Pope of Spirit Hall!

The following afternoon, he ran into a sparring partner during training.

A twenty-first-level, two-ring Grand Soul Master from the branch hall had approached him, saying he had heard that the newly arrived reserve deacon was quite capable and wanted to test his skills.

Li Long did not refuse.

The other man's martial soul was a short sword, a typical agility attack type.

The spar lasted less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea. Li Long's three proactive attacks were evaded, but the other man's two rounds of thrusts also failed to break through his defense.

His body was nearly as tough as that of a three-ring Soul Elder. The short sword left only pale marks on his shoulders and arms, not even cutting his skin.

In the end, they stopped at the right point and shook hands to conclude the match.

Before leaving, the other man said, "You're really tough."

There was a hint of genuine admiration in his tone.

After all, it was understandable to be unwilling to accept losing as a two-ring Soul Master to someone with only one ring.

Li Long smiled but said nothing.

He knew perfectly well that in a life-or-death battle, as long as he caught even one of the other man's four thrusts, the fight would end with a single swing of his staff.

At noon on the third day, the medicinal ingredients he had exchanged for arrived.

Li Long collected the package and returned to his dormitory, where he opened it for inspection.

The materials purchased at thirty percent below market price were indeed of better quality.

The herbs were brighter in color, and the beast bone powder had been ground more finely, carrying faint soul power fluctuations.

He immediately boiled water and prepared the medicine, then took another medicinal bath that night.

This batch was far more potent than the first.

Although warming and nourishing herbs were not particularly harsh, the increased concentration and age nearly doubled their penetrating effect.

As he meditated in the wooden tub, he could clearly feel the medicinal power nourishing and toughening the walls of his meridians, while slowly widening the channels through which his soul power flowed.

After the medicinal bath, he tested the speed of his soul power circulation. It was about ten percent faster than three days ago.

"The effect is good." He dried himself and stood by the window, stretching his body. "At this rate, with the whale glue to come, reaching level twenty won't be far off."

"But I can't rely solely on medicinal baths and whale glue. Actual combat is just as important."

He pushed open the window and let the night breeze enter the room.

Outside, the moonlight was cold, while the lights of Notting City were sparse and scattered.

Far in the distance lay the dark outline of the Soul Hunting Forest.

Li Long watched for a while before closing the window and returning to sit at the table.

He began considering his future path.

He could not deviate from the strength-enhancement route, but next time, he needed to account for his lack of speed as well.

If he could gain a certain speed boost while increasing his strength, the openings he exposed in battle would be greatly reduced.

Besides that, he had also more or less learned the rank classifications for deacon promotions.

They were far more detailed than in the original work.

Spirit Hall deacons were divided into: trainee reserve deacons, official reserve deacons, ordinary deacons, white-robed deacons, yellow-robed deacons, purple-robed deacons, black-robed deacons, red-robed deacons, platinum bishops, elders, and worshippers.

Of course, once one reached the level of elder or worshipper, one was no longer truly considered a deacon. They were listed here only because one could advance to those positions through the deacon route.

Worshippers required soul power at the level of a nine-ring Super Douluo.

Elders required soul power at the level of a nine-ring Titled Douluo.

Platinum bishops required soul power at the level of an eight-ring Soul Douluo.

Red-robed deacons required soul power at the level of a seven-ring Soul Sage.

Black-robed deacons required soul power at the level of a six-ring Soul Emperor.

Purple-robed deacons required soul power at the level of a five-ring Soul King.

Yellow-robed deacons required soul power at the level of a four-ring Soul Ancestor.

White-robed deacons required soul power at the level of a three-ring Soul Elder.

Of course, white-robed deacons were an exception.

If one had reached the two-ring Grand Soul Master level, made a certain contribution to Spirit Hall, and had the guarantee and recommendation of a yellow-robed deacon, one could become a white-robed deacon early at two rings without waiting until three rings.

In the original work, Su Yuntao was the best example.

Li Long was now an official reserve deacon.

He needed to become an ordinary deacon as soon as possible.

After all, though he was an official reserve, he was still only a reserve and not a true deacon.

To advance from an official reserve deacon to an ordinary deacon, one needed to have at least one ring of cultivation, independently complete six missions of at least C-rank, and accumulate a total of one hundred contribution points.

"For the next half year, I'll continue meditating at night to cultivate and raise my soul power. During the day, I'll complete six C-rank missions and advance to ordinary deacon as soon as possible. The time I save must be used for medicinal baths and whale glue to speed up my progress."

"Douluo Continent has far too few things that can help a person raise their soul power. It's not like the worlds of other novels, where they're everywhere. The main problem is a lack of resources and limited knowledge."

"I'm currently level fifteen, still five levels from level twenty. Under normal circumstances, half a year isn't enough to raise five levels. On top of that, my innate soul power isn't high, and the whale glue I've been taking is only around a hundred years old, so its effect is getting worse and worse."

"If I want to improve faster, I'll need thousand-year whale glue. But in a small place like Notting City, buying thousand-year whale glue is almost impossible. There's simply too little of it."

"After all, people still don't know whale glue's true use. They only know it can be used to make obscene items."

Li Long thought to himself.

At the same time.

Thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of miles away.

Spirit City, Papal Palace.

The dome of the great hall rose high overhead. Under the candlelight, the relief of the Six-Winged Angel cast enormous shadows, as though twelve wings might break free from the stone walls at any moment.

Special incense burned within the hall. Amid the curling smoke, Pope Qian Shengyuan sat high in the seat of honor, one hand supporting his chin while his fingers tapped intermittently against the golden armrest.

Below him, Ling Su knelt on one knee, having maintained the posture of someone who had finished reporting for the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

He neither raised his head nor urged the Pope, merely waiting in silence.

As a Soul Emperor-level envoy, he had seen the Pope's state when deep in thought.

The longer the silence, the more seriously the man above was weighing the matter. If he were merely giving a casual response, he would not pause for so long.

At last, the tapping stopped.

Qian Shengyuan's voice descended from above, without any obvious emotion. "Five hundred years? His body withstood it?"

"Reporting to Your Holiness, it did," Ling Su replied. "By the time this subordinate arrived, he had already completed the absorption. His soul power was measured at level thirteen on site. Fanolan said that although the absorption process involved painful struggles, he never approached the brink of losing control. Li Long himself moved normally afterward and suffered no hidden injuries."

"No hidden injuries." Qian Shengyuan repeated those words, his tone lifting slightly.

He sat a little straighter and lightly tapped the armrest twice, his gaze falling on the stack of retest materials Ling Su had submitted.

The first page recorded Li Long's basic information:

Martial soul: Iron Staff.

Innate soul power: Level three.

Age: Nine and a half.

Current soul power: Level thirteen.

The second page contained Fanolan's handwritten report, detailing Li Long's training intensity over the past three and a half years.

The third page was Ling Su's on-site evaluation record, including the soul-measuring orb's reading, tests of his soul skill's power, and a description of the crack Li Long's full-force strike had left in Ling Su's protective soul power.

The Pope read all three pages from beginning to end, with little change in his expression.

"He raised the limit from four hundred and twenty-three years to five hundred years."

Qian Shengyuan spoke slowly. "The significance of this matter is greater than the significance of the boy himself."