Another Wish

Time passed slowly. After about three hours, the light of the soul ring around Meng Hongchen gradually stabilized. She opened her eyes, a flash of red light lingering within her aquamarine irises.

"Success."

Xiao Hongchen immediately walked to her side.

"How does it feel?"

"My soul power increased by one rank, and I'm at the twenty-first rank now."

After Meng Hongchen raised her hand, her second soul ring lit up as well.

An ice-blue ring expanded outward from beneath her feet, its edges wreathed in faint white mist. A layer of frost quickly coated the surface of the glacial lake, and the surrounding temperature plummeted.

"Second soul skill, Ice Poison Ring."

Meng Hongchen said softly.

Where the ring covered, both the chill and the venom intensified. Frost spread across the lake's surface, and white poisonous light hid beneath the ice layer. If any enemy entered its range, their movement speed would be restricted, and their soul power circulation would grow progressively sluggish.

Meng Hongchen waved her hand, and the Ice Poison Ring instantly retracted. Looking at the layer upon layer of ice formed across the lake, a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

"This soul skill suits me very well."

Jing Hongchen nodded from the side.

"The soul ring provided by the Ice Venom Toad possesses two attributes, and the effects are much better than expected. In the future, we can continue researching the pairing of soul tools with soul skills to expand the effective range of the poison ring."

Meng Hongchen nodded heavily.

Xiao Hongchen spoke from the side, "Once you're familiar with the soul skill, our martial soul fusion skill can improve further as well."

"Of course."

Meng Hongchen lifted her chin.

Xu Tianming watched from the side as the two of them quickly began discussing the new soul skill. This was what a prepared soul hunt looked like.

There was no need to wander around trying one's luck after entering a gathering place of soul beasts like ordinary soul masters, nor was there any need to spend weeks or even months in the mountains and forests searching for a suitable soul beast.

For many soul masters, acquiring a soul ring was not only a test of strength, but also a contest of luck.

When luck was poor, even searching in soul beast gathering places for a month or two might not yield a soul beast that met the requirements of one's martial soul and age.

The Hongchen Family had no need for such methods.

From the day Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen awakened their martial souls, the soul rings they would need in the future were recorded and filtered in advance by the family.

Jing Hongchen controlled the resources of the Hall of Virtue and the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, and the Jingyang Mountain Range held complete soul beast data. Once a target was determined, the time spent hunting soul beasts would be greatly reduced.

This was also the advantage possessed by the children of major factions.

They did not always obtain the soul rings most suited to them every single time, but they rarely wasted too much time on the step of searching for soul beasts.

After resting for a while, Jing Hongchen took out the soul beast distribution map once again.

"Xiao Meng's second soul ring is complete, so next it's Junior Brother's turn."

Xu Tianming looked up toward the deeper parts of the Jingyang Mountain Range. What would his first soul ring be?

In fact, the Sun Moon Imperial Clan had long since prepared specialized soul hunting resources for the Sun Martial Soul. Many soul beasts suited for the Sun Martial Soul were kept in captivity within the Imperial Secret Realm, with their bloodlines, attributes, and ages carefully selected.

As long as Xu Tianming was willing, he could directly select his first soul ring without needing to enter the Jingyang Mountain Range at all.

However, his Sun Martial Soul had already undergone a benign mutation.

Ultimate Fire, Ultimate Light, coupled with the domineering Destruction attribute, ordinary fire-attribute soul beasts might not be able to satisfy his demands.

Besides, Xu Mo's arrangement of this soul hunt inherently carried the intention of drawing the Hongchen Family closer, which was why Xu Tianming had followed Jing Hongchen to the Jingyang Mountain Range.

Jing Hongchen naturally knew the new emperor's intentions.

However, Xu Tianming was his junior brother and also a disciple personally taken in by Kong Deming. Based on this relationship alone, he would not handle things perfunctorily; instead, he would help Xu Tianming find the most suitable first soul ring.

Yet Xu Tianming already had some ideas regarding his own first soul ring. Rather than trying his luck to find a suitable soul beast to obtain a first soul skill, he might as well just use a cheat.

Having a cheat and not using it was not his preferred style, even if this cheat had a few minor issues, he was still willing to use it.

Make a wish to the Stellaron.

The moment this thought popped up, the Stellaron within his body trembled slightly. Xu Tianming lowered his eyelids, sinking his consciousness into his spiritual ocean.

Within the deep darkness, the Stellaron floated quietly, its surface emitting a distorted, gloomy light. Around it, countless tiny star fragments slowly rotated along an inexplicable trajectory.

"I need a first soul ring that suits me."

Xu Tianming's wish was very simple: one that matched the Sun Martial Soul, and whose soul ring possessed a powerful soul skill.

As for the manner in which the wish would be realized, he no longer placed restrictions on it; the Stellaron's methods of granting wishes had always been utterly unreasonable.

Xu Tianming also rather disliked wronging himself.

With Jing Hongchen accompanying them this time, even if the Stellaron distorted the wish into some strange result, a ninety-fourth-rank Titled Douluo and Ninth-Rank Soul Engineer should still be able to handle it.

If even Jing Hongchen couldn't fix it, he still had Karna.

It was just a first soul ring, so it shouldn't cause too great of a commotion. Imaginary energy surged out from the Stellaron, and invisible fluctuations spread outward.

The next moment, the sky over the Jingyang Mountain Range darkened.

Without warning, without accumulation, reality collapsed in this very instant.

A long fissure appeared above everyone's heads, emitting dark purple light from within that spread toward the surroundings. The nearby trees quickly lost their original colors, tiny starlight-like patterns appearing on branches and trunks, and even the ground grew increasingly illusory.

The Rift Realm had descended.

Furthermore, the location where it appeared was directly above Xu Tianming and the others.

"Not good!"

Jing Hongchen's eyes suddenly widened. He looked up at the sky, and his expression instantly turned extremely solemn.

The expansion speed of the Rift Realm was extremely fast, granting them no time to evacuate whatsoever. Space seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible giant hand; the mountain forest, the sky, and the earth shifted out of alignment together, and a piercing, buzzing sound came from all directions.

"Stay close to me!"

Jing Hongchen let out a low roar. The soul power of a ninety-fourth-rank Titled Douluo erupted abruptly, and with a flip of his right hand, several soul tools flew out from his storage soul tool.

A silver disc hovered in the air, complex soul tool array patterns quickly appearing upon it. Subsequently, a semi-transparent silver-white barrier radiated from the disc, enveloping Xu Tianming, Meng Hongchen, and Xiao Hongchen all within it.

Just as the barrier formed, the surrounding space suddenly collapsed inward. Dark purple beams of light descended from the edge of the Rift Realm, crashing heavily against the silver-white barrier.

"Boom!"

The barrier trembled violently.

Jing Hongchen supported the soul tool core with his hand, continuously injecting soul power into it. Silver-moon-like radiance unfolded layer after layer, enveloping all four of them within it.