A few days later.
Rumors never needed a deliberate source. They only needed a proper spark to burn into a wildfire.
It started spreading from Spirit City first.
"Have you heard? That beauty by Su Mo's side, the one named Xiao Wu, is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Transformation!"
"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Transformation? How is that possible? Aren't Soul Beasts extinct?"
"Just because they're extinct doesn't mean there couldn't be an early transformation, right? Didn't you see the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone the Pope took out on the plaza that day? And didn't you see Xiao Wu's reaction? Her eyes turned completely red, and she almost went berserk on the spot! If Su Mo hadn't stopped her, she definitely would have charged forward to fight to the death!"
"I felt something was wrong at the time, too. That girl's reaction was just too intense. And the Pope couldn't have taken out a Soul Bone for no reason just to wrong someone; that's the Pope of Spirit Hall. How shameful is it to apologize publicly? If she didn't have certainty, would she go that far?"
"More than that! Think about it, the Soul Power circulation route of Su Mo's Ring Condensation Technique—such exquisite meridian routes have never appeared in the Soul Master world, and they completely conflict with all known Meditation Methods. Could something like that really be figured out by a nineteen-year-old kid on his own?"
"You mean... it came from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"
"Bulls*t! A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast doesn't need to hunt Soul Beasts after transformation; it can condense Soul Rings on its own. This is a fact Spirit Hall made public ten years ago! Su Mo just happens to have a living Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast by his side... Think about it, chew on it carefully."
"If