At the mention of his second Soul Skill, Mu Yueye smiled and said,
"Then watch closely, Great-Great-Grandfather."
With that, Mu Yueye raised his hand sharply and gave his palm a gentle turn. Four golden chains erupted from the ground beneath Xuan Zi's feet. The pure light element made even Mu En feel as though he were basking in a spring breeze.
Xuan Zi, the subject of the test, grew serious and said to Mu En,
"Elder Mu, I can feel that my Soul Power and even my reactions have slowed down."
"Divine might of light, judgment of heaven and earth."
Mu Yueye murmured the words, then turned his wrist. The four chains shot toward Xuan Zi at once. One pierced the bones beneath both his shoulders from behind, while the other three converged above his head.
The instant the three chains met, they formed a pyramid-shaped structure.
With the bones beneath his shoulders pierced, Xuan Zi already felt a trace of discomfort. He shifted slightly, preparing to release his Martial Soul.
To his surprise, he failed to release it on his first attempt. Only a moment later did he finally release his Godly Taotie Bull Martial Soul.
The instant his Martial Soul emerged, Xuan Zi snapped all four chains of light almost immediately. He rolled his shoulders, then gave Mu Yueye a thumbs-up.
"Not bad, Xiao Ye. Your Second Soul Ring gives you a control effect that's guaranteed to take hold. This Soul Skill is very useful."
Having experienced the Soul Skill firsthand, Xuan Zi naturally knew what effect it would have on someone at Mu Yueye's level if both their reactions and the circulation of their Soul Power were affected.
It would be no exaggeration to call it a lengthy, guaranteed control effect.
Mu Yueye scratched his head and said to Xuan Zi,
"Elder Xuan, you actually acted too soon. My Soul Skill is similar to Phoenix Roaring Sky Strike. After it traps the target, there's also an attack that takes a little time to be released."
Xuan Zi froze, then burst out laughing and said,
"So that's how it is. Then it's even more perfect. As expected of a Soul Skill Xiao Ye obtained-it's truly extraordinary."
Mu En spoke up.
"Xiao Ye, does this Soul Skill of yours lock onto its target?"
Mu Yueye shook his head. He knew the shortcomings of this Soul Skill better than anyone. It was only a thousand-year Soul Skill, after all. Impressive as its name was, its current power was ultimately limited, and it was indeed possible for someone to dodge it.
"It's only a thousand-year Soul Skill, so naturally it can't be perfect. But if the golden chains don't wrap around the target right away, they can keep pursuing them until they trap them."
Mu Yueye spoke after shaking his head. Mu En nodded, then turned his gaze to Zhang Lexuan, who stood nearby.
Zhang Lexuan looked at Mu En somewhat nervously, unsure what he meant by looking at her. Mu En, however, spoke calmly.
"Thank you for your efforts on this trip. Go and rest. I'm giving you two days off; after that, carry out your inner court duties as usual."
After sending Zhang Lexuan away, Mu En looked at Mu Yueye and nodded in satisfaction. The smile on his face was as radiant as if he had found a rare treasure.
"Starting tomorrow, Xiao Ye, you'll cultivate with me."
Mu En gave Mu Yueye his instructions. Mu Yueye nodded, then returned to his room in the inner court.
Early the next morning, Mu En pulled Mu Yueye out of bed while he was still asleep, and began training him in his own way.
"Although this Soul Ring doesn't provide an additional boost to spiritual power, that doesn't matter. You don't necessarily need a Martial Soul or Soul Ring to begin cultivating spiritual power."
Under the Golden Ancient Tree, Mu En spoke to Mu Yueye with an air of perfect composure. Mu Yueye looked at him, unusually attentive.
Mu En said,
"Using spiritual power feels completely different from using Soul Power. Empty your mind and feel the power of your own soul..."
Following Mu En's guidance, Mu Yueye closed his eyes and began squeezing the spiritual power out of his soul. The process, however, proved very easy. In just an hour, Mu Yueye entered the state of the Sea of Consciousness.
Once Mu En had confirmed that Mu Yueye really could enter the Sea of Consciousness, his eyes glistened.
Two teardrops, as clear as a young man's, fell from his eyes. They startled Mu Yueye, who thought he had done something wrong and asked,
"Great-Great-Grandfather, did I do something wrong?"
Mu En shook his head and wiped the tears from his face. His voice trembling, he said excitedly,
"You did very well, child. You did very well-much better than I did back then!"
Mu Yueye cursed him inwardly as a complete neurotic. Mu En composed himself and began the next step of his teaching.
"As for spiritual power, when I, your great-great-grandfather, was young and full of ambition, I created a little trick of my own, called... King's Landing."
Over the next three years, Mu Yueye cultivated under Mu En. He reached the Soul Elder realm at eight and a half, and Mu En personally accompanied him deep into the Star Dou Great Forest, where they found a nine-thousand-nine-hundred-year Starlight Dragon for Mu Yueye's third Soul Ring.
After that, the slowdown in Soul Power cultivation caused by his twin Ultimate Martial Souls began to show. It was not until he was ten and a half that he finally scrambled and crawled his way to level forty.
It seemed as though his cultivation had merely taken twice as long, but absorbing the Holy Radiance Unicorn back then had only raised Mu Yueye's cultivation to level twenty-three. He had cultivated seven levels in one year.
The Soul Ring that had been close to ten thousand years old, on the other hand, had directly raised Mu Yueye's Soul Power to level thirty-five.
He had cultivated only five levels of Soul Power in two years. Seen that way, the slowdown in his Soul Power cultivation was frightening.
Mu En, however, paid it no mind. He simply took Mu Yueye to find his next Soul Ring, beaming with delight.
"Great-Great-Grandfather, if you ask me, I'm already strong enough to fight. You really don't need to come along. You might tire yourself out."
Mu En laughed heartily, then patted Mu Yueye's head and said,
"Silly child, all my thoughts are on you now. Naturally, I can't allow anything to go wrong."
Mu Yueye rubbed his nose. Mu En smiled and touched his head as he said,
"Don't worry. I won't leave you without opportunities for real combat."
Mu Yueye had nothing to say to that. He could only follow Mu En silently as they continued deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest.
His fourth Soul Ring would be ten thousand years old. Mu Yueye's Soul Ring Configuration had already been planned out clearly.
They had even narrowed down the Soul Beast they would seek this time.
The best choice was naturally a ten-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. But although those things killed plenty of Soul Masters, they were not easy to find when one went looking.
The alternative was another kind of light-attribute subdragon, similar to the Starlight Dragon. The Soul Skill obtained from it could also work in tandem with the Starlight Dragon to a certain extent.
They could be considered two different paths of development...