Chance Encounter, First Ring of a Thousand Years

In the parking lot.

Mu Xi and Xu Yue walked hand in hand behind Mu Chen. Smiling, she asked, "Dad, how far do you think A-Yue will grow in the future? Will he become a Super Douluo on the Continental Legends Ranking?"

"Haha, as long as Xiao Yue doesn't slack off, getting onto the Continental Legends Ranking definitely won't be a problem. He might even be able to reach the level of the Sky-Crossing Douluo," Mu Chen replied.

"The Sky-Crossing Douluo, the continent's strongest?" Mu Xi murmured. "I think A-Yue will definitely surpass him."

Hearing Mu Xi's words, Xu Yue merely smiled indifferently.

Sky-Crossing Douluo Yun Ming was indeed powerful.

A Rank 99 quasi-god, a four-word battle armor master, and someone who had even condensed the prototype of a godhood—an absolute powerhouse of the continent.

If he had been placed back in the Spirit Hall era twenty thousand years ago, he could absolutely have created a first-class godhood like the Angel God's or Sea God's.

But compared to him, who possessed the authority of two Herrschers... forget it.

There was still a difference between a genius and someone with cheats.

Still, he intended to remain modest for now. Smiling at Mu Xi, he said, "Sister Mu Xi, aren't you a little too confident in me?"

"Of course!" Mu Xi lifted her chin proudly. "You're my little bro—"

Before she could finish, however, she caught sight of someone familiar out of the corner of her eye in a passageway to the side.

"Huh? Xu Xiaoyu?"

"Hmm? Mu Xi?"

The sudden shout caused a group on the other side to look over. The person called out was a young man among them.

Seeing the man at the head of the group, Mu Chen smiled and greeted him. "What a coincidence, Chief Xu. To think we'd run into each other here!"

"It certainly is a coincidence, President Mu." The man Mu Chen had addressed was Xu Wei, the chief financial officer of Eastsea City and head of the Xu Family.

Xu Wei's gaze swept over Xu Yue. "Did you bring your child here to purchase a spirit soul? What exceptional talent!"

"Haha!" Mu Chen laughed proudly. "My nephew, Xu Yue. He has the potential to reach the pinnacle!"

As the two spoke, a small head suddenly poked out from behind Xu Wei.

Her pale blue hair was tied into twin ponytails, and she had fair skin and delicate features, like a doll.

Seeing her appear, Xu Yue smiled and nodded to her.

"Since Sister Mu Xi called Xu Xiaoyu, then she must be Xu Xiaoyan—the future number one controller beneath the stars."

What surprised him, however, was that she did not react to his greeting with the timidity described in his memories. Instead, she continued staring at him curiously.

Seeing Xu Xiaoyan gaze at him so intently, Mu Xi's brows furrowed. She unconsciously shifted her body, shielding Xu Yue behind her.

She felt that greeting her had been unnecessary. Xu Xiaoyan's appearance had made her heart skip a beat for no apparent reason. If she had known, she would not have called out.

Then, looking at the two men who were still talking, she interrupted, "Dad, A-Yue is still waiting to go home and absorb his spirit soul."

"Oh, right." Mu Chen slapped his forehead and looked apologetically at Xu Wei. "My apologies, Chief Xu. I'll have to excuse myself for now. We'll talk another time."

With that, he led Mu Xi and Xu Yue to his car and drove out of the parking lot.

Xu Xiaoyan continued gazing in the direction Xu Yue had left.

"Xiaoyan! Xiaoyan!" Xu Wei called twice. "What's wrong with you?"

Only then did Xu Xiaoyan snap back to her senses. Blinking her deep blue eyes, she looked at her father.

"Dad, it feels like there's something about that big brother that's drawing me in."

"..."

Blacksmith Association.

In the living room.

Under the watchful eyes of the three members of the Mu Family, Xu Yue adjusted himself and opened the energy barrier containing the earth-element spirit soul.

"Awoo!"

The instant it was opened, a spirit soul leapt out. Its entire body was earthy yellow, resembling an overfed crocodile. It let out a roar at its surroundings, and the aura of a thousand-year spirit soul instantly spread through the room.

At the same time, under the influence of its innate talent, specks of yellow crystals began gathering around it.

Seeing its mischievous appearance, Xu Yue smiled and casually reached out to pet it.

However, before his hand had even extended halfway, Mu Xi stopped him with some concern.

"A-Yue, be careful! Spirit souls may not be like soul beasts, but they're still dangerous!"

"Sister Mu Xi, trust me. It'll be fine!"

Immediately afterward, he reached out again and placed his hand on the spirit soul's head.

Sensing someone approaching, the spirit soul instinctively wanted to counterattack.

But when it sensed the feeling emanating from Xu Yue, its desire to attack vanished instantly. Instead, it obediently nudged its head forward and cooperatively bumped against Xu Yue's hand.

If it could cry, it would already have been moved to tears.

O Earth! This was family!!!

"This..." Mu Xi was speechless as she watched the scene.

Meanwhile, Mu Chen smiled.

"Xu Yue's martial soul is, after all, an ultimate attribute. It has tremendous affinity with and suppressive power over martial souls and soul spirits with lower-tier attributes."

Xu Yue teased the soul spirit in his hand and nodded with a smile.

As the Herrscher of Earth, he naturally had an extremely high affinity with a soul spirit formed purely from the earth element.

From a human perspective, calling them brothers would not have been an exaggeration.

However, his top priority right now was still to absorb the soul spirit, obtain his first soul ring, and break through the bottleneck.

With that thought, he stopped teasing the soul spirit. Sitting down cross-legged, he followed the method Mu Chen had taught him, beginning to circulate his soul power and sense the soul spirit.

At that moment, the soul spirit did not resist or struggle. There was only anticipation.

Anticipation at merging into the earth, at merging into Xu Yue's body.

Very soon, as his soul power circulated, a bright purple soul ring began to spiral up around Xu Yue's body. At the same time, the soul power that had been locked behind the bottleneck began to grow.

"A thousand-year first ring!"

As Mu Xi looked at that bright purple glow, a trace of envy flashed through her eyes.

Although soul rings could now absorb energy in the Spirit Ascension Platform to increase their age, a thousand-year first ring was still a rare sight even in the intermediate division of Eastsea Academy.

Even Mu Xi herself only hoped that, after becoming a Soul Elder, she would be able to absorb a thousand-year soul spirit.

It could be said that Xu Yue had surpassed many of his peers the moment he absorbed his soul ring.

One step ahead, every step ahead.

The strong remained strong—this was exactly what it meant.

But when she remembered that the person before her was her little brother, the corners of Mu Xi's lips unconsciously curled upward again.

So what if he was an unparalleled genius?

Wouldn't he still be at her mercy?

A moment later, as the soul ring's energy gradually stabilized, Xu Yue rose from the ground. The aura of soul power around him had completely settled at level thirteen.

Mu Chen and the other two were not surprised by the increase in Xu Yue's soul power.

In ancient times, absorbing a soul ring beyond one's limit would increase one's soul power. Though soul spirits had replaced soul rings now, that aspect had not disappeared.

It was simply that soul spirits required mental strength, so very few people absorbed thousand-year soul spirits immediately after awakening their martial souls.

"A-Yue, how is your soul skill?"

Mu Xi asked expectantly. Not only her—Mu Chen and Yuan Bao'er also watched curiously, wanting to know what kind of soul skill their great genius had obtained.

Facing everyone's gaze, Xu Yue did not hesitate. He directly lit up the first soul ring on his body.

With a humming sound, a bright yellow light flashed.

"Firm as a Rock!"