Becoming a Soul Elder

Xuan Qing spent half a day absorbing the Soul Ring. When it had fully melded into his body, his Soul Power surged wildly.

He shot straight to the peak of level twenty-nine! He was just a hair's breadth from level thirty and could break through at any time.

In truth, he had only advanced one level. He had already been at level twenty-eight; without a Soul Ring, it simply hadn't shown.

Xuan Qing opened his eyes and let out a curse.

"Damn!"

His sudden outburst startled the three people beside him. Alongside Di Tian and Zi JI stood a gentle woman in a long, emerald-green dress.

Xuan Qing ruefully grabbed at his hair.

"Too low, too low, too low! I misjudged it. The Soul Ring's age is too low! Nine thousand years would've been no problem, and I wasted three thousand years!"

His body was frighteningly strong. Absorbing a six-thousand-year Soul Ring had put no pressure on him at all.

Even a nine-thousand-year one wouldn't have been much of a problem. But he'd gone and picked a six-thousand-year one because his brain had short-circuited. What a loss!

Di Tian turned toward the woman in green, about to introduce her.

Xuan Qing picked up the thread.

"Emerald Swan, Bi Ji. Plenty of people in the Star Dou Forest don't know your Beast God, but there are hardly any who don't know her."

"As long as they aren't something like a Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, who wouldn't show her some respect?"

Bi Ji bowed slightly, her voice gentle.

"You're too kind, senior. Bi Ji isn't nearly that famous."

Xuan Qing waved a hand. "Come on, no need to be so modest. It wouldn't be wrong to call you half a Snow Empress of the Star Dou Forest."

Di Tian looked a little awkward. He was honored as the Beast God for his strength and his status as one of the Dragon God's personal guards.

But when it came to prestige among Soul Beasts, he truly didn't compare to the Snow Empress in the Far North.

A healing-type Soul Beast like Bi Ji was even more beloved. Even he had to admit that he fell short of her in that regard.

Xuan Qing ignored Di Tian's awkwardness and got back to business. "We need to find another Soul Beast, this time between twenty and thirty thousand years old."

He looked at Di Tian. "Time and space attributes are still the priority. If there aren't any, wood or lightning will do. It has to be an inferior dragon species, and don't pick one that's too young."

Di Tian nodded. "Please wait, senior. I'll be right back."

After Di Tian left, Xuan Qing didn't sit idle. He took two things out of his storage space: Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew and Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum.

He spread out the leaves of the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew. Crystalline droplets glistened on them. Tilting his head back, Xuan Qing tipped all the dew into his mouth.

As soon as the dew went down, the entire Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew withered. All of the Immortal Herb's essence was in those droplets; without them, it was useless.

Then he picked up the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum. Its golden petals gave off a faint fragrance. Xuan Qing tore them off one by one and stuffed them into his mouth.

The petals melted as soon as they touched his tongue, turning into a warm current that coursed through his limbs and bones. Xuan Qing immediately sat cross-legged and began refining it with the Azure Dragon Mysterious Heaven Art.

In the distance, King of Ten Thousand Demons' eyes nearly bulged out of his head. As the king of Plant-type Soul Beasts, he knew these Immortal Herbs all too well.

That was Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew and Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum! Either one was priceless, and Xuan Qing had just eaten them raw?

This world had gone mad.

Xuan Qing spent another half a day refining them. When he had absorbed the last trace of energy, he opened his eyes.

A gleam flashed through his eyes, and his mind became incredibly clear. The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew's effect on his spiritual power had taken hold.

Meanwhile, his Soul Power had broken through the bottleneck at level twenty-nine and reached level thirty, smooth as flowing water, without the slightest obstacle.

One had boosted his spiritual power, and the other had strengthened his body, but he really had only been a hair's breadth away. Even if he'd cultivated for half a day, he would've broken through.

Di Tian had already returned. Beside him crouched a gigantic lizard over ten meters long.

Its body was covered in blue-green scales. Two bumps rose from its head, and it had a pair of wings on its back.

"Mysterious Heaven Wood Dragon?"

Xuan Qing knew it, of course. At the beginner Soul Master Academy, he'd read almost every book in the library.

It was listed in the compendium of rare Soul Beasts: an exceptionally rare inferior dragon species!

Di Tian introduced it.

"Senior, this Mysterious Heaven Wood Dragon is twenty-six thousand years old. It should meet your requirements."

Xuan Qing looked it over and nodded with satisfaction. It was indeed a fine Soul Beast: a wood-attribute inferior dragon, and just the right age.

