Spirit-Raising Secret Art, Wedding Day Approaching

"I wonder, with my current cultivation and all these Ninth-Level Soul Tools, whether I could take on a Super Douluo?"

Having absorbed the Six-Tailed Demon Fox's Soul Ring and Soul Bone, Xia Yu felt his strength had greatly increased and could not help getting a little carried away.

But carried away as he was, he still had his wits about him.

What Super Douluo? Once he finished raising his Soul Rings and added another Soul Ring to his Velvet Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum martial soul, even a Peak Douluo would be no match for him.

"Phew. No need to rush. One step at a time. One day, I will surely rule this entire era."

After silently reminding himself not to be impatient, Xia Yu took out the items he had prepared earlier for the Spirit-Raising Secret Art.

With a casual wave of his hand, nine specially made Soul Tools used to store souls appeared in the cultivation chamber.

Aside from the Six-Tailed Demon Fox's soul, the other eight had long been prepared. Each was the soul of a soul beast over fifty thousand years old.

"Begin!"

Xia Yu raised his hand and released all the soul beast souls, then activated the arrangement he had prepared.

Dense crimson patterns instantly lit up across the floor and walls of the cultivation chamber.

In the blink of an eye, the entire cultivation chamber was illuminated like a blood-red purgatory.

Yet Xia Yu turned a blind eye to it, not even sparing it a glance as he formed a series of bizarre, sinister hand seals.

As he continued forming seals, Xia Yu's first eight Soul Rings underwent a strange transformation.

They resonated with the crimson patterns spread throughout the cultivation chamber, gradually giving off scarlet streams of light.

When the scarlet light became thick enough to obscure the Soul Rings' own glow, it detached from them and spread toward the nine soul beast souls.

"Roar!!!"

Touched by the scarlet light, the soul beast souls, which had been relatively calm moments ago, all turned violent at once.

Piercing, miserable howls immediately echoed throughout the cultivation chamber.

If not for the soundproof barrier around the chamber, those ghostly wails would likely have spread across the surrounding area.

"Hmph. Why bother? You're already dead, so why struggle? Can't you just contribute the last of your strength peacefully?"

As he watched the soul beast souls howl and struggle to break free from the scarlet light, a trace of cold severity finally flashed through Xia Yu's otherwise placid eyes.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately accelerated his hand seals while activating his martial soul, Ghost, to forcibly suppress and control the soul beast souls.

The effect was obvious. Not only did the scarlet light spread faster, but the soul beast souls were also completely suppressed.

Before long, the scarlet light had entirely enveloped the soul beast souls.

At once, the soul beast souls obediently began to "cooperate" with the Spirit-Raising Secret Art, offering up their power.

Time slowly passed. With the soul beast souls giving their all, strands of golden-red light began flowing back in the opposite direction, continuously gathering along the scarlet light onto Xia Yu's first eight Soul Rings.

With every additional strand of golden-red light, the aura emitted by the Soul Rings grew stronger.

Once the nine soul beast souls had contributed all their nourishment, Xia Yu's first eight Soul Rings underwent earth-shaking changes.

The first four Soul Rings were the first to change, leaping directly from hundred-year and thousand-year Soul Rings into black Soul Rings over fifty thousand years old.

As for the fifth through seventh Soul Rings, although they remained black ten-thousand-year Soul Rings, their ages had also increased enormously, making them much stronger.

As for the eighth Soul Ring, Xia Yu had given it special attention. With the Six-Tailed Demon Fox's soul contributing to it, it broke through to the 100,000-Year Soul Ring level in one go.

It had to be said that the Holy Spirit Cult truly had unique expertise when it came to raising Soul Rings.

But the credit could not all go to the Spirit-Raising Secret Art. Xia Yu's control over souls had also made an outstanding contribution.

Otherwise, making all those soul beast souls offer up their power would not have been easy.

One only had to look at the Holy Spirit Cult's Titled Douluo. If it were so easy, would not every one of their Titled Douluo have 100,000-Year Soul Rings?

Yet the truth was that 100,000-Year Soul Rings remained rare even within the Holy Spirit Cult.

This showed just how formidable Xia Yu was. In the field of souls, he stood in a league of his own.

"Phew. I have no idea how much time has passed. It's time to leave seclusion. After all, a wedding is waiting for me."

Because the Spirit-Raising Secret Art required his full concentration, Xia Yu had directly cut off his perception of the outside world.

Furthermore, Xia Yu had never been in the habit of keeping track of time, so he had no idea how long this Soul Ring raising had taken.

Thus, after tidying everything up, he directly left seclusion.

"Young Master Xia Yu, you've finally come out of seclusion. Elder Kong has been waiting for you for several days. Hurry to the main hall; he is waiting for you there."

The moment Xia Yu stepped out of the cultivation chamber, he ran into the anxious old butler.

"My teacher is looking for me, and he's been waiting for me for days?"

Xia Yu raised an eyebrow at those words.

If there were no urgent matter, his teacher, Kong Deming, would not act like this.

Given the current situation, there was undoubtedly something extremely urgent—and it concerned him.

If it concerns me, what could it be?

Xia Yu frowned slightly in thought, then quickly realized.

The most pressing matter involving him now was undoubtedly his marriage to Meng Hongchen.

Could there have been a change in the wedding arrangements? Or had he already missed his own wedding because of his seclusion?

Xia Yu's heart stirred, but his expression remained calm. "How long did this seclusion last?"

"Young Master." The butler gave Xia Yu a surprised glance, but still answered respectfully, "You have been in seclusion for twenty-five days."

"What? Twenty-five days? Then doesn't that mean my wedding with Meng Hongchen is right around the corner?"

If Xia Yu remembered correctly, his teacher Kong Deming had repeatedly emphasized that his wedding with Meng Hongchen was set for twenty-eight days later and had told him to prepare early.

And now, a single seclusion session had taken twenty-five days. The crucial part was that he had not prepared anything at all.

No wonder Kong Deming was anxious. Xia Yu would have been anxious too in his place.

After all, this was a marriage personally arranged for Xia Yu by Kong Deming, and naturally he did not want it to go wrong.

Especially not because of his own disciple.

"Phew. At least I didn't miss the wedding outright. Otherwise..."

At the thought of missing his wedding, Xia Yu could practically see a disaster unfolding.

This was, after all, a marriage involving two families and numerous forces. One small change could affect the whole situation. If the wedding were brought to a halt outright, the consequences would be enormous.

In any case, as long as he had not missed the wedding, everything was fine. As for preparing things, with the Xia Family of the Duke's estate and Kong Deming involved, everything could be handled.

Even if Xia Yu did not participate, everything would still be arranged in perfect order.

That was the power of wealth and influence. Sometimes, there was no need to do everything personally.

"Teacher!" Xia Yu soon met with Kong Deming.

"You brat, I don't even know what to say about you. This is your wedding. Can't you take it a little more seriously?"

"Forget it. I can't count on you anyway. Come with me. You'll follow all my arrangements."

The moment they met, Kong Deming gave Xia Yu an irritated scolding, then dragged him off without another word to deal with all sorts of preparations.