Spirit Hall, Papal Palace.
The magnificent hall was vast and silent, permeated by a chilling air and an oppressive weight everywhere.
"Your Holiness."
The Spirit Hall deacon kneeling below bowed respectfully as he spoke.
On the papal throne, Bibi Dong casually crossed her legs. Her luxurious purple-gold robe trailed across the floor, its exquisite fabric outlining her graceful figure.
"Send word to Elders Chrysanthemum and Ghost. Have them depart for Suotuo City immediately."
Bibi Dong's narrow purple eyes were indifferent, her tone calm yet brooking no argument. "Remember, be more courteous. Invite that young man to Spirit Hall as a guest."
"As you command, Your Holiness!"
The deacon did not dare say more. He lowered his head to accept the order, then bowed and withdrew from the hall.
In an instant, only Bibi Dong remained in the vast Papal Palace.
"Qin Moyu... Let the two Spirit Hall elders test whether that diary is real." Bibi Dong murmured softly, her thin lips parting.
She had originally held considerable admiration for that mysterious diary.
Its writing was sharp, exposing the masks of countless hypocrites across Douluo Continent. Every line rang true...
Yet there was one thing that displeased her greatly.
Throughout the diary, Qin Moyu had mercilessly mocked Yu Xiaogang, comparing him to a hypocritical, cowardly, useless piece of trash.
Your diary was written well. Aunt Dong liked it very much, but Aunt Dong did not like your attitude toward Yu Xiaogang!
A cold chill crept into her eyes, and Bibi Dong's expression grew increasingly frosty.
She intended to use the two Spirit Hall elders to probe the limits of the Diary Copy's rules.
The Martial Soul Fusion Skill of Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo—Two Extremes Stillness Domain—was one of the finest Martial Soul Fusion Skills on Douluo Continent. It could imprison time and space and freeze all things, making it the perfect counterpart to the so-called time dimension described in the diary.
Given Qin Moyu's personality, he would certainly refuse the elders' invitation. A conflict would inevitably erupt then.
If the two elders could suppress or even capture Qin Moyu, it would be enough to prove that the so-called Diary Copy rules were nothing but a lie.
As for the possibility of failure, whether Spirit Hall would suffer calamity because of it did not matter to her.
There was only one person she cared about: Yu Xiaogang...
Whoever dared slander Yu Xiaogang, no matter who they were, she would never let them go!
In a small room behind Hundred Herbs Hall, Qin Moyu's cheeks burned as he clutched a black box to his chest. Taking advantage of no one watching, he quietly slipped out through the back door.
The wooden box contained Whale Rubber ranging from hundred-year grades to thousand-year grades, including Whale Rubber from five-thousand-year-old sea soul beasts.
At first, the fat shopkeeper absolutely refused to sell it, repeatedly claiming that the ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber had long been reserved by some noble lord and could not be exchanged for any price.
Qin Moyu could not be bothered to waste words with him. With a flash from his storage ring, Gold Soul Coins piled up like a small mountain crashed onto the ground...
The fat shopkeeper changed his expression on the spot, his smile becoming incomparably radiant.
"This gentleman is so approachable. His sincerity moved me..."
At five times the market price, Qin Moyu successfully acquired the five-thousand-year Whale Rubber.
Avoiding the busy streets along the way, Qin Moyu soon returned to the Rose Hotel.
He closed the door and turned his back. More than a dozen pieces of smooth, jade-like Whale Rubber sat on the table.
If an uninformed person saw this scene, they might immediately imagine that a fierce "battle" was about to take place in this hotel room.
"I can understand Whale Rubber being an aphrodisiac, but why can it also improve a Soul Master's physical constitution?"
Qin Moyu looked at the Whale Rubber on the table, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Most people who consumed Whale Rubber would immediately suffer violent diarrhea, wasting its medicinal effects. That was why Whale Rubber had never received much attention and was regarded merely as an aphrodisiac.
"Perhaps it is because of the Martial Soul's unique nature, allowing it to absorb the medicine in Whale Rubber and produce the miraculous effect of strengthening a Soul Master's body."
As he spoke, Qin Moyu held a piece of hundred-year Whale Rubber but did not swallow it directly.
It was normally solid and soft to the touch, resembling a tender jelly. However, Whale Rubber had to be melted under extremely high heat before its medicinal effects could be fully activated.
Although the hotel had no means of heating Whale Rubber, that was no difficulty for Qin Moyu.
With a thought, the diary appeared before him...
[The process of changing from a solid state to a liquid state is called melting. To melt Whale Rubber, one must essentially use high temperatures to accelerate the thermal movement of the molecules within the object...]
"Herrscher of Reason!"
In the next instant, a Martial Soul abruptly appeared in Qin Moyu's hand. The magnificent Herrscher of Reason Divine Core shone with a sacred halo.
"Accelerate the thermal movement of the molecules inside the Whale Rubber..."
Pure Soul Power held the Whale Rubber aloft. There appeared to be no change on the outside, but within its microscopic world, earth-shaking changes had already begun!
