Why Did the Soul Ring Turn Purple?

"Why do I feel like someone's watching me?"

At that moment, Xia Liang, in Minecraft's Overworld, felt as though someone had their eyes on him.

"Probably just your imagination."

Electrolux said, then continued drawing the sealing array.

That was right, a sealing array.

After experiencing the Clear Sky Sect's seal, Xia Liang planned to draw a sealing array onto his projection body. That way, he could use more of his power here.

"By the way, how far have Yuhao and the others gotten?"

"Lich? They should be done by now."

The floor was covered in shattered stone slabs. The air still carried the scorched smell left behind by spell explosions, and several cracks had been blasted into the walls by shockwaves. The Lich's corpse had completely dissolved into green motes of light, leaving only a black Soul Ring floating in midair.

"Damn it, that was disgusting."

Ma Xiaotao sat on the ground with her back against the wall, looking far more bedraggled than when she had entered.

Facing a ten-thousand-year Lich with invincibility, teleportation, and summoning abilities, all the official team members had exhausted their strength.

"Good thing Yuhao was here."

Chen Zifeng sat cross-legged not far from her, slowly regulating his breathing to recover his Soul Power. During the Lich's second phase, it had summoned three giant Mutant monsters. If Huo Yuhao had not appeared and suppressed them, allowing everyone to kill the three monsters, they might not even have reached the final phase and would have had no choice but to flee.

The final phase was berserk mode. It had no ranged attacks and low defense; its only advantage was its fast teleportation. The ten-thousand-year Lich had quickly been dealt with under everyone's concentrated fire.

"I almost want to absorb this Lich's Soul Ring and see if I can gain that teleportation Soul Skill."

Ling Luochен said. Neither that teleportation Soul Skill nor that invincible protective barrier was an ordinary Soul Skill.

"If you got one, you'd probably gain an ice shield or the ability to summon Bing Xue monsters or something. Your Martial Soul has nothing to do with teleportation."

Ma Xiaotao replied. Ling Luochен's Martial Soul was the ice element and possessed no spatial attribute. It would not be easy for her to gain teleportation.

"I might have a chance, though."

Chen Zifeng said. Teleportation suited his Martial Soul very well. If he could gain it, his combat strength would rise by an entire level.

Behind them, Ning Tian listened to the discussion in front of her, deep in thought as well.

Whether it was the invincible shield or teleportation, she could try absorbing either one. Both Soul Skills could greatly improve her survivability.

Of course, Ning Tian would not absorb one herself first. There were so many Soul Masters within the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect; she would definitely find a few test subjects first. Only after the experiment succeeded would she absorb one herself. After all, the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda only had seven Soul Rings, and every one of them was exceedingly precious. She could not waste even a single ring on an impulse.

"Hmm..."

Ning Tian lowered her head in thought, and her gaze slowly shifted toward Huo Yuhao beside her.

"Student Yuhao, if it were the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, what kind of soul beast from the Twilight Forest do you think would be suitable to absorb?"

Ning Tian asked. Given Huo Yuhao's identity, he should know the soul beasts within the Twilight Forest very well.

"There doesn't seem to be anything especially suitable. After all, the soul beasts here are all mainly combat-oriented. The only suitable one might be this Lich."

Huo Yuhao thought for a moment before answering. There were no soul beasts in the Twilight Forest especially suited for the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda. The only possibilities were likely the Lich's invincible shield and teleportation, but those two skills were probably suitable for anyone.

"Mm."

Just as Ning Tian continued thinking, Xu Sanshi's voice suddenly exploded from the other side, carrying near-uncontrolled panic.

"Nannan!"

Hearing Xu Sanshi's cry, everyone turned at once, their gazes landing on the edge of the room.

Jiang Nannan was half-kneeling on the ground, one hand braced against the floor and the other clenched into a fist. The veins on the back of her hand bulged clearly. Her body was curled up, her shoulders trembling faintly, and her teeth clenched as if she were enduring pain.

"What happened?"

Ma Xiaotao was the first to react. She stood and crossed the distance in two strides before crouching beside Jiang Nannan. She grabbed Jiang Nannan's wrist and sent a stream of Soul Power into her body through her meridians, swiftly checking her condition.

