His hand rose, and his blade fell!
Huh?
It was still alive.
The Ten-Thousand-Root Longevity Tree's vitality was remarkably tenacious. Er Ming had ripped it straight out by the roots, and even though ninety percent of its roots had snapped and it was on its last breath, its tenacious vitality left Gu Chen at something of a loss.
"Pfft~"
After seeing this, Xiao Wu couldn't hold back a laugh.
Hearing that,
Gu Chen turned to look at her, his face dark.
"Brother Chen, I definitely wasn't laughing at you. I just thought of something funny!"
Xiao Wu covered her mouth, shook her head, and waved her hands as she held back her laughter.
At that,
Gu Chen was a little irritated.
You're just a silly, innocent rabbit, and you dare laugh at me? Believe it or not, I'll give you a way to court death!
After grumbling to himself in displeasure, he finally focused on dealing with the Ten-Thousand-Root Longevity Tree before him. Though its tenacious vitality had kept him from finishing it with one slash and gotten him laughed at by Xiao Wu, that very same tenacity made it all the more appealing to him.
Now,
The path ahead of him could already be said to be set in stone.
The Blue Silver Emperor, a Martial Soul related to life!
The Advanced Life Meditation Method!
The Longevity Body!
Whatever the future held, the path before him now was one of life, and he intended to follow it all the way to the end.
Slash after slash, it was just like chopping firewood.
And it really did look like it.
After his tireless efforts, Gu Chen finally hacked the Ten-Thousand-Root Longevity Tree to death. Looking at the Soul Ring floating above its remains, he couldn't help marveling at how hard it was to hunt for a Soul Ring!
It was fucking exhausting!
Soul Masters hunting Soul Rings: "..."
Exhausting, my ass! Someone caught the Soul Beast for you, and all you did was chop away at a tree! What about us? We have to risk our lives just to hunt a Soul Beast!
But that was how it was.
Having a powerful backing really did feel good, as Gu Chen had experienced firsthand. He didn't need to go anywhere for a Soul Beast; he only had to say the word, and Er Ming would catch the one he needed. As for the things he needed to upgrade, Da Ming and Er Ming would never keep anything they could give him to themselves, but would give it to him without reservation.
It felt so good he could fly!
If he didn't have to kill the Soul Beast himself to absorb its Soul Ring, Da Ming and Er Ming could have helped with that too, and he wouldn't even have needed to chop the tree.
"Watch me grab it and refine it in an instant!!!"
Gu Chen summoned the Blue Silver Emperor and seduced-oh, no, drew the Hundred-Year Soul Ring over. The Yellow Soul Ring drifted slowly toward him and finally settled around his Martial Soul. The power within the Soul Ring also began washing through his body.
He circulated the Advanced Life Meditation Method and began refining the Soul Ring.
A Hundred-Year Soul Ring!
And one that was less than two hundred years old at that. Naturally, Gu Chen had no trouble absorbing it, especially with the aid of the Advanced Life Meditation Method, which made refining it even easier.
In just over ten minutes, he had finished refining the Soul Ring.
The bottleneck on his Soul Power was broken too.
Level 11!
Level 12!
Level 13--!!!
His Soul Power Level soared. There was the one level of Soul Power he had accumulated through cultivation, and after taking the Myriad Spirit Fruit, Ageless Fruit, and Longevity Fruit, he had refined the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth within them and converted it into Soul Power.
Before he absorbed a Soul Ring, that Soul Power could not truly translate into Soul Power Levels. But afterward, its effect became immediately apparent. In only a few blinks, his Soul Power Level reached 20.
He had only just finished absorbing his First Soul Ring, and he was already a level-20 prospective Soul Grandmaster.
"My leveling speed is way too fast. If Tang San saw this, his Tang syndrome might flare up again. Who knows, maybe I'd be courting death again!"
Gu Chen couldn't help marveling.
