"Little Yuan, aren't you going to absorb the soul bone His Majesty gave you?"
In the garden, Wang Xian'er and Su Yuan sat facing each other, each with a steaming cup of delicately fragrant flower tea before them.
"The Ice Jade Scorpion is one of the dominant species in the Far North, and its own attribute has reached the ultimate in ice. By giving you this soul bone, His Majesty may well be hoping you'll become an Ultimate Ice soul master."
Su Yuan took a small sip of his flower tea, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
"I have other plans for that soul bone. It isn't time to absorb it yet."
"Yes, yes. You always have such unfathomable ideas tucked away in that head of yours." Wang Xian'er shook her head helplessly, though her voice brimmed with affection.
"Then go ahead and do what you have in mind without worrying. Whatever you want to do, your big sister will support you and help you."
"Then please become a Limit Douluo soon, big sister~" In a rare moment of playful teasing, Su Yuan brought up the subject once again.
His repeated mentions of the matter prompted Wang Xian'er to take it seriously.
"Little Yuan, becoming a Limit Douluo isn't something that can happen overnight. I've thought it over carefully these past few days. Even with unlimited use of gold of life, I would still need at least half a year to reach level 99." Wang Xian'er furrowed her brows slightly and addressed Su Yuan's question directly.
"I don't know what you need my help with once I become a Limit Douluo, but in the short term, I truly can't do anything."
Wang Xian'er felt helpless too.
Before this, she had never even dared to imagine becoming a Limit Douluo, and she knew all too well just how difficult reaching level 99 would be.
Not only did she need to comprehend spatial power and use it as the foundation for condensing a second soul core, but she also had to bring about a qualitative transformation in the soul power within her body.
The latter wasn't difficult for Wang Xian'er. As long as she transformed her soul power in accordance with the life force embodied by gold of life, that qualitative change would follow naturally.
Condensing a second soul core, however, was nowhere near that easy.
Otherwise, why would someone as prodigiously gifted as Du Busi remain stuck fast at level 98, unable to advance even an inch?
Hadn't even Xuan Zi spent decades languishing at level 98? Even after taking a Universe Creation Pill, hadn't he needed over a year to become a Limit Douluo?
Not everyone was like Su Yuan, able to slap a wheelchair trait onto himself and send his soul power level soaring as though he were riding an airplane.
Su Yuan, however, wasn't concerned.
Half a year to become a Limit Douluo was more than enough.
His plans only required Wang Xian'er to become a Limit Douluo before he left Shrek. A single term at Shrek lasted eleven months, so even giving her another two or three months would be no problem.
Su Yuan took the opportunity to bring up another arrangement. "Sister Xian'er, I'm planning to study at Shrek Academy for a while. You can use that time to become a Limit Douluo."
"Go to Shrek?" Wang Xian'er automatically ignored the latter half of his words. All she heard was that he was leaving.
"Yes. Some of my plans can only be carried out at Shrek." Unaware of her deeply concealed emotions, Su Yuan nodded earnestly. "Maybe a year, maybe two. In any case, it won't be too long."
"And the eleven months I spend studying at Shrek should be enough for you to become a Limit Douluo. When the holidays are about to begin, I'll need you to come pick me up at Shrek Academy."
His earnest words made Wang Xian'er sigh inwardly.
Of course she couldn't bear the thought of Su Yuan going somewhere as far away as Shrek, much less spending a full eleven months away from her side.
If Su Yuan encountered any danger, she wouldn't even be able to reach him immediately.
But more than she wanted to keep him close, Wang Xian'er wanted to respect his choice.
"Since that's what you want, go ahead." A gentle smile returned to Wang Xian'er's face. "There are still two months before Shrek's next enrollment. When the time comes, I'll take you there myself, then return to Star Luo City to enter seclusion."
"In the meantime, I'll have Xiao Luo and Xiao Mo accompany you to Shrek City. Once I become a Limit Douluo, I'll come find you at Shrek."
Su Yuan had already displayed a mindset and depth of calculation far beyond what someone his age should possess. Instead, he seemed like a sly old fox with a belly full of schemes, speaking in riddles that made it difficult to guess his next move.
Anyone else in Wang Xian'er's position would have grown curious about Su Yuan, perhaps even felt the urge to probe his secrets.
But Wang Xian'er wouldn't.
Because he was Su Yuan. As long as he was Su Yuan, that was enough. Everything else was a minor detail that didn't matter.
If only one person on the Douluo Continent remained willing to trust Su Yuan unconditionally, that person would undoubtedly be Wang Xian'er.
Su Yuan's expression shifted slightly. Looking into Wang Xian'er's gentle eyes, rippling like autumn waters, he nodded softly.
"All right."
Over the next half month, Wang Xian'er took charge of every aspect of Su Yuan's daily life and strictly scheduled his cultivation.
It felt rather like Huo Yuhao's experience with the Ultimate Individual Soldier Plan. Even his meditation and sleep were confined to strictly allotted periods.
The resources Wang Xian'er had accumulated over the years, along with those Xu Jiawei had sent last time, also came into play during this period, poured into Su Yuan in large quantities.
Luo Shan and Mo Yunxing's combat lessons were canceled, replaced by Wang Xian'er's lessons on martial souls.
As a level 98 Super Douluo, her understanding and comprehension of martial souls were beyond anything those two relative novices, Luo Shan and Mo Yunxing, could match.
The two of them had only taught Su Yuan how to fight.
Wang Xian'er, however, taught him how to resonate with his own martial soul and how to exercise precise control over every fraction of his soul power.
Resonating with one's martial soul was an essential means of understanding it deeply, the simplest and most direct path to comprehending its profound mysteries.
What use was there in doing this?
Of course it was useful.
Understanding one's martial soul and precisely controlling one's soul power were fundamentals every powerful soul master had to master, because both were prerequisites for developing self-created soul skills.
Without understanding your martial soul, how could you know how to use it, or what potential lay hidden within it?
Without precise control over your soul power, how could you fully draw out that potential and ultimately develop the martial soul mysteries and self-created soul skills unique to you?
Granted, it was certainly a little too early for Su Yuan to develop self-created soul skills at his current cultivation level.
But Wang Xian'er wasn't asking him to develop self-created soul skills now. She wanted him to set foot on the right path toward becoming strong ahead of time and achieve greater harmony with his martial soul.
A soul master and their martial soul were one. The martial soul couldn't simply be treated as a source of power or a tool for battle.
No truly powerful soul master had waited until becoming a Titled Douluo to begin comprehending their martial soul. That would have been far too late.
Su Yuan possessed exceptional talent for cultivation. Having become a Soul Elder before the age of twelve, he would reach at least Soul Douluo in the future.
What Wang Xian'er needed to do was shape Su Yuan's outlook from this point onward and raise the ceiling of his potential as high as possible.
Before you continue