"Purifying Holy Begonia?!"
Staring at the pure white begonia flower blooming in Ye Lingling's hand, Dugu Yan was astonished.
"Mm."
Ye Lingling gave a soft hum. This was the name of her Martial Soul now. Like her mother, her Nine-Heart Begonia Martial Soul had evolved.
However, her evolutionary path was clearly different from Ye Qinru's. Hers was a positive evolution.
After evolving into the Purifying Holy Begonia, all her Soul Skills had changed. She was no longer a healer who could only heal.
While retaining her original healing abilities, it had gained four more: purification, protection, control, and reflection.
It had also directly granted her an exclusive domain: the Holy Radiance Barrier.
The domain barrier unfolded around her, greatly increasing the rate at which all her teammates recovered Soul Power and dispelling all mental interference skills, including invisibility and illusions.
In this era, there was no such thing as an Ultimate Martial Soul yet, but the term divine-grade Martial Soul was already in use.
Ye Lingling's Purifying Holy Begonia Martial Soul had clearly reached that level.
And this transformation could not be attributed solely to absorbing the Immortal Herb Aromatic Silk Beauty.
Part of the reason was that the Nine-Heart Begonia was itself a plant-type Martial Soul, so it absorbed Immortal Herbs far more efficiently than the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda of the same level.
On top of that, the Nine-Heart Begonia's attributes were almost perfectly compatible with the Aromatic Silk Beauty. That was how it had evolved to such a degree. Of course, the most crucial factor was Fang Xuan.
Before handing the Immortal Herb to Ye Lingling, he had added something to it.
The seven-day period for randomly generating a plant had come around again, but this time, the plant was unlike any of the ones he had generated before.
This time, the plant was called an Energy Flower.
That's right, the one that produced beans—the kind you fed to plants to make them go big.
This was also the first plant Fang Xuan had encountered that couldn't be absorbed and turned into a Soul Skill.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that it couldn't be absorbed. The plant had already been used, so it could no longer be absorbed.
Although that was a bit of a shame, it wasn't without its benefits.
Normally, an Energy Flower could only produce one Energy Bean.
But this time, it had produced two, and Fang Xuan had used them on the two Immortal Herbs that Ye Lingling and Ye Qinru absorbed.
At first, he'd only wanted to run a test. Since this was the first time such a plant had appeared, he wondered if the Immortal Herbs could be strengthened too.
But to his surprise, it had actually worked!
In other words, the Immortal Herbs absorbed by Ye Lingling and Ye Qinru weren't in their normal state. They had been strengthened by the Energy Beans.
Their medicinal effects had far exceeded the limits of ordinary Immortal Herbs. That was what had purified the two women's Martial Souls to such an astonishing degree.
"Purifying Holy Begonia... That name sounds so much more imposing than my Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor."
Dugu Yan circled Ye Lingling, her gaze brimming with eagerness.
"Come on, let me see just how strong your Martial Soul is now."
Ye Lingling glanced at her but said nothing. She simply raised a hand.
The snow-white begonia flower in her palm suddenly released a soft halo that spread outward from her.
Wherever the halo passed, tiny golden lights seemed to drift through the air, like stardust falling into the mortal world.
Dugu Yan felt her whole body grow lighter, as if she were soaking in a hot spring, warm and comfortable.
She paused, then instinctively circulated her Soul Power. She found that it was recovering at least forty percent faster than usual.
"Is this one of your Soul Skills?"
Ye Lingling shook her head.
"No. It's a domain skill called the Holy Radiance Barrier, an ability that came with the evolution."
"As long as I'm here, all allies within its range recover Soul Power much faster. Mental interference skills are automatically dispelled the moment they touch the barrier."
"Invisibility, illusions, mind control... None of them work."
With every sentence Ye Lingling spoke, Dugu Yan's mouth dropped wider.
Her eyes were filled with shock.
"A domain? And it came with the evolution? You..."
For a moment, Dugu Yan didn't know what to say. She could only feel her entire worldview being shaken to its core.
Seeing her like this, Ye Lingling felt a little awkward too.
If so much hadn't happened yesterday, she might have been even more shocked than Dugu Yan.
"Yanyan, my Soul Skills are..."
"Don't say anything yet. Just let me collect myself."
Fang Xuan wandered aimlessly through the streets of Heaven Dou City.
After leaving Ye Lingling, he hadn't gone to see Ye Qinru. There was no point, after all—he didn't know what to say.
Tell his mother-in-law to let go of the past?
What a joke. If this had happened to him, he wouldn't be able to let it go either.
He'd originally planned to find his master, Dugu Bo, and have a chat, but he'd stopped by earlier and found him gone. He had no idea where he'd gone off to.
His wife had been monopolized by Dugu Yan, his mother-in-law was someone he couldn't afford to provoke, and his master, Dugu Bo, was nowhere to be found.
He hadn't been in Heaven Dou City long and didn't know many people, so all he could do was wander the streets.
"I wonder what the next one will be."
Ever since his Martial Soul generated the Energy Flower yesterday, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it.
A plant that couldn't be turned into a Soul Skill, yet could be absorbed by other plants—he'd never encountered anything like it before.
"If the energy produced by an Energy Flower can be absorbed by Immortal Herbs, does that mean I can..."
Fang Xuan walked along, lost in thought, and accidentally bumped into a passerby.
"Sorry, sorry. I was distracted. Are you all right?"
Fang Xuan looked apologetic, but before he could finish speaking, the other person grabbed him by the collar.
"Kid, are you blind, or did you do that on purpose?"
Fang Xuan looked up, meeting a sharply defined face.
The other man was burly, with bulging muscles in both arms. His shoulders were so broad they blocked out half the street's sunlight, and his hands were like iron pincers, clamped around Fang Xuan's collar.
"Hey, kid, I'm talking to you. Are you deaf?"
Tailong narrowed his eyes, his voice full of his usual arrogance.
He was the young master of the Strength Clan, born with enormous strength. Here in Heaven Dou City, he was always the one bumping into others. Since when did anyone get to bump into him?
Besides, the skinny kid in front of him looked like an ordinary Soul Master. After knocking into him, he'd tossed off a light "Are you all right?" as if that were enough to put the matter behind them. It was as if he didn't take Tailong seriously at all.
Fang Xuan didn't struggle or step back. He simply looked at the other man calmly.
His gaze was so indifferent that Tailong felt a sudden, inexplicable tightening in his chest.
"I said—let go."
His voice wasn't loud; it was even gentle, but the chill in it made Tailong's fingers loosen around his collar despite himself.
He immediately came to his senses, angered by his momentary hesitation. He tightened his grip and yanked Fang Xuan half a step forward.
"What are you, to talk to me like that? Do you know who I am?"
Seeing how overbearing the other man was, Fang Xuan sighed helplessly.
"My luck's really awful today. I step outside and immediately run into an empty-headed idiot."