"Hellfire Cat!"
Zhu Zhuqing blurted it out without the slightest hesitation.
"Karmic fire!"
When Yu Tianling heard those words, his brows lifted slightly. He clearly had not expected to suddenly hear that familiar term from Zhu Zhuqing, a native of the Douluo Continent.
Yu Tianling had often encountered karmic fire when reading primordial-world novels in his previous life. Karmic fire was a flame that burned the sinful, with Red Lotus Karmic Fire being the most powerful of all.
In his previous life, Yu Tianling could have said that many people had heard the term karmic fire, but in this world, he could say with absolute certainty that the term did not exist.
So Yu Tianling looked at Zhu Zhuqing with a hint of confusion, not understanding why she had suddenly come up with such a name.
"Meow."
But Zhu Zhuqing's Martial Soul was clearly quite pleased with the name.
"That name just suddenly popped into my head. What... is it no good?"
"No, Hellfire Cat is a pretty good name."
Yu Tianling shook his head and stopped dwelling on the question. It seemed this name was a product of the world's will at work.
"Mm."
Seeing that both Yu Tianling and her Martial Soul were satisfied, Zhu Zhuqing was clearly even happier.
And just like that, the evolved Hell Spirit Cat's new name became Hellfire Cat. It was also the world's first Hellfire Cat, a top-tier Beast Martial Soul!
The Hellfire Cat now possessed the Ultimate Darkness granted by the Dark Night Bodhi Fruit and Ultimate Fire that had arisen for some unknown reason. At the same time, its original strong point, speed, had also received a massive boost. With her Hellfire Cat Martial Soul, Zhu Zhuqing fully qualified as a Power Attack System Battle Soul Master, shedding her Agility Attack System label. She certainly would not suffer the miserable fate of becoming a mere decorative vase in the future.
After all, in the later stages of the original story, Zhu Zhuqing with her Hell Spirit Cat had almost been reduced to material for Dai Mubai's Martial Soul Fusion, with little other use. For a woman with such a strong character, that had to be called a tragedy.
But now, with her Martial Soul evolved, when Zhu Zhuqing's title of Karmic Fire Douluo spread throughout the continent in the future, countless people would lose their hearts to such a beautiful, powerful woman. Many female Soul Masters would take the path of power attacks, and for a time, quite a few powerful women would emerge within the Power Attack System.
"Attack me. Let's see how your Soul Skills have changed."
Now that her Martial Soul's name had been decided, Yu Tianling wanted to get a feel for Zhu Zhuqing's current strength.
Zhu Zhuqing also knew how powerful Yu Tianling was, so she did not worry about hurting him and immediately activated Martial Soul Possession.
The instant possession began, the Hellfire Cat leaped straight onto Zhu Zhuqing, and the two merged into one. Zhu Zhuqing immediately became a tall, incredibly alluring catgirl.
"First Soul Skill, Hellfire Thrust!"
Her entire body wreathed in hellfire, Zhu Zhuqing swiftly reached Yu Tianling's side and attacked him with the claws on both hands like razor-sharp blades.
Yu Tianling directly used the power of Ultimate Ice to block her. After all, both the quality and quantity of his Soul Power surpassed Zhu Zhuqing's, so her attack was easily stopped. Still, he gained a clear understanding of the current power of her First Soul Skill.
When her first strike failed, Zhu Zhuqing did not give up. She decisively unleashed her Second Soul Skill.
"Second Soul Skill, Hellfire Claw!"
With karmic fire likewise clinging to both hands, she attacked Yu Tianling's chest at tremendous speed.
"Second Soul Skill, Spatial Thorns."
This time, Yu Tianling did not choose to stop her with brute force, instead decisively unleashing a Soul Skill.
The second, purple Soul Ring around him abruptly flashed, and countless thorns instantly appeared all around them, lashing toward Zhu Zhuqing.
Zhu Zhuqing showed no panic whatsoever, fiercely destroying the thorns with her karmic fire and sharp claws.
