When the deep, nearly black Soul Ring, its edge wrapped in faint gold, finally fused completely with him and the surging Soul Power in his body settled, Lin Ciyan hurriedly looked inward.
Level thirty-three!
He blinked, hardly daring to believe it.
It wasn't joy so much as... that was it?
"Come on, sir, this is a Soul Ring nearly thirty thousand years old! Where's the benefit for absorbing one above my level? Where's the reward for taking on a stronger challenge?" Lin Ciyan ranted inwardly.
"By the usual script, Bei Bei jumped three levels just from absorbing one that was twelve thousand years old."
"This one's nearly thirty thousand years old. I should've gotten at least four levels, maybe even five!"
"So why am I stuck at three?"
He looked at Bei Bei, whose aura had clearly grown much stronger and who had reached level thirty-three as a Soul Elder. The two of them were now tied in Soul Power Level!
Oh no. The latest version had nerfed him!
In an instant, he understood.
It wasn't that the Soul Ring was weak. His Martial Soul was simply too high-tier—an Ultimate Attribute!
Huo Gua's absurd, drink-water-to-level-up progress in the original story had been an exception, after all.
For most people with an Ultimate Attribute, progress was rapid at first, but once they reached the middle stages, accumulating Soul Power became as slow as a tortoise crawling.
The amount and quality of Soul Power required for each level far surpassed that of an ordinary Soul Master.
It was like everyone else used an ordinary water pipe while he used a high-pressure one, with Soul Power compressed to an extreme.
It looked as if he had gained just one level, but the energy contained in it was worlds apart.
Most of the energy from this nearly thirty-thousand-year-old Soul Ring had gone toward "purifying" and "compressing" his own Ultimate Light Soul Power.
Naturally, the increase in its total amount seemed small.
"Tsk. So even cheating has to follow the basic rules..."
Lin Ciyan reluctantly accepted this "cruel" truth.
But soon,
he noticed another strange change in his body.
Apart from the even more abundant and purer Holy Radiance Qilin Soul Power,
he sensed that the cores of his five internal organs—heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—
seemed to be resonating faintly with five subtle, fundamental energies in the world around him: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth!
On impulse, he focused his mind and tried to draw them in.
At his fingertip, a wisp of metal energy, thinner than a strand of hair, flickered with a faint sharpness.
In his palm, a nearly invisible green speck appeared, carrying a trace of feeble vitality.
Moisture in the air gathered into a wisp of white mist so faint it was almost imperceptible.
A tiny spark flashed with a puff, then went out.
A pinch of earth, fine as dust, circled his fingertip.
He could actually draw upon all five basic attributes!
They were pitifully weak, only good for lighting a cigarette, coaxing a sprout, gathering a little dew, or stirring up some dust.
But he had undeniably gone beyond the bounds of a purely light-based attribute!
"Ci Yan, how do you feel?" Mu En asked warmly, concern in his voice.
Lin Ciyan came out of his inward examination and looked at Mu En and Bei Bei, who had edged closer in curiosity. He sighed.
Lin Ciyan answered the question about his level first. "Level thirty-three in Soul Power."
"Teacher, why is it so hard to advance with an Ultimate Attribute?"
"This Soul Ring was nearly thirty thousand years old, and it only gave me three levels!"
At this rate, it'd probably take him five or six months to gain one level.
On average, that meant five levels in two years and one major stage every four.
He was level thirty-three now, so he'd be... about twenty-one before he could reach Soul Saint?
And that assumed he had enough resources. If he ran short, he'd have to wait until the Year of the Monkey!
His face was the picture of hopelessness.
Alas, my 'Way of Relaxed Cultivation' still has a long way to go. If I want to laze my way to Titled Douluo, I'll have to hang in there for quite a few years.
Bei Bei gaped at him. He thought reaching Soul Emperor before the age of twenty-five would be enough to make his ancestors' graves smoke with good fortune, and here Lin Ciyan was complaining that reaching Soul Saint at twenty-one was too slow.
Sure enough, the joys and sorrows of ordinary people and cheaters had nothing in common.
Mu En nodded knowingly and reassured him. "An Ultimate Attribute is unrivaled in power, so it naturally comes at a cost."
"Slow Soul Power growth is the norm. But for that very reason, your foundation will far surpass your peers, and your potential will be greater in the future."
"The Academy does have a cultivation method to help those with an Ultimate Attribute. Once your realm is more stable, I can teach it to you."
Then Mu En shifted the conversation, his gaze bright. "Aside from your Soul Power, did you gain anything else?"
"What's your third Soul Skill?"
At the mention of his Soul Skill, Lin Ciyan perked up a little. An odd yet pleased smile appeared on his face.
His Soul Power surged, and the third Soul Ring at his feet—the deep, nearly black one—suddenly lit up.
"My third Soul Skill is called—Mystic Yellow Exquisite Armor!"
In an instant, an energy armor of archaic design enveloped him from head to toe. It was a deep yellow, its surface flowing with a warm sheen.
The armor was not bulky. Instead, it was light and close-fitting, its lines smooth and marked with faint tortoiseshell patterns. It exuded an aura of enduring antiquity, as if no technique could breach it.
"Once activated, this skill condenses an armor of ultimate defensive energy. Its defensive power grows as my Soul Power increases."
"And most importantly..." Lin Ciyan grinned.
