Two Martial Souls would have been too conspicuous, so Han Qiu disguised his Electric Light Martial Soul as a special ability of his Heavenly Eye.
Before he had finished speaking, a deep, weighty purple Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath Han Qiu's feet!
Dazzling purple light swirled around it, carrying a vast, mysterious and regal pressure that abruptly spread in every direction, brilliant enough to blind the eye.
Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Xiao Chenyu instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes, but the immense presence of the Thousand-Year Soul Ring seeped through every opening. They could not block it out.
All three went rigid in an instant, their pupils contracting sharply as they turned to stone!
An Auxiliary System Martial Soul... a purple Soul Ring?
Th-this was actually a Thousand-Year Soul Ring!
A Thousand-Year Soul Ring?
How was that possible? That was so not Douluo, okay?
Staring at the dazzling purple Soul Ring as it revolved, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Xiao Chenyu all froze in place, their minds blank.
A rank sixteen Soul Master, and his First Soul Ring was actually a Thousand-Year Soul Ring?
What the hell kind of joke was this?
As if they had stepped into a dream world, the three stared blankly at the purple Soul Ring slowly rising beneath Han Qiu's feet. For a long time, none of them recovered their senses.
To them, this was simply an unimaginable miracle.
Tang San in particular felt towering waves surge through his heart.
Teacher had told him that the limit for a Soul Master's First Soul Ring was four hundred and twenty or thirty years. Once that limit was exceeded, a Soul Master's body simply couldn't withstand the Soul Ring's violent power! So why could Han Qiu possess a Thousand-Year Soul Ring?
Questions filled Tang San's mind.
The age of a Thousand-Year Soul Ring was more than three times the First Soul Ring's limit of four hundred and twenty-odd years.
And judging by its rich, deep purple radiance, this Soul Ring was probably far older than a mere thousand years.
Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were rare and difficult to find, and even a Soul Elder would have considerable trouble hunting one. How had Han Qiu managed it?
He had originally guessed that Han Qiu's body was powerful enough to barely absorb a Soul Ring slightly beyond the limit, but a thousand years was simply too shocking.
According to Grandmaster's theory, Soul Masters generally had to wait until their third Soul Ring before they were qualified to choose one that was a thousand years old!
A thousand years?! A flicker of surprise crossed Xiao Wu's eyes, but she said nothing, only quietly studying the purple Soul Ring.
Xiao Chenyu's face flushed red as he gazed excitedly at Han Qiu. "Boss Han! You're practically my own brother! That's a Thousand-Year Soul Ring! How on earth did you get it?"
Within the bounds of Nuoding City, those who possessed a Thousand-Year Soul Ring could be counted on one hand.
The academy dean, who was over rank forty, was one; even Ma Xiunuo of Spirit Hall, a Soul Grandmaster below rank thirty, had no Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
Tang San's eyes also shone with curiosity as he waited for Han Qiu's answer.
"Hahaha." Han Qiu looked at the three of them in shock and laughed inwardly. This had achieved the maximum effect.
There was no hiding the Thousand-Year Soul Ring, but he certainly could not tell them its exact age.
He cleared his throat twice and spoke slowly. "As for this Thousand-Year Soul Ring, I can only say I was lucky. I came across two Thousand-Year Soul Beasts fighting to the death in the Soul Hunting Forest. Once they'd both wounded each other, I seized the chance to take one down. You could say I picked up a windfall."
Most of that was true. Two Thousand-Year Soul Beasts really had fought each other, but he had left out the Silver Moon Spirit Deer and the fact that he had secretly helped it using his Martial Soul's ability.
After hearing his explanation, the three fell silent for a moment.
"Han Qiu, your luck is truly astounding," Tang San couldn't help sighing.
He had always thought that hunting a Mandala Snake over four hundred years old was a heaven-sent opportunity, but compared to Han Qiu, it was hardly worth mentioning.
Two Thousand-Year Soul Beasts had fought to the death, leaving him to reap the fisherman's spoils!
Was he the protagonist of a storybook?
But Tang San knew in his heart that things could never be so simple.
