Passive Evolution

"Come home with me." Lang Ya lowered his hood, revealing hair streaked with gray.

Yet he looked fairly young, only in his thirties.

Looking at those long fingers covered in wrinkles and calluses, Jiang Hao took his hand. "Thanks, big brother."

He had nothing against the Body Sect; they had never crossed him. Lang Ya was delighted by his response.

His gaze swept over Xiaoxiao nearby. An idea sparked! Lang Ya pulled a Jade Bottle from his robe. "Here, little sister. Take your little boyfriend upstairs and help him relax.

After a fight, his muscles will be stiff as boards. If they don't recover soon, he'll end up like Fatty Liu, unable to move a finger."

Xiaoxiao glanced fearfully at Fatty Liu on the other end of the sofa. The upper half of his body was censored in a mosaic, though he wore a smile. She quickly looked away.

Her face burned as she looked at Jiang Hao, but she accepted the bottle with concern and murmured, barely louder than a mosquito, "Brother Jiang, I'll help you upstairs and apply the medicine."

Jiang Hao felt weak all over. What stiff muscles?

Lang Ya was doing it on purpose. Jiang Hao caught his lecherous grin and even a victory sign. Unable to resist Xiaoxiao's insistence, he let her drag him upstairs.

Once upstairs, Xiaoxiao opened the Jade Bottle.

Watching the mutton-fat-white ointment drip from it, she carefully poured some into her palm.

Jiang Hao, meanwhile, had already had his shirt stripped off by her. At the sight of his bare muscles and the section of his chest that had caved in, Xiaoxiao pressed her hand against him with an aching heart and spread the ointment evenly.

The ointment was cool as fine snow.

Jiang Hao felt it grow colder against his skin. The dark blood pooled in his vessels had indeed begun to disperse, gradually returning to its normal color.

Lang Ya might have been messing with him, but the man was reliable. This medicine really was good.

Before long, Jiang Hao, lying on the bed, heard through his keen senses that more people had come to cause trouble downstairs. There were quite a few of them, and they made a considerable racket.

But after just a few minutes, it stopped again.

It seemed some members of the Body Sect had arrived. The Xuanming Sect no longer dared make a move, leaving the two sides at a standoff.

Jiang Hao circulated his Soul Power to recover while sending the Clone hiding outside to take Qingzhu away. He left Shadow Bro behind to watch what happened outside.

Through Shadow Bro's surveillance, Jiang Hao learned that the Xuanming Sect had come looking for trouble, only to be beaten by Lang Ya and several other Soul Masters from the Body Sect. Now those men stood guard at the Northern Snow Trading House's entrance, beating down every wave that came!

"Owl Bro, find out everything you can about the Xuanming Sect: its strength, how many top-tier fighters it has, where its forces are based, and the reach of its businesses. The Xuanming Sect will be the first to face my blade."

"The Xuanming Sect is our enemy! I'll destroy it within three years!" Jiang Hao let out a long breath.

If his overall strength had not been so weak, with only two Soul Rings, he would have gone to fight the Xuanming Sect even if it had two thousand Soul Kings. All he needed were three more Soul Rings.

Xiaoxiao sat beside Jiang Hao's bed, watching him recuperate beneath a coating of ointment. "Brother Jiang, why don't I arrange a carriage to take you out of the city?" she said worriedly.

"The Xuanming Sect is the strongest Soul Master sect in the Dou Ling Empire.

I'll contact my family and have them take you out of the city. Hurry back to Shrek City. There are plenty of Titled Douluo there, so you'll be safer."

Xiaoxiao muttered on, clenching her hands tighter.

"Don't worry. I'll handle this. Try to calm down and get a good night's sleep. I'll go home with you tomorrow."

Jiang Hao reached out and ruffled Xiaoxiao's hair twice. No matter how he looked at her, she was adorable.

"As for me, don't worry. Those green-haired old turtles from the Xuanming Sect can't do anything to me. Didn't you see? I have people backing me too."

