Zhu Zhuqing stumbled, then steadied herself against the edge of the bed.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then, as she had done countless times before, roused the Soul Power within her.
"Hell Spirit Cat, possess me!"
In an instant, black Soul Power erupted from her body.
A pair of fluffy black cat ears sprang up atop her head, and a slender tail unfurled behind her.
Gu Chensha, who had reappeared beside her, glanced over her and a hint of amusement flickered in his eyes.
Those soft, fluffy ears made him want to tease her a little.
Zhu Zhuqing had already noticed the changes to her Martial Soul.
It was still the Hell Spirit Cat, but it was now utterly unlike before...
Fine Dark Gold Demonic Markings had appeared on her cat ears and tail, as well as on her exposed forearms, neck, and lower abdomen!
A trace of dark gold, abyssal color had also seeped into the depths of her slit pupils.
Her once cool and aloof presence now carried a hint of chilling ferocity and oppressive force.
But... something seemed wrong.
Why did her Soul Power Level seem to have... dropped?
She had been a Level 27 Soul Grandmaster before. Why was she only Level 21 now?
"Something gained, something lost. This is the inevitable price. Though your Soul Power has temporarily declined, your Innate Soul Power has changed."
Gu Chensha looked at her and spoke calmly.
"I've already raised your Innate Soul Power from Level 6 straight to Level 10. In other words, you now possess Innate Full Soul Power."
Actually, Gu Chensha still felt a little regretful. It would have been best if he could have reset her level directly to Level 10 and stripped away those two Soul Skills he considered unbearably stupid.
Hearing this, Zhu Zhuqing's beautiful eyes trembled, and tears welled up in an instant.
It wasn't as if she had never cried.
But those tears had all fallen in the depths of night, where no one could see them:
They had fallen when she trained until her Soul Power was spent and she collapsed helplessly onto the cold ground.
They had fallen amid the idle gossip of others mocking her mediocre talent.
They had fallen in an empty inn room after she learned that her fiancé had abandoned his family and gone off alone to Suotuo City to carouse among women.
She had always kept herself taut, like a bow drawn to its limit, not daring to relax for even a moment.
She knew all too well what Level 6 Innate Soul Power meant.
Among commoners, it was already a rare talent, but she had been born into a family under the Star Luo Imperial Family.
Under the law of the jungle, that starting point left her far behind everyone else.
If she didn't want her family to abandon her, if she wanted to survive the Imperial Family's cruel trials, if she wanted to catch up with the person who was supposed to stand by her side, she had to work ten, a hundred times harder than anyone else!
All along the way, as she fled the Star Luo Empire, assassins had cornered her and Soul Beasts had attacked her. How many times had she fallen into pools of blood, only to endure through sheer force of will, driven by the thought that she refused to accept her fate?
So... she could have Innate Full Soul Power too!
So she didn't have to keep fighting with all her might just to catch up to everyone else's starting point.
At last, she could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes. One after another, they fell onto the back of her hand.
She made no sound as she cried, and her shoulders barely shook.
Only her faintly heaving chest and uncontrollably trembling lashes gave away the emotions she had kept bottled up for more than a decade, finally breaking through in that moment.
Gu Chensha leaned against a nearby pillar. He didn't disturb her, only watched in silence as the amusement in his eyes faded.
He understood the grievances hidden beneath the girl's hard exterior.
She had the fiercest tenacity and the most burning resolve, yet she was trapped in her family's schemes and an absurd engagement.
She had wasted half her life on a coward who didn't even dare shoulder his own fate, only to end up as someone else's foil, unable even to walk her own path straight.
Still, he offered no soft words of comfort. He merely gave a cold sneer.
Only after she raised a hand and roughly wiped her face with the back of it, barely tamped down her surging emotions, and put her cool, aloof mask back on did he speak.
"Innate Full Soul Power is only a beginning."
He lifted his chin. "You haven't yet seen what can truly change your fate. Try your Second Martial Soul."
Zhu Zhuqing froze for a moment, then instinctively followed his guidance, calming herself and reaching toward the searing Dark Gold power that had been concealed from her.
"Second Martial Soul, Primordial Demon Spider Emperor!"
She spoke the name almost by instinct.
The instant the words left her lips, a terrifying aura far more immense than that of the Hell Spirit Cat burst from within her!
A wave of Dark Gold Soul Power swept through the entire room, and even the air was compressed until it let out a piercing buzz.
The void behind her was torn open, and eight Dark Gold spider legs covered in mysterious demonic markings slowly reached through the rift. Every bristle shimmered with a cold metallic sheen.
Even as a mere phantom, it bore the pressure of a Fierce Beast Emperor, enough to scatter an ordinary Soul Master's soul.
This was the pinnacle of the Man Faced Demon Spider's evolution—the Primordial Demon Spider Emperor!
Gu Chensha narrowed his eyes as he watched. He wasn't the least bit worried that the commotion would alert the big shots at Spirit Hall.
If he couldn't even conceal a disturbance like this, then he might as well have wasted his five hundred years.
Zhu Zhuqing herself had gone rigid.
She could clearly feel that this Martial Soul was connected to her bloodline, a power that belonged to her and her alone.
Vast Soul Power flowed through her meridians without the slightest resistance.
Just then, a Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath her feet.
It wasn't the familiar yellow Hundred-Year Soul Ring, nor a purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring, nor even the red Soul Ring of a legendary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast...
It was a Dark Black Soul Ring, dark beyond all measure!
Fine Dark Gold Demonic Markings wound around its surface, and a blood-red halo, like a Blood Moon, shimmered along its edges.
With each rotation, it exuded a suffocating, ferocious aura.
Zhu Zhuqing stared at the Soul Ring beneath her feet, holding her breath.
In all her years, the highest-ranked Soul Ring she had ever seen was the Ten-Thousand-Year Black Ring of an elder in her family.
Forget two hundred thousand years; she had only ever heard of red Soul Rings from Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.
Yet now, a terrifying Soul Ring far beyond anything in legend rested quietly around her, becoming the First Soul Ring of her Second Martial Soul.
"That's right. This is your Second Martial Soul."
Gu Chensha's voice brimmed with effortless pride.
"Today, its mere appearance can awe everyone. Given time, slaying gods and slaughtering Buddhas will be yours with a single thought."
He made no effort to hide his pride in his Origin Body.
"The Soul Ring I gave you comes with two Soul Skills. That two-hundred-thousand-year Head Bone also has two exclusive abilities."
"You can slowly explore what they can do."
Just as he finished speaking, his brows suddenly lifted. He looked toward the door.
"Put your Martial Soul away first. Someone's coming."
Just as he finished speaking, his brows suddenly lifted. He looked toward the door.
"Put your Martial Soul away first. Someone's coming."
"Remember, whatever they ask in a moment, answer the way I taught you."
Before you continue