The next day.
On the way to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in Sunset Forest, Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing followed behind the others. Even at full speed, they struggled to keep up with the people in front.
Seeing this, Hu Lieni grabbed one girl in each hand and caught up with the group.
Not long afterward, everyone arrived in front of the thatched cottage inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Ozka set down Xiao Wei, whom he had been carrying on his back.
Hu Lieni let go of Zhu Zhuqing, who said softly, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me."
Without turning around, Hu Lieni looked toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and said, "Elder Dugu, why is this place completely empty? I wanted to ask last time I came. It's such a fine medicinal garden, and leaving it unplanted is a real waste."
Dugu Xue: "..."
"Ahem." Dugu Bo, standing nearby, gave a light cough and explained on Dugu Xue's behalf. "After the mature herbs were harvested, I still hadn't managed to buy good seeds, so the garden was left untended for a while."
"I see! Then, Senior Dugu, have you bought the seeds yet?"
"I have."
"Then let's plant herbs together."
At that, Qian Pingchuan also spoke up. "Second Uncle, take Feng Xiaodi to the pool and help him condense his Soul Ring. And Senior Dugu, you can take this opportunity to consume the Creation Pill and condense your Soul Core. Soul Power is dense inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, making it an excellent place to condense a Soul Core. The rest of us can plant herbs together."
"Mm." Dugu Xue nodded, then looked toward Dugu Bo, who was naturally overjoyed.
"Thank you, Venerable. Thank you, Your Highness." Feng Xiaodi thanked them excitedly, then followed Dugu Xue and Dugu Bo toward the pool.
A little while later.
After the two had gone some distance, Xiong Jun plopped down on a stone stool beside the thatched cottage and said with a laugh, "Your Highness, go on and get to work. Old Bear here is all thumbs—I can't handle that kind of work."
Qian Pingchuan shook his head helplessly. Holding the Blue Silver Emperor in its pot, he said, "Let's go. Don't mind Bear Venerable."
With the Third Prince leading the way, everyone headed into the fields.
Yu Tianshu shot Ozka a sidelong glance and teased him with a grin. "Well, well, Ozka, carrying that young lady on your back the whole way... Tsk, tsk, tsk. Wedding bells must be close!"
Whoosh—
Ozka's face instantly flushed with embarrassment. He hurriedly protested, "Y-you, you, you, don't make things up!"
"Heh. Get your tongue straight before you talk to me. We're all men who stand to piss, and you're still getting embarrassed? Hahaha!"
Yu Tianshu grinned from ear to ear, as if he'd already forgotten what had happened the day before.
Mortified, Ozka forcibly changed the subject and asked curiously, "By the way, how's Yu Xiaotie doing these days? I heard he has several lovers."
At the mention of Yu Xiaotie, everyone pricked up their ears!
Yu Tianshu snorted. "Heh. That good-for-nothing wants lovers too? Why doesn't he just try reaching the heavens? Damn it!"
"So he doesn't have any, then? I knew it. You can't believe everything you hear!"
But the corner of Yu Tianshu's mouth twitched, and he changed his tune. "Apart from his wife, Yu Xiaotie really does have thirteen women on the side."
"Uh... didn't you just say he had none? How'd you change your tune so fast?"
Yu Tianshu said impatiently, "You think that's a blessing? Heh. Let's put it this way: the elders in our family regret finding such an ugly woman for that good-for-nothing! Not one of the children she gave birth to has even average looks."
At that, Ozka couldn't help shivering. He glanced at Xiao Wei without thinking and thought, Xiao Wei is so beautiful!
When Xiao Wei noticed Ozka looking at her, her cheeks instantly turned red. She was too shy to raise her head.
Qian Pingchuan suddenly asked, "Has anyone in your family awakened the Golden Sacred Dragon Martial Soul? The older ones should be more than ten years old by now, right?"
"Yes!"
Yu Tianshu perked up and said seriously, "Although they didn't awaken an External Martial Soul, some of them did awaken Martial Souls that look exactly like Luo Sanpao!"
"That's still pretty good! They might not have an External Martial Soul, but as long as their Martial Souls carry the bloodline of the Golden Sacred Dragon, that's enough."
"Mm! Once we get back, I'll personally train these Golden Sacred Dragon fledglings. After a few more generations, we'll definitely produce one or two Golden Sacred Dragon Martial Souls with pure bloodlines!"
As he spoke, Yu Tianshu began cursing. "Damn it! I never knew about bloodlines before, but now that I've figured out exactly what that good-for-nothing's Martial Soul is... once we get back, we can send that piece of trash to his grave!"
"Kill the father and keep the son?" Qian Pingchuan hesitated, then advised with a frown, "Could that make his descendants resent your family?"
"No problem!" Yu Tianshu waved his hand and explained. "Those children were raised by the clan elders from the time they were little. They don't know who their parents are. Besides, the elders often tell them about that good-for-nothing's crimes, so even if they find out later, it won't matter."
"All right." Qian Pingchuan said no more. He looked at the Blue Silver Emperor that had been transplanted, then picked up a hoe and joined the others in planting herbs.
Xiao Wu had heard the entire conversation. She asked quietly, "Isn't killing people against the law in the Immortal Court?"
"Well, Yu Xiaotie's crimes should have earned him the death penalty, but my father's order back then—'Surrender and you will not be killed'—exempted him from it. But the harm he caused the Blue Lightning Family can't be measured in words! For people like him, the laws of the Immortal Court make allowances for the clan's right to set its own rules. Of course, the Blue Lightning Family still has to go through the legal process before Yu Xiaotie's fate can be decided."
