Just as his thoughts churned, the purple Millennium Soul Ring had completely enveloped Ye Feng's body.
"Boom!"
A surge of violent energy, far beyond anything a Hundred-Year Soul Ring could unleash, rushed into Ye Feng's every limb and bone like a flood bursting through a breached dam!
"Ugh!"
Ye Feng let out a muffled groan, his body convulsing violently. In an instant, his skin was covered with fine beads of blood.
Pain!
An indescribable agony!
If absorbing the Hundred-Year Soul Ring had felt like being pierced by countless steel needles, then the energy of this Millennium Soul Ring was like an erupting volcano, threatening to melt him from the inside out and tear him to pieces!
His meridians wailed, his bones trembled, and his internal organs seemed to be clenched in an invisible hand, about to be crushed to dust.
The energy refused to be guided. Like a herd of wild horses that had broken free of their reins, it rampaged through his body, wreaking havoc.
After only the first wave of impact, Ye Feng felt his consciousness growing hazy, as if the next instant would see him torn apart by the violent force.
Yue Guan, who had been lounging nearby, had long since lost his relaxed air.
His expression was grave, and golden Soul Power flickered at his fingertips. Several times, he nearly intervened to forcibly stop this reckless absorption.
This boy's body simply couldn't withstand it!
At this rate, he'd burst apart and die in less than ten minutes!
Yet just as Yue Guan was about to act, he forcibly stopped himself.
Because he saw that beneath the tightly shut eyelids of the boy, whose body had twisted out of shape from the agony, his eyelashes were still stubbornly trembling.
He was still holding on!
His spiritual power was like a thread of spider silk, incredibly tough. Though it swayed in the raging storm, it never snapped.
He was actually trying to tame the wild Millennium Soul Beast with what little spiritual power he had!
Yue Guan suppressed the urge to intervene and decided to watch a little longer.
Time passed, second by second.
One hour...
Two hours...
Even Yue Guan's patience was nearly exhausted.
Just as he decided Ye Feng had failed and prepared to save his life, a sudden change occurred!
Brilliant, sacred golden rays of light suddenly burst from within Ye Feng's body!
That radiance was the source power of Ye Feng's Light and Shadow Martial Soul.
Before this pure power of light, the violent Millennium Soul Power that had been running rampant suddenly seemed to meet its natural enemy. It became much more docile in an instant.
Then something even more inconceivable happened before Yue Guan's eyes.
Ye Feng's spiritual power, already on the verge of collapse, transformed into countless fine threads of light. Instead of forcibly resisting or blocking the energy, it began to guide, sort, and weave those violent currents like the work of the most skilled weaver!
He... he'd actually succeeded!
The discovery struck Yue Guan like a bolt of lightning, leaving him frozen in place.
This... what terrifying control and comprehension!
When ordinary Soul Masters absorbed a Soul Ring, they could only endure it passively, relying on sheer willpower to withstand the force until the Soul Ring's energy was depleted or their bodies collapsed.
But this boy...
He was no longer merely a genius...
He was an aberration! A monster!
Yue Guan's expression became extraordinarily vivid.
His initial worry gave way to gravity, then astonishment, and finally turned into uncontainable delight and excitement!
A genius!
This was what a true genius looked like!
An unparalleled genius, without equal throughout history!
I... I finally have someone to carry on my legacy!
His body trembled slightly with excitement. In his eyes, fixed on Ye Feng, burned a fervor he had never shown before.
He looked at Ye Feng as if he were a rare treasure.
No, more precious than any treasure!
Another six hours passed.
When the last trace of purple energy had been completely assimilated by the Soul Power inside Ye Feng's body, the process finally came to an end.
The purple Millennium Soul Ring vanished completely.
Phew...
Ye Feng let out a long breath of stale air tinged with blood and slowly opened his eyes.
A flash of brilliant golden light flickered and vanished in his gaze.
He could clearly feel that his body had undergone a complete transformation.
After the dual tempering of Millennium Whale Rubber and a Millennium Soul Ring, his physical strength was probably no weaker than that of some Soul Elders with top-tier Beast Martial Souls!
As for the Soul Power in his body, it surged like a river bursting its banks.
His Soul Power... had reached level twenty-three!
Absorbing a single Millennium Soul Ring had raised his Soul Power by three whole levels!
"Good! Well done, boy!"
A voice filled with boundless excitement and approval rang beside him. The next moment, Yue Guan appeared in front of him in a flash and grabbed his wrist without ceremony.
A gentle yet vast current of Soul Power entered Ye Feng's body and swiftly made a circuit.
"Level twenty-three! Good! Very good!"
Yue Guan released his hand and paced back and forth, too excited to stand still.
"To absorb a Millennium Soul Ring as a Soul Grandmaster and rise two levels at once! In the Soul Master World, you're the first in ten thousand years!"
Watching Yue Guan look even more excited than he was, Ye Feng laughed inwardly, but let a trace of weakness and lingering fear show on his face.
"Teacher, I owe it all to you. If you hadn't come to my aid, your disciple Ye Feng would have died beneath that Ghost Tiger's claws."
He straightened himself, then bowed to Yue Guan with the utmost solemnity.
"Your disciple Ye Feng pays his respects to you, Teacher!"
This bow was sincere.
This call of "Teacher" came from the bottom of his heart.
Yue Guan paused. All his excitement and delight melted into boundless comfort and satisfaction.
He turned around and personally helped Ye Feng to his feet, his smile blooming as brilliantly as a Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum.
"Good! Good! Good! I accept you as my disciple!"
"Get up."
He patted Ye Feng on the shoulder.
"My name is Yue Guan. My Martial Soul is the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum. I'm a level ninety-four Assault System Titled Douluo, with the title 'Chrysanthemum,' and I'm one of the current elders of Spirit Hall."
A Titled Douluo?!
An elder of Spirit Hall?!
Just the right amount of shock and apprehension appeared on Ye Feng's face. He even took half a step back instinctively, as if the title had frightened him.
Although he'd known it all along, he still had to make the performance convincing.
If a ten-year-old boy could stay calm after hearing the words "Titled Douluo," that would be what seemed abnormal.
"Mm."
Yue Guan was quite pleased with Ye Feng's reaction. That was how a normal person should react.
He said warmly,
"From now on, I'll call you Xiao Feng."
"Yes... yes! Teacher!"
Ye Feng replied with an exaggerated stammer.
"Tell me, what's your second Soul Skill?"
Yue Guan asked curiously.
"Your first Soul Skill, which I've already seen, is both offensive and defensive, with an impressive boost. You chose very well—it's quite practical."
At that, a wry smile appeared on Ye Feng's face.
"Teacher, you don't know this, but I went alone to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for my first Soul Ring."
"I happened to run into a beast tide. I barely escaped with my life, and in the end, I was lucky enough to encounter a Light-attribute Soul Beast that was gravely wounded and on the verge of death. After a life-or-death battle, I managed to obtain that Soul Ring by sheer luck."
Before you continue