Getting Martial Soul Evolution to work was a trick Xue Yuheng could use time and again.
Both the Golden Crow Family and the Xuanming Sect had given in.
A Demi-God Level Martial Soul could break through to Limit Douluo without hitting any bottlenecks. With a little luck, its wielder could even reach Level 100. No Soul Master faction could resist such an offer.
That alone showed just how powerful the Wordless Heavenly Book was.
Would mass-producing future Limit Douluo affect Xue Yuheng?
The answer was no.
The Power of Creation in Xue Yuheng's Wordless Heavenly Book could do countless things. During each person's Martial Soul Evolution, he had left himself a back door.
If anything ever went beyond his control, he could return them all to their original state.
Incidentally, Yu Tianlong had already left after throwing down his challenge to the guards.
In seven days, he would fight Nan Qiuqiu fair and square.
Under Nan Shuishui's guidance, Xue Yuheng met Nan Qiuqiu at the training grounds.
Dust billowed across the grounds. Nan Qiuqiu had tied her hair in a high ponytail, and her loose training robe made her look light on her feet.
Pink dragon scales covered her fists. Her punches whipped up the wind, and her sweeping kicks were broad and powerful. Every strike was crisp and decisive, driving the Earth Dragon Gate disciple facing her back again and again until he could do little more than defend himself in disarray.
Nan Qiuqiu showed no trace of coyness. Her moves brimmed with boldness. Though she had a delicate, beautiful face, she fought more fiercely than many male disciples, earning wave after wave of cheers from the crowd.
"Senior Brother Zhou Xin, watch out."
After the exchange of punches came the practical Soul Skill match.
The two Yellow Soul Rings around Nan Qiuqiu rose into the air. Her first Soul Ring suddenly lit up, and a beam of light, much like a focused Soul Guidance Ray, shot toward the off-balance young man nearby.
She told him to watch out, but Nan Qiuqiu had no intention of holding back.
After all, Nan Qiuqiu was facing a Soul Elder, while she herself was only a Soul Grandmaster.
Zhou Xin stopped holding back as well. He shifted with an uncanny step, using the Earth Dragon Gate's Self-Created Soul Skill, Earth Dragon Step, together with the speed of his Wind Dragon Martial Soul to dodge the strike that should have been unavoidable.
Back when the Earth Dragon Gate split from the Heavenly Dragon Gate, its founding elders had drawn inspiration from the Heavenly Dragon Gate's Heavenly Dragon Step.
Third Soul Skill, Wind Dragon Flank Slash!
More than a dozen wind blades hurtled toward Nan Qiuqiu. She could only use her second Soul Skill, Annihilation Body Shield, to defend herself.
The wind blades struck the air around Nan Qiuqiu and vanished as if they had sunk into the sea, swallowed up until their energy fluctuations disappeared completely.
"All right, Qiuqiu. You've lost this match." Nan Shuishui had been watching from a distance with Xue Yuheng and Xiao Xiao. Only now did she step forward.
Though her daughter had lost, Nan Shuishui was still quite pleased.
To hold her own against Zhou Xin for a brief time despite the gap of an entire realm was already an impressive feat. She had at least surpassed Nan Shuishui at the same age.
"Mother, I haven't lost yet!" Nan Qiuqiu protested. She still had strength left to fight back.
Xue Yuheng appeared beside Nan Shuishui, holding Xiao Xiao's hand, and explained, "That Senior Brother Zhou hasn't used his full strength, has he? He could have broken through your defense."
Zhou Xin scratched his head and gave a sheepish smile. As expected, he had held back while fighting the sect's Little Demoness, but someone had still seen through it.
"Impossible. My Annihilation Body Shield is invincible among those of the same rank. Even if Senior Brother Zhou had twice as many wind blades, I could still defend against them," Nan Qiuqiu argued.
"You know it's invincible only among those of the same rank. As a thousand-year Soul Skill, Zhou Xin's third Soul Skill does more than just fire wind blades," Nan Shuishui said, her sharp eyes seeing through it all.
Zhou Xin sighed inwardly. As expected, the Sect Master was the Sect Master. He had only just broken through to Soul Douluo and was using his third Soul Skill for the first time, yet she had immediately seen through the hidden trick in his Wind Dragon Flank Slash.
Xue Yuheng had read widely across the ages and was an avid reader of ancient books introducing all kinds of Soul Skills. He, too, had spotted the hidden killing move in Zhou Xin's Soul Skill at a glance.
"What is it?" Nan Qiuqiu wrapped her arms around her mother's and asked coquettishly.
Xue Yuheng was just about to speak when a sharp pain shot through his waist. He met Xiao Xiao's smiling, knife-edged expression and fell silent.
Nan Shuishui seemed to notice Xiao Xiao and Xue Yuheng's little exchange. For some reason, she felt a bit of vicarious satisfaction and smiled as she explained to her beloved daughter:
"The wind blades only seemed to be swallowed by your annihilation attribute. In truth, they merely changed into another form and attached themselves to your body. If Zhou Xin wanted, the berserk wind-attributed Soul Power would erupt in an instant and shred you to pieces. Am I right, Zhou Xin?"
