"Boom!!"
As time passed, the platinum light in the room grew increasingly intense, and something inside Li Changsheng seemed about to shatter.
The same was true of Luo Sanpao beside him. The light enveloped his entire body. Seen from outside, Luo Sanpao had vanished, replaced by a ball of light.
Before long.
Crack!
With the sound of something breaking, the shackle inside Li Changsheng was finally broken through. His meridians expanded, his Soul Power surged, and he broke through to level sixty!
He opened his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing through his pitch-black pupils.
"I finally broke through!"
Li Changsheng sighed to himself, then turned his gaze toward Luo Sanpao. As he watched the little ball of light, shock filled his eyes. Was he about to transform? His template progress was only at fifteen percent right now, and he was still in a state of partial transformation!
Sure enough, the system in his mind spoke the next second.
[Host detected to have reached level sixty. The Shrek Seven Devils' training regimen differs greatly from the Soul Fighting and running drills of the original story, and their strength has improved significantly.] [Rewards: substantial increase in template progress, Transformation Pill ×1, Self-Created Soul Skill Fragment ×3, Perfect Hidden Weapon Understanding!]
Boom!!
[Transformation Pill: can be swallowed directly or crushed into medicine. Once consumed, it allows a Soul Beast to transform into a human, preserving its innate talents while concealing its presence.] [Self-Created Soul Skill Fragment (5/5): unlocking complete!] [Perfect Hidden Weapon Understanding: with any hidden weapon, a single glance is all it takes to quickly break down its structure. Assembly speed far surpasses that of Tang Sect natives!] [Martial Soul: Luo Sanpao (Light Dragon King, evolution progress: twenty percent)!] [Progress has reached twenty percent. The Second Soul Ring's age and effects will be modified!] [Self-Created Soul Skill successfully acquired. Obtained: Light Divine Dragon Transformation] [Light Divine Dragon Transformation: Luo Sanpao merges with the host. The amplification far exceeds normal Beast Martial Soul possession, and Soul Skills are greatly enhanced!]
"Roar, roar!!"
Before Li Changsheng could react, the ball of light beside him suddenly shattered, and a dragon's head emerged, swallowing every fragment of light.
A pair of translucent, milky-white dragon horns sat on his forehead. Rather than the imposing size and majesty of normal dragons' horns, they were somewhat dainty, with delicate, smooth patterns along them. They gave off a faint glow, their contours elegant yet sharp.
His formerly chubby body had disappeared as well, replaced by a slender, snakelike form, with one pair of dragon claws at the front and another at the rear, covered in platinum dragon scales.
Four tufts of auspicious cloud floated beneath his dragon claws, supporting his entire body.
In appearance, Luo Sanpao had already changed completely. He no longer looked like the cute little puppy he had been before; instead, one glance was enough to recognize him as a dragon.
His size, however, had not changed noticeably. He was still about as large as his previous dog form.
"Roar?"
"Sanpao, you... you transformed! So this is a dragon? But it looks like you haven't grown yet. Your dragon scales aren't evenly distributed either. Has your bloodline still not been purified..."
Li Changsheng did not touch Luo Sanpao, instead examining him from both sides before confirming that his bloodline had not fully evolved yet.
That was hardly surprising. His template progress was only at twenty percent. Having a dragon's appearance was already quite good.
The system's other rewards were excellent too. Hidden weapon understanding would let him show off his prowess before Tang San again, and he could also help Tang San make some improvements.
The Self-Created Soul Skill needed even less explanation. A Soul Skill independent of Soul Rings-its whole advantage lay in the information gap!
Now he truly lacked nothing!
What did Soul Masters whose Martial Souls left their bodies fear most? Wasn't it their own bodies being attacked?
Li Changsheng no longer needed to fear that. He could turn into a dragonman! And the kind of dragon with the beauty of overwhelming stats, at that!
"Not bad, Sanpao. Grow a little bigger, and I'll be able to stand on you!"
Just imagining himself descending from the heavens on a dragon in the future-that sheer swagger rivaled the movie version of Ning Rongrong taking Qian Daoliu's Angel's Breath head-on!
"Roar, roar!"
Luo Sanpao was very happy now too, swaying in midair. It looked as though he had yet to adjust to his current form.
"Right, there's still an Adaptive Soul Ring I haven't used!"
Li Changsheng suddenly remembered that the Sixth Adaptive Soul Ring the system had rewarded him with earlier was still in the system space. Now he could strike while the iron was hot and use it straight away!
[Sixth Adaptive Soul Ring: current maximum age, nine thousand five hundred years!]
Maximum age?
Li Changsheng immediately stopped what he was about to do. Did that mean this Soul Ring's limit was only nine thousand five hundred years, no matter how long he held on?
[Rewards that increase its age can be obtained later. The host need only know: anything produced by the system is guaranteed to be top quality!]
The system's explanation dispelled Li Changsheng's hesitation, and he used the Adaptive Soul Ring directly.
"Get ready, Sanpao. The Soul Ring is coming!"
"Roar!"
He hurriedly adjusted his mental state, and the system's barrier quietly enveloped the room at that moment.
The disturbance caused by absorbing a Soul Ring was far greater than that of his template progress breaking through twenty percent, so the system had considerately activated a barrier for Li Changsheng.
"Boom!!"
After he used the Adaptive Soul Ring, a pitch-black Soul Ring appeared out of thin air above Li Changsheng's head. Its age of nearly a hundred thousand years made it radiate an incredibly powerful presence.
It slowly descended from above his head, gradually coming to rest outside his other Soul Rings.
Because it was produced by the system, this Soul Ring contained no soul shock, resentment, or anything of that sort. Instead, because its attributes matched him perfectly, he absorbed it very quickly.
Two and a half hours passed.
Six Soul Rings-purple, purple, purple, black, black, black-appeared in different positions around Li Changsheng's body. Unlike normal Soul Masters, whose Soul Rings appeared beneath their feet, everyone in their Shrek group had theirs appear around their bodies.
A golden-yellow Soul Mark engraved with a dragon-shaped pattern appeared at the back of Luo Sanpao's head. It looked just like the divine ring behind someone who had become a god!
For now, the Soul Ring modifications rewarded by template progress only increased their most basic ages. Once his template progress reached ninety or a hundred percent, the rewards would be like those of the Sea God Nine Trials: every Soul Ring's age could increase, easily reaching several hundred thousand years.
"Phew-"
Level sixty-three!
Feeling the unprecedentedly surging power inside him, Li Changsheng was undoubtedly excited. Merely the initial improvements from special training had yielded such rich rewards. What about afterward?
What about when the special training ended and everyone had transformed?
What about when everyone consumed immortal herbs?
The changes and enhancements those would bring were far from ordinary, enough to give his template progress another boost.
"As for this..."
With a thought from Li Changsheng, the Transformation Pill in the system space appeared in his hand.
Instantly, the entire room filled with a medicinal fragrance potent enough to drive countless Soul Beasts wild with fascination.
"So this is the Transformation Pill?"