"So this is the Dawn Radiance Lotus Marrow? It really does look impressive." Feeling the rich light-attribute energy within the hexagonal crystal resting on his palm, Lin Xuanchen couldn't help marveling inwardly.
"I can use this to refine a pill for Dong'er." Lin Xuanchen murmured to himself, then tucked it into his Storage Ring.
As for the Dawn-Burning Golden Lotus, Lin Xuanchen didn't spare them so much as a glance. Once Wang Dong'er finished absorbing the Soul Restoration Pill's medicinal power, their fate would be sealed: they could only become Wang Dong'er's Soul Ring.
"Why is she taking so long? She should have finished refining it by now, shouldn't she?" Watching Wang Dong'er refine the medicinal power with her eyes closed, Lin Xuanchen frowned slightly.
He remembered that even when he had taken and refined a Sixth-Grade Pill, it hadn't seemed to take this long.
"Never mind. Let me give you a hand." Murmuring softly, Lin Xuanchen walked behind Wang Dong'er and sat down. He pressed both palms against her back and slowly fed soul power into her body, guiding her refinement of the medicinal power.
With the infusion of Lin Xuanchen's soul power, the medicinal power within Wang Dong'er began refining faster, continually turning into pure energy that surged into her dantian.
Meanwhile, the strand of divine consciousness Tang San had left in Wang Dong'er's Sea of Consciousness was quietly dissolving into wisps of the purest spiritual origin, free of even the slightest impurity, which slowly merged into her Sea of Consciousness.
Time slipped silently away like flowing water. After an unknown stretch of time, the blue-gold figure that had stood like a watcher within Wang Dong'er's Sea of Consciousness finally dissolved into specks of blue light, merging completely into her Sea of Consciousness.
Buzz!
At the same time, an immensely powerful surge of spiritual power swept wildly outward from Wang Dong'er's smooth forehead, forming a terrifying spiritual storm above the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
At that moment, the Ice Empress was sitting on a gray-green rock, swinging her snow-white legs. She propped her cheek on one hand, with an unidentified immortal herb dangling from her pink lips.
When the Ice Empress sensed the powerful spiritual energy sweeping outward from Wang Dong'er, she briefly froze.
Then she turned to look at Wang Dong'er, who sat on the ground with her eyes closed, and a trace of surprise flickered through her beautiful amber eyes.
"Phew."
Roughly another half hour passed before Wang Dong'er slowly opened her beautiful eyes. Her red lips parted slightly as she exhaled a stale breath.
"Something feels different somehow?" Wang Dong'er looked down at her hands, sounding a little surprised as she felt her suddenly soaring spiritual power.
"Of course it does. Your spiritual power is probably almost at the level of a Limit Douluo now." Only when he saw that Wang Dong'er had finally finished refining the Soul Restoration Pill's medicinal power did Lin Xuanchen breathe a sigh of relief. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, explaining with a smile.
"A-Chen!" Lin Xuanchen's sudden movement startled Wang Dong'er, but once she saw his handsome face clearly, she cried out excitedly.
"All right, all right. I've already picked out your fourth Soul Ring. It's a Dawn-Burning Golden Lotus with a cultivation age of a hundred and twenty thousand years." Lin Xuanchen stroked Wang Dong'er's little head and smiled.
"A hundred and twenty thousand years!" Wang Dong'er exclaimed in surprise.
"Mm-hmm." Lin Xuanchen nodded. "That's right, a hundred and twenty thousand years. Just follow my instructions when you absorb it."
"Okay!" Wang Dong'er answered with a small nod.
"Come with me." With a soft smile, Lin Xuanchen took Wang Dong'er's hand and led her over to Xixi.
"Dong'er, just kill them." Lin Xuanchen pointed at Xixi, who was sealed in ice before them, and spoke calmly.
"But... why are they a person?" Wang Dong'er asked in confusion as she looked at the frozen Xixi.
"Dong'er, they're not human. They're a hundred-and-twenty-thousand-year-old Dawn-Burning Golden Lotus. Just kill them. You don't need to feel guilty about it," Lin Xuanchen explained.
"Besides, Senior Ice Empress has already sealed them in ice, and their vitality is steadily draining away. This is your last chance to kill them," Lin Xuanchen added.
"All right." Hearing that, Wang Dong'er nodded firmly. She clenched her delicate hand, and a black halo lit up around it. Then a pitch-black hammer appeared in her grasp.
The hammer was enormous and black all over, with a blue pattern adorning its face, giving it an imposing air.
This martial soul was none other than the Clear Sky Hammer, hailed as the world's greatest tool martial soul!
Naturally, Lin Xuanchen wasn't entirely convinced by that claim. He possessed the Seven Kill Sword martial soul, after all. If they were talking about the title of the world's greatest tool martial soul, the Seven Kill Sword could certainly occupy that throne too!
The original story's claim that the Clear Sky Hammer countered every other tool martial soul was purely a matter of its advantages in mechanics and structure.
The Clear Sky Hammer martial soul was a blunt-weapon tool martial soul, with a broad area to bear force and strong resistance to impact. Its advantage lay in head-on clashes, whereas sword-type tool martial souls like the Seven Kill Sword martial soul were different.
A sword martial soul had a long, narrow, bladed structure. In a head-on clash against a hammer martial soul, its load-bearing structure would magnify the impact, putting it at a disadvantage.
Of course, a sword martial soul's strengths were equally clear: it was nimble and light, attacking through slashes and thrusts. That was entirely different from a hammer martial soul's approach of making miracles happen through brute force. Each simply had its own advantages.
"Clear Sky Mountain-Shaking Strike!"
Wang Dong'er raised the Clear Sky Hammer high. Her red lips parted with a low shout, and she brought it crashing down on Xixi, who was sealed in ice before her!
Boom!
Carrying earth-shaking might, Wang Dong'er's Clear Sky Hammer slammed viciously into the frozen Xixi's head, unleashing a deafening roar.
There was no suspense about the outcome. Wang Dong'er smashed Xixi to death.
After all, Xixi had already lost some vitality when the Ice Empress sealed them in ice, and Lin Xuanchen had previously punched straight through their abdomen.
After he forcibly extracted the Dawn Radiance Lotus Marrow that Xixi had condensed through ten thousand years of cultivation, they had lost even more vitality. It was only to be expected that Wang Dong'er could kill them now.
Buzz!
As Wang Dong'er smashed Xixi to death, a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, scarlet as blood, instantly condensed above their corpse, radiating immense fluctuations of soul power.
"A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring..." Looking at the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring before her, Wang Dong'er couldn't help exclaiming, "Aside from the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings on First Dad and Second Dad, this must be the first Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring I've ever seen."
"According to A-Chen, this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring is actually a hundred and twenty thousand years old."
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