Inside a sealed chamber.
An enormous eyeball several times larger than a human head floated quietly before Xu Qingjia like a balloon. Its entire surface was a mysterious silvery white, shimmering with starlight, while four long, silvery-white tentacles trailed limply across the floor.
A purely spiritual Evil Eye, the most exalted existence in the Evil Eye Clan.
Whether in rarity, value, or combat strength, it surpassed a Sea Princess of the same age-except for those possessing the golden bloodline.
Xu Qingjia looked at the Evil Eye.
The Evil Eye looked back at Xu Qingjia.
Top-tier spiritual soul beasts had always been highly intelligent.
Based on what he had read in the soul beast encyclopedia, Xu Qingjia estimated that this Evil Eye was already no less intelligent than a human child in their teens.
Yet it was precisely that intelligence that made her decisively bow to her instincts before the two experts with Spirit Domain Realm spiritual power standing behind Xu Qingjia.
"Little one." Xu Qingjia held out his hand. "Follow me, and your future will be brighter than that Evil-Eyed Tyrant Ruler fellow's."
Evil Eye: (ノ~w~)ノ
Xu Qingjia: ...
For some reason, Xu Qingjia felt as though this Evil Eye was looking down on him.
What, did nobody believe the truth these days?
Just then, the Evil Eye moved. Her long, silvery-white tentacles wrapped around Xu Qingjia's wrist, their icy cool touch making him give them a gentle squeeze despite himself.
The six-pointed star formation on the floor lit up.
A faint sense of connection emerged between Xu Qingjia and the Evil Eye, then grew increasingly firm.
Under Xu Qingjia's gaze, the Evil Eye, several times larger than a human head, turned into an illusory silhouette of light and merged into his body. First came a burden upon his soul, as though it were bearing some weight. Then a stream of pure soul power followed, flowing into his dantian in perfect harmony, as though it had always been part of him.
Next came an even purer spiritual origin.
With his stronger soul, Xu Qingjia smoothly accommodated the Evil Eye's spiritual origin. It felt like a refreshing coolness arriving in the scorching heat of summer.
Within just a few days, Xu Qingjia's Sea of Consciousness expanded for the fourth time.
The Evil Eye did not bring much soul power. Most of what she provided was her spiritual origin.
But "not much" depended on what one compared it with.
Compared with a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear soul spirit of the same tier, it certainly was not much.
But compared with a Dark Gold Bear or a Terrorclaw Bear, it was certainly no weaker than what those high-grade soul beasts provided.
Meditative cultivation.
Calming his breathing and focusing his mind.
Xu Qingjia was assimilating the improvements brought by this fusion with a soul spirit.
An Evil Eye several times larger than a human head flew out of Xu Qingjia's body. Her enormous eye shone with an alertness no less than that of a ten-year-old human. A bright purple soul ring, intricate yet dazzling, slowly emerged from her body before settling onto Xu Qingjia.
Crack~
The bottleneck between Soul Scholar and Soul Master was crossed with ease.
The vast soul power accumulated within Xu Qingjia seemed to have finally found an outlet, surging through his broad, resilient meridians like a mighty river.
One full circulation.
Two full circulations.
Meanwhile.
Burst after burst of soul power erupted from Xu Qingjia's body.
Rank eleven, rank twelve, rank thirteen...
His aura climbed rapidly, almost visibly.
In just a few minutes, he achieved what would take a genius months of arduous cultivation. Yet his steadily rising aura showed no sign of stopping.
Rank fifteen, rank sixteen, rank seventeen...
Just as Xu Qingjia's soul power reached rank eighteen, Xu Shengqun's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
"Qingjia has been bright since childhood," Shen Xi said unhurriedly.
She had always had great confidence in her darling son.
Though perhaps more of that confidence came from a mother's love for her child.
The rise in Xu Qingjia's soul power aura suddenly slowed.
It even began to retreat, dropping back to rank seventeen.
But how could the improvement brought by a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone amount to so little? Moreover, Xu Qingjia had enjoyed all kinds of extraordinarily precious medicinal baths since childhood. Although most of their benefits had gone toward tempering his body and strengthening his blood and vitality, even a tiny amount quietly left within him after each bath would have accumulated into a quantity that could no longer be ignored.
Xu Qingjia, who had already begun consciously compressing his soul power, opened his eyes.
But his meditation did not stop.
Meditation itself was merely a process of concentrating spiritual power. With sufficiently strong spiritual power and control over it, one could carry on with normal daily activities while meditating and cultivating.
Xu Qingjia searched through his Storage Soul Tool with his mind.
A white jade porcelain bottle engraved with the divine beast Black Tortoise fell into his hand.
He opened the specially made wooden stopper, and a hazy mist slowly spilled out.
Several deep-blue pills, each the size of a cherry and patterned with white markings, tumbled into Xu Qingjia's palm.
Xu Qingjia popped a Mystic Water Pill worth ten thousand gold into his mouth like a snack.
The Mystic Water Pill was developed by the secluded Xuanming Sect. The pills in Xu Qingjia's possession had been a gift from the Dou Ling Empire's ambassador to Mingdu at one of his birthday banquets. They were prepared through a special method using the blood essence of over a dozen water-attribute soul beasts and over a dozen spiritual ingredients. Their medicinal effects were gentle, capable of raising a Soul Master below rank twenty by one rank. For some people with low innate soul power, they could even raise their innate soul power by one rank.
