By the time all the villagers had been buried and laid to rest, three days had passed.
One village, 879 bodies, 879 coffins.
As he left, Cen Yu turned back for one last look at the village.
"Goodbye, my home."
His master had already issued a wanted order, sealing off the entrance to Slaughter City and hunting down every Evil Soul Master within the borders of the two empires.
It wouldn't be long before he could avenge them.
Star Dou Forest.
Bibi Dong looked at Cen Yu, somewhat troubled.
"I forgot to ask, Xiao Yu. Can you only absorb one Soul Ring, or can each of your two Martial Souls absorb one?"
If the Soul Rings were shared, she would have to consider his choices even more carefully.
Cen Yu felt out his own body, then said regretfully, "Master, the World-Ending Heavenly Mother and the Miao Shi Heavenly Maiden are actually two sides of the same whole, black and white."
"So it seems I can only absorb one Soul Ring every ten levels. The Soul Skill is shared, but its effects aren't quite the same."
"I see..." Bibi Dong nodded, falling into thought.
Suddenly, Yue Guan offered a suggestion. "Your Holiness, I think we should avoid Soul Beasts with the same attributes as Cen Yu's Martial Soul."
"We should choose Soul Rings that lean toward strength, Soul Power, mental power, or defense, to keep the attributes of his two Martial Souls from clashing."
At that, Gui Mei spoke up as well. "Your Holiness, Cen Yu's Martial Souls are one light and one dark. Whichever attribute his Soul Ring has, I fear one side will grow at the expense of the other."
Wasn't that how cultivating Twin Martial Souls worked? If one side became too powerful, the Soul Master could explode and die.
Bibi Dong had clearly thought of that, too.
"In that case..."
Suddenly, Cen Yu's eyes turned red.
"Master, there's no need to worry. It's all the same no matter which Soul Beast I absorb."
"My Martial Soul and I are both unique in this world. No matter what kind of Soul Beast it is, my Martial Soul will assimilate its attributes."
Bibi Dong and the other two were surprised for a moment, but soon found it reasonable.
With a god-level Martial Soul and innate level twenty Soul Power, there really weren't any Soul Beasts that could affect his attributes.
Bibi Dong asked teasingly, "Then how many years old do you plan for your First Soul Ring to be?"
"But according to the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul..."
Gui Mei and Yue Guan exchanged a look, both wearing expressions as if they'd swallowed something nasty.
Cen Yu's mouth twitched, too.
He suddenly felt there was no saving his master.
What kind of person asked how old a Soul Ring he wanted, then immediately quoted and plagiarized a book by Yu Xiaogang?
"Master, I think my Martial Soul is strong enough to absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Ring. Anything under 1,500 years should be about right."
"Preposterous! Do you know—"
Before Bibi Dong could finish, Cen Yu cut her off.
"Okay, okay~ I know that book about Martial Souls or whatever is amazing~ You're right about everything, Master~"
"So I want a Thousand-Year Soul Ring."
"..."
At the sight of this, Gui Mei and Yue Guan immediately lowered their eyes, nearly bursting out laughing.
Heaven knew how sick they'd felt hearing Yu Xiaogang's name. And yet Her Holiness still thought he was talented.
In the end, Bibi Dong couldn't win against Cen Yu's second personality, so she had to go look for a suitable Soul Beast.
After she left, Cen Yu turned to Yue Guan with a look of disgust. "Uncle Yue Guan, is Master always like this?"
Yue Guan was taken aback and asked, puzzled, "Like what?"
"..."
"Always so stupid... I mean, so..."
Cen Yu thought for a long time, but couldn't come up with a word to describe Bibi Dong that wasn't an insult.
How was he supposed to put it? He was only six years old. He couldn't exactly call Bibi Dong a lovesick fool, could he?
After thinking it over, he asked, "Does Master always like reading so much?"
"..."
Gui Mei and Yue Guan fell silent.
They'd heard enough to realize that the kid had wanted to insult Her Holiness for bringing up Yu Xiaogang's book.
They wanted to insult him, too, but there was no helping it. She was their superior, so they still had to save her face.
Yue Guan smiled awkwardly. "Don't let your mind wander. Her Holiness is just worried you might be in danger if you absorb a Soul Ring beyond your level."
He wasn't wrong. Bibi Dong was indeed worried that Cen Yu might run into trouble by absorbing a Soul Ring beyond his level.
But part of it was also that she still trusted Yu Xiaogang's shoddy book, cobbled together through plagiarism and patchwork.
After a while, Bibi Dong tossed a thousand-year-old Man Faced Demon Spider in front of Cen Yu.
"Go on. Finish it off, then sit cross-legged and use your Soul Power to guide the Soul Ring into yourself."
Cen Yu looked at Bibi Dong with a complicated expression, his mouth twitching again. He didn't know what to say.
After a long pause, he finally asked helplessly, "Master, do you have something against me?"
The Man Faced Demon Spider was indeed 1,500 years old, right at the limit he'd asked for.
But Cen Yu suspected Bibi Dong was getting back at him for being impatient with that lousy book.
There were so many Soul Beasts to choose from, and she'd picked this ugly thing for him.
Bibi Dong said with a faint smile, "Of course not. This is the Soul Beast I specially picked out for you."
"..."
Sigh... Something was better than nothing. He'd make do.
Thinking that, Cen Yu summoned the World-Ending Heavenly Mother.
The World-Ending Heavenly Mother immediately drove her spear through the nearly dying Man Faced Demon Spider and flung it into the air.
In that instant, the Man Faced Demon Spider hanging in the sky seemed to take countless blows. Boom! It exploded into a cloud of blood.
Its energy then began to gather, slowly forming a pale purple Soul Ring in the air.
"Mm~ Now it's not so ugly. I can just about accept it~"
Cen Yu gently raised a hand, and the Soul Ring flew toward him.
The three people beside him were dumbfounded. Even after living for decades, they'd never seen anyone absorb a Soul Ring in such a fierce manner.
Yue Guan said with a sigh, "As expected of a genius with innate level twenty Soul Power. Even the way he absorbs a Soul Ring is so unusual."
But was this really a six-year-old child?
Why did it feel like he knew everything? Maybe he was just precocious, or his family had taught him? Or was it something his Martial Soul came with?
Suddenly, Bibi Dong realized what was going on.
The kid was dissatisfied with the Soul Beast she'd found for him, and he was taking it out on the thing!
She turned to Gui Mei and Yue Guan. "What do you think is wrong with the Soul Beast I found for him?"
At that, their faces stiffened.
Wait, how were they supposed to answer that? Why did she keep putting them on the spot?
Yue Guan's mind raced, and he came up with the perfect answer.
"Your Holiness, I think Xiao Yu feels that smashing up the Soul Beast will help him absorb the energy in the Soul Ring more easily."
"After all, he has a god-level Martial Soul. It's only natural that he'd have some tricks we don't understand."
Gui Mei nodded quickly, backing Yue Guan up.
"I see..." Bibi Dong thoughtfully watched Cen Yu as he absorbed the Soul Ring.
Before you continue