The next two jars contained nothing remarkable, just Magic Juice.
The last jar, however, gave Lin Xiao a delightful surprise.
Another artifact?
Item: [Enhancement Protection Scroll] Grade: [Artifact] Type: [Untradeable] Description: [Equipment protection converted to Soul Ring protection.] Effect: [After use, prevents a Soul Ring from disappearing if enhancement fails above +10. However, its enhancement level resets to zero.]
An Enhancement Protection Scroll.
Hiss... Was this destiny? Was I really meant to make a push for +11 today?
Before Heaven entrusts a great task to a man, it must first screw him over... Lin Xiao now vaguely understood. His good luck seemed to have only just begun.
After putting away the items scattered across the counter, Lin Xiao took an Enhancer in his left hand.
Before attempting +11, there was another step: he had to enhance his Soul Ring to +10 first.
"Maybe these four Enhancers will just send me back to +3..."
Lin Xiao had already braced himself.
After all, the road of enhancement was full of bumps and pitfalls. Anything above +3 could fail.
He loosely curled his right hand, and his Martial Soul appeared in the form of a Lightsaber. A Soul Ring had already risen from beneath his feet.
"Enhance."
As his voice fell, the Soul Ring detached itself from Lin Xiao, shrinking steadily before dropping into the Enhancer.
"Pretty miraculous."
Watching a Soul Ring being enhanced for the first time, Lin Xiao's eyes shone with wonder.
Once the Soul Ring dropped inside, the black dots of light on the Enhancer began to spin.
Before long.
A voice sounded in his ears: [Congratulations, enhancement successful.]
That made it +8 already?
Lin Xiao paused in surprise. It seemed easier than he had imagined.
The Soul Ring had already flown out of the Enhancer and settled around him again.
Upon inspection, Lin Xiao found that its color had deepened further. Its age had broken past the nine-hundred-year mark.
At the same time, a surge of Soul Power suddenly appeared within him. He did not panic, knowing this was the Soul Power feedback from the increase in his Soul Ring's age.
"Enhancing it to +9 should definitely take it past a thousand years..."
Having confirmed his suspicion, Lin Xiao took out another Enhancer and began enhancing again.
The result was gratifying.
[Congratulations, enhancement successful.]
"It worked again."
Lin Xiao felt that the process was going surprisingly smoothly.
When the Soul Ring emerged from the Enhancer again, everything had changed.
It was no longer the yellow that signified a hundred-year ring.
Instead, it had turned the purple of a Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
"A thousand years. Just as I thought, after nine enhancements, the Soul Ring's age finally broke past the thousand-year mark."
The next moment, an even stronger surge of Soul Power feedback appeared, and Lin Xiao's Soul Power broke through as well.
Level fifteen!
"This seems to be another shortcut to increasing my Soul Power, huh?"
Lin Xiao's eyes lit up. Remembering the two Enhancers still in his hands, he decided to try again.
Maybe I could ride this momentum straight to +10?
The moment I hit +10, I'll stop and throw away the remaining Enhancer.
Lin Xiao made up his mind.
In the blink of an eye, the third Enhancer was activated.
Lin Xiao stared nervously at the Enhancer in his hand, his heart full of unease.
At that moment.
Every second felt like a year.
[Congratulations, enhancement successful.]
It reached +10!
Only when the Soul Ring settled back around him did Lin Xiao snap out of his daze.
"At +10, my First Soul Ring is around twelve hundred years old. That means enhancements one through ten added eight hundred years?"
"If I showed this First Soul Ring to the outside world now, it would surely stir up towering waves in the Soul Master World, wouldn't it?"
At the thought, the corners of Lin Xiao's mouth lifted into a slight smile. He took out the last Enhancer.
[Friendly reminder: discarded items cannot be recovered. Discard the Enhancer?]
Uh...
Lin Xiao hesitated.
It felt as though two versions of himself were fighting inside his head.
One said to keep enhancing. This attempt was a sure thing.
The other said that if he failed, he would lose everything. Throwing it away was the wisest choice.
