Treaty Restricting Martial Soul Hall

Qian Yun finally understood a little; the charm effect produced by Hu Liena alone was never this potent, so there was only one explanation now.

"You mean my spirit power strengthened your Martial Soul, which in turn caused your spirit skill to evolve?!" Qian Yun looked at Hu Liena with a shocked expression. Just a moment ago, he had felt her Martial Soul was much more formidable than before, and it seemed that wasn't just his imagination.

Hu Liena nodded, "Yes, that's right. Just now, my Martial Soul seemed to become much stronger, and I achieved this effect with almost no effort at all."

She raised her fist and aimed it at Qian Yun with a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Give me a chance, and I could even beat you until you cry."

Qian Yun immediately flicked her on the forehead, "What are you saying? Have some respect for your elders."

Hu Liena pouted aggrievedly, "I'm serious. Just now, I felt my physical strength had also been enhanced quite a bit."

"Oh?" Only then did Qian Yun realize that the enhancement his Martial Soul provided wasn't just one-sided, but all-encompassing. That effect was a bit heaven-defying.

Imagine if, in the future, Hu Liena had his enhancement while the enemy was controlled and unable to move, and she could just walk up and knock them out one by one—that would basically be a real-life Valkyrie!

As he was thinking this, the grasshopper in his hand struggled a few times, finally seeming to come back to life, and with a hop, it jumped from his hand into the grass and disappeared.

The surroundings also seemed to come back to life, gradually returning to their previous state.

"Hey, Qian Yun, do we need to report this to the Pope?" Hu Liena leaned in close to him and asked.

Qian Yun was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head, "Let's not report this for now. We'll talk about it when the time is right later."

"Oh, okay."

After reaching a temporary agreement, Qian Yun pondered for a moment and said, "Nana, I have another idea, though I don't know if it's feasible."

Hu Liena was also intrigued, "Oh, what kind of idea? It wouldn't be a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, would it?"

Qian Yun shook his head, "Martial Soul Fusion Skills aren't that easy. I mean, since I can assist you in strengthening your spirit skills, it means that even if our Martial Souls can't achieve a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, they shouldn't be too repulsive to each other. So, I want to try practicing together to see if it's any faster."

Upon hearing this, Hu Liena found it hard to believe. Qian Yun's hypothesis was unheard of; one had to know that on the continent, even if two people had the potential for a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, doing so rashly—not to mention the results—would make it impossible to guarantee the safety of both parties. If something went wrong, there was even a possibility of the Martial Souls collapsing.

However, trusting Qian Yun and holding a "let's give it a try" mentality, Hu Liena finally nodded in agreement, "Alright then, what do we need to do?"

As they spoke, the two returned to the Training Room from the beginning. After hearing her, Qian Yun decided to adopt the safest method.

"We'll sit facing each other, press our palms together, and you slowly channel your spirit power into me. Let's see if it can accelerate the circulation of my spirit power."

His Martial Soul's grade was higher than Hu Liena's, and his spirit power was slightly higher than hers as well, so he should be the one to bear the risk.

Hu Liena wasn't one to be coy. After sitting cross-legged in front of Qian Yun and pressing her palms against his, she instructed, "If you feel something is wrong in a moment, you must say so. I will stop immediately."

"I know, I'm not that stupid."

Hu Liena gave a delicate snort and closed her eyes, silently beginning to output her spirit power. Seeing this, Qian Yun also focused his mind to receive Hu Liena's spirit power.

Up until now, this was the first time Qian Yun had come into contact with another Spirit Master's spirit power. It did feel very different from his own.

Hu Liena's spirit power was softer compared to his, while his own, due to the characteristics of his Martial Soul, carried a stronger sense of control and was more aggressive.

However, Qian Yun soon discovered something was off. Why did it feel like there was no effect?

Qian Yun opened his eyes and said to the intently focusing Hu Liena, "Try increasing your output?"

"Ah, oh!" Hu Liena complied and increased the spirit power output from her hands.

"Sss—" Feeling the spirit power that was clearly more intense than before, Qian Yun frowned.

"It's not working, still no effect. The speed of the spirit power circulation is negligible." Qian Yun shook his head and spoke.

This conclusion left Hu Liena stunned, "How can that be? Even if there's no improvement, there should at least be some negative effects, right? What do you mean you don't feel anything? Could it be that the spirit power I'm outputting isn't enough?"

"No, I can't explain the reason either, but I just don't feel anything. The speed of the spirit power circulation is about the same as when I do it myself."

"This..." Faced with this result, Hu Liena was also helpless.

"How about this, you channel your spirit power to me. If I don't have any special feelings either, then your hypothesis must be wrong," Hu Liena said, a bit unwilling to admit defeat.

"Alright. My spirit power is a bit special; you'll know once you feel it." As he said this, Qian Yun began to output his spirit power. Outputting was much simpler than receiving, so he didn't need to close his eyes; instead, he carefully observed Hu Liena's changes so he could stop immediately if anything went wrong.

