The moment Bai Shu opened his eyes, he saw Dugu Yan enveloped in a layer of brilliant golden light. Behind her, a massive phantom was rapidly changing.
The original Azure Python phantom writhed and stretched painfully within the golden light, letting out a silent hiss.
Then, under the stunned gazes of Bai Shu and Dugu Bo, two imposing dragon horns burst through the top of its head! Beneath its belly, four powerful dragon claws covered in fine scales tore through its snake body and emerged!
"Roar—!"
Accompanied by a final roar that shook the entire valley and brimmed with supreme majesty, the golden light exploded and dispersed, turning into specks of light that merged into Dugu Yan's body!
Dugu Yan abruptly opened her eyes. Golden lightning seemed to flash through her beautiful gaze as she excitedly summoned her Martial Soul.
A brand-new Martial Soul coiled behind her, majestic and imposing.
The original Azure Python had vanished completely. In its place was an Azure Flood Dragon with twin horns and four claws, finer and denser scales, and a faint dragon's might radiating from its entire body! Its length had more than doubled!
"Congratulations, Sister Yanzi," Bai Shu said with a heartfelt smile, sensing an aura several times stronger than before. "Your Martial Soul should now be called the Azure Dragon. How does it feel? How much has your Soul Power increased?"
"Thank you, Bai Shu. I... I really, truly have to thank you..." Feeling the unprecedentedly surging power within her, Dugu Yan was so excited that she could barely form a coherent sentence.
She hurriedly looked inward, then let out a cry of disbelief. "My Soul Power... heavens, it has already reached level twenty-five?!"
Just last month, she had broken through to level twenty-one and celebrated for days. Yet now, a single Immortal Herb had allowed her to leap four levels in a row! It was practically a miracle!
"Thank you, Young Master! Thank you, Young Master, for granting us new life!" Dugu Bo could no longer suppress the wild joy in his heart. His aged face flushed red, and his entire body trembled faintly with excitement.
His emotions were so tumultuous that his powerful Azure Python Emperor Martial Soul emerged uncontrollably. Yet under the pressure of the newborn Azure Dragon, it unconsciously lowered its proud head!
But Dugu Bo was not the least bit dissatisfied. Instead, his smile grew even broader.
The Dugu Family had truly risen at last! With a genuine dragon-type Martial Soul, his granddaughter's future achievements would be limitless!
If the family could grow stronger because of this, then one day, they might even contend with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan of the Upper Three Sects for the title of the world's number one beast Martial Soul!
Just then, another wave of gentle, water-like Soul Power spread outward.
Not far away, Xiao Wu slowly awakened as well. A soft white glow radiated from her body, and her skin became increasingly crystal-clear, as though water would spill out at the slightest touch.
Her lively, wide eyes also seemed to carry an indescribable air of pure and elegant holiness.
"Wow, Bai Shu, I'm level twenty now! I finally caught up to you! Haha!" The instant Xiao Wu opened her eyes, she sprang up like a carp and bounced excitedly in place, shouting brightly.
As a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who had taken human form, she was absolutely among the most gifted beings on Douluo Continent. Yet even though she clung to Bai Shu every day to absorb his life aura, her cultivation speed still could not match that freak's.
The gap had even made her wonder at one point whether she should never have taken human form. Now that she had finally caught up to Bai Shu, even with the help of an Immortal Herb, she finally felt vindicated.
"All right, stop howling," Bai Shu said with a smile and a shake of his head. "Your Soul Power increase should not end there. Once you absorb a Soul Ring, it should rise by several more levels."
"Really?" Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. She came closer and began counting on her fingers. "Doesn't that mean I'll surpass you?"
"Heh, in your dreams." Bai Shu flicked her forehead. "Not to mention that I haven't eaten an Immortal Herb yet, even with my current talent, I will catch up to you before long. So you'd better cultivate properly."
Xiao Wu pouted unhappily and rubbed her forehead. "Tch, all you ever do is put me down." Though she sounded displeased, the crescent-shaped smile in her eyes made it clear that she was ecstatic.
After that, all that remained was to wait for Xie Biyan.
Although Xie Biyan had the highest Soul Power, the Immortal Herb he had absorbed was also a supreme treasure with the fiercest medicinal potency. Even with the spring water from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well assisting him, he still finished more than half a day later than the two girls.
Only after the sun set once again did the red-and-blue spring water finally ripple violently.
"Old Xie is finally done. I wonder how much his Soul Power has increased."
Bai Shu's gaze sharpened, his heart filled with anticipation.
Xie Biyan's strength was his foundation. Only if this Guardian was strong enough could he act freely on this continent and do what he wanted.
As he pondered, a vast Soul Power pressure, as overwhelming as mountains and seas collapsing, suddenly erupted from the Ice and Fire Spring Eye!
A deep-purple cocoon of Soul Power shot into the sky. The aura of death and virulent poison within it engulfed the entire valley almost instantly!
The pressure was so powerful that not only Bai Shu and the other three Soul Grandmasters in their twenties, but even Dugu Bo, a Titled Douluo, felt a shudder rise from the depths of his soul. It was as though an ancient beast's vertical pupil had fixed upon him, making every hair on his body stand on end!
Fortunately, the pressure lasted only an instant before drawing back inward. It must have been unintentionally released when Xie Biyan broke through.
The next moment, the cocoon cracked with a crack, its surface instantly filling with fissures before exploding apart!
A tall, powerfully built figure emerged before them, bathed in a mist of purple Soul Power.
"...Xie Biyan?" Bai Shu's eyes widened, his voice distorted by extreme shock.
The figure before him was simply too different from Xie Biyan! The original Xie Biyan had been like an elderly man in a park, hunched over a cane every day, as though he might be buried at any moment.
But the person standing before them was clearly a tough, middle-aged man of around forty, with wild black hair, knotted muscles, and an explosive sense of power!
There was no trace of his former aged appearance! If his facial features had not been eighty or ninety percent similar to the elderly Xie Biyan's, Bai Shu would have suspected that the Ice and Fire Dragon King beneath the spring had swapped him out!
Xie Biyan came back to his senses as well. Feeling the surging power within him, a flicker of excitement passed through his eyes.
With a wave of his hand, a brand-new black robe automatically appeared over his body. Only then did he withdraw the cover of Soul Power. In a flash, he appeared before Bai Shu.
"Your subordinate, Xie Biyan, thanks Young Master for the grace of granting me new life."
His voice was no longer old and hoarse, but low and resonant, full of magnetic force.
Before his words had even faded, Xie Biyan had dropped to one knee and clasped his fists toward Bai Shu in salute, his manner more respectful than ever before!
"Old Xie, please rise!" Bai Shu hurried forward to support him, the shock in his heart still unspent. "What... what happened to you? How could the change be so drastic?"
Before you continue