"It can absorb any flame! Store it, then release it later."
Hearing this, Hu Liena and Xie Yue both looked at Yan. His interest piqued, Yan squatted down casually and held out his hand.
A tuft of dark-red flame danced in Yan's palm, and he said loudly,
"Brat, try absorbing this flame of mine."
Faced with Yan's rude tone, Jing Shanshan certainly would not spare his dignity. Golden ripples spread, and a pitch-black heavy greatsword appeared in his hand.
Dark-red cracks covered the surface of its blade, like cooled lava, and a dull, diamond-shaped gem was set into its guard.
While Yan and the other two wondered how this greatsword absorbed flames, they saw Jing Shanshan reach out to grab the flame directly.
Yan was startled. Others might not know how powerful this flame was, but he knew perfectly well.
As a top-tier beast martial soul with an ancient bloodline, the Flame Lord's flames were far more powerful than those of Soul Masters at the same level. Once a Soul Master of the same rank caught fire, they would either die or be crippled.
The child before him only had a soul power level of 10. If his hand touched it, he would probably be burned straight to ashes!
Before Yan could withdraw the flame, Jing Shanshan had already snuffed out that tuft of dark-red fire with a single grab.
"...Yan, you reacted fast enough."
Xie Yue swallowed, his heart finally settling back into place.
Hu Liena nodded in agreement.
Yan parted his lips slightly, wanting to say something. He looked at the completely unharmed Jing Shanshan, whose eyes held an innocent look, then lowered his head in self-doubt. His voice was almost squeezed out of his throat.
"You've got to be kidding!"
Everything Yan had learned and experienced told him that no matter how powerful a mechanic was, when the gap in stats between the two sides was too great, sheer stats would send that mechanic flying like a brick!
Could the actual stat gap between a Soul King above level fifty and a Soul Master at only level ten really be that small?!
While Yan questioned his life, Jing Shanshan was secretly marveling at the flame's power too!
Had he not secretly taken the opportunity to stack buffs on himself with over a dozen support martial souls while drawing this greatsword, it would have been hard to say whether this greatsword martial soul could have let him absorb Yan's flames completely unharmed.
"Brat, try again!"
Dark-red flames appeared in Yan's hand once more. This time, they were visibly brighter than before. Clearly, Yan was not holding back as much as he had last time.
With Hu Liena right there, he refused to believe his flames would be absorbed again this time!
"Yan!"
Xie Yue clapped a hand onto Yan's shoulder, his meaning clear: put the flames away.
"Yan!"
Hu Liena came to Jing Shanshan's side and pulled him straight into her arms, making her stance clear.
In the end, Yan looked at Hu Liena, then at Jing Shanshan, whose eyes were filled with helplessness, and could only let out a long breath.
"You win this time!"
Only when Yan turned away and stopped looking at Jing Shanshan did Hu Liena confirm that her hot-tempered companion had abandoned the idea. She spoke softly and gently.
"Sorry, little one. This companion of mine is just a little stubborn and hot-tempered."
"Your martial soul really is impressive. I remember you said it stores the flames, right? Could you tell big sister how much more flame of that strength it can store?"
Jing Shanshan pondered, then pointed at the diamond-shaped gem now shining on the greatsword's guard.
"Look at the gem. As it stores flames and charges up, it gradually lights up. Right now, it's almost full."
At these words, Yan's body trembled for an instant. When they looked more closely, his back had already returned to how it had been.
Hu Liena's eyes lit up at this. She had never expected to run into such a genius while out practicing further suppression of her passive charm effect.
This was a very impressive martial soul too.
Few martial souls could produce an effect across a gap of over forty levels, and Jing Shanshan was still a child who had not obtained a soul ring.
"An ordinary family, innate full soul power... he hasn't had it easy!"
Xie Yue muttered, a few more notes of feeling entering his voice.
Hu Liena nodded. She too had come from an ordinary family, relying on talent and hard work to rise step by step into the Golden Generation.
