Soul Rings Are Amazing, Aren't They?

Meng Hongchen was completely stunned, her little head buzzing.

Exploding Rings cultivation? Controlled Explode Ring? Blow them up and replace them? And "Soul Ring Self-Editing and Reconstruction"?

This completely overturned everything she knew about Soul Rings! Soul Rings... could be used like this?!

She muttered to herself, her voice filled with confusion and shock. "Soul Rings... actually have so many... unimaginable uses?"

"Of course." Kong Ming'an smiled. Seeing Miss Meng's stunned little face, he suddenly found it quite amusing.

With a tone that was somewhat lighthearted yet serious, he slowly said:

"Anything is possible. The purpose of rules is to wait to be understood, applied, and finally... broken, becoming nourishment for new rules. And that is what I want."

Miss Meng's Ice Blue eyes flickered slightly.

Ming's words had practically revealed an entirely new world to her!

Compared to the world of Soul Masters and Soul Engineers that her teachers described at the Academy, the world Ming portrayed now was countless times more fascinating and magnificent!

Her eyes lit up as she looked at Kong Ming'an, the interested excitement in her gaze turning into seriousness.

"Want to learn?"

"Mm!"

"Sure."

"Mm... mm?!" Miss Meng, who had already prepared herself to be rejected, froze for a moment.

After hesitating for a second or two, she raised her eyes slightly to confirm Ming's expression. Immediately, disbelief filled her gaze.

"Really... I can?!"

"You can, but..."

The corners of Kong Ming'an's mouth curled up slightly as he said with interest, "...Answer one question. If your answer satisfies me, I'll teach you."

Miss Meng hesitated briefly, then answered seriously.

"...All right!"

Kong Ming'an nodded slightly and once again lowered his gaze to the Luminous White Soul Ring in his hand.

This time, he did not choose to detonate it. Instead, his palm became covered in a layer of even more refined, gentler Soul Power before slowly closing.

There was no violent burst of energy, no blinding light.

Drawn and kneaded by the threads of Soul Power in his palm, the originally round and stable Luminous White Soul Ring actually began to deform slowly, like soft putty.

The edges of the Soul Ring were no longer smooth. Stretched and twisted by an invisible force, it took on an irregular shape, like dough that had been kneaded.

Although the Soul Ring's glow and energy fluctuations remained, its physical form had been forcibly altered.

This bizarre yet miraculous sight made Meng Hongchen hold her breath again. She stared without blinking, afraid of missing even the slightest detail.

Maintaining the Soul Ring's deformed state, Kong Ming'an looked at Meng Hongchen and slowly spoke.

"If one were to deliberately deform a Soul Ring and make it retain that form permanently... what new ideas would you have about Soul Rings themselves?"

New ideas?

Meng Hongchen's tiny brows furrowed tightly, her Ice Blue eyes fixed on the strangely shaped Soul Ring being kneaded in Kong Ming'an's hand.

Soul Ring... deformation... permanent preservation...

Countless thoughts collided and reorganized rapidly in her mind.

Soul Rings were bodies of energy...

Bodies of energy could be molded...

Molded, then maintained...

A permanently maintained molded energy body...

This... this felt...

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration split through the fog in her mind like lightning! A concept she was incredibly familiar with, one she came into contact with every day, sprang forth at once!

"Soul Tools?!"

Meng Hongchen cried out, her voice slightly distorted with excitement.

"Like... like Soul Tools?! Use Soul Rings as the metal, use Soul Rings to construct Soul Tools!"

With approval in his eyes, a satisfied curve appeared at the corners of Kong Ming'an's mouth.

Ample curiosity toward research, sufficient imagination, and the ability to draw inferences from one example to another.

Without a doubt, Miss Meng now fully possessed every quality needed to become the "assistant" he had envisioned.

Nodding slightly, he affirmed Meng Hongchen's answer.

"Correct."

In that instant, Miss Meng subconsciously let out a breath of relief for some reason.

She looked at Kong Ming'an's satisfied expression, then at the Soul Ring in his hand that had been kneaded out of its "ring" shape, and then thought of the words "Soul Tool" that had just slipped from her mouth...

For a moment, this world-shattering possibility gave rise to an indescribable sense of absurdity within her.

Without realizing it, she still asked hesitantly,

"...Can it... really be done like this?"

Kong Ming'an smiled faintly but did not answer.

He extended his free left hand and once again took a Soft Bone Rabbit from a nearby cage.

Under Miss Meng's watchful gaze, he deftly twisted the Soft Bone Rabbit's neck to the right, caught the Luminous White Soul Ring that emerged, and then... blue threads of Soul Power appeared again!

This...

Miss Meng instinctively took a step back.

Ming's movements were exactly the same as when he had performed Explode Ring before her just now!

Before her thoughts could settle, she saw Kong Ming'an's lips curl up slightly, and then...

The threads seeped in!

"Buzz—!"

The Luminous White Soul Ring shone brilliantly, just as it had before!

But this time, Ming did not throw the Soul Ring into the transparent Isolation Box beside him.

He merely raised his right hand slightly. The Luminous White Soul Ring, which he had been casually kneading in his palm, instantly flowed, stretched, and solidified like liquid metal.

In the blink of an eye, a glove as thin as cicada wings yet radiating a steady Luminous White sheen fitted seamlessly over his entire right hand.

His gaze calm, at the instant before the explosion, he spread the five fingers of his right hand covered by the Luminous White glove and precisely caught the exploding Soul Ring!

"Hiss—!"

The earthshaking explosion she had expected did not occur. In its place came a piercing sound that set her teeth on edge, as though space itself had been forcibly compressed and torn apart.

Miss Meng saw clearly:

The explosive energy, enough to melt steel, seemed to slam into an invisible barrier the instant it erupted between Ming's Luminous White-gloved fingers!

The violent energy appeared to struggle free, violently churning and roaring within the cage formed by the glove's five fingers, yet it could not break through the glove's edges in the slightest.

Every bit of the explosion was firmly locked within the tiny space of his palm. Under the ultimate confinement, the explosion was like a fire deprived of fuel, its light dimming at a visible rate.

Only a few breaths later, an attack comparable to the explosion of a Level 3 Fixed Soul Tool Cannonball collapsed and dissipated under the absolute control of that Luminous White glove, vanishing into nothingness.

And Ming...

He merely stood there quietly before slowly withdrawing the hand covered by the Luminous White glove, his movements so casual it was as if nothing had happened.

Miss Meng's expression froze completely as she instinctively recalled what had just happened.

The Soul Ring's instantaneous transformation of form, catching an exploding Soul Ring with his bare hand, the annihilation of energy after absolute confinement...

Could this... really exist?

Kong Ming'an's gaze remained calm as he slowly raised his right hand, still covered by the Luminous White glove.

The glove formed from the Soul Ring seemed like a part of his skin, faint light flowing across it with his movements. Then, as though its energy had been depleted, it turned into specks of fluorescence and dissipated into nothingness.

After glancing at his fair, uninjured palm, Kong Ming'an shifted his gaze to Miss Meng's little face, which was filled with shock and confusion. An unbidden, cheerful smile curved his lips.

With a casual chuckle, he said,

"Soul Rings are amazing, aren't they?"