At this speed, let alone Tang San, even Peerless Douluo like Bo Saixi and Tang Chen would go red-eyed with envy. Even Qian Daoliu, a genius blessed by the Angel God who had reached level 20 Innate Soul Power upon awakening his Martial Soul, would be envious!
But that wasn't all.
Gu Chen could sense that he still had Soul Power left in his body. After absorbing his Second Soul Ring, his Soul Power Level could shoot up another few levels.
It was indeed a little outrageous, but on closer thought, it made perfect sense.
The Myriad Spirit Fruit, Ageless Fruit, and Longevity Fruit he had taken were respectively a thousand-year spiritual medicine, a ten-thousand-year medicine king, and a hundred-thousand-year Immortal Herb. A single Immortal Herb had been enough to help the Shrek Seven Devils achieve Martial Soul Evolution while also raising their Soul Power by six or seven levels.
With a spiritual medicine, a medicine king, and an Immortal Herb in him, what was so surprising about gaining more than ten levels of Soul Power? It was perfectly normal!
"Er Ming, I also need a hundred-year Ten Thousand Leaf Grass. Remember, it mustn't be over seven hundred years old. If there really aren't any at the hundred-year level, a ten-year one will do."
Gu Chen felt no pressure at all ordering Er Ming around.
Over the past few days, he had selected quite a few Soul Beasts whose Soul Rings would suit his Blue Silver Emperor, just in case his Soul Power Level broke through to level 20 in one go. After all, Xiao Wu's Soul Power Level had reached level 20 in a single surge after she refined the three fruits, so he thought the same thing was very likely to happen to him.
As it turned out, he had been right to prepare ahead of time.
After Er Ming left,
Gu Chen summoned his Martial Soul. The Blue Silver Emperor appeared above his palm, and a Yellow Soul Ring slowly emerged from beneath him. With the help of the Leveling Cheat, this Soul Ring naturally had an upgrade panel too.
[Item: Hundred-Year Soul Ring] [Effect: Grants the hundred-year Soul Skill "Blue Silver Rooting." Activating the Soul Skill draws power from the earth to replenish expended Soul Power] [Upgrade result: Thousand-Year Soul Ring] [Effect: Grants the thousand-year Soul Skill "Power of the Earth." Activating the Soul Skill draws power from the earth to restore Soul Power and slightly heal the user] [Upgrade requirements: 10 hundred-year life-type Soul Rings, 1 hundred-year life-type medicinal herb]
The effect of this Soul Ring's Soul Skill was exactly what he wanted. He had chosen the Ten-Thousand-Root Longevity Tree precisely because he wanted its special "rooting" ability, which would draw power from the earth and reduce his own Soul Power consumption.
After all, the stronger a Soul Skill was, the more it consumed. In the Douluo II era, Soul Cores were developed, greatly improving Soul Masters' recovery and allowing them to fight continuously.
But before Soul Cores, it came down to Soul Power consumption. If one side ran out of Soul Power first, the other was almost guaranteed to win.
So, to prevent that from happening,
He had chosen this Soul Skill.
And with his Leveling Cheat able to upgrade Soul Rings, he wasn't worried in the least that the Soul Skill would become useless.
"The upgrade materials are just like the ones on Xiao Wu's and Su Yuntao's Soul Ring upgrade panels! They don't specify any single medicinal herb, only the broad requirement that it be life-type or space-type!"
"That's good too. At least I won't have to risk my neck searching for some rare herb!"
Gu Chen had seen Su Yuntao's Soul Ring upgrade panel, as well as Xiao Wu's. One required a metal-type medicinal herb, while the other required a space-type medicinal herb, making them a little different from his.
But that didn't matter.
For now, his priority was to upgrade his Soul Ring.
He killed the ten hundred-year Blue Silver Grass plants he had prepared in advance one by one. Yellow Soul Rings appeared, and he took out the medicinal herb!
"Upgrade requirements met. Upgrade?"
"Upgrade!!!"
Gu Chen answered without the slightest hesitation.