"Congratulations, Master."
Yan Lingji and Tide Siren stepped forward together, smiling brightly as they congratulated Ye Guixu on another great increase in strength.
Ye Guixu nodded, in a good mood.
He immediately planned to repeat the process, securing his eighth and ninth soul rings in one go and filling every soul ring slot of his first martial soul.
Yet the moment the thought arose, he stopped.
He summoned Puppet Sauron, studying that pitch-black figure as he sank into thought.
Soul beasts cultivated for thousands or tens of thousands of years, storing energy within themselves.
After death, under the rules of heaven and earth, that energy condensed into soul rings.
Once absorbed by a soul master, a soul ring bound itself to the martial soul and only appeared when released.
Soul bones, meanwhile, formed when the essential energy within a soul beast combined with and mutated a part of its body.
Among them, hundred-thousand-year soul beasts underwent a transformation in the essence of their lives and souls. They would invariably condense a soul bone after death, forming one according to which of the six major soul bone parts the soul master lacked.
The Mystic Ice Illusion Realm could replicate Puppet Di Tian, and after his sacrifice...
It could produce soul rings and soul bones for him.
Then could he also have Puppet Sauron sacrifice himself to produce the soul ring best suited to him?
But under the rules of the Douluo Continent, only soul beasts dropped soul rings and soul bones.
Even if a human reached a level comparable to a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, they could leave no legacy behind after death.
"What's wrong, Guixu?" Gu Yuena looked at him curiously.
"I'm thinking about how to condense my own soul rings."
Everyone present was stunned by those words.
Soul masters all hunted soul beasts to obtain soul rings, plundering their power to grow. They had never heard of anyone condensing their own soul rings.
"Why would you have that idea?" Gu Yuena blinked.
Ye Guixu raised his hand, and the Mystic Ice Illusion Realm once again condensed a puppet of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
As the controller of the Mystic Ice Illusion Realm, he could replicate any soul beast that had once been trapped within it at any time.
In an instant, an aura of intertwined evil and darkness permeated the entire illusion realm.
The ferocious beasts frowned slightly at the sight of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.
They all recognized it.
That aberration that lived by devouring soul beasts on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
It had sixty thousand years of cultivation and had yet to reach the hundred-thousand-year level.
Di Tian and the others had therefore left it alone.
But things would be different if it broke through to a hundred thousand years. Then the ferocious beasts would personally kill it.
After all, once it broke through to a hundred thousand years, it would inevitably have to devour large numbers of ten-thousand-year soul beasts to keep growing, upsetting the ecological balance.
They had not expected Lord Guixu to have already killed it.
"Of all those soul beasts, only its power was extremely compatible with mine."
Gu Yuena examined the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger. "The power in this fellow is indeed quite compatible with yours."
Ye Guixu shook his head. "But however compatible it is, it can't compare to something condensed from my own origin power. Like hundred-thousand-year soul beasts that transform into humans."
Gu Yuena pondered briefly and understood what he meant.
"But hundred-thousand-year soul beasts that transform into humans can condense their own soul rings because they were soul beasts to begin with. They can use their own origin power to condense them."
"Many years ago, the aura I spread when I descended here caused soul beasts to evolve, eventually becoming the species that exist today."
"But I wasn't what caused soul beasts to condense soul rings after death. That has always been governed by the rules of this world."
"And you're fundamentally human. You can't condense your own soul rings the way soul beasts transformed into humans can."
Ye Guixu fell silent for a moment.
When Tang San awakened his Blue Silver Emperor bloodline, he had once drawn on the vitality of the Blue Silver Forest to condense his fifth soul ring. Moreover, that soul ring's age could increase as his strength grew.
But that was still a product of his Blue Silver Emperor bloodline awakening, originating from his own bloodline.
It had not been condensed by a human using their own power.
But the standing of the Void Star God and Sun Star God corresponded to a black hole and the sun respectively.
He should also be able to use his own origin power to condense the soul rings most suited to him.
Rather than plundering the power of soul beasts to turn it into his own soul rings.
He still needed to study it a little.
"Forget it. I'll set that question aside for now."
"I'll do something else first and deal with a few people who annoy me."