Ozka summed up, "In other words, the Immortal Court fully considers the balance between law and human feeling. Those enforcing the law have a certain amount of discretion when passing judgment. Although Yu Xiaotie was pardoned by Emperor Qingtian, in his clan's eyes, he's unforgivable!"
"Oh." Xiao Wu released her right hand from the hoe and patted her chest, quietly letting out a breath. Thank goodness! As long as I don't do anything wrong, they won't kill me!
"By the way! What did you do to Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong?" Ozka asked.
Yu Tianshu was silent for a moment, then told him what had become of the two.
"One turned into a Human Swine? The other had his tendons crippled? Damn! That's brutal!"
"Heh. I learned it from you. I just cut off four more limbs than you did."
Ozka raised a thumb in admiration.
At that moment, Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing were both feeling uneasy, especially Xiao Wu, since Liu Erlong was her godmother.
"Hmm? It's starting over there!"
At Hu Lieni's exclamation, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked toward Feng Xiaodi by the pool.
Feng Xiaodi sat cross-legged in midair. Beneath the Spirit Gathering Array, Soul Power flowed between heaven and earth, forming a massive vortex.
Soul Power followed the vortex's pull and poured into Feng Xiaodi's body.
"That's quite a commotion." Yu Tianshu exclaimed and watched closely. His seventh and eighth Soul Rings were ordinary ones with a hundred-thousand-year age, and he wanted to condense a special Soul Ring exceeding 200,000 years for his ninth! This was the perfect chance to observe.
"Rise!"
Dugu Xue formed hand seals, activating the Spirit Gathering Array to its utmost. Then he used his own profound cultivation to draw out the two energies within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well: Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire.
As the immense energy entered his body, Feng Xiaodi felt the two completely opposite energies.
Guard the essence, qi, and spirit! Let body and mind embrace as one! This is Holding the Origin and Guarding the One!
Feng Xiaodi guarded his heart, his vitality, and his mind as he circulated the inner cultivation method for condensing a Soul Core.
The Soul Power between heaven and earth and the energy within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well followed the path of Soul Power through his body, gradually refined and assimilated with his Martial Soul, forming a Soul Ring! The two utterly different energies also gradually changed the Martial Soul attributes of the Gale Two-Headed Wolf.
Time passed second by second.
Nearby, Dugu Xue spoke softly. "Dugu Bo, watch carefully and sense how the Soul Power circulates in his body. All the Soul Power in him is drawn inward, then concentrated at his dantian. That's where his Soul Core is! I've already taught you the method for condensing a Soul Core and the path along which its energy circulates. From here on, it all depends on your own understanding."
"Mm!" Dugu Bo looked solemn and focused completely on learning, unwilling to let himself be distracted for even a second.
At that moment, in the herb garden.
Xiao Wu covered her mouth in shock and murmured in disbelief, "The Soul Power fluctuations are so strong! They feel much greater than the commotion caused when a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast sacrifices itself!"
Ozka explained with a laugh, "That's because the Soul Ring Feng Xiaodi is condensing will exceed 200,000 years! Naturally, it'll cause a bigger commotion than a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast's sacrifice."
"200,000 years! Gulp." Xiao Wu quietly swallowed.
Not far away, Xiong Jun saw Xiao Wu looking like someone who'd never seen the world and shook his head in dismay. What a disgrace to Soul Beasts!
Time slipped by quietly, and night fell.
The Soul Power fluctuations inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had subsided. Feng Xiaodi awoke from his meditation.
"Congratulations!"
"Hahaha! The same to you, the same to you!" As he spoke, Feng Xiaodi eagerly released all nine of his Soul Rings.
Purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black, red, red!
Most strikingly, the ninth red Soul Ring was wrapped in two patterns, one crimson and one ice-blue! They were the sign of a Soul Ring over 200,000 years old!
"Awooo!"
Then the two heads of the Gale Two-Headed Wolf Martial Soul threw themselves back and howled at the sky, their voices echoing through the valley.
"220,000 years! Hahaha!" Feng Xiaodi burst out laughing.
Everyone congratulated him, but no one asked what his Soul Skill was. A Soul Skill was a Soul Master's secret, and even as companions and friends, they couldn't just come out and ask.
"So this is the Immortal Court? You can really condense a Soul Ring yourself..." Zhu Zhuqing murmured. The idea of killing Soul Beasts for their Soul Rings had already slipped from her mind. She was wondering whether condensing a Soul Ring by herself was difficult.
"Sis Nier, is it difficult to condense a Soul Ring yourself?" Zhu Zhuqing asked softly.
"Mm, it's still somewhat difficult. Condensing a Soul Ring yourself takes a systematic learning process; it can't be done overnight."
Zhu Zhuqing hesitated, then said softly, "I'll study hard! No matter how difficult it is, I'll keep trying!"
There was no doubt about Zhu Zhuqing's resolve. Her childhood experiences had long since forged her into someone with an unwavering will.
Just as Zhu Zhuqing had prepared herself to spend a long time learning to condense a Soul Ring herself before trying to form one, Dugu Xue handed her a God-Bestowed Soul Ring!
"This God-Bestowed Soul Ring isn't much use to those of us in the Immortal Court. If you absorb and refine it, you'll be able to condense a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring."
"Huh? A God-Bestowed Soul Ring?" Zhu Zhuqing blinked and asked, "What is a God-Bestowed Soul Ring?"
Before you continue