"Take a gamble, and a bicycle could become a motorcycle. Maybe this is my chance to reach +11?"
"If it fails, I'll just pretend nothing happened."
Lin Xiao finally made his decision.
"Enhance."
As his voice fell, another prompt sounded in Lin Xiao's ears:
[The current enhancement carries a certain risk. Continue?]
"Continue."
[Enhancement Protection Scroll detected. Use it? (Note: a successful enhancement will not consume the Enhancement Protection Scroll. If enhancement fails, the Enhancement Protection Scroll will disappear, and the item's enhancement level will reset to zero.)]
"Use it."
Lin Xiao said it emphatically.
[Enhancement failed.]
???
Lin Xiao froze. That was way too fast, bro!
Crack.
The Enhancer shattered, and a yellow Soul Ring slowly drifted out of it...
Its yellow was painfully glaring.
As though brimming with silent mockery.
"Fuck."
"That's it?"
Lin Xiao's eyelid twitched wildly.
But it was not over yet.
The next moment, he noticed that the Soul Power gained from increasing his Soul Ring's age was also disappearing. His actual cultivation dropped back to level fourteen!
"Did you have to be this ruthless...?"
Lin Xiao regretted it.
He had not won the motorcycle, and now even his bicycle was gone.
"Next time, I'll definitely..."
"Forget it. Who knows when I'll get another chance to attempt +11...?"
In the end, that was the only comfort Lin Xiao could give himself.
"Sigh, time to sleep... I'll just treat it as a dream, as though none of it ever happened..."
The morning sunlight was tranquil and gentle as it shone into the Supreme Pontiff's bedchamber.
It also fell across the face of the soundly sleeping Bibi Dong.
She seemed to feel that warm ray of sunlight, and a faint smile appeared on her beautiful face.
Her long eyelashes fluttered as she slowly awoke.
"Mmm..."
She stretched languidly, feeling more relaxed than ever before, then opened her eyes with a satisfied expression.
But the next moment, once she took in the scene before her, she was stunned.
"It's... morning?"
"Did I sleep through the entire night?"
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Thinking back, she could not even remember how long it had been since she had slept so sweetly.
Ten years? Eight?
Or perhaps even longer...
"It really is morning."
Without bothering to tidy herself up, she got out of bed and pushed open the doors to her bedchamber, letting in more sunlight.
The air was slightly damp, carrying the fragrance of earth. There were still patches of water on the bluestone path outside. Bibi Dong was certain it must have rained heavily yesterday.
"Your Majesty, you're awake."
A maid had long been waiting outside the bedchamber.
There was unmistakable surprise in her voice.
Ever since becoming a maid, she had never seen Her Majesty rise this late.
Or rather, she had never seen Her Majesty sleep so soundly.
"It rained yesterday, too."
Bibi Dong spoke softly.
"Yesterday's thunderstorm was the heaviest in recent years," the maid answered truthfully.
A thunderstorm?
Bibi Dong paused. She had not heard even the slightest rumble of thunder. She had not even had a single dream.
"It must have been the Sleep Clam Meat taking effect. It really worked exactly as Boss Lin said it would. Looks like I lost..."
Bibi Dong murmured in a voice only she could hear, then smiled faintly.
It seemed she would definitely be opening more jars from now on.
Today was another day full of hope...
Having barely slept well all night, Lin Xiao yawned as he pushed open the shop door.
However.
To his surprise, someone was already waiting outside.
Seeing a customer at his door, Lin Xiao smiled. "Ghost Leopard, you're here pretty early!"
At his words, Ghost Leopard Douluo looked a little embarrassed. "Actually, I came late last night and have been waiting until now..."
P.S.
Let me explain the enhancement scroll issue.
Some smart alecks asked why he didn't enhance first and then use the enhancement scroll. Was the author an idiot?
That was my fault for not explaining it clearly. The enhancement scroll overwrites; it doesn't stack. For example, if you were already at +6 and then used the enhancement scroll, you would still end up at +7... It doesn't stack.
The earlier text has already been revised.
If you spot any issues, please feel free to point them out.
Before you continue