Jiang Hao got up and ushered Xiaoxiao out. Then he sat on the bed and circulated his Soul Power as dozens of healing Soul Skills took effect on his body.

Even with Xiaoxiao, a kindhearted child in the original story, Jiang Hao did not dare reveal this ability carelessly.

As the healing Soul Skills stacked up, the blood pooled inside his collapsed chest was forced out.

Jiang Hao spat a mouthful of clotted, frothy blood into the trash can.

His internal injuries were severe!

Even after using every bit of strength I can show openly, I couldn't break through an eight-ring Soul Master's defenses, much less hurt him.

It looks like I still have a long road ahead before I'm strong enough.

Jiang Hao tended to his injuries and began circulating his Soul Power.

Then, to his surprise, he discovered that Soul Power flowed faster through the parts of his body that had been badly injured and then repaired by it!

The paths of his meridians had shifted slightly.

Jiang Hao examined them closely. Several meridians had shifted a little after the heavy blow, while the one in his chest had moved a full millimeter!

When Soul Power passed through them, it flowed faster!

This passive evolution resembled Shen Yin's ability (a character from Critical: World of Sorcery 3), yet it had already gone beyond the realm of Martial Souls.

With a long enough lifespan, he could evolve without limit. And in the Douluo World, there was no shortage of life!

Level-ninety Soul Masters could often live more than a hundred years. Each additional level could even add another ten to twenty years.

Long Xiaoyao and Mu En, for instance, had lifespans approaching two hundred years.

My body is my weapon. I'll forge my own path and turn my body into a weapon.

Jiang Hao felt his Soul Power racing through him and the tingling of his injuries.

He steeled himself and drove a fist into his left arm.

A bone-cracking sound set his teeth on edge. The punch broke his forearm, but the searing pain he expected did not come at first. Instead came an itchy numbness, followed by agony.

Enduring the pain, Jiang Hao choked back a sob and activated his Martial Soul to heal the injury.

As he had hoped, the broken bone quickly fused back together, and his Soul Power dispersed the swollen, pooled blood.

Under the relentless wash of Soul Power, his meridians began to twist.

Jiang Hao watched their flow without blinking. At the point of impact, the once-broad meridian split in two. It branched into ever finer paths, spreading like twigs before converging again and rejoining the main meridian.

His meridians now occupied more space in his body. Their flow was faster, their paths more numerous, and their reach wider. Soul Power could act directly on his muscles more quickly.

This was practically a divine skill!

Jiang Hao did not stop. Seizing the opportunity, he kept hammering his Soul Power, compressing the mistlike energy through those tiny branches until it grew denser and purer.

The mist grew thicker and thicker.

At last, a drop of liquid condensed where the meridians in his left arm joined, then surged toward his heart with the flow of Soul Power.

The Soul Power in Jiang Hao's body had decreased by one-tenth.

So compressing gaseous Soul Power into liquid Soul Power gives a ten-to-one ratio?

No wonder people with highly concentrated Soul Power were nearly invincible at the same level. With several times as much Soul Power as ordinary people, they far surpassed others both in the Soul Skills they unleashed and in physical strength.

As Soul Power continued to flow in and be consumed, the broken bones in his left arm regrew. Soon, the entire arm was as good as new.

Jiang Hao remained seated cross-legged and continued compressing his Soul Power. Unfortunately, even after a whole night, he still had not condensed a second drop of liquid Soul Power.

Each time he came close, the first drop completed a circuit and raced through the fork in his left arm's meridians, scattering the bead of liquid that had begun to gather.

"Hahaha! Main Body Old Rogue, here I come!"

The sun had barely risen when a crazed laugh suddenly rang out in Jiang Hao's room.

The Clone sprinted naked around the room, his two bells swinging as he performed one front flip after another, then backflips.

Jiang Hao suppressed a whole night's frustration at his failure and slapped a hand to his forehead.

This morning's Clone had turned out to be a lunatic~