Luck alone could never have let Han Qiu absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Ring successfully. He had to be hiding another secret.
But Tang San did not press him. Everyone had secrets of their own. Han Qiu had his, Xiao Wu had hers, and he had his own. Even his father had a story hidden away. Some things did not need to be pursued to the bottom.
Still, he had his own trump cards: a more powerful Martial Soul, as well as the Tang Sect's Hidden Weapons and secret arts. He could defeat Han Qiu with those trump cards, but he had no need to.
"Compare goods and you'll want to throw yours away; compare people and you'll die of envy! Hmph." Xiao Wu gave a soft huff, her voice full of envy.
Xiao Chenyu looked up at the sky and reflected to himself. A Thousand-Year Soul Ring was conservatively worth hundreds of my Ten-Year Soul Rings. By that reckoning, Brother Han alone was worth nearly hundreds of me! How the hell was that reasonable?
He silently calculated that the people in Nuoding City capable of hunting a Thousand-Year Soul Beast could be counted on one hand, so Boss Han's story ought to be true. But that luck was simply too incredible.
Suddenly, Xiao Chenyu seemed to remember something. His eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait! Boss, did you just say you're an auxiliary tool Soul Master?"
He had been so shocked by what he heard that he had almost overlooked those words. Tang San and Xiao Wu also came to their senses at once, their gazes snapping to Han Qiu.
"That's right. I'm an Auxiliary System Soul Master." Han Qiu knew the three had already guessed as much, but he offered no further explanation.
Xiao Chenyu turned to look at the boulder that had been smashed apart with one punch not far away. He pointed at the wreckage, utterly speechless. "Boss, are you sure you're Auxiliary System?"
"If that punch just now hit me, a Battle Soul Master, I'm afraid I wouldn't even keep my life. And now you're telling me you're an auxiliary tool Soul Master? Who'd believe that?!"
The corners of Han Qiu's mouth lifted slightly. Then points of white light, like a sky full of tiny fragments of stardust, slowly fell upon Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Xiao Chenyu.
The next moment, gentle, translucent white healing power seeped into their bodies in fine strands.
Tang San felt his previously depleted, empty meridians being soaked and nourished by spring rain, like parched earth receiving long-awaited rain. His exhausted Soul Power swiftly recovered and began to circulate, while the fatigue and soreness accumulated throughout his body were swept away in an instant!
"Our Soul Power is recovering so fast!" Xiao Wu exclaimed softly, her face full of shock. "At this rate, our completely depleted Soul Power will be fully restored in no time!"
The two of them had just fought fiercely for more than half a shichen, leaving their Soul Power thoroughly exhausted. Normally, they would have needed at least several shichen of regulated breathing to recover.
Han Qiu smiled faintly and explained calmly, "Your foundations are still shallow, and your Soul Power reserves are somewhat smaller than mine, so naturally you recover a little faster."
That might be true, but wasn't this still too ridiculous?
Xiao Chenyu stood to one side, watching with his jaw agape. By now, his mind was a complete muddle.
On one hand was terrifying brute strength capable of smashing a boulder; on the other was gentle, soothing healing Soul Power. Two utterly opposing powers had actually come from the same person.
"My heavens... th-this, Brother Han, you really are an Auxiliary System Soul Master?!" Xiao Chenyu murmured, at a loss for words.
"Of course. An auxiliary Soul Master who can't fight a Battle Soul Master one-on-one is no good auxiliary Soul Master," Han Qiu said, humbly bragging.
"..." Tang San and the other two were left speechless for a moment.
Han Qiu withdrew his hand, and the white light filling the air slowly dissipated. The purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring beneath his feet also slowly sank and vanished.
In just a few moments, the three had completely recovered their depleted Soul Power, and their former fatigue had vanished without a trace.
Tang San and the others couldn't help looking at Han Qiu. Seeing that his breathing was steady, they marveled that he showed no sign of Soul Power depletion after using such a wide-ranging healing Soul Skill.
Then everyone remembered that Han Qiu had said he was a rank sixteen Soul Master when he introduced himself earlier, and their doubts vanished at once.