A Hundred Years?

"Mm, I succeeded!"

"I'm now an eleventh-level One-Ring Soul Master!"

Su Mo looked at Xiao Wu and said with a smile.

He had known all along that he would succeed in condensing a Soul Ring himself, so he was not overly surprised.

With the system in hand, it would have been strange if he could not even accomplish this much.

"Su Mo, you're amazing..." Xiao Wu lifted her little face, her eyes sparkling with sincere admiration.

She had no idea that Su Mo had the system's help. She simply thought he was incredibly impressive.

Self-condensing a Soul Ring was supposed to be an innate divine ability that belonged to Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts after they took human form, yet Su Mo had created it himself based solely on her explanation.

Moreover, what he had created was a method of self-condensing Soul Rings that was genuinely suited to human cultivation.

Su Mo withdrew his Martial Soul, and the Soul Ring vanished into his body. His expression remained calm. "This is only the beginning."

Seeing how composed Su Mo was, Xiao Wu admired him even more.

"Su Mo, come on! You're a One-Ring Soul Master now too. I'll take you to the Spirit Hall Branch, where you can claim the monthly ten-Gold Soul Coin subsidy for new Soul Masters!"

"That's a huge amount of money!"

Xiao Wu then jumped up, ready to drag Su Mo to the Spirit Hall Branch.

"No, I don't plan on exposing myself so quickly!"

Su Mo immediately dodged Xiao Wu's hand.

"Ah... why?"

Xiao Wu did not understand.

"If I go certify as a One-Ring Soul Master now, what am I supposed to say when they ask where my First Soul Ring came from?"

"Wouldn't that expose the fact that I can condense Soul Rings myself?"

Su Mo looked at Xiao Wu speechlessly.

Seriously, this girl was sometimes very clever, but at other times, she was genuinely stupid.

For example, the way she had blended into the human world.

She had actually done it by becoming a work-study student.

Su Mo did not know how Xiao Wu had obtained her work-study student status, but being a work-study student itself meant that she had undergone testing at Spirit Hall. Only with a certificate issued by Spirit Hall could someone become a work-study student.

So her information had already been registered with Spirit Hall.

Innate Full Soul Power—Su Mo did not know why Spirit Hall had not sent anyone. Even Titled Douluo would want to snatch up such a genius.

Tang San's Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, so that could still be explained, but Xiao Wu's could not.

Yet nothing had happened.

Su Mo could only assume that everyone in Spirit Hall was blind.

The people of this world were all idiots.

Moreover, Spirit Hall knew that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts could take human form, and after transforming, they would basically all possess Innate Full Soul Power.

From that alone, forget about recruiting them—shouldn't they at least confirm whether anyone with Innate Full Soul Power was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form?

Yet they had not done that either.

It was clear that the average intelligence of people on Douluo Continent was problematic.

But Su Mo did not dare take that gamble. He did not dare risk being discovered after going for certification.

For now, he had no intention of exposing the fact that he had mastered the Ring Condensation Technique.

"Ah... you don't plan to let others know that you can condense Soul Rings yourself?"

After hearing Su Mo's words, Xiao Wu immediately looked somewhat disappointed.

"Right now, no one can find Soul Beasts or obtain Soul Rings. If others learned that you can condense Soul Rings yourself, they would definitely be shocked."

"Then everyone would go crazy over you!"

"This is a perfect chance for you to become famous!"

Xiao Wu urged Su Mo on.

Only then did Su Mo realize that Xiao Wu was not stupid. She had simply been waiting for him to expose himself!

After thinking about it briefly, he understood why Xiao Wu thought that way.

It was because she still did not know that the Soul Beast Clan had gone extinct rather than merely disappeared.

"Before I have sufficient means to protect myself, I will not expose the matter of self-condensing Soul Rings."

"Xiao Wu, I know what you're thinking."

"You think that if my Ring Condensation Technique spreads, it would be good for the Soul Beast Clan, right?"

Xiao Wu nodded vigorously.

"But you've forgotten one thing!"

Su Mo looked at Xiao Wu and said, "You've forgotten that the Soul Rings condensed by my Ring Condensation Technique do not come with Soul Skills. Even if it spreads, those Soul Masters would not be willing to cultivate it."

"Unless they were certain that they could no longer find Soul Beasts would they consider condensing Soul Rings themselves."

"And didn't you say that you wanted to have children with me when you grew up?"

"If my Ring Condensation Technique is exposed, there's a high chance that even Titled Douluo will come. At that point, you'll have to run away."

Su Mo calmly analyzed the situation for Xiao Wu.

"Ah..."

Only then did Xiao Wu realize that if Su Mo exposed his ability to self-condense Soul Rings now, it would surely alarm the entire world and attract experts at the level of Titled Douluo.

At that time, she would no longer be able to remain by Su Mo's side.

Until she reached level sixty, she could not appear before Su Mo.

"Then let's not expose it yet..."

Thinking of that, Xiao Wu quickly shook her head.

"That's more like it!"

"I still want you to stay by my side and explain the principles behind those Soul Skills to me. I don't just want to create Soul Rings myself—I also want to create Soul Skills myself!"

"If I create Soul Skills that every Soul Master can cultivate, then other Soul Masters will be willing to choose self-condensed Soul Rings."

Only then did Su Mo smile in satisfaction.

Although Xiao Wu had told him quite a bit about the principles behind the Soul Skills she knew, it was not enough. He was still waiting for Xiao Wu to grow stronger so she could demonstrate those Soul Skills before him for repeated observation.

"Mhm, don't worry. I'll definitely help you."

Seeing how thoroughly Su Mo had considered everything, Xiao Wu looked at him with even greater admiration.

Spirit Hall, Soul Master Creation Institute.

Dozens of the continent's foremost scholars worked through the night without rest. The vast hall was brightly lit, yet it remained shrouded in a stifling atmosphere.

After days of research, they had tried countless approaches and deduced countless possibilities, all of which had failed.

Artificial Soul Rings, Split Soul Rings, self-condensed Soul Rings... every line of thought had yielded nothing.

They felt that every path should be viable, yet they had no idea where to begin or how to proceed.

The scholars were exhausted in body and mind, and their eyes were once again filled with despair.

The sense of mission Bibi Dong had ignited within them had been worn away by one failed attempt after another.

Chief Elder Yun Shuo slumped in the seat of honor, his white hair in complete disarray. His voice was hoarse and weary. "We have a direction, but with people like us, even if we were given another hundred years, we might not produce any results."

"Everything we knew about Martial Souls before is of little use for research into creating Soul Rings."

"We're essentially starting from scratch!"

Elder Yun Shuo's words plunged the entire hall into deathly silence.

They had also realized that what they had learned in the past was basically of no help in figuring out how to create Soul Rings.

Elder Yun Shuo took this report and quickly went to find Bibi Dong.

"What did you say?"

"You need at least a hundred years?"

Bibi Dong flew into a rage upon hearing that.