Gu Yuena looked at him curiously. "Who annoyed you? Go teach him a lesson."
"I'll avenge my own grievances."
Gu Yuena immediately followed him. "Then I'll come with you. I've been asleep for so long. This is a good chance to get out for a walk."
Ye Guixu did not stop her.
The Divine Realm had already been swept away, so this Silver Dragon Fish no longer needed to worry about being discovered by it.
Ye Guixu dispelled the Mystic Ice Illusion Realm and instructed Di Tian and the other ferocious beasts, "Stay here and keep a close eye on those soul beasts Guixu created."
"Yes, my lord!" the ferocious beasts hurriedly answered.
After leaving the Lake of Life, the Silver Dragon King kept holding Ye Guixu's sleeve.
"Guixu, where are we going now? To the human world?"
"To the Blue Silver Forest first. I have a grand gift for that damned rat."
He raised his hand and tore open the space before him with a swipe of his claws, casually pulling out a spatial passage.
He led the Silver Dragon King, Yan Lingji, and Tide Siren into it with a single step.
Above the Blue Silver Forest, space abruptly split open.
Several terrifying claw marks ripped through the sky. At the edge of the rift, a hand reached out and pulled, tearing open a hole.
Ye Guixu and his companions descended within.
"Greetings, my lord." The tree-man the Dark Blue Silver King had transformed into knelt on one knee.
Ye Guixu ignored him, his gaze resting quietly on the dark red cocoon.
He raised his hand, condensing a piece of Void Profound Ice in his palm.
Unlike the crystal-clear profound ice of the past, this piece was dark throughout.
With a casual toss, the dark Void Profound Ice plunged straight into the blood-colored cocoon.
The instant it merged with the cocoon, the blood-colored cocoon erupted with even stronger dark power.
Dark red energy swept through the surroundings, and the entire forest shuddered beneath that power.
Then the cocoon cracked apart inch by inch, and a slender figure slowly walked out.
A dark red dress wrapped her graceful figure, and dark blue hair cascaded down like a waterfall.
Her scarlet eyes were as cold as blood jade.
After so many years, the Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin, had finally returned.
Only now, she ought to be called the Dark Blue Silver Emperor.
Her aura was far stronger than it had been at a hundred thousand years. That concentrated yet unreleased pressure made the entire Blue Silver Forest tremble silently.
All the surrounding dark blue silver grass swayed in unison, silent cheers passing through the entire forest.
The Dark Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin, knelt on one knee before Ye Guixu. "Greetings, Master."
Ye Guixu nodded in satisfaction.
Thanks to the Void Profound Ice containing vast amounts of dark power that he had just added, the Dark Blue Silver Emperor had now reached the two-hundred-thousand-year level.
"Survive your tribulation."
"Then come with me to see your old friend."
Ah Yin's scarlet eyes flickered slightly. "Yes, Master."
She rose and walked to a relatively open area, unleashing her aura at full strength to summon her heavenly tribulation.
The sky abruptly darkened. Black clouds churned like ink, and purple lightning serpents darted through them.
The two-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation differed from the hundred-thousand-year one, its power several times greater.
Yet the Dark Blue Silver Emperor simply stood there quietly, dark red vines slowly unfurling.
Several bolts of lightning struck in succession, only to be intercepted by layer after layer of dark red vines, as though they had crashed into an insurmountable wall.
Ah Yin did not even defend passively, instead letting the lightning bombard her vines.
Those dark red tendrils quivered slightly in the lightning, yet remained completely unharmed.
She looked up at the sky, not a ripple stirring in her scarlet eyes.
The final strike.
A bolt of purple lightning as thick as a giant python thundered down.
Countless dark red vines entwined and enveloped it in layers, weakening it almost entirely before it could touch Ah Yin's body.
She merely raised her hand gently and crushed that remaining wisp of lightning in her palm.
The clouds dispersed, and sunlight shone down once more.
Her aura stabilized completely at the level of a two-hundred-thousand-year ferocious beast.
Watching this, Ye Guixu curled his lips in satisfaction.
"Let's go see your old friend."
He raised his hand and tore open another spatial passage, and everyone filed inside.
Before you continue