Soul Ring Upgrade, Four Purples!

The entrance was a circular hall with a soaring dome, inlaid with countless glowing crystals that resembled stars in the night sky.

In the center of the hall stood a massive crystal stele, covered in ancient inscriptions and emitting a faint golden light.

Xu Jiujiu walked up to the crystal stele and carefully read the content upon it.

A moment later, her expression shifted.

"Increasing the age of a Soul Ring... it's actually true."

She turned to look at Shen Zhou, her eyes filled with shock.

"Dean Shen, this tower... where did you obtain it?"

Shen Zhou smiled. "Princess, I cannot answer that question for the time being."

Xu Jiujiu stared at him for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Fine, I won't ask."

She turned to look at a portal beside the crystal stele.

The portal was oval-shaped, its edges shimmering with blue light as if it led to another world.

"Is the Trial Grounds behind that door?"

"Correct."

Shen Zhou nodded. "Once you enter, a Soul Beast equivalent to your own strength will appear.

After you kill it, the Soul Beast's energy will be absorbed and converted by the tower to upgrade one of your Soul Rings.

The tower decides which one is upgraded."

"A Soul Beast equivalent to my strength..."

Xu Jiujiu pondered for a moment. "That means the Soul Beast I encounter after entering will be around level forty-eight?"

"Most likely a thousand-year Soul Beast, but it will not exceed ten thousand years.

With your current cultivation, dealing with a thousand-year Soul Beast should be no problem."

Xu Jiujiu looked at the instructions on the crystal stele again, took a deep breath, and stepped toward the portal.

"Dean Shen, I am going in."

"Take care, Princess."

After saying this, Shen Zhou added, "If you cannot win, you can call for a stop.

The Spirit Pagoda will automatically send you out."

Xu Jiujiu glanced back at him, the corners of her mouth curling upward slightly.

"Does Dean Shen think this Princess cannot win?"

Shen Zhou was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

"Princess, you misunderstand.

I was merely offering a reminder."

Xu Jiujiu let out a soft huff, turned, and walked into the portal.

The blue light swallowed her, and her figure vanished behind the door.

Trial Space.

Xu Jiujiu opened her eyes to find herself standing on a vast grassland.

The sky was as blue as if washed clean, with white clouds drifting lazily by.

In the distance, there were a few low hills covered in unknown wildflowers that swayed in the breeze.

The air was filled with the scent of green grass, mixed with the smell of earth and sunlight.

This did not look like the Trial Grounds; it felt more like a paradise.

However, Xu Jiujiu did not lower her guard.

Her Martial Soul was the Star Crown, a support and control type, not a power attack type.

Although her level forty-eight cultivation was considered excellent among her peers, she was well aware of her shortcomings—a lack of powerful offensive means.

In a team, she was the core, the pillar.

But when facing a Soul Beast alone, her combat effectiveness was significantly diminished.

"Come out."

Xu Jiujiu took a deep breath and released her Star Crown Martial Soul.

Above her head, a brilliant star appeared out of thin air, surrounded by countless smaller stars that emitted a soft, bright starlight.

Two yellow and two purple Soul Rings rose from beneath her feet, slowly rotating around her body.

She raised her right hand, starlight condensing in her palm, ready to strike at any moment.

Ahead, space distorted.

A figure stepped out from the void.

It was a giant wolf with a body of pure silver, standing over two meters at the shoulder and stretching more than four meters in length.

Its fur seemed to be condensed from moonlight, shimmering with a cold, metallic luster under the sun.

Most terrifying were its eyes—a pair of blood-red vertical pupils, filled with violence and killing intent.

Four purple Soul Ring circled its body.

A thousand-year Soul Beast, between four thousand and five thousand years old.

Xu Jiujiu's pupils constricted slightly.

She recognized this Soul Beast: a Silver Moon Wolf, a rare and extremely troublesome creature possessing both Mental Attribute and speed attributes.

"Four thousand years... that's manageable."

She let out a sigh of relief.

