Upon hearing this, Long Wushang failed to grasp the deeper meaning behind Ye Xishui's words. Or rather, he had not thought in that direction at all.
"To be honest."
Long Wushang opened his eyes and looked at the familiar mountain peak overhead, speaking with a serious expression. "I noticed her the moment she joined the Holy Spirit Cult."
"Her Martial Soul may have some issues, but her potential is quite good. If properly developed, she will definitely become one of my most trusted aides in the future."
"If it is convenient, transfer her to my side."
"As it happens, I have something here that suits her very well."
At those words, Ye Xishui's hands abruptly stopped moving. She lowered her head to look at Long Wushang, a trace of complicated emotion flashing through her eyes.
Clearly, she did not like that answer very much.
She had thought that Long Wushang was merely somewhat interested in that girl. She had not expected him to truly intend to develop and cultivate her.
But in the end, Ye Xishui did not say anything more. After all, this was her son. If it was something Long Wushang wanted to do, what could she refuse?
"Alright." After a moment, Ye Xishui gently patted Long Wushang's face.
"It is getting late. Go back first."
"I still have experiments to deal with."
Although she did not reproach him outright, the slightly chilly tone in her voice had already exposed her petty displeasure.
Long Wushang, who knew his mother well, naturally sensed that something was wrong.
Keep staying? He absolutely could not stay.
Otherwise, his mother would probably soon be more than simply unhappy.
He hurriedly got to his feet. "Alright, then I will not disturb Mother while she handles important matters."
"Wushang takes his leave!"
With that, Long Wushang did not linger in the slightest. He immediately slipped away and swiftly left the laboratory.
Watching his fleeing back, Ye Xishui was initially stunned, then could not help but laugh.
"This brat..."
Inside the Dragon Tomb.
Long Wushang returned to that familiar skeletal altar.
This place had borne witness to countless sessions of his cultivation and transformations. It was also an important starting point on his true path toward becoming strong.
Now that he had returned from the Icefire Yin Yang Well, it did not mean that everything was over. On the contrary, everything had only just begun.
Whether it was the immortal herbs he had previously absorbed or the Soul Bones he had fused with, the enormous energy contained within them had not been completely digested by his body.
The remaining medicinal power and Soul Bone power still lay hidden throughout his limbs and bones, waiting for him to refine them bit by bit.
Thus, after returning to the Dragon Tomb, Long Wushang did not rush to leave. Instead, he chose to enter secluded cultivation here in peace.
The lingering auras left behind by countless dragon clan skeletons made this undoubtedly the best place for him, whose primary Martial Soul was the Dark Sacred Dragon, to settle and consolidate his strength.
It was not only him. Tang Ya and Long Xiaoyao were doing the same, cultivating in seclusion to further stabilize their own strength.
Sitting cross-legged atop the skeletal altar, Long Wushang felt the surging fluctuations of Soul Power within his body and silently assessed his current strength.
His rank had already reached Rank 68, the realm of a Soul Emperor.
Of course, his true combat strength could not be measured by the standards of an ordinary Soul Emperor.
After being tempered by numerous immortal herbs, fusing with Dragon King-level Soul Bones, and undergoing the continuous transformation of the Dark Sacred Dragon's bloodline, his physical constitution and Soul Power quality had already surpassed those of many ordinary Soul Douluo.
By his calculations, if he unleashed everything and relied on his many trump cards, his combat strength should already be enough to approach that of an ordinary eight-ringed Soul Douluo.
Once he completely refined the remaining medicinal power in his body, cultivated in seclusion for a while longer, and broke through Rank 70 to truly become a Soul Saint, he would begin preparing to complete the final Greed Divine Trial.
He would begin preparing to complete the final Greed Divine Trial.
At the same time, he would use the enormous power contained within the dragon bones and the dragon cores of the Water and Fire Dragon Kings to officially condense his first Soul Core—the Holy Dragon Soul Core.
To Soul Masters, a Soul Core was an important symbol of stepping into the realm of super experts and becoming a Title Douluo.
However, for true geniuses, the first Soul Core had to be condensed at the Soul Saint realm. Only then could they go farther on the road ahead.
Long Wushang was actually quite confident about his Holy Dragon Soul Core.
With his control over the Dark Sacred Dragon Martial Soul and the vast amount of dragon clan resources he possessed, he had every chance to condense a special Soul Core at the Rank 70 Soul Saint stage that could store and convert dragon power.
As for what would happen after Rank 90...
Once he completed the final divine trial and truly fused the Seven Deadly Sins, condensing the Original Sin Soul Core then might be the safest choice.
After all, Original Sin Power was far too special and involved power on the level of gods. Condensing it rashly could easily lead to unforeseen accidents.
After carefully considering things, Long Wushang realized that there were not many ways for him to continue improving his strength in the short term.
Other than continuing to absorb those precious immortal herbs and completely excavating the hidden power within his body, only Soul Bones remained.
Aside from External Soul Bones, Soul Masters possessed a total of six Soul Bone slots.
And with Long Wushang's current strength, the Soul Bone configuration on his body had already surpassed that of the vast majority of Title Douluo.
His sixth Soul Ring had come from a hundred-thousand-year Demonic Sea King Flood Dragon.
To find that soul beast, Long Xiaoyao had spent a great deal of time searching continuously through the Endless Sea. Only in the end had he successfully killed it and helped Long Wushang obtain this precious hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring.
The right leg Soul Bone left behind by that Demonic Sea King Flood Dragon had now also fused into Long Wushang's body.
Together with the Water and Fire Dragon Kings' Divine Bone fused into both of his arms, he had now fused with three Soul Bones that were at least one hundred thousand years old.
That only left the head Soul Bone, torso Soul Bone, and left leg Soul Bone slots.
As for the head Soul Bone slot, Long Wushang had actually already set his sights on a target.
That being who had always lived nearby, who could even be considered his neighbor—the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler.
The Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler was one of the soul beasts with the strongest spiritual power on all of Douluo Star.
In terms of spiritual attributes, no soul beast could compare with it.
Even the million-year Sky Dream Ice Silkworm probably could not be mentioned in the same breath as it when it came to the spiritual domain and combat strength.
Its strength was second only to Di Tian, the Beast God of the Star Dou Great Forest.
If he could obtain the Soul Ring and Soul Bone of the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler before Rank 90, his spiritual power would surely undergo an unprecedented, massive transformation.
At that time, whether it was controlling Original Sin Power or completing the fusion of the Seven Deadly Sins, everything would become much easier.
More importantly...
The Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler should originally have been Huo Yuhao's opportunity.
According to the original trajectory of fate, Huo Yuhao would use the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's power to raise his spiritual attribute to an entirely new level.
But now, with Long Wushang's existence, this opportunity naturally would no longer fall into Huo Yuhao's hands.
Taking the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler away in advance would not only strengthen Long Wushang himself, but also deprive Huo Yuhao of an extremely important future trump card.
Before you continue