"I'll go take care of the Blue Silver clan's affairs now."
Bi Ji rose and left, humming a lilting tune.
She was in a very good mood.
Jin Jiuxiao would be staying home for now, and when he went out again... she could go with him.
"Ah..." Zi JI reached forward and swept Jin Jiuxiao into her arms. "Ooh... still no luck?"
"All right, all right." Jin Jiuxiao patted Zi JI's shoulder, signaling for her to loosen her grip. "Sister Zi JI, I'm going to find Uncle Xiong and get used to my strength."
He planned to spar with Xiong Jun and familiarize himself with his current power.
"All right." Though reluctant, Zi JI still let Jin Jiuxiao go.
Business came first for now.
Since Bi Ji could come along too, they would just have to see who had the better moves later.
Jin Jiuxiao left the pavilion and found Xiong Jun sunbathing in a rocking chair. "Uncle Xiong, come spar with me."
"Sure."
Xiong Jun readily agreed and accompanied Jin Jiuxiao to the outskirts of the Lake of Life, where they found a clearing. "It's a shame your second martial soul only has one soul skill."
"Otherwise, after absorbing my soul ring, you'd have had a good chance of obtaining Sky-Rending Claw."
Jin Jiuxiao took it in stride. "Every gain comes with a loss. What ordinary human could have a two-hundred-thousand-year ring paired with a four-hundred-thousand-year one?"
The combination of Rey and the Poké Ball meant there was no end in sight to his potential.
Rey could keep evolving, after all.
Rey handled the fighting, while the Poké Ball stacked bonuses.
Once I beat you into submission and put you in a Poké Ball, you're my Pokemon.
I also get the bonuses you bring me. The stronger you are, the stronger I become.
The Poké Ball would not limit the growth potential of those he captured or contracted with.
Whatever talent they originally possessed would remain unchanged after being captured or contracted.
Still, there really was someone whose starting soul ring configuration surpassed his.
That was Huo Yuhao, whom netizens jokingly called "Huo Gua."
His very first ring was the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Million-Year Soul Ring.
But this was the Douluo I era.
Huo Yuhao had not even been born yet.
With his influence, no one knew what the world would look like ten thousand years later.
"That's true. Ordinary humans have no hope of obtaining ten... or even more god rings." Xiong Jun still remembered what the Myriad Demon King had said back then.
If Jin Jiuxiao could smash those gods to pieces and then capture them as Pokemon...
He would add another god ring.
It was downright absurd!
Before becoming a god, he was guaranteed nine slots. After becoming one, he would have at least ten, and it was even possible that the limit would be lifted entirely.
"Come on. Let me see what you can do now." Xiong Jun planted himself in place and beckoned to Jin Jiuxiao.
"All right." Jin Jiuxiao completed his Martial Soul Possession as well.
He began sparring with Xiong Jun.
Meanwhile, Bi Ji had arrived at the Blue Silver Forest.
She began helping the Blue Silver clan relocate.
In the blink of an eye, a month and a half passed.
Jin Jiuxiao emerged from his cultivation.
A streak of golden lightning flashed through his eyes.
Bi Ji was waiting beside him. "Did you break through?"
Jin Jiuxiao stood and nodded lightly. "Yes. Sister Bi Ji, shall we sign the contract right away?"
A contract formed from soul power appeared between them.
"Of course." Bi Ji signed the contract without a second thought.
Jin Jiuxiao did the same.
With the contract signed, Jin Jiuxiao threw the Poké Ball at Bi Ji.
The ferocious beasts were already familiar with this process. Bi Ji closed her eyes without resisting.
Her entire body was drawn into the Poké Ball.
A scarlet soul ring bearing five golden markings emerged above the Poké Ball.
Jin Jiuxiao took a deep breath, sat cross-legged, and resumed cultivating.
Zi JI and Xiong Jun waited in the pavilion.
Once Jin Jiuxiao finished his breakthrough, they would set off together for a trip to the human world.
"Zi JI, what level do you think little Jiuxiao will reach this time?" Xiong Jun chatted idly with Zi JI.
Zi JI propped her chin on one hand, her gaze fixed on Jin Jiuxiao. "Hmm... probably somewhere between level thirty-six and thirty-nine."
A soul ring was not actually formed from a soul beast's entire cultivation.
When a soul ring condensed after a soul beast's death, the vast majority of its soul power dissipated during the process.
The soul rings humans absorbed were really only a portion of a soul beast.
"Bi Ji has five hundred and fifty thousand years of cultivation, after all. Even if the soul ring's energy utilization can't reach one hundred percent, it should still give little brother Jiuxiao a substantial boost."
"But little brother Jiuxiao seems to be continuously compressing his soul power, apparently to condense an energy core."
In this era, the concept of a "soul core" did not yet exist.
Jin Jiuxiao was already preparing to cultivate a soul core, putting him a whole major version ahead.
Quite some time passed.
The fluctuations of soul power gradually subsided.
Jin Jiuxiao's soul power level advanced by leaps and bounds, soaring from level thirty all the way to level thirty-nine!
Even with him beginning to compress his soul power, the energy contained in Bi Ji's five-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-year soul ring far exceeded what was needed to level up as a Soul Elder.
Nourished and strengthened by three soul rings exceeding one hundred thousand years, his physical strength successfully broke past the Soul Douluo level.
But Jin Jiuxiao did not stop cultivating.
He continued on to condense the third soul ring of his Rey martial soul.
White, yellow, purple, black-the soul ring rose at incredible speed to the black, ten-thousand-year tier.
That black hue grew deeper and deeper...
"Has its age reached seventy-four thousand years..." Jin Jiuxiao successfully condensed his third soul ring. "Not bad."
That age was even higher than the ninth soul rings of some Titled Douluos.
Once he broke through level forty, he could try condensing a hundred-thousand-year fourth ring with the help of the other ferocious beasts.
For the other ferocious beasts, it would only mean losing a little cultivation.
Jin Jiuxiao had plenty of ways to help them recover it.
He summoned the Poké Ball again and released Bi Ji.
Seeing this, Zi JI and Xiong Jun rose from their seats and walked over to Bi Ji.
Jin Jiuxiao let out a breath. "Sister Bi Ji, Sister Zi JI, Uncle Xiong, shall we set off now?"
"Sure."
None of the three ferocious beasts had any objections.
Xiong Jun was the first to return to his true form. "Get on my shoulders."
The other three flashed onto Xiong Jun's shoulders.
"Little brother Jiuxiao, are we going to Nuoding Academy?" Zi JI felt that Tang Hao was most likely secretly protecting Tang San at Nuoding Academy.
"No, we're going to Holy Soul Village." Jin Jiuxiao took out a map and traced the route. "Uncle Xiong, head this way."
"Sure, but what are we going to Holy Soul Village for? Sounds like a little village in the human world."
Jin Jiuxiao did not keep him in suspense and explained, "Because Tang Hao planted the Blue Silver Emperor's 'seed' behind the waterfall in the hills behind Holy Soul Village."
"He probably set up a restriction or some kind of warning mechanism."
"When we retrieve the Blue Silver Emperor's 'seed,' Tang Hao is bound to notice."
"Then we just wait by the stump for the rabbit."
Before you continue