I Don't Understand

After digesting the two Immortal Herbs, Su Fan finally had time to examine the changes in his martial soul.

After checking, Su Fan could only sigh. "Aromatic Silk Beauty truly lives up to its reputation."

He summoned an Aperture in front of his body.

As he stared closely at the Aperture, Su Fan could sense how it differed from before.

First of all, the original Apertures had not possessed the ability to compress space.

An Aperture merely isolated the space it occupied from the outside.

It was equivalent to enclosing a patch of space.

But now, the space within this Aperture had become far more expansive.

Though the Aperture appeared to be only the size of a fist, its internal space could be as large as a human head, perhaps even larger!

Of course, all of this required Soul Power support and was not its normal state.

Besides containing space within it, the Aperture also naturally absorbed a certain special power.

This was fed back into the Apertures within Su Fan's body.

It was far less than the heaven and earth energy brought over by a single use of the Spirit Crossing Method, but it was long-lasting and caused no damage to his meridians.

"I even have a feeling that this power is repairing the meridians I damaged through the Spirit Crossing Method."

A trace of excitement glimmered in Su Fan's eyes.

If that was the case, then he could use the Spirit Crossing Method more frequently in the future.

If the Spirit Crossing Method could be used more often, his cultivation speed would also increase drastically.

"This power's contribution to my cultivation is secondary. Its nourishment of my body may be the real key."

Su Fan had no way to verify it yet.

But he could already foresee it.

He also had a guess about that power. It should be the so-called essence of heaven and earth.

His Soul Power had broken through rank thirty, his Sea of Consciousness had opened, and he had successfully condensed his first Soul Aperture. Su Fan had never been more confident in absorbing a Ten-Thousand Year Soul Ring as his third ring.

Of course, he still did not rush off to hunt a soul beast.

He spent about another month taking two Foundation Solidifying Pills, pills refined from those Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Medicines.

Every day, he pushed his body through overloaded physical training.

Though it had only been a month, he had already excavated the limits he could reach in the short term.

"Now, everything is finally ready."

Su Fan returned to Lingdou City.

He could not hunt a soul beast by himself.

The Su Family Trading Firm could not help him either.

The target of this soul hunt was a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, already beyond the scope of what the Su Family Trading Firm could handle.

One had to know that an ordinary Soul King could not defeat a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast alone.

A Soul Emperor could only be said to be capable of killing a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Defeating or severely wounding one without killing it, while leaving the final blow for someone else, would be difficult.

Not to mention the other dangers that had to be considered.

For example, the Star Dou Great Forest.

Though every Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast had its own territory, once a battle broke out, nearby Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts might very well come to investigate.

In other words, even having a Soul Emperor lead the team would not be safe enough.

To hunt a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast successfully, the safest option was three Soul Emperors, or a Soul Saint or even a Spirit Douluo leading the group.

The Su Family Trading Firm was not yet capable of assembling such a team solely for Su Fan.

So Su Fan could only apply to the academy.

When he joined the Dou Ling Team, one of the benefits stated that the academy could assemble a soul-hunting team for him once.

Though the academy had expected him to hunt a Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

If a student was exceptionally talented and could absorb a Ten-Thousand Year Soul Ring beyond his rank, the academy would naturally be happy to see it.

That was provided the academy possessed the necessary strength.

Did the Dou Ling Royal Advanced Soul Master Academy have that strength?

It did!

As an academy representing the highest standards of an empire, it would be a laughingstock if it could not even hunt a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

Just as Su Fan had expected, after he submitted his application, Director Chi came looking for him that very afternoon.

"You want to absorb a Ten-Thousand Year Soul Ring?"

Director Chi's face was filled with disbelief.

Su Fan nodded.

"Don't mess around."

Director Chi's expression darkened.

"Do you know what conditions are required to absorb a Ten-Thousand Year Soul Ring beyond your rank?"

"Physical fitness must meet the standard, and one must also be able to withstand the soul shock."

"Huh?"

Director Chi had not expected Su Fan to calmly list the two conditions.

"You meet them both?"

"Director, you can inspect me."

Su Fan was completely open, allowing the other man to examine him.

Director Chi looked at Su Fan suspiciously, then reached out and pinched Su Fan's body before sending Soul Power into him to circulate through his body.

After a while, his expression turned grim.

"Your physical fitness is extremely strong, and the toughness of your meridians is frighteningly unbelievable. They are nothing like what a rank-thirty soul master should possess, but they are still absolutely not enough to withstand a Ten-Thousand Year Soul Ring."

Director Chi's tone was extremely stern.

At that moment, he assumed the imposing authority of a director.

He was like a teacher who had caught a pretentious student making a mistake and was about to begin lecturing him.

Yet Su Fan merely said, "Director, you can increase your Soul Power output a little more. Give it a try."

Director Chi frowned.

It was clearly already at the limit of Su Fan's meridians.

When he did not sense Director Chi taking action, Su Fan could only activate his Apertures.

As the Heavenly Circuit Apertures began to operate, Director Chi immediately felt his Soul Power become sluggish and difficult to move through Su Fan's meridians.

Even under the impact of his Soul Power, Su Fan's meridians did not tremble in the slightest.

"What is going on?"

Director Chi was shocked.

He increased his Soul Power output.

It quickly reached the level of impact exerted by a Ten-Thousand Year Soul Ring.

Yet Su Fan's meridians remained as steady as mountains, without the slightest tremor.

Director Chi continued increasing it.

Only when the impact of Director Chi's Soul Power reached the level of a fifteen-thousand-year soul ring did Su Fan's meridians finally show signs of being unable to bear the strain again.

Director Chi withdrew his Soul Power.

His expression was somewhat stunned.

What had happened?

He looked at Su Fan, confusion appearing in his eyes.

"What was that just now?"

As his Soul Power circulated through Su Fan's body, he had sensed the existence of the Apertures.

He knew it had to be the effect of that thing.

Su Fan did not intend to hide it at this point.

"They are Apertures—my martial soul, and also the cultivation method I developed."

Su Fan briefly explained the cultivation of Apertures.

After hearing Su Fan's Aperture Method, Director Chi remained silent for a long time.

Condensing Apertures within the meridians?

It could actually be done like this...

This method should be cultivable by other soul masters as well. But as Su Fan had said, every cultivation method had its own requirements. Everyone's talent differed, and not everyone could necessarily condense the Heavenly Circuit Apertures.

Without the Heavenly Circuit Apertures, its effect on absorbing Soul Rings beyond one's rank would be almost nonexistent.

But the existence of Apertures would undoubtedly benefit soul masters.

Moreover, so-called Aperture talent was really only a restriction for low- and middle-ranked soul masters.

Soul masters who had already reached Soul Saint rank or above might not need to worry about the difficulty of condensing Heavenly Circuit Apertures at all.

"Right, there's also mental strength."

After fantasizing for a moment, Director Chi suddenly remembered that Su Fan's physical fitness was sufficient for absorbing a Ten-Thousand Year Soul Ring beyond his rank, but his spiritual power had not yet been examined.

The Aperture Martial Soul had no spiritual attribute.

What gave Su Fan the ability to withstand soul shock with only three rings?

In response, Su Fan merely said calmly:

"I have already opened my Sea of Consciousness."

With that one sentence, Director Chi stopped questioning him.

Anyone capable of opening their Sea of Consciousness on their own definitely possessed considerable spiritual power.

But Director Chi did not understand.

"Su Fan, how did you do it?"