As soon as Hu Liena came into contact with his spirit power, her brows relaxed, and her Martial Soul manifested involuntarily.

It's like this again? A thought flashed through Qian Yun's mind. He felt that Hu Liena's reaction to his spirit power was undoubtedly much more intense than his reaction to hers.

After Hu Liena's Martial Soul Possession, for some unknown reason, even though she was just sitting there, her aura was intense. The spirit power around her body formed vortex-like air currents due to her changes.

Qian Yun kept all these changes in mind. At this moment, after his spirit power had traveled through Hu Liena's body and returned to him, it was still, as expected, having no effect.

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

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

Hu Liena, however, shook her head with a complex expression.

"Hmm, no effect?" Qian Yun was a bit frustrated. If even this had no effect, it could only prove that his Martial Soul only had the auxiliary effect of strengthening spirit skills.

"No." Hu Liena shook her head again, this time with intense disbelief in her eyes, "It's that the effect is too good! Just now, the speed of my spirit power circulation was almost three times faster than usual!"

"Really?!" Qian Yun widened his eyes, and at the same time, he roughly arrived at a conclusion that sounded quite outrageous.

Hu Liena's spirit power had no effect on him, while his spirit power provided a huge boost to Hu Liena. There was only one explanation: the grade of Qian Yun's Crown Martial Soul was far higher than Hu Liena's Demon Fox Martial Soul.

The so-called effect of accelerating spirit power circulation wasn't an auxiliary effect at all, but rather the Crown unilaterally and temporarily raising the upper limit of the Demon Fox Martial Soul, allowing the speed of its spirit power circulation to increase.

Strengthening spirit skills was the same; accelerating the other person's spirit power circulation was also the same. It was all the Crown acting unilaterally!

"This is too heaven-defying." After reaching this conclusion in his heart, Qian Yun himself couldn't believe it. Although this conclusion still needed to be verified, Qian Yun knew that even if he found out the reason later, it would likely be much the same as what he had guessed.

"Indeed," Hu Liena sighed in her heart as well.

The potential of Qian Yun's Crown martial soul was simply too high; the effect of just one of his strengthening spirit skills was enough to rank his martial soul among the top-tier support martial souls on the continent. That was not even mentioning the heaven-defying ability to accelerate cultivation speed, which was almost one of a kind.

Furthermore, having these two major functions on a single martial soul, while also possessing top-tier offensive capabilities—this was no longer a matter of being heaven-defying, but rather a cause for concern about whether he would invite the jealousy of the heavens in the future.

Hu Liena grabbed Qian Yun's hand and said with a serious expression, "Qian Yun, you must never reveal these effects of your martial soul to outsiders."

Qian Yun's eyes reflected Hu Liena's small face, and a warm current surged through his heart. "Rest assured, I understand your concerns. I won't tell anyone until the time is right."

Having received Qian Yun's assurance, Hu Liena felt relieved.

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

Although he was already a student of the Pope, the rooms of Qian Yun and Hu Liena were not decorated with much luxury. Beyond the necessities for daily life, there were few superfluous decorations.

Although the night was deep and both inside and outside the house were quiet, Qian Yun still chose not to rest. Instead, he sat at his desk, holding a report in his hands.

Looking closely, what he held was actually a restrictive treaty imposed on Martial Soul Hall by the two great empires a long, long time ago:

Article 1: The two great empires acknowledge the legitimacy of Martial Soul Hall's existence and allow it a certain degree of autonomy within restricted limits. However, for all land outside the scope of Pope Mountain and Douluo Hall, Martial Soul Hall must pay rent to the imperial families of the two great empires annually.

The lease term is indefinite.

Article 2: Martial Soul City, under the governance of Martial Soul Hall, is permitted to have an Enforcement Team for the purpose of maintaining internal security, provided the number does not exceed twenty thousand. Any member of the Enforcement Team with a Soul Power Level exceeding Spirit King must be reported to the two great imperial families.

Article 3: Goods exported from Martial Soul City are subject to an additional 20% tax, and the two great imperial families have the right to inspect the financial reports of Martial Soul City at any time.

Article 4: Any Spirit Master registered with Martial Soul Hall retains their original nationality. Regardless of any position the Spirit Master may hold within Martial Soul Hall in the future, the empires have the right to recall them at any time, and Martial Soul Hall may not obstruct this for any reason.

Article 5: Whenever the empires hold major festivals, the Pope must be present to attend.

Looking at the report in his hands, the more Qian Yun read, the more absurd he found it, until his brows were furrowed like a bitter melon.

"No way, Qian Xunji actually signed this?" Qian Yun felt a massive headache coming on. He simply could not understand how the previous Pope could have signed a treaty that was so clearly devoid of any benefit to Martial Soul Hall.

These articles were like shackles, binding Martial Soul Hall so tightly it could barely move. They effectively sealed off any possibility of Martial Soul Hall continuing to grow from political, military, and economic standpoints.

"It seems that if I want Martial Soul Hall to establish a nation and unify the continent, the road ahead is truly long and arduous!"