Feng Qingxuan's oppressive aura enveloped the entire training ground on the back mountain without reservation.
The aura of the level 93 Titled Douluo pressed down like an invisible mountain, slowly and irresistibly. The air became thick, and each breath felt like a bellows being pulled.
At the same moment, the Soul Core of all twelve team members were pushed to their limits—the rapidly spinning core in their dantian emitted an unprecedented buzzing sound, not a sound that could be heard by the ears, but a tremor that came from the depths of their meridians.
The Void Resonance Bell in Shi Yan was the first to malfunction.
A pale golden bell hung above his head, uncontrollably emitting one low chime after another. It wasn't that he deliberately struck it—it was the Soul Core spinning wildly under extreme pressure, causing the Void Resonance Bell to resonate.
The bell tolled outwards in a chaotic and disorderly manner, each sound wave carrying spatial vibrations and causing ripples to spread through the surrounding air.
Bai Yu and Su Ran were forced to take two steps back, and even Cheng Luo's Wind-Binding Vine was shaken and retracted back to the ground.
"Don't suppress it." Dugu Bo's voice came from the sidelines, unhurried, "Zhong Ming is your Soul Core searching for an outlet. Instead of blocking it, let it ring."
Shi Yan gritted his teeth and stopped trying to control the Void Resonance Bell.
The tolling of the bell grew more frequent and urgent, gradually transforming from a chaotic rhythm into a regular beat—dong, dong, dong—overlapping with his heartbeat and the rhythm of the spinning Soul Core.
The pale golden halo deep within his pupils lit up again, brighter and more stable than the day he condensed the Soul Core.
Then all the bell sounds gathered in an instant. Not dissipated, but returned. The pale golden light of the Void Resonance Bell receded into his body like a tide, flowing along his meridians and into his dantian.
But the Void Resonance Bell was not swallowed by the Soul Core —it remained quietly suspended in the dantian, directly above the Soul Core, rotating synchronously up and down.
Each vibration of the bell automatically creates a perceptible spatial ripple, requiring no hand to be raised or the bell to be struck.
Shi Yan looked down at his hands, his fingertips twitched slightly, and the ripples spread out of his body according to his will, silently sweeping across the three-foot space around him.
He was stunned for a moment, then he understood—it wasn't that the Soul Core had absorbed the Void Resonance Bell, but rather that the rhythms of the two had finally become completely synchronized.
The Soul Core rotates, the bell vibrates, and perception arises spontaneously. Spatial perception is no longer a skill that requires concentration to maintain, but an instinct, as natural as breathing.
Dugu Bo glanced at Shi Yan and nodded slightly. The synchronization speed of the Void Resonance Bell and the Soul Core was faster than he had expected—this kid's foundation was much more solid than he had shown.
But his gaze lingered for only a moment before being drawn to another beam of light.
Su Mei'er's breakthrough was even more intense than Shi Yan's.
The four elements had been balanced within her dantian through the Soul Core —wind as the core, surrounded by three halos of lightning, fire, and water. However, this balance was broken under the pressure of the Titled Douluo.
The Ultimate Fire and Ultimate Ice were the first to go out of control, and red and blue light erupted from her body, enveloping her in a cocoon of light that was half Lie Yan and half frost.
Feng Lingtian's expression changed drastically, and he took a step forward. Dugu Bo raised his hand to stop him.
"Don't move. She found her balance on her own last time, and she can do it again this time."
Su Mei'er closed her eyes. Not voluntarily—the storm within her was too great, so great that she had to withdraw all her consciousness to deal with it.
Within her dantian, fire and water were clashing violently, each collision causing her meridians to endure excruciating, tearing pain. Gritting her teeth, she instinctively grasped at the wisp of wind at the core of her Soul Core amidst the agony.
Then she understood. Wind wasn't meant to suppress fire and water. Wind was meant to carry them. Her Soul Core core had been wind from the very beginning—the eye of the wind could hold anything, including Ultimate Fire and Ultimate Ice.
A beam of four-colored light shot into the sky from her body. Wind, thunder, fire, and water—the four halos were no longer independent orbits around the Soul Core, but overlapped together to form a complete concentric circle.
The Ultimate Fire and the Ultimate Ice Entanglement on the outermost layer of concentric circles, no longer opposing poles, but yin and yang fish revolving around the same core.
She opened her eyes and looked down at her right hand. A red light shone from her fingertips—a blue light followed immediately, not alternately, but simultaneously. She paused for a moment, then a slow smile crept onto her lips.
Jiang Lin's breakthrough was the most unique.
The pressure from the Titled Douluo not only weighed on his Soul Core, but also on his Spiritual Power.
Spirit Eyes was forced to operate at its limit under high pressure, and the veins around her eyes bulged, with two lines of pale silver tears sliding down her cheeks.
He gritted his teeth, his eyes widened, his vision shifting between blurry and clear.
Then he saw it.
He didn't see with his eyes. His Spirit Eyes perception penetrated the boundaries of sight—even with his eyes closed, the position, movements, and even the trajectory of Soul Power flow of everyone on the training ground were clearly displayed in his mind.
