"That powerful?!" Wang Xian'er's pupils contracted slightly, shock showing on her face.
Su Yuan smiled and nodded.
To be fair, it really was.
The strength of this soul skill had somewhat exceeded his expectations. Not only was it the breath-type soul skill he wanted most, but its accompanying properties were terrifying too, with both control and destructive power pushed to the limit.
"It's just... its destructive power really is a little excessive." Wang Xian'er glanced at the heap of frost that had once been a pine tree, her brows tightly knitted.
With destructive power like that, a single lapse in control could cost someone their life-and leave them beyond saving.
How could she save someone who had shattered into ice shards?
"Don't worry, Sister Xian'er. The breath attack is only this soul skill's most basic form. Whether I add its annihilation ability to the breath, or even how strong the cold is, is entirely under my control." Su Yuan withdrew his martial soul and soul rings into his body.
When he looked beside him again, the Rouge Dragon's corpse was already gone. Luo Shan or Mo Yunxing had probably put it away.
"That's good." Wang Xian'er breathed a sigh of relief.
She wasn't worried that Su Yuan would use his terrifyingly powerful third soul skill to commit evil. She was simply concerned that poor control over his own soul skill might lead him to do something he would regret.
The history of the Douluo Continent had no shortage of cases where martial souls or soul skills became so powerful that soul masters lost control and hurt those close to them.
Of those people, only a very few managed to subdue their own power through sheer strength of will.
The vast majority either never recovered from the blow or even lost their sanity and fell into becoming evil soul masters.
Since the soul skill was completely under Su Yuan's control, Wang Xian'er naturally had nothing left to worry about.
"Now that you've finished absorbing your soul ring, it's time for us to head back." Wang Xian'er called back Luo Shan and Mo Yunxing, who had been standing guard in the distance.
"Yes, it's time to go home." Su Yuan nodded, then glanced back into the depths of the Far North, an almost imperceptible glint of calculation flashing through his eyes.
"Sister Xian'er, once we get back, it'll be time for you to enter seclusion again and absorb the Gold of Life's vitality to become a Limit Douluo. Once you do, I'll have something very important I need your help with..."
At his words, Wang Xian'er couldn't help growing curious.
"Little Yuan, why are you always so eager for me to become a Limit Douluo? I keep feeling you have some astonishing plans in mind."
"Hehe, won't you find out once you become one?"
After returning to Star Luo City, Wang Xian'er did not immediately enter seclusion.
The banquet she had previously promised Xu Jiawei still had to be held first.
Between the journey to and from the Far North and Su Yuan's dozen-odd days of training, they had been away from Star Luo City for nearly a month. The nobles and dignitaries hoping to curry favor with Wang Xian'er had probably waited until they were numb.
To fulfill her earlier promise, and to pave the way for Su Yuan and make his name known among the Star Luo Empire's elite, she had preparations to make.
After returning to Star Luo City, Wang Xian'er sent word to Xu Jiawei that preparations for the banquet could begin.
Naturally, Xu Jiawei was overjoyed.
Although news of Wang Xian'er's breakthrough had long since reached the major powers of the Douluo Continent, and the Healing Angel true form that had looked down upon millions of Star Luo City's residents on the day of her breakthrough could hardly have been faked, that alone was not enough.
Deterrence, after all, had to be something others truly witnessed.
For this banquet, Xu Jiawei would invite not only nobles and experts of sufficient strength and status within the Star Luo Empire, but also some experts from the Heaven Dou Empire and the Dou Ling Empire.
Even Shrek would not be left out.
In this turbulent age of surging undercurrents, flexing their muscles was all too necessary.
On the second day after Su Yuan and the others returned to Star Luo City, Xu Jiawei delivered the compensation he had promised.
It should have been delivered long ago, but Su Yuan had been away soul hunting, and Wang Xian'er and the others had gone with him. That was why it had yet to reach his hands.
There was no denying that Xu Jiawei was truly willing to cut into his own flesh this time.
The various soul tools, precious medicines, and top-grade ingredients had a combined value approaching eight figures.
First came the soul tools, ranging from Level 3 Soul Tools to Level 7 Soul Tools, covering all four major categories Su Yuan would need from three rings through seven rings.
There were offensive soul tools such as those that fired Soul Guidance Rays and Fixed Soul Cannon Shells.
Defensive Soul Tools such as Invincible Shields and Soul Tool Shields.
There were also Level 4 through Level 6 Soul Power Milk Bottles for restoring soul power. Even the Star Luo Empire possessed few Level 7 Milk Bottles, and those were strategic resources, so none had been included.
Finally, there were Flying Soul Tools ranging from Level 3 to Level 7.
Eight figures in Gold Soul Coins?
It was probably more than that!
Buying these soul tools alone from the Sun Moon Empire would probably cost over twenty million.
The Douluo Three Kingdoms could only purchase soul tools from the Sun Moon Empire through underground smuggling channels, at prices far above the usual rates. Moreover, the soul tools given to Su Yuan were bound to be of excellent quality, making their prices even higher.
The medicines and ingredients were comparatively less expensive, since the Star Luo Empire could not offer anything too precious.
Its own people would have already consumed those.
Still, quite a few of them could nourish spiritual power, including a full ten Spirit-Nourishing Sea Urchins preserved through special methods.
That saved Wang Xian'er the trouble of gathering treasures to improve Su Yuan's spiritual power.
Finally came the main attraction: a soul bone!
They were all soul masters, so naturally they knew what soul masters needed most. When giving treasures, how could they leave out a blood river treasure like a soul bone, something that could drive soul masters mad with desire?
And the soul bone Xu Jiawei had given Su Yuan was quite interesting.
A seventy-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone!
Yes, it was precisely the Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone that should originally have appeared at the Starlight Auction House a year later, alongside the Snow Empress Embryo!
When he saw this soul bone, Su Yuan honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He knew Xu Jiawei meant well. Since the Star Luo Empire could not produce a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, offering this Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone was certainly a tremendous show of sincerity.
But he didn't possess ultimate ice. He couldn't absorb the thing!
"Forget it. Just because I can't absorb it now doesn't mean I'll never be able to, does it?"
Now that it was in his hands, Su Yuan naturally had no intention of giving it away. He merely marveled inwardly at Xu Jiawei's generosity.
From the looks of it, Xu Jiawei really wasn't a shortsighted good-for-nothing like Yan Shaozhe. Su Yuan's earlier judgment of him had been somewhat mistaken.
Judging by the compensation he had offered, even without Wang Xian'er backing him, Su Yuan's public identity as the "descendant of a deceased court guardian" would have guaranteed favorable treatment from the Star Luo Empire. At the very least, a lifetime of fine clothes and lavish meals would certainly have been no problem.
But if he had been dealing with Yan Shaozhe?
Heh, heh, heh...
Whatever the case, Xu Jiawei had offered astronomical compensation worth nearly fifty million Gold Soul Coins this time, and Su Yuan was extremely satisfied with it!
The Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, whose wealth rivaled a nation's, had only offered a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins in compensation. What a bunch of cheapskates.
Now look at the Star Luo Empire-five hundred times that amount, at the very least!
Before you continue