Zhou Xin gave a rueful smile and nodded.
That little spar between disciples had also given Xue Yuheng a chance to get acquainted with Nan Qiuqiu.
For the next half day, Xue Yuheng and Nan Qiuqiu exchanged a few words.
[Name: Nan Qiuqiu
Talent: Mediocre Talent
Bone Age: 9
Level: 21
Cultivation: 2 rings
Martial Soul: Rouge Dragon (Deduction complete)
Optimal Martial Soul Evolution path: Quasi-God Level Martial Soul—Dragon of Annihilation]
The evolution required four thousand-year dragon Soul Bones, three ten-thousand-year dragon scales... Nan Shuishui could still procure these, even under tremendous pressure.
But the essential Dragon Blood Fruit required fresh, vital blood from a true-dragon-level Soul Beast to ripen a thousand-year Vermilion Fruit.
Dragon Soul Beasts could be hunted, but thousand-year Vermilion Fruits were extraordinarily rare. They were uncommon even in Dragon City, let alone across the entire continent.
Xue Yuheng gave a sly smile. How convenient—he had just "appropriated" two thousand-year Vermilion Fruits from the Xuanming Sect, one of them three thousand years old.
Nan Shuishui paid a great price to get a thousand-year Vermilion Fruit from Xue Yuheng.
Late that night
Xiao Xiao and Nan Qiuqiu, two girls three years apart in age, had spent a day together and were already as close as sisters. Now, in Nan Qiuqiu's bedroom, they were sharing little secrets between girls.
The reception hall blazed with light.
"There should be true-dragon-bloodline dragon Soul Beasts in the Far North, right?" Xue Yuheng asked, sitting beside Nan Shuishui.
"But the Far North has always been forbidden to Soul Masters. Hunting ice-attributed dragon Soul Beasts there is even harder than in Star Dou Forest," Nan Shuishui said, puzzled.
The Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North despised humans. Anyone they encountered was killed without exception.
Trying to hunt Soul Beasts in the Far North was tantamount to suicide. Every Soul Master knew that.
"Perhaps we could strike a deal with the three of them," Xue Yuheng said calmly.
Nan Shuishui said nothing.
What the hell? Was he joking with her?
"Your Earth Dragon Gate has a Cold Spring, doesn't it?"
Nan Shuishui looked deeply at Xue Yuheng, her astonishment no less than when he had told her there was an ancient method for raising a Demi-God Level Martial Soul to a higher level.
Only core disciples knew about the Cold Spring: Nan Qiuqiu, Nan Shuishui, and a few senior sect elders.
One face after another flashed through Nan Shuishui's mind. Had Qiuqiu told him?
"May I ask what Your Highness wants with the Cold Spring? No one can enter it by their own power."
Nan Shuishui spoke the truth. Even she, a high-ranked Soul Douluo, had been injured by the Cold Spring's freezing waters. She couldn't dive down into it.
By common sense in the Soul Master World, a Cold Spring like that had to conceal a treasure with an ice attribute.
Unfortunately, the Earth Dragon Gate had never been fated to obtain it.
"According to the information I have, there's an Ice Attribute Divine Treasury at the bottom of that Cold Spring." At last, Xue Yuheng revealed what he had been circling around to say: the purpose of his visit.
Was this what Prince Gan was willing to offer an ancient method for elevating a Demi-God Level Martial Soul to get?
In the back courtyard of the Earth Dragon Gate was a well. Its Cold Spring contained dense spiritual energy, and drinking from it regularly nourished a Soul Master's body.
However, throughout the Earth Dragon Gate's history, only its Sect Masters had known that a cave dwelling lay beneath the Cold Spring.
"So Your Highness wants to trade the Divine Treasury for a dragon Soul Beast with true-dragon-level bloodline." Nan Shuishui understood immediately.
"Just a part of it..." Xue Yuheng said mildly.
A rare thing was precious. A small piece of Ten Thousand Year Profound Ice Marrow would be enough.
The important thing was to let the Two Emperors of Ice and Snow know he had some in his possession...
That would be enough.
"Master Nan, I'm very clear about the difference between an enemy and a friend.
"I'll help the Earth Dragon Gate gain another Limit Douluo.
"In return, the Earth Dragon Gate... must submit to me."
Every word Xue Yuheng said carried weight.
Nan Shuishui furrowed her brow. Without the slightest hesitation, she said, "That's impossible. I'm not the only one who gets to decide what happens to the Earth Dragon Gate."
He had said "me," not the Douling Royal Family.
This young man had grand designs...
The Xuanming Sect... the Golden Crow Family... Nan Shuishui didn't dare think any further.
Xue Yuheng drained the cold tea in his cup, set the empty cup on the table beside Nan Shuishui, and smiled faintly.
"You'll agree..."
Xue Yuheng left.
Nan Shuishui picked up the empty cup the young man had left behind. Her expression darkened as she crushed the blue-and-white porcelain teacup to powder.
The Holy Spirit Cult, the ancient method, the Vermilion Fruit, the Divine Treasury, the invitation—no, the threat.
After staring into space, the mature beauty gave a charming smile. That young man really was interesting.
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