Rainbow Dragon Listening Melody

"Xiao Xuan." Dugu Xin looked at Lu Xuan and reminded him, "It's time you started looking for your Third Soul Ring."

Half a year earlier, Lu Xuan had hunted down a twenty-eight-hundred-year-old Rainbow Dragon and absorbed it as his Second Soul Ring.

From it, he had gained the Rainbow Dragon Listening Melody, a skill that boosted all attributes. Better yet, its effects could stack with those of his First Soul Skill.

When Lu Xuan activated both skills together, everyone within his domain gained a fifty percent boost to all attributes. The boost he received himself reached a full one hundred percent.

The effects lasted twenty minutes, then gradually faded, disappearing completely after half an hour.

With benefits that powerful, Lu Xuan could hardly call the overlapping skills a waste.

Beyond that group-wide boost, the two support melodies had brought him an unexpected gift.

They permanently tempered and strengthened his body!

Every time Lu Xuan activated his First and Second Soul Skills together, his body underwent another subtle round of tempering.

The gain from a single use was nothing astonishing, roughly equivalent to raising his Soul Ring tolerance by ten years.

It worked only once a day, but over a year, those gains would raise the age limit he could withstand by a full 3,650 years. The potential built up that way was staggering!

After Whale Rubber had failed him, Lu Xuan had found another way to strengthen his body: the Flute-Playing Body-Tempering Method!

When Lu Xuan first absorbed his Second Soul Ring, his Soul Power had stopped at rank twenty-nine.

Over the past six months, he had trained relentlessly while doing everything he could to refine the remaining medicinal power of the various Immortal Herbs within him. His cultivation had quietly passed rank thirty.

But he had set his sights on a nine-thousand-year Third Soul Ring, so he had yet to make a move on the Rouge Dragon.

"There's no rush, Uncle Dugu," Lu Xuan said calmly. "My body can already withstand an eight-thousand-year Soul Ring. After a few more months of conditioning, I plan to try absorbing a ninety-nine-hundred-year Third Soul Ring."

"A Third Soul Ring nearly ten thousand years old?"

Dugu Xin fell silent, secretly stunned.

Many Soul Masters could not obtain a nine-thousand-year ring even for their fifth Soul Ring, yet Lu Xuan intended to take that earth-shaking step with his third.

He told Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling to keep their abilities hidden and avoid drawing attention, but when it came to himself, he was this daring?

Then again, Lu Xuan spent nearly all his time at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and rarely ventured outside.

Even when he did go out, he never revealed his Soul Rings.

However startling their ages were, they would cause no trouble as long as he kept them hidden.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Lu Xuan felt his body was sturdy enough to withstand the violent impact of a ninety-nine-hundred-year Soul Ring, Dugu Bo and Ye Renxin arrived at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well with Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling.

"Lu Xuan."

"Brother Lu Xuan!"

The two girls spotted him at once and hurried over. They had missed him dearly during their half-year apart.

"You've both made quite a bit of progress." Lu Xuan smiled at them. "Your cultivation has advanced so much. You must have been practicing the methods I taught you diligently."

Lu Xuan had taught Ye Lingling the Muscle-Tendon Changing and Marrow-Cleansing Chapter some time ago, and Dugu Yan had learned it later as well. He had always been generous with those close to him.

He had even suggested that Dugu Bo and Ye Renxin take a look at his "family cultivation method." They might have gained a great deal from it. But as established experts, both men had their pride and politely declined.

"Of course we wouldn't slack off," Ye Lingling said with a bright smile, her eyes shining. "It won't be long before we can obtain our Third Soul Rings."

Dugu Yan nodded firmly beside her, a competitive edge in her voice. "By then, we might even be stronger than you."

In fact, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling had both passed rank thirty in Soul Power a year ago. They had simply held back, delaying the absorption of their Third Soul Rings.

For one thing, they were strengthening their bodies in the hope of absorbing five-thousand-year Third Soul Rings. More importantly, though, they needed the right Soul Rings!

The quality of those rings would profoundly affect their future cultivation.

To obtain superior Soul Rings suited to them, they were willing to wait patiently.

Dugu Yan still planned to follow the path of the Jade Phosphorus Five Poisons for her Third Soul Ring. Dugu Bo had already captured a three-thousand-year-old Jade Phosphorus Toad for her, but she considered it too young and refused to settle. She intended to spend more time building her foundation.

Part of her determination came from seeing Lu Xuan aim for a Third Soul Ring over nine thousand years old; she did not want to fall behind. And Ye Lingling had already decided to absorb a five-thousand-year Third Soul Ring. With that example before her, Dugu Yan was even less willing to make a hasty choice.

Some time ago, Ye Renxin had won a five-thousand-year-old Nine Heart Begonia Soul Beast at an auction.

Nowhere on Douluo Continent could they find a Soul Ring better suited to Ye Lingling. They could not afford to miss such a chance.

If Ye Lingling absorbed a Soul Ring from the Nine Heart Begonia, there was even a slight chance her Seven-Heart Begonia Martial Soul, which had previously degenerated, would recover and evolve back into a complete Nine Heart Begonia.

Ordinarily, they would have saved the five-thousand-year-old Soul Beast for Ye Lingling's fourth Soul Ring.

But she did not want to fall too far behind the others, so rather than keep waiting, she planned to use it as her third.

In the end, Lu Xuan, Ye Lingling, and Dugu Yan had fallen into a competition to outdo one another.

And the measure they competed by was the age of their Soul Rings.

Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan knew catching up to Lu Xuan would be extremely difficult. That did not stop them from pushing each other to improve.

Ye Renxin and Dugu Bo had tried to persuade the girls not to push themselves so hard, but both were stubborn and refused to back down.

Fortunately, years of nourishment from Immortal Herbs had transformed their foundations. Even after delaying their Soul Rings for so long, they remained exceptional geniuses with immeasurable potential.

Besides, holding off on absorbing their Soul Rings to focus on tempering their bodies brought benefits of its own. By repeatedly drawing out the remaining medicinal power of the Immortal Herbs and refining their physiques, they were building the strongest possible foundation for future cultivation.

They might even reach heights most people would never dare imagine.

For instance, they might attempt to absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring as their eighth Soul Ring!

That was Dugu Bo and Ye Renxin's conservative estimate.

Lu Xuan looked further ahead. Given the foundations the two girls had built, he believed they could aim for a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring as early as their seventh.

As for Lu Xuan himself, he was more confident still. By his sixth Soul Ring, he hoped to attempt a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.

The key was the Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pills he had specially refined!

With those pills on hand, Lu Xuan was fairly confident he could do it!