover themselves with a layer of Soul Power shielding, or launch a two-stage attack. The first attack could resist the Golden Flame, while the second would be the true killing blow. Wang Qi would be placed in a very passive position then.

That was why Wang Qi had always been considering how to increase the Golden Flame's power, such as through Explosion.

The result was that simply releasing or compressing Golden Flame did not give it explosive properties, even if he compressed the flames dozens of times over.

"Looks like I should consider an attack-type soul skill for my next soul ring."

Before transmigrating, Wang Qi had thought the optimal soul skill arrangement was for the first few low-year soul rings to provide enhancement-type soul skills. Such skills would remain useful even at the Soul Douluo or even Titled Douluo level.

In battle, one could activate several enhancement-type soul skills in succession and combine them with offensive soul skills for an explosive kill. But in reality, enhancement-type soul skills came with many restrictions. Their effects replaced one another rather than stacked.

A soul skill that increased strength by one hundred percent would override one that increased strength by fifty percent.

The same applied to speed-type skills. Most would be overridden as well. Of course, some enhancement skills could stack, such as all-attribute enhancements, but most all-attribute enhancement soul skills had relatively low values.

For example, Wang Qi's External Soul Bone could provide a fifty-percent increase. Even if the External Soul Bone rose to the ten-thousand-year level, it could at most raise that increase to one hundred percent.

Even if the External Soul Bone eventually reached the hundred-thousand-year level, its all-attribute enhancement would not exceed two hundred percent. That was the limitation.

Therefore, most Soul Masters would acquire an enhancement-type soul skill early on as a transition, then absorb another ten-thousand-year enhancement-type soul skill later. After that, they would focus on soul skills that supported their own various abilities.

Wang Qi's second soul skill, Golden Flame Armor, had growth potential. He had no need to keep absorbing soul rings that granted self-enhancement soul skills. What he needed to consider now were skill-type abilities.

For instance, skills that enhanced the explosive power of flames, their burning power, their impact, their penetrating force, and so on. Then he could combine them with enhancement-type soul skills to unleash even greater power.

"Little brother, what are you thinking about? I've watched you for several days now. Every day, you just pinch a little fireball and burn iron. Are you planning to become a blacksmith?"

Dugu Yan sat down beside Wang Qi in a carefree manner.

"Nothing much. Sister Yan, have you finished your cultivation?"

Wang Qi was not someone who would disregard another person's goodwill. Though he did not know why Dugu Yan treated him so well, he could tell that she bore him no ill will.

"Ah, that big lug Shi Feng isn't around again. Skipping a day of training is no big deal. Oh, I heard that big lug Shi Feng seems to have broken through. This time, he apparently left to obtain his Seventh Soul Ring. Little brother, do you think the academy will send us a new teacher after Shi Feng leaves?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Wang Qi watched Dugu Yan knead Ye Lingling's little hand as though it were a doll. He felt rather speechless. Did this big-sister figure have a hint of female hooligan potential?

Turning to look at Yu Tianheng, he found that compared with pursuing Dugu Yan, the guy preferred taking advantage of their breaks to brag with Osler and the lively Yu Feng.

Wang Qi did not remember Yu Tianheng in the Original Work having such a laid-back personality.

"It doesn't matter who replaces him. Aren't we usually the ones cultivating here anyway?"

"Rather than training all that useless stuff, we should improve our Soul Power as soon as possible. If our team has seven Soul Kings at the Soul Master Competition five years from now, then even Spirit Hall won't be our match, right?"

"Sister Yan, work hard."

"Little brother, let's go shopping tomorrow. Lingling just arrived, and everyone still isn't familiar with her. Since Shi Feng isn't here, how about we throw Lingling a welcome dinner? Cultivating all day is boring to death."

Dugu Yan complained. Without waiting for Wang Qi's answer, she called over the Shi Mo brothers, who were cultivating nearby. Under threats and inducements, the two brothers agreed to Dugu Yan's request despite not knowing what they would be doing next. Then, as if she had forgotten Ye Lingling was still beside Wang Qi, she casually ran off to Osler's little group to brag.

What Wang Qi did not know was that Dugu Yan and the other three were also secretly watching his side while quietly discussing it among themselves.

"What do you think my silly little brother, who only knows how to cultivate all day, will talk about with Lingling?"

"What else could they talk about? There isn't anyone within thirty meters around them. It practically fits the setting of a lone man and woman together. I bet the two of them are definitely talking about romance and moonlit nights."

"Osler, you're so lewd. Romance and moonlit nights, huh? Tsk, tsk. If you ask me, with Boss Wang's personality, he and little sister Lingling must be discussing something like Martial Soul Fusion Skills."

Yu Feng called Osler lewd, yet even more lewd words came out of his own mouth, making Osler roll his eyes repeatedly.

"Stop fooling around. Keep it down. If you ruin things between my little brother and Lingling, be careful, or I'll let you experience what Jade Python Snake Poison feels like."

"Yu Tianheng, didn't you used to want to pursue me? You tell us. What do you think those two will talk about?"

Dugu Yan was no fool. As Dugu Bo's only Granddaughter, she had seen too many people since childhood who wanted to curry favor with her in order to curry favor with her grandfather, Poison Douluo's most obvious weakness.

Yu Tianheng's methods were not particularly clever. Dugu Yan could see his purpose for approaching her at a glance, so she spoke of it quite frankly now.

Hearing Dugu Yan's bold words, Yu Tianheng smiled helplessly.

"I haven't known Wang Qi for long, but I can tell that he's different from us. Cultivation causes us pain, but Wang Qi truly likes cultivating."

"As for what Wang Qi would talk about with Lingling? I guess it would be related to the Nine Star Begonia Martial Soul. Even I am extremely curious about the abilities of the Nine Star Begonia Martial Soul."

On Wang Qi's side, seeing Ye Lingling quietly squatting beside him, dazedly staring at the iron block that had been scorched by Golden Flame, Wang Qi spoke first.

"These people... Ye Lingling, in the future, at least for the next five years, we should all be teammates."

"My Soul Power and combat strength are the strongest, while your support ability is the strongest. Even if new members join the reserve team in the future, I don't think people with our abilities will be eliminated."

"So, would it be convenient for me to take a look at your Martial Soul and experience your soul skill? I'm very curious just how powerful the healing ability of the Nine Star Begonia Martial Soul can be."