"It has an exceptionally strong ability to absorb and convert energy."
"As long as an enemy's attack doesn't break through in one hit, the Mystic Yellow Exquisite Armor absorbs some of its energy and uses it to replenish my Soul Power. It might even..."
"Well, in theory, I can store that energy and unleash a 'surprise' when the time is right."
Wasn't this a mobile power bank and a spiked counterattack, all in one? And one that could charge up for a burst!
The more Lin Ciyan thought about it, the more he felt this Soul Skill had been made just for him. "From now on, when I fight, I'll activate the armor and put up the Holy Radiance Sky Curtain. The enemy won't be able to hurt me, and their attacks will restore my health through Grace of Bathing Light and my mana through Soul Power."
"If they hit hard enough, I can even hit them with a charged-up Radiant Impact or Dawn Break Fist..."
"A perfect cycle! That's what you call 'defending to attack and dealing damage in comfort'!"
[Alert! You've successfully developed a "slacker-style" counterattack and endurance tactic for your defensive soul skill, deeply aligned with the core principle of "relaxed cultivation." Slacking-Off Points +188!]
[Ping! You successfully developed a "slacker-style" counterattack and sustain strategy for a defensive Soul Skill, deeply embodying the core of the Way of Relaxed Cultivation. Slacking Value +188!]
Mu En's eyes flashed with brilliance, and he couldn't help clapping his hands in praise. "Excellent! What a Mystic Yellow Exquisite Armor!"
"It combines absolute defense, energy absorption, and the ability to replenish your reserves!"
"Together with your previous Soul Skills and Soul Bone Skill, this has already begun to form a complete system!"
Bei Bei stared at the armor on Lin Ciyan—impressive in appearance and even more outrageous in function.
Then he thought of his own Thunder Fury, a simple enhancement skill, and suddenly felt his life as a dragon was full of hardship.
After demonstrating his Soul Skill, Lin Ciyan remembered what he had discovered earlier.
He dismissed the Mystic Yellow Exquisite Armor and held out a hand, uncertainly trying once more to draw upon that faint power of the Five Elements.
Watching the five-colored glimmers flicker one after another at his fingertip, so faint they were almost negligible, Lin Ciyan scratched his head. "Teacher, there's one more strange thing."
"After absorbing the Soul Ring, I think I can... draw upon a little of the five basic attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth."
"It's very faint, but I can feel them clearly."
"What good is that? The flame's so weak it can't even light my cigarette..."
He'd only said it offhand, with a touch of self-mockery.
But Mu En's reaction was far beyond what he expected.
The well-traveled Limit Douluo's pupils suddenly contracted, and for the first time, his face showed a shock close to losing composure!
He stared at the faint five-colored light around Lin Ciyan's fingertip, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly.
"F-five basic attributes?! Ci Yan, are you sure?!"
Mu En took a deep breath, forcing down the tempest raging in his heart. His tone was grave. "Child, do you know what this means?"
"Ordinary Soul Masters have only one attribute. Mastering even one mutated attribute is a rare feat."
"Your Holy Radiance Qilin Martial Soul possesses Ultimate Light from birth—sacred and overbearing. By all rights, it should reject other attributes!"
"And yet, at only three Soul Rings, you can already draw upon the most fundamental power of the Five Elements!"
"It may be faint, but it means that your Martial Soul, your very essence, has the supreme potential to embrace all things and give rise to all life!"
Mu En grew more excited with every word. "This means your path is no longer confined to light!"
"If you persevere, then by the time you reach the seventh ring and attain your Martial Soul Avatar, or even the ninth ring and Titled Douluo, your mastery of the Five Elements will surely rise to a higher level!"
"When that day comes, the Five Elements will revolve, generate and overcome one another, and give rise to all things. You may even... develop a domain of your own!"
"This will be one of your greatest foundations for surpassing those at your level and challenging even higher realms!"
Lin Ciyan was stunned by Mu En's barrage of bombshells.
Develop a domain of his own? Surpass those at his level? Challenge even higher realms?
He'd thought it was just some useless little bonus, but in Old Mu's eyes, it was already become the cornerstone of his future path to godhood?
Oh no. It seemed he'd stumbled into something huge...
So this wasn't slacking—it was laying the foundations for the Great Dao ahead of time?
Watching Lin Ciyan's eyes shift from bewilderment to a growing brightness,
Mu En stroked his beard in satisfaction and concluded earnestly, "Ci Yan, cultivation with an Ultimate Attribute may be slow, but the potential and heights it offers you are beyond the wildest dreams of ordinary Soul Masters, even over an entire lifetime."
"Don't lose heart over your slow progress for now. Your future lies among the stars and the sea."
Lin Ciyan took a deep breath and nodded firmly.
It was true that his cultivation was slow, but when he imagined wielding Sacred Light in one hand and Five Elements Rotation in the other, lying back as he evolved a whole world...
Maybe... a slower pace wasn't so bad after all?
He was following the Way of Relaxed Cultivation, anyway. He could take his time. Who knew—if he stuck it out long enough, he might just become a god?
"I understand, Teacher."
Lin Ciyan's trademark lazy smile returned, but deep in his eyes, a real sense of anticipation for the future had appeared.
"The road is long. We'll take it slowly. No rush."
The workaholics chased speed. He was after a comfortable journey and beautiful scenery along the way!
This time, he'd come out ahead!