The latter effect was naturally of no use whatsoever to Xu Qingjia.
Nor was he after the former. What he wanted was the Mystic Water Pill's special ability to cleanse the marrow and temper the bones-or, more precisely, to clear impurities from his body.
Xu Qingjia cultivated with a tranquil mind.
He felt utterly comfortable from head to toe.
A cool sensation traveled throughout his body.
Then, after a while, he opened his eyes and took another Mystic Water Pill.
The second pill was only half as effective.
But to Xu Qingjia, all that mattered was that it worked. Ten thousand gold was nothing more than a string of digits.
As Xu Qingjia's soul power aura rose and fell, an unknown white, viscous substance was slowly expelled through the pores all over his body. Unlike certain kinds of grime, it did not stink. Instead, it gave off a rich medicinal fragrance that made one feel as though they were standing in the mountain wilderness.
Xu Qingjia did not know whether beautiful girls smelled fragrant all over.
But he certainly did not.
The reason these substances carried a medicinal fragrance was that-
They were remnants of spiritual ingredients that his body had failed to absorb, accumulated within him during his regular medicinal baths.
Since these substances had not been absorbed even when the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone had enhanced his body earlier, Xu Qingjia regarded them as nothing more than unabsorbable medicinal dregs.
He might as well use this cultivation session to expel them.
As for the waste?
It did not matter.
Since he had top-tier resources at his disposal, he naturally had to make every step of his cultivation as perfect as possible.
Xu Qingjia never stinted on himself.
Next came the impurities produced by his everyday meals.
His soul power fluctuations rose one moment and fell the next.
Finally, they slowly settled just short of rank nineteen.
But to him, that thin membrane would break with a single poke.
"I should still leave myself a little time to adjust."
Feeling the tremendous improvement in both the quality and quantity of the soul power within him, Xu Qingjia's lips curved slightly in pleasure.
But the sticky feeling all over his body was genuinely unpleasant. Xu Qingjia found a guest room on his second uncle's premises, then bathed, washed up, and changed clothes. All kinds of basic daily necessities had already been stocked in the Sun Moon Crown.
Inside the room filled with modern technology, Xu Qingjia released the Evil Eye soul spirit, who kept sending him excited emotions. The little Evil Eye paid her master no attention at all. Like a curious baby, she examined the room's civilian soul guidance technology, her silver tentacles curiously touching things she had never seen before.
"Do you have a name?" Holding the showerhead and running the water, Xu Qingjia looked at the soul spirit who would be his companion from now on.
Evil Eye: (・ࡇ・)
The convenience of the soul spirit contract allowed them to roughly understand one another through spiritual fluctuations. The pure spiritual Evil Eye's intelligence, far surpassing that of ordinary soul beasts, enabled her to fully understand, consider, and respond to Xu Qingjia's questions.
"So you don't." Xu Qingjia looked at his soul spirit's round, silvery-white body, remembering that the information he had received earlier indicated she was a little girl.
"Then let's call you Nether Moon."
The silver moon of the netherworld.
"Oh."
A flat response reached Xu Qingjia's soul.
Nether Moon's tentacles continued fiddling with several civilian soul tools in the bathroom.
Having lived in the Spirit Ascension Platform since childhood, Nether Moon was deeply curious about the unfamiliar novelties of the outside world.
Watching Nether Moon play with the soul tools, Xu Qingjia suddenly had a bold idea.
A few still-damp strands of black hair clung to his fair forehead as the refined, aristocratic young boy pushed open the door. Several young female Spirit Envoys watched until he walked over to their immediate superior, only then reluctantly hurrying away.
"How do you feel?" Xu Shengqun asked.
"Great," Xu Qingjia blurted out. "I can't wait to try some actual combat."
Several hours had now passed since Xu Qingjia arrived at the Spirit Pagoda that morning, but the sumptuous medicinal breakfast still left him brimming with vitality and energy.
"Then let's go."
Xu Shengqun took Xu Qingjia and Shen Xi to the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform.
On the way, Xu Qingjia spoke about the soul skill he had obtained.
"Soul Hook and Spirit Lock." Here, "spirit" referred to the physical constitution.
Soul Hook: hooking the soul and seizing the spirit, drawing out souls and controlling them.
Spirit Lock: sealing energy and locking the body, suppressing power and immobilizing the flesh.
"One soul skill in name, but two in practice."
Or rather, two different effects.
The former was formed from spiritual power and targeted the soul.
The latter was formed from soul power and targeted energy and the physical body.
"A soul skill unlike any I've heard of," Shen Xi said.
To Xu Qingjia, however, it sounded very familiar.
The underworld's bailiffs hooked souls; the King of Hell claimed lives.
The three soon arrived in a room brimming with technology.
An enormous screen displayed a lush primeval forest.
There was no need for much explanation. Xu Qingjia had already learned a great deal about this.
The Spirit Ascension Platform was called another world, much like the secret realms in fantasy novels. Yet it was half illusory and half real, because many calculations involving simulated data required real feedback to supply their underlying data. The Primary Spirit Ascension Platform, however-the one that only Soul Masters below four rings could enter-was entirely virtual.