Bathed in brilliant sunshine, Spirit City bustled with activity. Soul Masters came and went, buying and selling what they needed in its streets and alleys.
A tranquil river flowed through Spirit City. Lu Yuan sat alone on its bank, gazing at his wavering reflection on the water.
"Sigh..."
Lu Yuan let out a sigh, looking deeply troubled.
Nearly half a year had passed since he joined Spirit Hall Academy, and only a few days remained until the Midterm Assessment Xie Yue had mentioned.
Over those months, perhaps spurred on by the young prodigy Lu Yuan, his classmates had thrown themselves into cultivation.
In particular, Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan, the three members of the Golden Generation, had each raised their soul power by one level.
A few days earlier, Hu Liena had reached level 30, becoming a Quasi-Soul Elder. Pontiff Bibi Dong had already arranged for someone to take her to the Soul Hunting Forest to obtain her third soul ring.
Hu Liena would probably reach level 31 before the Midterm Assessment as well, becoming a true Soul Elder with a thousand-year soul skill.
A Soul Elder under fourteen would have been qualified to join even the Shrek Seven Devils.
As luck would have it, Lu Yuan had not been idle during those six months either. Through diligent cultivation, he had fully digested all the soul power gained from the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone. He had actually jumped two levels within that half year, catching up with Hu Liena.
That was precisely why Lu Yuan had time today to stroll through Spirit City's thriving markets and relax a little.
Logically, after reaching the level 30 threshold for becoming a Soul Elder, Lu Yuan should have immediately reported it to the teachers at Spirit Hall Academy, ideally letting them help him advance before the Midterm Assessment and amaze everyone.
Yet Lu Yuan had kept it to himself.
After becoming a Soul Master in Nuoding City and registering at the Spirit Hall Branch, Lu Yuan had used his monthly Gold Soul Coins to maintain his habit of consuming hundred-year and thousand-year whale rubber.
Once he registered as a Soul Grandmaster in Spirit City, the monthly subsidy of ten Gold Soul Coins, combined with Spirit Hall Academy's generous scholarships, had allowed Lu Yuan to consume a great deal of thousand-year whale rubber.
Although prolonged consumption of whale rubber greatly diminished its effect on increasing the age of soul rings one could absorb.
Lu Yuan had already consumed so much of it, however, and the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone he had absorbed had also strengthened his physique to a certain extent.
Lu Yuan was certain that, as far as the soul power of his third soul ring was concerned, he could absorb a black soul ring over ten thousand years old.
But if Lu Yuan wanted to absorb a black soul ring as his third, there was another problem.
Compared with thousand-year soul beasts, soul beasts over ten thousand years old underwent a qualitative leap not only in soul power, but also in spiritual power.
Thus, when Soul Masters absorbed the soul rings of ten-thousand-year soul beasts, they often suffered an assault from the spiritual power hidden within those rings.
Moreover, since the Soul Master was the killer who had slain the soul beast to obtain its soul ring, the dead beast's remaining spiritual power would inevitably make a last stand with its back to the river, attacking the Soul Master's mind with everything it had in an attempt to drag its killer down with it.
This aspect of absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, which could damage a Soul Master's mind or even kill them, was called spiritual shock.
"Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew."
Lu Yuan recalled this immortal herb, which grew at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and had been consumed by the protagonist, Tang San, in the original timeline.
It could indeed greatly strengthen spiritual power. Tang San had used it to obtain an extraordinary Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as his fourth soul ring, shocking everyone present.
Lu Yuan's physique was now strong enough to withstand the surge of soul power from a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, and his spiritual power had increased along with his physical strength. As long as he could consume the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, he was confident he could obtain a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as his third.
Lu Yuan pondered his future plans.
Looks like I need to find a chance to leave Spirit City for a while and snatch the greatest opportunity of the first Douluo Continent era before someone else does.
Lu Yuan considered giving Spirit Hall information about the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well directly. Given the potential he had demonstrated so far, he might receive an immortal herb.
Of course, the safest approach would still be for Lu Yuan to find an excuse to slip out of Spirit City and seek out Poison Douluo Dugu Bo in Heaven Dou City.
He could simply tell Dugu Bo the easiest way to resolve the toxin buildup afflicting his Jade Phosphorus Snake Family: channel the poison into a soul bone and store it there.
With Dugu Bo's clear-cut sense of love and hate, if Lu Yuan could truly resolve the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison plaguing both him and his granddaughter Dugu Yan, he would surely not be stingy. He would let Lu Yuan freely enter the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to choose immortal herbs.
The latter is still the safer choice. I'll definitely be able to get the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.
Lu Yuan decided that he would go to Heaven Dou City to find Poison Douluo after the Midterm Assessment.
After all, time was the most precious thing. Lu Yuan insisted on obtaining a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as his third not only to raise the age of the soul rings he could absorb and strengthen himself.
He also wanted the immense soul power contained within the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring itself, which would be enough to let him jump several levels in the early Soul Elder stage, sparing him a year or two-or even longer-of arduous cultivation.
The younger a Soul Master was, and the lower their level, the faster they cultivated.
Normally, a gifted young Soul Master with innate soul power of level seven or higher could become a Soul Grandmaster at around nine after three years of cultivation. But reaching Soul Elder at twelve, as Tang San and Xiao Wu had in the original timeline, was extremely difficult.
Even during the Peerless Tang Sect era ten thousand years later, when research into Soul Master cultivation had advanced enormously, only a handful of prodigies among the twelve-year-old freshmen at Shrek Academy, the old continent's foremost academy, could reach the three-ring Soul Elder rank. Huo Yuhao's older brother Dai Huabin was one of them.
Even the Spirit Hall Golden Generation, whom Lu Yuan had often spent time playing with lately, would only gain nearly twenty levels over the next seven years, advancing from Soul Elders to newly minted Soul Kings despite Spirit Hall's full support.
Just as Lu Yuan resolved to venture into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and obtain the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew,
A green figure came running over from nearby. It was Lu Yuan's external martial soul, Meowmeow.
"Meowmeow, you're finally back." Lu Yuan looked at the returning Meowmeow.
Spirit Hall Academy had finally given them a day off today, so while strolling around Spirit City, Lu Yuan had also let Meowmeow out to relax. When Meowmeow wanted to roam freely, Lu Yuan had allowed it.
After all, just like Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao, Meowmeow would automatically return to the martial soul space upon encountering danger.
"Hm? What's this?"
When Meowmeow ran up to Lu Yuan, he noticed something amiss. There was something around Meowmeow's mouth.
Lu Yuan bent down and, under Meowmeow's startled, puzzled gaze, wiped its big mouth, then raised his hand to his nose and sniffed.
"Just as I thought, it smells like dessert. Meowmeow, you little shit-green glutton, tell me! Where did you sneak off to steal someone else's food?"
Lu Yuan recalled how, back in Locke Rian, Meowmeow had eaten so much that it had fattened itself into a Magic Cat, yet stubbornly insisted it had evolved.
So when Lu Yuan realized that Meowmeow had returned after eating dessert even though he had given it no Gold Soul Coins, his first suspicion was that it had stolen someone else's food and tarnished his reputation.
"Meow!" (No, Master! Meowmeow didn't steal anyone's food, meow!)
Suddenly scolded by Lu Yuan, Meowmeow spoke with tears gathering at the corners of its eyes, feeling terribly wronged:
"Meow..." (It... it was a suuuper pretty big sister who treated Meowmeow to something to eat, meow...)