"There's nothing wrong. Her Soul Power is just in disorder."

Ma Xiaotao frowned. She had found no issue, but why had Jiang Nannan's Soul Power suddenly become disordered? She quickly helped her up.

Ma Xiaotao supported her by the shoulders and lifted her from the ground. Jiang Nannan used the support to sit upright, then began circulating her Soul Power while entering Martial Soul Possession. Two yellow and two purple Soul Rings slowly rose from beneath her feet, circling her body.

Seeing Jiang Nannan begin to recover, Ma Xiaotao warily looked toward where the Lich had vanished before immediately turning to Xu Sanshi.

"What did she just do?"

The Lich had clearly disappeared, so why was Jiang Nannan still having problems? And why were they, the ones closest to the Lich, fine?

"Nannan has been absorbing those green clusters of light this whole time. After you seniors took care of the Lich, she waited for a while. Once she was sure there was no danger, she went over. After absorbing them, she became like this."

Xu Sanshi immediately explained. Jiang Nannan had been absorbing those things this entire time. Had she absorbed too much? No, there had been no reports from the Extreme North of problems arising from absorbing them.

Besides, Ma Xiaotao and the other official team members had fought their way here and absorbed no fewer green clusters of light than Jiang Nannan, who had merely been picking up leftovers in the rear. Why was Jiang Nannan the only one having trouble?

Ma Xiaotao had clearly realized this as well. Everyone had absorbed those things, so why was Jiang Nannan the only one with a problem?

"Where's Elder Xuan? Let's leave this place first."

Ma Xiaotao looked toward the sky, but there was no sign of Xuan Zi. Because of that previous Mutant Skeleton explosion, Ma Xiaotao was especially vigilant now. They needed to leave this place as soon as possible to avoid any further problems. Yet, after a moment, there was still no response from Xuan Zi.

Ma Xiaotao called out again, but there was still no movement. Gritting her teeth, she was just about to direct everyone to carry Jiang Nannan out.

"Senior Sister, wait. It's not dangerous..."

Jiang Nannan, who was struggling to suppress the Soul Power within her body, spoke after hearing Ma Xiaotao's words.

"Hmm? Are you sure?"

Hearing Jiang Nannan, Ma Xiaotao paused, then asked with a frown.

"Mm, give me a few minutes."

Jiang Nannan's voice came in broken fragments, but she was trying hard to make every word clear.

The soul beasts in the Lich Tower had already been cleared out by the group, so no soul beasts would emerge here to interfere. This place was much safer than outside.

Furthermore, Jiang Nannan had already confirmed that this was not a bad thing. Her bottleneck at Rank 41 was being broken through.

Seeing Jiang Nannan's condition, it did not seem to be a bad situation. Ma Xiaotao had everyone stay on guard, while Wang Yan stepped forward holding a token.

"I've already contacted Elder Xuan, but there's been no response."

Wang Yan was somewhat speechless as well. Why was the other man always absent at critical moments?

"Seriously..."

Ma Xiaotao rubbed her forehead. There was nothing she could do now except hope Jiang Nannan would be fine.

Wang Yan walked in front of Jiang Nannan and began examining her condition.

When he had heard that Jiang Nannan had fallen into this state because she had absorbed those clusters of light, Wang Yan had been extremely puzzled. He had also absorbed many of those things along the way, so why was he fine? What exactly were those things?

"Nannan, you have to be all right."

Xu Sanshi crouched one step diagonally in front of Jiang Nannan, both hands braced on his knees. His eyes remained fixed on her and never left her.

As time passed, the Soul Rings around Jiang Nannan began trembling violently, as though they were about to explode.

"What's going on..."

Xuan Zi, watching those trembling Soul Rings from afar, was shocked as well. He had lived for so long, yet had never seen such a situation. Had something really gone wrong?

Fortunately, it was Jiang Nannan, who did not have much of a background. If it had been any of the others, he would have already ended the training and taken the injured person away.

Now, Jiang Nannan could conveniently serve as an experiment to see what would happen here.

Crack—

Xu Sanshi, who was closest to Jiang Nannan, heard a cracking sound. Looking up, he saw a slender crack appear in Jiang Nannan's second yellow hundred-year Soul Ring. A hint of purple emerged from within the fissure...