With her cultivation at level forty-eight, dealing with a four-thousand-year Soul Beast was not easy, but it was far from impossible.

The Silver Moon Wolf let out a low growl, pushed off the ground with all four legs, and transformed into a silver-white afterimage as it lunged at her.

Xu Jiujiu did not dodge or retreat; she simply waved her right hand.

"Star Shine!"

Her first Soul Ring lit up, and the Star Crown above her head suddenly erupted with intense radiance.

The light spread outward, enveloping a radius of several dozen meters.

As the Silver Moon Wolf was shrouded in the starlight, its speed plummeted.

Star Shine, the first soul skill of the Star Crown, covers a designated area in starlight to reduce the speed and reaction time of enemies within it.

The Silver Moon Wolf's speed slowed significantly, and Xu Jiujiu took the opportunity to retreat and create distance.

She was not a power-attack Soul Master and could not afford a head-on collision with the Silver Moon Wolf.

Her strategy was simple: use soul skills to restrict the Silver Moon Wolf's movements, drain its stamina and Soul Power, and wait for an opening to secure a victory once it was exhausted.

"Star Chain!"

Her second Soul Ring lit up, and the starlight condensed into several slender chains of light that flew from the Star Crown to entangle the Silver Moon Wolf.

The Silver Moon Wolf flickered, dodging two of them, but the third caught its hind leg.

The light chain tightened, causing the Silver Moon Wolf to stumble and nearly fall.

It let out an angry roar and whipped its head around to bite at the chain.

However, since the chain was condensed from starlight and lacked physical form, its teeth snapped at empty air.

The corners of Xu Jiujiu's mouth curled upward slightly.

The effect of Star Chain was binding; while it wasn't a guaranteed hit, once it latched on, it was incredibly difficult to break free.

With its speed advantage suppressed by Star Shine and its hind leg bound by Star Chain, the Silver Moon Wolf's combat effectiveness was severely crippled.

"Starlight Impact!"

Her third Soul Ring lit up. Xu Jiujiu pushed both hands forward, and a fist-sized ball of light flew from her palms, trailing a long tail of light as it blasted toward the Silver Moon Wolf.

The Silver Moon Wolf sensed the threat, its blood-red vertical pupils shrinking instantly.

It spun violently, taking the attack head-on with its back.

BOOM—!

The light ball exploded against the Silver Moon Wolf's back, tearing its flesh and scorching a large patch of its silver-white fur.

It let out a shrill howl and struggled to stand, but the binding of the Star Chain kept it pinned to the ground.

Xu Jiujiu did not give it a chance to catch its breath.

"Star Fall!"

Her fourth Soul Ring—her strongest thousand-year Soul Ring—lit up.

The Star Crown above her head suddenly expanded, and the starlight condensed into a massive ball of light nearly a meter in diameter, which plummeted like a falling star toward the Silver Moon Wolf.

The Silver Moon Wolf let out one final, desperate howl.

The light ball slammed into its body and detonated with a deafening roar.

A crater several meters deep was blasted into the grassland. The Silver Moon Wolf lay at the bottom, charred black and devoid of life.

Xu Jiujiu stood at the edge of the crater, breathing slightly heavily.

The four Soul Ring had consumed about forty percent of her Soul Power, more than she had anticipated.

But at least she had won.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead, a faint smile appearing on her lips.

Just then, a dense cluster of Soul Power drifted up from the corpse of the Silver Moon Wolf.

The orb of light was pale gold, radiating a warm glow as it drifted slowly toward Xu Jiujiu.

Xu Jiujiu did not dodge.

She could sense that there was no malice within the orb; on the contrary, it contained a pure and gentle energy.

The orb merged into her body.

Then, she felt it.

That surge of energy traveled along her meridians, eventually converging upon one of her nine Soul Ring, a purple one.

That purple Soul Ring began to tremble violently, its color changing at a speed visible to the naked eye, shifting from light purple to deep purple, and then from deep purple to purplish-black...