Sea-Swallowing Cloud Whale

However, for the parties involved below, the lethality of these words was fatal.

Xiao Qing stared blankly at Qian San, an unprecedented warmth flooding her entire body, shattering all the defenses and pretenses she had maintained until now, her eyes growing slightly hot.

She knew Qian San's character; this rational, steady, and sometimes even ruthless boy in battle never spoke empty words. Once he said something like this, it was a promise he would fulfill even if it meant being ground to dust.

Yet, while moved, Xiao Qing secretly made a vow in her heart, If that day truly comes, even if I must die, I will die before you. I will never let you suffer even the slightest harm for my sake.

Qian Xunji, watching this display of deep sibling affection from the tree, could no longer hold back. Fearing he would be choked to death by the cloying stench of romance if he listened any longer, he cleared his throat and intentionally made some noise.

"Ahem... the sunset is infinitely beautiful, but the wind is a bit strong; it's giving me goosebumps."

With this teasing remark, Qian Xunji drifted down like a falling leaf, dragging a dying whale in his hand, and landed steadily behind the two.

Qian San and Xiao Qing sprang apart as if electrocuted. A rare, suspicious blush appeared on Qian San's face; he hurriedly stood up and bowed respectfully, "Father, you've returned!"

Xiao Qing also stood up. Although her expression returned to normal, her earlobes were red enough to bleed. She lowered her head and called out, "Uncle Qian."

"Enough, don't be so formal." Qian Xunji forcibly suppressed his urge to complain and strode over to Qian San, "I told you to consume the immortal herbs before I left. Which ones did you take?"

"Replying to Father, I consumed a Nine-Turn Vajra Vine to widen my meridians and strengthen my physical body and bones, as well as a Winter Water Dew to enhance my mental power, as you warned me that ten-thousand-year soul rings carry mental shocks." Qian San quickly reported his choices.

"That is appropriate. And what about Xiao Qing?" Qian Xunji asked.

Qian San's expression suddenly turned strange. He stole a glance at Xiao Qing, hesitating before stammering:

"Uh... Sister Qing... she successfully plucked an immortal herb called Love-Longing Heart-Breaking Green, but she didn't consume it. Later, she took a Dragon Blood Glazed Fruit. Not only did she reach level forty, but her martial soul has also successfully evolved into an Azure War Dragon."

Love-Longing Heart-Breaking Green? It must be the inverse of the Lovesick Heartbreak Red. To be able to pluck that thing, the feelings between these two were practically written on their faces. But only an Azure War Dragon? He remembered that in the original work, Da Ming eventually became an Azure Divine Dragon. If he ever went to that world, he would definitely have to chop Da Ming up first and bring him back to see if it could enhance Xiao Qing's bloodline.

"Oh? The king of immortal herbs, Love-Longing Heart-Breaking Green?" Qian Xunji deliberately drew out the end of his sentence, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two, his tone filled with undisguised amusement.

"Since you plucked it, why not consume it? What, is it because the flower's name contains the character 'Qing' that you can't bear to eat it?"

"N-no such thing!" Xiao Qing raised her head abruptly to defend herself, but upon meeting Qian Xunji's piercing, playful gaze, she deflated like a punctured ball and buried her head again, her neck turning completely red.

"It's just that... the story Xiao San told about this flower was too moving, and the flower itself is so beautiful... I just... I couldn't bear to eat it..."

Her voice grew quieter as she explained, until finally, the thread-like sound was almost completely scattered by the breeze.

"Haha, good, good. Xiao San, hurry up and absorb your soul ring." Qian Xunji saw through it but didn't expose her.

"Sea-Swallowing Cloud Whale, cultivation of thirteen thousand years," Qian Xunji introduced.

"This type of soul beast doesn't have outstanding attack power and is gentle by nature, but it possesses an exaggerated internal cavity capacity and soul power reserve. The reason I chose this for you is that all your soul skills require massive amounts of soul power as support. The soul skill of this beast will definitely broaden your soul power reserve limit to a great extent."

A flash of light crossed Qian San's eyes. His father was absolutely right. As he controlled more metal, his programs became more complex and the volume grew larger, leading to higher demands on his soul power and mental strength. Now that his mental strength had surged thanks to that skull bone, soul power was his weak point. This soul ring was exactly what he needed.

Without any hesitation, Qian San sat cross-legged, finished off the Sea-Swallowing Cloud Whale with a blade, and began to draw in the black ten-thousand-year soul ring. With a powerful physical body reshaped by the Nine-Turn Vajra Vine and the suppression of a 190,000-year head soul bone, the soul shock of a ten-thousand-year ring posed no threat to him.

After a long tug-of-war.

Yellow, yellow, purple, black! Four eye-catching soul rings rose slowly beneath Qian San's feet.

"Level forty-six!" Qian San opened his eyes abruptly, feeling the surging soul power within his body, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Good lad, a level forty-six Soul Ancestor before the age of twelve." Qian Xunji walked up with a smile.

Qian San nodded and gripped his right hand in the air. This time, instead of manipulating external scrap metal, he used his surging soul power reserves to push his first soul skill, Liquid Metal, to the limit!

A massive amount of blue-silver liquid metal surged wildly from the pores all over his body. In the blink of an eye, the metal seemed to have a life of its own, rapidly climbing and solidifying along the contours of his body.

With a dense clatter of metal fitting together, a set of streamlined, blue-silver metallic armor was seamlessly worn on Qian San's body!

"This... what is this?" Xiao Qing stared in amazement.

"Father, look!" Qian San's voice came through the metal mask, filled with uncontrollable excitement. With a thought, the armor on his arm instantly liquefied, turning into a sharp arm blade; with another thought, the armor on his legs transformed into several complex soul power thrusters.

"The passive effect of this soul ring actually tripled my total soul power, and more importantly, it gave me the capital to squander my first soul skill!" Qian San said excitedly.

"I can now use my massive soul power at any time to form full-body or regional armor from this blue-silver liquid metal on my skin. In battle, I can change the shape of the armor at will—whether it's a shield, a sword, or a hidden weapon launcher, it all depends on my whim!"

Qian San raised his hand as he spoke: "And, I can even bestow the armor upon others."

A stream of liquid metal surged from his palm, flowing rapidly toward Xiao Qing, and in an instant, it covered her in a perfectly fitted suit of metal armor. Xiao Qing lowered her head, curiously touching the cold metal shell on her arm.

"Not bad. And what about your active skill?"

"It's a large-scale area-of-effect attack called [Sea Whale Swallows]. It uses soul power to condense the phantom of a giant whale to crush forward. Although the attack method is simple, it just happens to make up for my lack of crowd-clearing ability. Combined with the passive increase in total soul power, this ten-thousand-year soul ring is very suitable for me."