"Whew..."
With a long exhale, Xu Zi opened his bright eyes and withdrew from the cultivation cycle of the Imperial Sun Meditation Method.
The Light-Fire Soul Power settled within him. The surrounding light dimmed, and even the air in the room cooled considerably.
Feeling his body, strengthened by the Golden Bloodline, Xu Zi felt that his breathing had become longer and deeper than before he obtained his third ring.
Watching threads of gold disappear into the veins of his wrist, Xu Zi abruptly clenched his fist and murmured, "The Soul Master Tournament ranking matches."
"Shrek, Tang San..."
"I've been looking forward to this for far too long."
Although his Soul Power cultivation was still far below any of the Shrek Seven Monsters, and he did not even qualify for the ranking matches...
His spiritual power and physique had already far surpassed those of his level. He could even be called invincible an entire major rank above his own.
Even held back by his level-37 Soul Power, he was strong enough to enjoy a measure of invincibility in this Soul Master Tournament.
But...
My Soul Power still isn't solid and condensed enough... Xu Zi sighed inwardly.
He raised his left palm. As Soul Power surged out, a cluster of brilliant light-fire flickered in his hand.
Every time a Soul Master gained a new Soul Ring, their Martial Soul would awaken a corresponding function.
And this cluster of Light-Fire Soul Power was precisely the fire attribute his Sun Martial Soul had developed after he broke through to Soul Elder.
Put plainly, Xu Zi's cultivation had previously been too low, leaving his sun insufficiently hot and displaying only the characteristics of the light attribute.
Now that his cultivation had reached the necessary level, its temperature naturally had too, and the fire attribute had emerged within his Martial Soul.
If ordinary stardust combined light and earth, then...
The sun, a star, as the core of the stars, naturally combined light and fire.
So...
"I need to find a volcano and use a mimicry environment to condense it."
He put away his Light-Fire Soul Power.
Xu Zi lifted his head, and a beautiful figure came into view.
-It was Ling Yuan Douluo.
She sat quietly on the windowsill, with the stars scattered across the night sky behind her.
Dawn broke.
In the hazy morning light, the people and things of Martial Soul Holy City began another day's routine.
The faint smell of singed fabric drifted through the air...
Xu Zi pinched the white duvet cover, stared at the hole with its scorched black edges, and turned to ask, "Do even the bodily fluids of fire-attribute Titled Douluos burn?"
"How would I know? I'd never tried it before. Who told you to take whale rubber this time?" Ling Yuan pulled on her top, her long legs trembling like a red-crowned crane's as she lowered them over the edge of the bed.
Her gait looked somewhat unnatural as she headed for the bathroom.
Xu Zi put away the square of bright yellow glue on the bedside table.
Ten-thousand-year whale glue was said to work best the first time it was taken, and in later generations, it could not be bought even with money.
But Xu Zi had stayed in Heaven Dou Imperial City for two and a half years. Even visiting an auction house once a month had netted him plenty of rare treasures, let alone premium ten-thousand-year whale glue.
He had previously used up quite a bit to help absorb his two-thousand-year second ring. Now, it could not have been better suited to dealing with a Titled Douluo.
Fortunately, his Defense System physique had also kept Xu Zi from being scalded by the high-temperature bodily fluids.
Feeling the Soul Power gradually settling within him, Xu Zi sighed sincerely. "Dual cultivation really does have plenty of benefits. Just twice, and it's almost completely solidified."
Now there was no need to find a volcano. The body of a fire-attribute Titled Douluo was the best Mimicry Cultivation Environment.
Spirit Hall truly had experts as numerous as clouds and resources everywhere.
Even a Titled Douluo was a kind of "teaching" resource.
Anywhere else, if he wanted to find a female Titled Douluo with a light or fire attribute to teach him through words and example, putting her body into practice...
He probably really would not find one.
Suddenly-
"Thump!"
Ling Yuan flung herself back onto the bed. Resting her cheek on her left fist, she raised her slender brows. "Well? We've gotten this intimate, and you still don't plan to tell me a little about your identity on the continent across the sea?"
"Hmm..." Xu Zi pondered, starting to speak before stopping.
Truthfully, his trust in Ling Yuan had already reached ninety percent, but he still held on to ten percent of his misgivings:
What if, after eating him clean and wiping her mouth, she really traded him in to score points with the Supreme Pontiff?
To survive deep within the imperial palace without keeping up his guard, he would have died in his mother's womb long ago.
The stakes were clear enough from the Sun Moon Imperial Family's generations of mutual slaughter ten thousand years later.
Ling Yuan could also see the misgivings in Xu Zi's eyes, but she could only sigh helplessly. "Then at least tell me something, won't you? At least give me some idea, so that when I help you in the future, I can do my utmost without having my hands tied."
"Otherwise, if our relationship gets exposed one day, and I'm charged with betraying the continent while you run back across the sea, what am I supposed to do?"
Xu Zi took a deep breath and said, "Your cultivation is far above mine. I can't threaten you into keeping quiet."
"Then what would it take to put your mind at ease?" Ling Yuan crawled over in a few quick movements.
She seemed somewhat hysterical. "Do you want me to swear to the Angel God with my Martial Soul as the price, or bear you a child to serve as a bond of trust between us?"
With things having reached this point, Xu Zi let out a breath and compromised. "All right."
"I'm actually a member of the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family, but not the direct line."
"That's not what I want." Ling Yuan interrupted.
She corrected him. "I want you to tell me exactly where your Sun Moon Empire is stronger than my Spirit Hall, aside from the Soul Core Method."
"If the two continents go to war one day, what can I rely on to keep myself alive?"
"If your Sun Moon Continent is nothing but a bunch of native Soul Masters, how strong could it possibly be, even with a unified empire?"
"All right." Xu Zi picked out the key points and gave a partial confession. "Although the top Soul Masters of our Sun Moon Empire are inferior to your Spirit Hall in combat strength, our Soul Masters' overall strength already far exceeds that of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires combined."
Ling Yuan was somewhat puzzled, so she asked, "Are your low- and mid-level Soul Masters very powerful? Or do you have a lot of organized Soul Master legions?"
"No." Xu Zi shook his head. "We're strong overall, and we love innovation. Just as we have the Soul Core Method, while you don't."
"And the biggest difference between the Soul Masters of our Sun Moon Continent and those of your Douluo Continent is like that between humans and beasts."
"What do you mean?" Ling Yuan frowned, as though she had been insulted. After all, nobody wanted to be likened to a wild beast.
Xu Zi said with some pride, "The biggest difference between humans and beasts is that humans can use tools, making better use of their environment and everything in nature."
"And we Sun Moon Soul Masters fight completely differently from Douluo Soul Masters. We make better use of 'devices' to win."
"It's just that the level-nine devices suited to Titled Douluos are still in a critical stage of development. That's why I said we're slightly inferior to Spirit Hall in top-level combat strength."
Ling Yuan was even more confused. "Devices? What?"
"Are they weapons? Like the fine-quality pieces forged by the Blacksmith Association?"
"Similar, but very different." Xu Zi added, "And when I left, Sun Moon was already at a critical stage of transformation. Over these past few years, with my imperial family and the Silver Moon Clan pushing things forward, the development of 'level-nine devices' is bound to have advanced by leaps and bounds."
"But that's all I can say." Having finished, Xu Zi sealed his lips.
Even if Ling Yuan sold this information to Bibi Dong, Bibi Dong would be as unable to make heads or tails of it as Louis XIII.
Ling Yuan sat up, her face full of resentment. "You really are a riddler."
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There will be another chapter tonight.