On "Soul Ring Self-Editing and Reconstruction"

Kong Ming'an lowered his eyes slightly. Strands of blue Soul Power extended from his fingertips, wrapping around the luminous white Soul Ring resting in his palm like a dream.

Meng Hongchen was somewhat stunned.

Could Soul Rings... be touched directly? Or were they being drawn and bound by Soul Power? Why did she remember this as the method for absorbing a Soul Ring?!

As she stood there in confusion, Kong Ming'an slowly spoke.

"Meng, what do you think a Soul Ring is?"

"A Soul Ring?"

Meng Hongchen came back to her senses, somewhat puzzled as to why Kong Ming'an would ask such a question.

But seeing Ming's serious expression, she hesitated briefly before answering with the standard response recorded in textbooks:

"A Soul Ring is a special energy entity that appears after a Soul Master kills a Soul Beast. When a Soul Master's cultivation reaches a bottleneck, absorbing a Soul Ring allows them to break through it.

"After a Soul Ring is absorbed, it grants the Soul Master a unique Soul Skill. The control of Soul Power is related to one's Martial Soul, as well as the Soul Beast that dropped the Soul Ring..."

"Mm."

Kong Ming'an nodded slightly. He did not deny it, but continued asking:

"Then aside from adding Soul Rings to break through bottlenecks and gain Soul Skills, Meng, do you know any other ways to use Soul Rings themselves?"

Meng Hongchen was stunned again, but instinctively shook her head, her silver-white hair swaying with the motion.

"Huh? Aren't Soul Rings... just for absorption and gaining Soul Skills?"

In her understanding... or rather, in the understanding of most Soul Masters, Soul Rings were the steps by which Soul Masters advanced and the source of their strength. Adding them, absorbing them, using Soul Skills—it was only natural.

Kong Ming'an shook his head faintly, his gaze still resting on the Soul Ring in his palm. His eyes flickered as though he were admiring an intricate work of art.

"Among the considerable information I gathered, there were quite a few unusual methods of using Soul Rings.

"Ancient records state that, ten thousand years ago, an Elder of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect possessed a technique called 'Inlay Ring.' It allowed him to embed Soul Rings into his Martial Soul and receive multiplied enhancement.

"The inherited Martial Soul of the Xuanming Sect of the Heaven Dou Empire possesses a special Divine Beast bloodline talent. It can temporarily combine and merge Soul Rings, allowing even a Soul Ancestor to briefly possess a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring and greatly increase their power.

"There is also a technique called 'Melt Ring,' which can fuse the power of Soul Rings with different attributes into a single attribute, enhancing oneself or others and multiplying its might..."

He spoke evenly, listing these Soul Ring techniques that had flashed briefly across the long history of the Douluo Continent and were now nearly lost.

Each name, each technique, seemed to open a dust-covered door to power.

Meng Hongchen's ice-blue eyes widened slightly, filled with shock.

So Soul Rings could be used like this?

Kong Ming'an did not give Meng Hongchen much time to process it.

Holding up the Soul Ring, the blue Soul Power wrapped around it in his right palm suddenly turned into fine silver needles, instantly piercing the seemingly stable energy structure inside the ring!

"Bzzzz—!"

The luminous white Soul Ring abruptly blazed with light. The radiance became blindingly bright and unstable, and its formerly gentle energy fluctuations instantly turned violent!

A dangerous aura rushed toward her. Miss Meng instinctively took a step back, only to see Ming calmly toss the Soul Ring in his hand into a transparent Isolation Box made from High-Strength Explosion-Proof Soul Tool Glass.

And almost the instant the Soul Ring fell into the box and it sealed shut—

Boom!!!

A muffled yet immensely powerful explosion erupted within the Isolation Box!

Blinding white light and chaotic torrents of energy instantly filled the entire confined space.

The Soul Tool Array on the glass walls lit up to its utmost brilliance and flickered frantically, barely managing to confine the destructive energy within without allowing even a trace to escape.

As the light gradually faded, only wisps of chaotic energy remained inside the Isolation Box. The Soft Bone Rabbit's Soul Ring had vanished without a trace, as though it had never existed.

"Th-This is?!"

"This is 'Explode Ring.'"

Kong Ming'an withdrew his hand, his tone as calm as if he had merely popped a bubble.

"It is a technique that detonates and releases, in the most violent and thorough manner possible, the immense energy accumulated within a Soul Ring—the energy used to sustain Soul Skills and amplify Soul Power."

He paused, sweeping his gaze over the turbulent energy lingering within the Isolation Box before continuing:

"The power of that explosion was roughly equivalent to the explosion of a Level 3 Fixed Soul Tool Bomb.

"In a certain sect, they use the energy detonated through 'Explode Ring' as a means of temporarily enhancing themselves and strengthening their combat power, developing various combat methods from it."

Meng Hongchen listened more seriously than ever.

If she had initially only been interested because she had heard some "secret tales," then after witnessing that scene firsthand, she was now completely certain that Ming was not saying these things merely to satisfy her curiosity. He had genuinely achieved results!

Blinking, the clever Miss Meng quickly found the crucial point. Slightly nervous, she raised her hand earnestly like an obedient student.

Kong Ming'an saw through Miss Meng's thoughts and chuckled.

"You want to learn 'Explode Ring'?"

Miss Meng nodded.

"No."

"Mmgh..."

Miss Meng revealed a disappointed expression, but quickly consoled herself inwardly.

Teaching her was a favor; not teaching her was only proper...

But while that was true, Miss Meng still could not help feeling a little disappointed.

He had put it out there to tempt her. The scent had already drifted over, yet he would not let her eat it? Was he just teasing her?

"It's not that I won't teach you. There's simply no need." Kong Ming'an laughed faintly at Miss Meng's dejected expression.

"No need?"

"That's right." Kong Ming'an's gaze remained calm, yet he reached out and grabbed another Soft Bone Rabbit, twisting its neck to the right.

A luminous white Soul Ring emerged. Kong Ming'an casually caught it and, while looking down at it, slowly spoke:

"Pure 'Explode Ring' is merely the crudest use of Soul Ring energy.

"Consider this: since the energy can be detonated and directed to enhance combat, could the immense energy released in an instant by 'Explode Ring' also be used for some sort of extreme cultivation breakthrough? To shatter bottlenecks?

"For example, a Soul Grandmaster breaking through to a Soul Elder, a Soul Emperor breaking through to a Soul Saint, or even a Soul Douluo breaking through to a Titled Douluo?

"Or perhaps there is some method to restrain and shape the eruptive energy of 'Explode Ring,' turning it into a controllable, regular means of attack or defense.

"Take what I did just now. The explosive power of a Ten Year Soul Ring can be compared to a Level 3 Fixed Soul Tool Bomb. Then what about a thousand-year, Ten Thousand Year, or even hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring?

"You must know that when Soul Masters use 'Explode Ring,' their Soul Rings recover over time. In other words, it may be possible to use Level 9 Fixed Soul Tool Bombs without limit.

"Instead of ending up half-dead from the strain before even making a move each time.

"Or even..."

Under Meng Hongchen's gaze, Kong Ming'an's lips curled upward slightly. At some unknown point, his voice had taken on a near-mad thirst for discovery.

"...could one completely destroy a Soul Ring's structure, erase the Soul Skill information and Soul Beast imprint contained within it, leaving behind only its purest energy source...

"Then attempt to add an entirely new Soul Ring to oneself, thereby achieving 'Soul Ring Self-Editing and Reconstruction.'"