Hearing the grand elder say that the Su Clan's current strength was no weaker than the imperial Xu Clan's, Su Yun thought of Kong Deming, the guardian of the Imperial Family who possessed a quarter of its bloodline.
But after considering the current timeline, he realized that Kong Deming might actually be no match for the grand elder yet.
Su Yun did not dwell on their combat strength. After all, their current strength was already enough to protect themselves, so he asked about something else. "Have you obtained an external soul bone and the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife?"
"There's still no news of an external soul bone. Practically no one sells those things. As for the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife, we've found it."
As the grand elder spoke, he took the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife out of his storage soul tool and carefully held it out before Su Yun, ready at any moment to suppress it.
"The material used to make this should be something good, but an Evil Soul Master's remnant soul is attached to it. I've heard it was even a Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Master's remnant soul. Young clan leader, you must be careful."
Su Yun paid little heed to his words. He merely glanced silently at the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife and sensed the strength of the soul upon it. Then, without any hesitation, he grabbed the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife and refined it in an instant!
"Y-young clan leader, are you all right?!"
Seeing Su Yun grab the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife without another word and refine it in an instant gave the grand elder a fright.
"What could possibly happen to me?"
Su Yun glanced casually at the grand elder and spoke unconcernedly.
"B-but that was a Titled Douluo's remnant soul, after all!" the grand elder said, still shaken.
Even a Titled Douluo like him was reluctant to touch the ominous presence upon the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife.
Although something bearing a mere Evil Soul Master's remnant soul could not hurt him, the rumors about the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife alone were unsettling enough. If possible, the grand elder really would rather not have given it to Su Yun.
"You said it yourself-it was a remnant soul. A mere remnant soul. Even saying it retained a tenth of its power would be an exaggeration."
Su Yun had initially taken the Titled Douluo's remnant soul inside the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife very seriously. But the moment he actually came into contact with the knife, he discovered that its soul strength was only slightly greater than that of the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle's remnant soul within the Purple Cloud Wings in Ye Fan's cave.
Back then, even as a Dou Zhe with one soul ring, Su Yun had easily suppressed the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle's remnant soul without any real risk, let alone now, after successively breaking through to Dou Shi and then Da Dou Shi.
His soul power had improved with both breakthroughs. Together with his constant practice, this had raised his alchemy to the threshold of the fifth grade.
Although he was only a quasi-fifth-grade alchemist, Su Yun had forcibly refined those pills without the enhancement of the wood attribute or anything to make his flames docile.
His ability to refine fifth-grade pills despite expending twice the effort for half the result clearly proved that his soul power had long since surpassed anything an ordinary fifth-grade alchemist could hope to rival.
Su Yun might not have been able to match the mental power of that Titled Douluo Evil Soul Master in person, but this was a remnant soul that had been damaged for who knew how many years. The risk this time was far lower than it had been with the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle's remnant soul.
As Su Yun refined the Evil Soul Master's remnant soul upon the Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife, a pale purple soul ring rose from beneath his feet. Outside that pale purple soul ring, a black soul ring could faintly be seen gradually taking shape.
With a thought from Su Yun, that soul ring quickly manifested, forming a ring as black as ink.
Sensing that soul ring, Su Yun frowned.
"Young clan leader, has something gone wrong? Should I call the Snow Empress over?"
Seeing that Su Yun's expression did not look too good, the grand elder asked anxiously.
"It's fine. It's just that we anticipated this situation, but things are still fairly good."
As Su Yun spoke, the second soul ring on his body lit up, and an enlarged Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife appeared in his hand.
At the same time, Su Yun felt that he had gained many combat instincts. Yet beneath those combat instincts, he seemed to have a slight urge to kill.
Su Yun shook his head, trying to cast aside that urge to kill, but it seemed determined to take root and sprout. No matter what he did, he could not shake it off.
The next second, Su Yun extinguished the light of his second soul ring and stopped using his second soul skill. Soon, that urge to kill receded, and he returned to normal.
He poured soul power into the soul ring again. The enlarged Spirit-Devouring Carving Knife appeared in his hand once more, along with combat instincts and nine special abilities.
Those abilities varied in strength, but Su Yun knew exactly what they were: the nine soul skills that Titled Douluo Evil Soul Master had possessed in life.
With a mere thought, Su Yun could wield those nine soul skills as naturally as his own limbs, as though he had spent over a hundred years familiarizing himself with them.
Heaven Class Dou Technique: Ghost Possession?
Su Yun had never imagined that he would acquire something similar to Xiao Yan's trump card just like this.
Although a mere Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Master was not qualified to compare with Yao Lao, this was already quite good.
Besides, Su Yun only had two soul rings now. In the future, who said that Electrolux, Yao Lao, the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint's remnant soul within the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map, Xiao Xuan's remnant soul, the Dou Di's remnant soul beneath the Bodhi Tree, and the Yao Clan's Yao Di's remnant soul could not become his soul rings?
With their ghost possession helping them fight on his behalf, and even their experience helping him grow stronger, some things could be switched to easy mode.
Ultimately, using that Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Master's remnant soul as a soul ring this time was only an experiment. He had chosen it because the risk was relatively low. After all, it was a remnant soul that had been dead for who knew how many years, and its condition was hardly any better than that of the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle's remnant soul.
The only drawback was that this was a purely spiritual soul ring. It had added quite a bit of mental power, but as for soul power, all he could say was, soul power...
Su Yun suspected that all the additional soul power had come from his own cultivation during this period.
The soul ring had merely removed the world's suppression of him, allowing him to cultivate toward the next realm.
But compared with the benefits of this success, that so-called soul power was no longer particularly important, was it?
"Young clan leader, are you really all right?"
Seeing the bloodthirsty gleam in Su Yun's eyes and the complete transformation in his bearing, his formerly gentle presence entirely gone, as though he desperately wanted to find someone to slash, the grand elder doubted his claim that he was fine.
"I really am fine. This is an effect of the soul skill. Once I stop using it, everything is fine."
He extinguished the light of his second soul ring, and in mere moments, Su Yun returned to his original self, as though nothing had happened.
"As long as you're all right. Also, young clan leader, the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament is about to begin. The eldest young lady is the captain of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Tool Is Team. Should I go over to ensure her safety? After all, Shrek..."
The grand elder's expression suddenly darkened. "Those bastards really are nothing but a pack of beasts who bully others with their power!"
"..."