Better to Rely on Yourself Than Ask Others

To be honest, before Mu En taught him, Ye Qing had never imagined that cultivating an ultimate attribute came down to a simple technique for compressing soul power.

Given some time, Ye Qing could have figured that technique out himself.

After all, his way of thinking differed from that of the average Douluo native. Rather than cultivating passively, he had already been considering how to cultivate faster and add new features to his technology.

Discovering a cultivation method based on compressing soul power was only a matter of time.

What left him somewhat speechless was that, in the original story, Shrek had used this bullshit trick to reel Huo Yuhao in. Compared to such a dispensable technique, the Body Sect's methods for nurturing body martial souls were more valuable no matter how he looked at it!

Then again, it made sense.

The Body Sect had spent generation after generation training people with body martial souls. Naturally, its expertise in developing them went without saying.

And Shrek?

Over ten thousand years, the entire Douluo Continent had produced only three ultimate martial souls, even counting generously. Getting a method for compressing soul power out of them was already something.

Never mind outsiders-even those three ultimate attribute Soul Masters from history had probably possessed only a half-baked understanding of their own ultimate attributes, charging ahead through sheer brute force.

How could that compare to the secret method for the second awakening of body martial souls that the Body Sect had refined over thousands of years?

Ah, Huo Gua, you fool!

"An increase of barely more than ten percent won't cut it. It's still too slow." Ye Qing rubbed his chin and sank into thought, his eyes flickering slightly.

A ten-percent improvement had not reduced his cultivation difficulty from Soul King to Soul Ancestor. At most, he was a teensy bit faster than a reasonably talented Soul King. That was nothing like the explosive, diarrhea-style growth he had imagined getting once he switched on his technology.

Even if it could not give him diarrhea-style growth, shouldn't it at least bring his advancement difficulty down to a normal level?

Otherwise, cultivating at every stage would be as difficult as it was for an ordinary Soul Master two titles above him. At this rate, Ye Qing reckoned he really might lose patience, become the great Immortal Venerable, and spread the will of great love everywhere.

"It looks like refining this meditation method into my own cultivation art has to go on the agenda." Ye Qing's gaze gradually firmed.

True, he could wait until Huo Yuhao fused with the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, then attract Electrolux with the unique sacred and evil duality of his Sacred Radiance Heavenly God Tiger and Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, light and darkness united as one.

He believed his own characteristics would surely draw Electrolux's attention more strongly than Huo Yuhao's.

And as the playmate Bei Bei was always trying to catch up to, he might seem to be Bei Bei's rival, but in truth, whenever they were not cultivating, the two of them were still playmates.

Even if they played together less often, that did not erase their relationship.

When the time came for Bei Bei to take Tang Ya soul hunting, wouldn't he think of his powerful buddy and ask him to help, increasing their chances of success and keeping them safer?

Of course he would.

That was why Ye Qing had already reserved Electrolux, the biggest cheat in Peerless Tang Sect, for himself.

But the same principle still applied: better to rely on yourself than ask others. If knowing Electrolux could help perfect his cultivation art made him give up and lie flat, without any drive to forge something of his own or any courage to take risks, how would he be any different from Tang San?

Wouldn't he merely be picking up scraps from other people's teeth, with no understanding of innovation?

More importantly, he was ten now. It would be at least another four years before Huo Yuhao appeared. Was he supposed to spend all four years slacking off?

Perhaps Ye Qing could finish modifying his cultivation art himself before he ever met Electrolux. Even if he borrowed concepts from other worlds without any direct examples, four years should be more than enough to perfect it.

Yes, better to rely on yourself than ask others, Ye Qing murmured inwardly.

I have the Wings of Holy Light and my sweet little Light Spirit wife anyway. No matter how recklessly I experiment, I won't get myself killed. So I'll rely on myself. Only I am truly worthy of my trust!

He acted as soon as he made up his mind.

But Ye Qing did not immediately embark on his journey of courting death. Instead, he planned to read more meditation methods and study other cultivation approaches, broadening his horizons so he could take fewer wrong turns.

In the days that followed.

Ye Qing cultivated every night, trained his spiritual power in the Fear Demon Dragon Training Room during the day, and spent two gloriously sweaty hours exercising with the gravity field in the afternoon. After showering, he spent another hour or two immersed in the Inner Court's Library Pavilion to broaden his horizons.

The idle days before he turned six, when he had been unable to cultivate, were gone for good.

It even seemed that all his slacking before the age of six had made each year after becoming a Soul Master more exhausting-and more fulfilling-than the last.

He was paying back every bit of his former laziness now.

But Ye Qing was no champion of empty talk. Once he had mentally committed to relying on himself rather than asking others, he had stopped considering slacking off. An occasional break to relax was a good thing; a taut body and mind always needed room to unwind.

But if he merely drifted with the current, thinking only of snatching Huo Yuhao's opportunities and then flitting from flower to flower, how would he be any different from a useless bum?

"Better to rely on yourself than ask others!"

Meanwhile, Bei Bei had successfully absorbed the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's right arm bone.

An external palm bone was ultimately different from a right arm soul bone. Even a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's soul bone was only an ordinary soul bone when it occupied the right arm slot. Absorbing it might be somewhat painful, but it posed no danger.

An external soul bone was different. It essentially bound itself deeply to a Soul Master's body and martial soul, allowing it to grow alongside the Soul Master and, once fully fused, preventing it from dropping upon death.

It effectively became a permanent part of the Soul Master.

That meant fusing with an external soul bone was far harder than absorbing an ordinary soul bone. This was precisely why Bei Bei had been able to absorb this right arm bone.

Had it been an external soul bone, Bei Bei would have become Yang Guo long ago.

This right arm soul bone had indeed given Bei Bei a tremendous boost. Not only did it allow him to unleash the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's signature ability, Dark Gold Dreadclaw, but because he was a lightning-attribute Soul Master, it also carried the penetrating and explosive properties of lightning-attribute soul power.

Calling it "Thunder Terrorclaw" was perfectly fitting.

After obtaining this soul bone, Bei Bei's physical fitness had also improved considerably. Finally, at the end of their nearly month-long soul-hunting trip, he absorbed a 5,500-year-old Thunder Tyrant Dragon soul ring.

Third soul skill: Thunderous Wrath.

It greatly enhanced soul power, attributes, and physical strength-a standard soul skill for the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul.

As for his soul power level.

The Dark Gold Dreadclaw right arm bone had increased his soul power by more than two levels, while the 5,500-year-old Thunder Tyrant Dragon had added more than another level. Combined with the normal increase from absorbing a soul ring, Bei Bei had reached level thirty-five outright.

"Ye Qing, you little brat, I've finally caught up to you! Aaaaaaaaah...!"

-(Bei Bei, the glare meme)