This child before her came from an ordinary family and had innate full soul power. Even after getting lost and hiding in a corner, he had neither cried nor made a fuss, and he had put on a brave face when she questioned him.
It stirred a trace of pity in Hu Liena's heart.
"Have you obtained your first soul ring?"
"Not yet."
"Then what are you planning to do?"
Looking at him, Hu Liena made a decision.
"In seven days, the three of us are going to the Soul Hunting Forest. If you don't mind, you can come with us. We'll help you hunt for your first soul ring then."
Jing Shanshan raised his head, his eyes beneath the mask full of gratitude as he looked at Hu Liena.
"Thank you, big sister."
As excited as any child his age, Jing Shanshan buried his head straight into Hu Liena's embrace. A faint fox scent slipped into his nose, almost making him lose control of the heat rising inside him!
"All right, I'll go."
Jing Shanshan lifted his head naturally from her bosom as he spoke, then his tone naturally grew a little worried.
"But I don't know what kind of first soul ring to get."
Smiling, Hu Liena stroked Jing Shanshan's golden hair and said,
"You don't know... how about this? I'll take you to Spirit Hall's Central Library, and you can look up the information yourself.
If you still don't know what sort of effect you want your soul ring to have after seven days, I'll take you to ask my teacher. I'm sure she'll have an answer for you."
Hu Liena followed the approach her teacher Bibi Dong had taught her. Children could not be allowed to rely too much on adults; they needed to use their own heads and put in some effort.
Spirit Hall's Central Library?!
Wonderful!
This was precisely what Jing Shanshan wanted to do, but doing it as the king would lower the prestige of that identity!
Seeing the worry gradually fade from Jing Shanshan's face, Hu Liena smiled and reached out to take his hand.
Jing Shanshan soon revisited familiar ground once again, arriving at the entrance to Spirit Hall's headquarters. He saw his old acquaintances, the Soul King gatekeepers whom he had beaten until they could not tell north from south while playing the king.
The moment the four Soul Kings saw Hu Liena, their gazes seemed caught on hooks. Only after her figure vanished into the distance did they reluctantly turn their eyes back.
"So that's Her Holiness the Supreme Pontiff's personal disciple? Her ability really is even more alluring than last time."
"Yes, exactly!"
Within Spirit City, generally no one in their right mind would cause trouble here. Gatekeeper at Spirit Hall's headquarters could be considered a leisurely post, and the three soon began chatting.
One Soul King noticed a colleague lost in thought and lightly nudged him in the waist with his elbow.
"What's wrong? She's been gone for ages, and your soul still hasn't come back?"
The colleague who had taken the nudge shook his head slightly, as though puzzling over something. Only after a long while did he speak, sounding uncertain.
"Don't you think that child Hu Liena was holding hands with... looked a little familiar?"
At these words, the other three Soul Kings fell silent, then all burst out laughing.
"You're saying that child was that arrogant kid? I think that beating rattled you so badly you've lost your mind."
"Exactly. Look how well-behaved the child holding Hu Liena's hand was. How could he be the same as that arrogant brat?"
"Don't forget, that arrogant brat had green hair. This child was blond. How could they be the same!"
As Bibi Dong's personal disciple, Hu Liena was usually very busy. After taking Jing Shanshan to Spirit Hall's Central Library, she left.
There were many people in Spirit Hall's Central Library. When they happened to catch sight of Hu Liena, they all unconsciously stopped what they were doing until she left.
As for Jing Shanshan, whose hand Hu Liena had held, some people were curious at first, but after a casual glance around, they went back to their own business. After all, no one paid attention to an unknown child quietly slipping away during that time.
Jing Shanshan came to a deserted corner, and the bronze mask on his face slowly turned into scattered flecks of golden light that dissipated into the air.
At the same time, Jing Shanshan's body involuntarily gave off a sacred, inviolable presence.
Qian Renxue, inside Jing Shanshan's first martial soul, could once again see the world outside. She immediately asked anxiously,
"How... may I ask how it went?"