He stood up and swept his left hand. The Qilin Seal flew out, swelling in the wind until it was the size of a small mountain. Then it crashed down on the Mysterious Heaven Wood Dragon's head.

Boom!

The Mysterious Heaven Wood Dragon didn't even have time to scream before its head was smashed to pieces. It was dead as dead could be.

A deep black Soul Ring drifted up from the corpse. It looked to be close to twenty-seven thousand years old.

Xuan Qing set the Qilin Seal aside and sat cross-legged to absorb it.

While he was focused on absorbing the Soul Ring, trouble broke out nearby. Xiong Jun and the Scarlet King came over, curious about the Qilin Seal.

The seal looked gray and unremarkable, like a lump of stone, but that last strike had been astonishingly powerful.

Xiong Jun touched the Qilin Seal with a claw. The Scarlet King came over too and sniffed it.

And then... trouble started.

The Qilin Seal's protective mechanism activated! It instantly grew larger and came crashing down.

Before Xiong Jun and the Scarlet King could react, the mountain crushed them beneath it. Only their heads stuck out; their bodies were pinned underneath.

The two of them... no, the two beasts were both dumbfounded. Xiong Jun's eyes went wide, and all three of the Scarlet King's heads tilted at once, their faces full of question marks.

What was going on? They'd only touched it—how had they ended up pinned beneath it?

Di Tian had been standing guard over Xuan Qing. When he saw the scene, he nearly burst out laughing. He held it in, his shoulders shaking.

Bi Ji and Zi JI's eyes curved into crescents. Zi JI laughed aloud, tears streaming from her eyes.

In the distance, King of Ten Thousand Demons was grinning from ear to ear. His ancient-tree trunk swayed back and forth, leaves rustling loudly.

Xiong Jun came to his senses and roared furiously.

"Di Tian! Get us out of here!"

All three of the Scarlet King's heads barked at once. "Woof, woof, woof! Help us!"

Di Tian shook his head, stifling his laughter.

"This is a divine artifact belonging to senior. Do you think I can lift it?"

He tried, but it really wouldn't budge. The Qilin Seal was heavy as a real mountain, completely motionless.

"Enough. You two will just have to bear with it for a while. At least you're not hurt. Once senior finishes absorbing the Soul Ring, he'll naturally let you out."

Xiong Jun and the Scarlet King were on the verge of tears. They could only lie there and wait.

Xuan Qing spent three whole days absorbing the Soul Ring. There was simply too much energy in it, and the transformation was slow.

When the last trace of energy melded into his body, his Soul Power rose again, though not by much. He went from level thirty to the peak of level thirty-one.

He didn't even reach level thirty-two. It wasn't that the Soul Ring lacked energy; Xuan Qing's foundation was just too deep.

If cultivation were like building a house, an ordinary person's foundation would be made of ordinary materials, perhaps a meter or two deep at most.

Xuan Qing, on the other hand, had gone mad and laid a hundred-meter-deep foundation, using reinforced steel and C140 concrete.

Another factor was that the drawbacks of his Ultimate Attribute were beginning to show. Though only the Azure Dragon's wood and lightning attributes were ultimate, his Chaos attribute was simply too high-ranked. Each level required several times, even dozens of times, more energy than it did for others. Reaching the peak of level thirty-one was already quite good.

Xuan Qing opened his eyes. He looked at Xiong Jun and the Scarlet King pinned beside him, paused in surprise, then quickly understood what had happened.

Those two had probably gotten grabby and touched the Qilin Seal. Suppressing a laugh, he reached out toward it.

The mountain shrank in an instant, turning back into a brick. It flew into his left hand, then disappeared.

Xiong Jun and the Scarlet King were free again. They scrambled to their feet and ran off, tails between their legs, not daring to look back. They'd lost too much face as beasts.

He checked his condition and was quite satisfied.

"This trip to the Star Dou Forest has been fruitful. We'll head back for now, and next time we'll come help her drive out the sword energy."

The others still looked confused. They had no idea who "her" was.

Di Tian bowed respectfully. "Thank you, senior. You're welcome back at any time."

Xuan Qing nodded and looked at Zi JI.

Zi JI used her Soul Power to lift Xuan Qing. The two of them shot into the sky and flew toward the forest's edge.

Di Tian watched them leave, a smile appearing on his face. There was hope for the Lord's injuries now.

Perhaps he'd finally get a chance to rest, too.