In Shi Yan's dantian, the Soul Core and the Void Resonance Bell were synchronizing; the four-colored halos within Su Mei'er's body were overlapping; Feng Xiaotian stood three zhang behind him, his Soul Power rapidly compressing within his meridians. Every detail was perfectly reflected in his consciousness.
Jiang Lin subconsciously wanted to transmit the information he saw— Shi Yan's Void Resonance Bell was still slightly off-center, and Su Mei'er's four-colored halos were overlapping at a slightly off-center angle.
But he opened his mouth and found that he didn't need to speak at all. An unprecedented warmth surged from the depths of his Spirit Eyes, and then the scene in his eyes rippled out like water, silently projecting onto the edge of his teammates' perception.
A scene suddenly flashed through Shi Yan's mind—the optimal position for the Void Resonance Bell to hover in his dantian. Su Mei'er's brow twitched slightly, and the overlapping angle of the four-colored halos automatically adjusted by three degrees in her intuition.
It wasn't clear words, nor explicit instructions, but rather an instinctive guidance that " Jiang Lin saw this direction."
Jiang Lin was stunned for a moment, then realized—it wasn't that the use of the Spirit Eyes had changed, but that the Martial Soul itself had changed. The moment the Soul Core fused, the Spirit Eyes broke through its original limits. From now on, what he could see, his teammates could also see.
He reopened his eyes, a pale silver light shining steadily deep within his pupils. No shouting, no commands were needed. He only needed to look.
"I must write this down," he muttered to himself. He knew better than anyone what this ability meant.
While the breakthroughs of the other team members were not as dramatic as those of these three, they were also quietly undergoing transformations.
Cheng Luo no longer needed to activate his Wind-Binding Vine from his palm; the vines burst forth directly from his shadow, their reaction speed at least 30% faster than before.
Lu Qing's single-handed scythe's trajectory became even more unpredictable, and the Wind Scythe's arc gained an indescribable agility under the blessing of the Soul Core.
Bai Yu's Wind Chime never stopped ringing under the oppressive force; the penetrating power of the chimes increased, and the protective range of the Wind Guard expanded by at least half a step.
Su Ran condensed a more solid Wind Grain than usual at the limit, and the wind patterns on the surface of each seed were so clear that the texture could be seen.
Under pressure, Zhong Yue's Black Tortoise: Wind Armor automatically deployed its full defensive capabilities, and the wind barrier on the surface of the shell became twice as thick as before, thanks to the Soul Core's enhancement.
Despite the oppressive aura, Lu Hanxiao's Snowy Owl wings remained spread out, and the cold air at the wingtips condensed into a ring of fine ice crystals around his body. Without him having to actively release it, the cold air had become a constant protective barrier around his body.
Ji Ning's hummingbird afterimage did not disappear; instead, it became more solid, maintaining dynamic balance amidst minimal tremors, ready to launch a charge in any direction at any moment.
Ye Qingyu plucked a string at her limit. It wasn't a Soul Skill; she just plucked it instinctively. The syllable landed steadily in the gap of the oppressive aura, neither too high nor too low, like finding a rock to stand on in the storm.
Feng Xiaotian stood behind everyone, his dantian, which lacked Soul Core, was aching under the pressure of the Titled Douluo. But he did not retreat. His level 58 Soul Power circulated in his meridians with unprecedented density, each cycle squeezed tighter, more solid, and heavier by the pressure.
He closed his eyes and used the external pressure to compress his Soul Power layer by layer into the depths of his dantian—if he didn't have Soul Core yet, he would first solidify his foundation. This would pave a wider path for him when he condensed his Soul Core later.
An hour later, the oppressive aura dissipated.
The air on the back mountain began to circulate again, and the wind once more swept through the treetops, bringing with it the scent of pine resin and earth. The twelve team members lay sprawled on the ground, none of them able to stand up.
Everyone was panting heavily, their clothes soaked with sweat, their arms trembling, their legs cramping—but no one's eyes showed exhaustion. It was a light that shone astonishingly brightly after being pushed to the limit.
Dugu Bo leaned against the pine tree and spat out the grass stem he had been chewing on for a long time.
"Haven't I told you? Unless you push yourself to the limit, the Soul Core will always just be a tool."
His emerald eyes swept over the twelve people slumped on the ground, and a rare, genuine smile appeared on his lips. "Now, the Soul Core is completely yours. It's not borrowed, it's not an external cheat—it's grown into your bodies."
Feng Qingxuan withdrew his aura and stood with his hands behind his back. His face was expressionless, but his gaze lingered on each team member for a moment.
Finally, the focus shifted to Feng Xiaotian —he lacked Soul Core, but his Soul Power foundation was more solid than any of his peers. Feng Qingxuan remained silent, merely nodding slightly.
Feng Xiaotian turned around, his gaze sweeping over his teammates who were slumped on the ground, then looking towards the darkening horizon in the distance. No matter how big the training ground on the back mountain was, it was still just a cage.
The Soul Core have been integrated into everyone's bodies, and the closed training has come to an end. It's time to test their skills on the real arena.
A slight smile played at the corners of his lips.
" The Nameless Squad, it's time to make a comeback."