In less than a moment, under the forced interference of the Herrscher Authority from the Dark Plane, the molecules within the Whale Rubber began moving violently.
Visible to the naked eye, the smooth, milky-white Whale Rubber rapidly turned scorched red and melted from the inside out...
From the diary's recorded perspective, the jelly-like Whale Rubber had completely turned into a pool of liquid.
This scene, which defied common sense, left the women in the Diary Copy, who lived in an ancient setting, utterly bewildered.
Soul Land I, Huo Wu: "What happened? Shouldn't Whale Rubber melt from the outer layer inward? There's no fire, so how did it melt?"
Soul Land I, Ning Rongrong: "Was it heated with Soul Power? That can't be right either. Even a Soul King shouldn't be able to control temperature with Soul Power alone that quickly, right?"
Soul Land I, Ning Rongrong: "Besides, Qin Moyu doesn't even have a Spirit Ring yet. He isn't even considered a Soul Master..."
Soul Land II, Ning Tian: "Ancestor, based on the diary's explanation, Qin Moyu's Martial Soul itself can analyze microscopic particles at the molecular level, forcibly causing the molecules to move against one another. The principle is similar to heat generated by friction..."
Soul Land II, Ning Tian: "Molecules cannot be seen with the naked eye. They require a Soul Guidance Microscope to observe. This is very scientific..."
Soul Land II, Ice Empress: "Molecular movement? I have never heard of such a concept. The speed of human development these past years is truly unbelievable..."
Rose Hotel.
Qin Moyu precisely controlled the limit of what his body could withstand. He melted three pieces of hundred-year Whale Rubber in succession and consumed them bit by bit.
He carefully shifted the diary's recording angle behind him. The image recorded in the diary froze on a young man's back and his faintly flushed cheeks, creating an indistinct yet subtle scene...
"I can't go on. I'm already close to my body's limit." Qin Moyu's breathing quickened as his body felt unbearably uncomfortable.
Under normal circumstances, if Whale Rubber was consumed in small amounts from childhood onward, it could continuously strengthen a Soul Master's physical constitution.
However, Qin Moyu did not intend to proceed so slowly. He planned to consume Whale Rubber all at once.
In the end, Douluo Continent's Martial Soul system was far too backward. It could only serve as a transitional means of strength for him at present.
When the time came in the future, the Herrscher of Reason Divine Core would no longer need to rely on such a feeble power as Soul Power. The upper limit of technological creations depended only on computational power...
With a thought, a deep ink-black orb of light appeared out of thin air, surrounded by rings of dazzling, strange halos.
Looking at the God-bestowed Spirit Ring radiating an eerie aura, Qin Moyu subconsciously swallowed. "System, which god bestowed this God-bestowed Spirit Ring? It isn't really the Honkai God, is it?"
[Naturally, this was bestowed by this system. If you keep dawdling, I'll record the scene of you standing tall in the diary's contents, you know~]
Fuck!
Qin Moyu cursed inwardly.
Before he could complain, the God-bestowed Spirit Ring gradually fused with him, its ink-black halo enveloping his entire body.
The next second, the pain of absorbing a Spirit Ring beyond his level swept through his entire body. An unhealthy flush instantly surfaced on Qin Moyu's skin, while countless tiny blood vessels beneath it were squeezed!
Yet it was precisely this oppressive force that forcibly opened his blocked meridians, allowing the medicinal effects of the Whale Rubber to fully disperse.
During the absorption of a God-bestowed Spirit Ring, every additional second endured increased the Spirit Ring's effect by another degree.
The Herrscher of Reason Divine Core shone brilliantly. Gorgeous patterns continuously formed across the Martial Soul's surface, while a pale-white ring of light slowly rose...
As time passed, the color of that ring steadily deepened—white, pale yellow, yellow...
At last, the patterns upon the Martial Soul were fully engraved. The color of the first Spirit Ring firmly settled into a deep purple, darker than an ordinary thousand-year Spirit Ring.
"Phew... It's finally over."
Qin Moyu let out a long breath of stale air. His taut body finally relaxed, and every inch of flesh throughout his body conveyed a sense of abundant strength.
Immediately afterward, he spat out an extremely compressed dark brown-black pill. It looked ugly and ridiculous, like a Leg-stretching Eye-popping Pill rolled out from beneath Jigong's armpit...
Of course, Qin Moyu had merely multitasked during the Spirit Ring absorption process, using the Herrscher of Reason Divine Core to forcibly gather the oils, metabolic waste, and other impurities stripped from within his body into his dantian.
Once the Spirit Ring absorption was complete, he expelled all the filth and impurities in one go.
The diary was recording the scene, and he still cared greatly about his image.
He was not like Ma Hongjun in the original story, who, during his first absorption of a God-bestowed Spirit Ring, expelled oil mixed with streaks of blood all over his body, leaving himself drenched in grime. The scene looked as though he had undergone a weight-loss liposuction procedure...
Before you continue