Restrictions on the Spirit Hall

Qian Yun finally began to understand. Fox Charm used by Hu Liena alone hadn't been this effective. There was only one explanation.

"You mean my Soul Power strengthened your Martial Soul, which caused your Spirit Skill to evolve?!" Qian Yun stared at Hu Liena in shock. Just now, he'd felt that her Martial Soul had become much stronger. It seemed he hadn't imagined it.

Hu Liena nodded. "That's right. Just now, my Martial Soul seemed to grow much stronger. I barely had to exert any effort to get this effect."

She flexed her fist and gave Qian Yun a mischievous glance. "Give me a chance, and I could beat you to tears."

Qian Yun immediately flicked her forehead. "What are you talking about? Don't get cheeky."

Hu Liena pouted in protest. "I'm serious. Just now, I also felt my physical strength get a lot stronger."

"Oh?" Only then did Qian Yun realize that his Martial Soul's enhancement wasn't limited to one aspect—it was comprehensive. That was an absurdly powerful effect.

Just imagine: in the future, with his enhancements, Hu Liena could immobilize her enemies and then finish them off with one punch each. She'd be a real-life Valkyrie!

As he thought about it, the grasshopper in his hand wriggled a few times, as if it had finally come back to life. With a single leap, it sprang from his palm into the grass and vanished.

The surroundings seemed to come back to life, too, gradually returning to how they'd been before.

"Hey, Qian Yun, should we report this to His Holiness?" Hu Liena came up close and asked.

Qian Yun fell silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "Let's not report it yet. We can tell him once the time is right."

"Oh, okay."

After they'd settled that for the time being, Qian Yun thought for a moment. "Nana, I have another idea, though I'm not sure if it'll work."

Hu Liena's interest was piqued. "Oh? What kind of idea? Don't tell me it's a Martial Soul Fusion Skill."

Qian Yun shook his head. "A Martial Soul Fusion Skill isn't that easy. I mean, since I can help strengthen your Spirit Skills, our Martial Souls probably aren't too incompatible, even if they can't achieve a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. So I want to see if we can cultivate together and make faster progress."

Hu Liena couldn't quite believe it. Qian Yun's theory was unheard of. On the mainland, even when two people had the potential to form a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, trying something like this recklessly could put both of them in danger, regardless of the results. If anything went wrong, their Martial Souls might even collapse.

Still, she trusted Qian Yun and was willing to give it a try. In the end, Hu Liena nodded. "All right. What should we do?"

As they spoke, they returned to the Training Room where they'd started. Qian Yun decided on the safest approach.

"We'll sit facing each other, press our palms together, and you'll slowly send your Soul Power into me. We'll see if it can speed up the circulation of my Soul Power."

His Martial Soul was a higher grade than Hu Liena's, and his Soul Power was also slightly stronger, so he should be the one to bear the risk.

Hu Liena wasn't one to fuss. She sat cross-legged opposite Qian Yun and pressed her palms against his. "If you feel anything wrong, be sure to tell me. I'll stop right away."

"I know. I'm not that foolish."

Hu Liena gave a light huff, closed her eyes, and began channeling her Soul Power. Qian Yun focused and received it.

This was the first time Qian Yun had ever come into contact with another Spirit Master's Soul Power. It did feel very different from his own.

Hu Liena's Soul Power was gentler than his. His own, due to the nature of his Martial Soul, had a much stronger force of control and was more domineering.

However, Qian Yun soon noticed something was off. Why didn't it seem to be having any effect?

Qian Yun opened his eyes and spoke to Hu Liena, who was diligently channeling her Soul Power. "Try sending more."

"Ah, okay!" Hu Liena increased the flow of Soul Power through her hands.

"Tss—" Qian Yun felt the Soul Power entering his body, noticeably stronger than before, but he frowned.

"It's not working. The speed of my Soul Power's circulation has barely changed." Qian Yun shook his head.

Hu Liena was taken aback. "How can that be? Even if there's no improvement, there should be some kind of adverse effect. What do you mean, you don't feel anything? Am I not sending enough Soul Power?"

"No. I can't explain why, but I really don't feel anything. My Soul Power's circulating at about the same speed as when I do it myself."

"I see..." Hu Liena could only sigh at the result.

"How about this? You send your Soul Power into me. If I don't feel anything special either, then your theory must be wrong." Hu Liena sounded a little unwilling to give up.

"All right. My Soul Power is a bit special. You'll understand once you feel it." With that, Qian Yun began sending out his Soul Power. Channeling it outward was much easier than receiving it, so he didn't need to close his eyes. Instead, he watched Hu Liena closely so he could stop at once if anything seemed wrong.

The instant Hu Liena came into contact with his Soul Power, her brow relaxed, and her Martial Soul emerged without her even realizing it.

