Breakthrough: A Ten-Thousand-Year First Soul Ring

Xu Qianqian sat cross-legged in meditation.

Gales ravaged the valley, their piercing howls rising and falling without end.

Empowered by the fierce winds, the domain grew more resilient, forming a special field that made everything within it calmer.

With her eyes closed, Xu Qianqian sensed the meridians within her body. She drew upon the ambient energy of heaven and earth and began forcing her way through the blocked channels.

Thanks to the domain's unique properties, combined with Hurricane Valley's special terrain, Xu Qianqian was able to draw in the energy of heaven and earth with exceptional stability and ease.

Once, twice, three times...

The pain of energy crashing through her meridians made Xu Qianqian's body tremble slightly. Blood slowly seeped from the corners of her eyes and even her lips.

With soft "drip, drip" sounds, it fell onto the barrier of the domain.

As the blood slid down, the hovering Chronicle of Time trembled in resonance. A faint glow radiated from its pages as they slowly turned.

Hurricane Valley, like the eye of a storm, seemed to have been summoned by the blood on the domain.

The gentle breeze outside Hurricane Valley began gathering toward the valley.

The storm suddenly intensified. The airflow became like sharp blades slicing through the air, and the entire valley rang with a shrill "sizzle, sizzle, sizzle."

The raging winds converged toward the heart of the valley, as if they possessed consciousness, swiftly merging into the domain.

The power of the wind gradually swirled around Xu Qianqian, condensing into a vortex that slowly revolved.

As the gale blew, the sounds of sand and gravel colliding ceased. Every stone and fragment fell to the ground.

Only wild winds and the energy of heaven and earth remained around Xu Qianqian. The vortex of wind spun silently, without the slightest trace of noise.

As time passed, the storm weakened. The slightly distorted space was smoothed over, and a jade-green radiance spread outward from Xu Qianqian.

Ten meters, a hundred meters, a thousand meters...

At that very moment.

The entire valley, even the space surrounding Hurricane Valley, suddenly froze, as though it had been isolated into a special secret realm.

At this moment, Xu Qianqian, at the center of Hurricane Valley, knew nothing of this scene.

She borrowed the energy of heaven and earth to forcibly break through the blockage in her meridians, using it to nourish her bones and channels.

I can sense soul power. Xu Qianqian felt a surge of excitement.

But she did not stop cultivating. She could sense that her martial soul seemed to be undergoing some kind of transformation.

Xu Qianqian continued cultivating, her body merging with the domain as one.

She was the wind, and the wind was her.

With a casual wave of her hand, she could even summon a powerful storm.

Is this what having soul power feels like?

Before this, she could only use spiritual power to resonate with the wind and her martial soul, making the gentle breeze respond in small ways.

But now, with every movement, she might be able to shatter a massive boulder.

Who knew how much time had passed.

Her perception and control of the wind had already far surpassed what they once were.

As her cultivation continued, Xu Qianqian's consciousness became clearer than ever before.

Every inch of her body, every cell, every meridian, was nourished by the gentle breeze. Her entire being merged into the currents of wind.

Suddenly, the vortex erupted. A violent storm surged from within Xu Qianqian's body, and a savage tornado swept through the entire valley.

Xu Qianqian's eyelids slowly opened.

Her slightly silver-white eyes carried a hint of jade green, though it quickly faded under her control.

Strands of breeze gathered and gently lifted her into the air, where she hovered in the sky.

The martial soul floating before her slowly descended into her hand at her summons.

"Book of Wind."

A vast power of the wind element flowed from her martial soul.

"Hide." She controlled it with a thought.

The three words "Book of Wind" vanished from the book, returning it to the Chronicle of Time's original state of yellowed pages.

Yet she could still sense from the martial soul that Hurricane Valley's terrifying hurricane had been hidden on one side of the Chronicle of Time, as though it had been stored within.

"Does it take up one-seventh?" Xu Qianqian murmured. "In other words, each awakening charges it by one-seventh?"

As she spoke, soul power surged within Xu Qianqian, and a pitch-black soul ring rose beneath her feet.

"Twenty-three thousand years... about the same age as that Gale Wolf King."

However, her soul power seemed to be related only to the Book of Wind in its previous state. It apparently had little to do with the soul beast.

Xu Qianqian nodded, then shook her head after a while.

"Forget it. I'll experiment with the Book of Wind later. It seems this secluded cultivation has already lasted a long time."

Xu Qianqian spread out her senses and expanded her domain to its maximum.

"Hiss—"

She drew in a sharp breath.

Her sensory range was 10,000 meters, while her domain's range had actually reached 1,000 meters.

The sensory range was one thing, but the domain's range was truly terrifying.

She could launch attacks anywhere within a thousand-meter radius at any time. Moreover, by taking advantage of wind's unique nature of existing everywhere in the world, she could make ordinary spirit masters unable to detect the domain's fluctuations. It was practically essential for murder, arson, ambushes, and assassinations.

Do not underestimate an attack range of a thousand meters. That was equivalent to the distance around two and a half football fields, enough to make people impossible to guard against.

Even when Tang San became a Titled Douluo in the future, his sensory range would only be 1,500 meters.

"Hoo—"

Xu Qianqian took a deep breath and looked around Hurricane Valley.

"The hurricanes that filled the entire valley and remained year-round without dispersing have all been absorbed by my martial soul."

"In the Book of Wind state, the Chronicle of Time seems to have gained quite a few additional abilities."

Xu Qianqian stopped dwelling on it. With several leaps, she arrived at Hurricane Valley's exit and looked toward the shimmering lake surface not far away.

"This place is called Starfall Lake. Legend says a meteorite crashed here, and with the rain, it formed this lake."

"Hurricane Valley also seems to be a unique landform created by the meteorite's impact and explosion."

Xu Qianqian walked to the lakeside. When she saw her reflection, she suddenly froze.

The girl's long hair drifted in the wind. She wore loose clothing convenient for traveling, and the cowlick atop her head swayed with the breeze. Combined with the book in her hand, she gave off the overall impression of a literary young woman.

"Uh..."

Something seemed off.

This period of seclusion should have lasted a long time. Why did it seem as though not much time had passed?

Xu Qianqian subconsciously began counting on her fingers.

She had used the Thousand Winds, Myriad Clouds domain to reshape her physique, allowing herself and her martial soul to achieve complete resonance, thereby preventing herself from accidentally dying.

The process had been exceedingly long, yet she still looked the same as when she had arrived...

Aside from her more outstanding temperament and the faintly light, ethereal air she now possessed, she did not seem all that different.

Right, there had been a period when she lost her perception of the outside world.

"Was it then?" Xu Qianqian murmured, then shook her head. "Never mind. I should return to Notting City first."

Xu Qianqian transformed into a streak of light and swept through the sky, yet a faint unease stirred in her heart.

If Thousand Winds involved time, then perhaps her own time had been frozen.

Her first soul ring had a cultivation of 23,000 years, yet it had nothing whatsoever to do with the Gale Wolf King.

Her first soul skill was called Thousand Winds—the ability to control wind—and it almost perfectly complemented her Thousand Winds, Myriad Clouds domain.

"A wisp of Thousand Winds, a seed of time."

Everything that had happened to her made Xu Qianqian unable to stop herself from thinking so.

Hopefully, she was not too late. Hopefully, everything was well.