Whenever her claws sliced through the thorns, the karmic fire burned them to ash, but countless more thorns continued attacking at the same time.
An incense stick's worth of time passed, and in the end, the gap in Soul Power caused Zhu Zhuqing to fall to Yu Tianling's Second Soul Skill.
Still, Zhu Zhuqing could not be blamed for that. Yu Tianling was simply too powerful now. His Second Soul Skill covered too wide an area and consumed little Soul Power, so Zhu Zhuqing could not break out of its attack range at all. She could only passively expend her Soul Power. How could she not lose?
"Not bad. Now that you've evolved, your Soul Skills have become considerably more powerful. If you weren't facing me, that karmic fire of yours would probably be a very troublesome problem. Your strength and speed have also improved greatly. You could probably send an ordinary opponent flying with a single blow."
Watching Zhu Zhuqing withdraw her Martial Soul, Yu Tianling did not stint on his praise.
"Mm-hmm."
Zhu Zhuqing was also extremely satisfied with the power of her Soul Skills. The improvement was far, far greater than she had imagined.
"Qing'er, go on. Give it the final blow. I'm already really looking forward to your Third Soul Skill."
"Yes!"
Hearing Yu Tianling's words, Zhu Zhuqing immediately activated Martial Soul Possession, then decisively used her First Soul Skill to strike the Soul Beast before her hard in the neck. A cold gleam flashed, and blood spurted wildly from its neck, exposing the white bone deep within. The dying Soul Beast finally died.
A purple Soul Ring then slowly condensed above the Soul Beast's corpse. Without the slightest hesitation, Zhu Zhuqing sat down cross-legged to absorb her Third Soul Ring.
The Third Soul Ring Zhu Zhuqing was absorbing came from a 4,700-year-old Hell Spirit Cat.
Indeed, it was a Soul Beast identical to Zhu Zhuqing's original Martial Soul.
A day earlier, after testing the power of her Soul Skills, Yu Tianling had taken Zhu Zhuqing to search for a suitable Soul Beast to obtain her Third Soul Ring without stopping to rest.
His original thinking had been that, in the original story, Zhu Zhuqing had obtained a powerful Third Soul Skill called Hell Blade after absorbing a Hell Tiger. Yu Tianling also thought that skill was good, so he had been taking Zhu Zhuqing around in search of a Hell Tiger around five thousand years old.
Unexpectedly, just now, they had happened upon a Hell Spirit Cat of a suitable age. Hell Spirit Cat Soul Beasts were very difficult to encounter, yet the two of them had come across one after failing to find a Hell Tiger.
At that single glance, Zhu Zhuqing decided to absorb its Soul Ring, so Yu Tianling took action and subdued the Hell Spirit Cat at lightning speed.
Now, Yu Tianling waited patiently to see what kind of Third Soul Skill Zhu Zhuqing would obtain. In his view, her Third Soul Skill would likely be closely related to speed and attack power.
At that moment, perhaps because the Hellfire Cat exerted such strong suppression over the Hell Spirit Cat, Zhu Zhuqing's absorption of the Soul Ring went extremely smoothly, showing not the slightest sign that she was absorbing a ring beyond her age limit.
She could clearly feel the Soul Ring's power merging into her body, followed by her own Soul Power rising rapidly. Level 31, Level 32... Level 37, Level 38!
Zhu Zhuqing abruptly opened her eyes and sprang up like a carp flipping upright, three Soul Rings-two yellow and one purple-pulsing around her.
With that, Zhu Zhuqing had not only officially become a Soul Elder, but had advanced straight to a high-level Soul Elder.
Originally, Zhu Zhuqing could have risen directly to Level 40, but she feared that advancing too quickly would leave her foundation unstable, so she used the remaining power to compress her Soul Power. Although she ultimately did not reach Level 40, the quality of her Soul Power was relatively high. To gain something, one had to give something up.