Again? The thought flashed through Qian Yun's mind. Hu Liena's reaction to his Soul Power was clearly much stronger than his had been to hers.

After Hu Liena's Martial Soul Possession, she remained seated, yet her aura grew intense. The Soul Power around her formed a vortex-like current in response to her transformation.

Qian Yun memorized every change. At that moment, after circulating through Hu Liena's body once, the Soul Power returned to him. As expected, he didn't feel anything special.

After a while, Hu Liena finally withdrew her Martial Soul and opened her eyes.

"How did it feel?" Qian Yun asked first.

Hu Liena shook her head, her expression complicated.

"So it didn't work?" Qian Yun felt a little dejected. If even this had no effect, then his Martial Soul must only have one support ability: strengthening Spirit Skills.

"No." Hu Liena shook her head again. This time, her eyes were filled with disbelief. "It worked too well! My Soul Power was circulating at more than three times its normal speed!"

"Really?!" Qian Yun's eyes widened. At the same time, he arrived at a conclusion that sounded far-fetched.

Hu Liena's Soul Power had little effect on him, while his own Soul Power had such an enormous effect on her. There was only one explanation: Qian Yun's Crown Martial Soul was far higher in grade than Hu Liena's Demon Fox Martial Soul.

The supposed effect of speeding up the circulation of her Soul Power wasn't a support ability at all. Rather, the Crown had temporarily raised the limits of the Demon Fox Martial Soul by itself, allowing her Soul Power to circulate faster.

It was the same with strengthening Spirit Skills and speeding up someone else's Soul Power circulation. The Crown was the one-sided cause of both effects!

That's absurd. Even Qian Yun couldn't believe the conclusion he'd reached. It still needed to be verified, but he knew that even if he learned the truth later, it would probably be close to what he'd guessed.

"Yeah," Hu Liena thought to herself, equally amazed.

The potential of Qian Yun's Crown Martial Soul was simply too great. Just the ability to strengthen Spirit Skills was enough to make it one of the mainland's top support Martial Souls. And that wasn't even counting its nearly unique, heaven-defying ability to speed up cultivation.

What's more, those two abilities came with top-tier offensive power. The question was no longer whether it was powerful enough to defy the heavens—it was whether he might draw heaven's jealousy in the future.

Hu Liena grabbed Qian Yun's hand and said earnestly, "Qian Yun, you absolutely mustn't reveal any of these abilities of your Martial Soul to anyone."

Qian Yun looked at her small face reflected in his eyes and felt warmth stir in his heart. "Don't worry. I understand your concerns. I won't tell anyone until the time is right."

With Qian Yun's promise, Hu Liena finally felt reassured.

After returning to his room, Qian Yun sat down at his desk.

Although he was the Pope's student, neither his nor Hu Liena's room was particularly luxurious. They had all the necessities of daily life, but little in the way of extra decoration.

It was late at night, and the room and the outdoors were both quiet, but Qian Yun still didn't choose to rest. Instead, he sat at his desk with a report in his hands.

On closer inspection, the document in his hands turned out to be the restrictions that the two great empires had imposed on the Spirit Hall long, long ago:

Article One: The two great empires recognize the Spirit Hall's legal existence and allow it a degree of autonomy within the designated limits. However, except for the land within Pope Mountain and Douluo Hall, the Spirit Hall must pay rent to the imperial families of both empires every year for all the land it occupies.

The lease term is indefinite.

Article Two: The Spirit City under the Spirit Hall's jurisdiction is permitted to maintain an Enforcement Team for the purpose of preserving public order within the city. Its numbers must not exceed twenty thousand. Any member of the Enforcement Team whose Soul Power Level is above Soul King must be registered with both imperial families.

Article Three: Goods exported from Spirit City are subject to an additional twenty percent tax. The two imperial families also have the right to inspect Spirit City's financial records at any time.

Article Four: Spirit Masters registered with the Spirit Hall must retain their original citizenship. Regardless of the position a Spirit Master later holds within the Spirit Hall, the empire has the right to recall that person at any time, and the Spirit Hall may not obstruct it for any reason.

Article Five: Whenever an empire holds a major celebration, the Pope must attend.

The more Qian Yun read the report, the more absurd it seemed. In the end, his brow furrowed like a bitter gourd.

"No way. Qian Xunji signed this?" Qian Yun was overwhelmed by the headache it gave him. He couldn't understand why the previous Pope had signed a treaty that clearly brought the Spirit Hall no benefit at all.

These articles were like shackles, binding the Spirit Hall so tightly it could barely move. They had all but shut off the Spirit Hall's chances of growing stronger, politically, militarily, and economically.

"It looks like founding a nation for the Spirit Hall and unifying the mainland will be a long, hard road indeed!"