Princess Xue Li returned with good news: the site chosen for the Soul Fighting Society was on Swan Square in the north of Lingdou City.
Besides that, a white-haired old man followed behind her.
Although his presence seemed frail on the surface, as if he might accidentally keel over at any moment, everyone felt there was more to him than met the eye.
Princess Xue Li immediately introduced him:
"This is Elder Zhan. Imperial Father said that if there's anything we don't understand about business, we can ask Elder Zhan for advice."
Chu Qing naturally understood that the Dou Ling Emperor had sent him to protect him personally, so he immediately bowed respectfully.
Xue Zhan coughed violently, then looked at Chu Qing and smiled kindly.
"No need for such courtesy. Work hard, little ones. Thanks to you, I get to spend my remaining years here in peace."
Xue Shiqi and the others were pleasantly surprised. The Soul Fighting Society had only just begun, yet a Titled Douluo-level powerhouse had already joined.
The group headed for Swan Square.
At the teahouse, Wu Feng's grandmother was startled to see that it was Dark Douluo Xue Zhan. She thought to herself that the Dou Ling Emperor was truly ruthless, sending Xue Zhan here when his life was already a candle flickering in the wind.
Now, unless an ordinary Titled Douluo was determined to trade a life for a life, they would not dare lay a hand on Chu Qing. And that was only the strength visible on the surface.
The Soul Fighting Society was formally established, and the workshop was set up within a few days.
Their first set of cards in the Ten Ferocious series had already been produced. Taking the local environment into account, they had given Princess Xue Li's Emerald Swan deck a particular boost.
By the time Chu Jiazheng and his companion returned, the inexpensive and entertaining Soul Fighting Cards were already showing signs of becoming popular in Lingdou City. Of course, for now it was still a small affair, limited to children.
Seeing that they had not immediately taken the entire city by storm as expected, Xue Shiqi and the others sighed.
Chu Qing considered how to promote them. The first thing that came to mind was holding a competition with a Soul Bone as the prize, but they were too poor at the moment.
"What do you think would happen if we defeated Shrek in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament and then promoted them on the competition stage?"
He thought of the Death Messenger, the foremost among Soul Kings, and Qianling Academy.
The others, however, did not have his advantage of knowing the future. To their ears, his words were downright explosive. After all, that was Shrek Academy, undefeated for ten thousand years!
Even Xue Zhan, who was reclining in a chair nearby, had his cloudy old eyes light up at once when he heard that.
The others were astonished. They could have racked their brains and never come up with that.
Xu Sanshi sucked in a breath, suddenly gripped by an inexplicable sense of foreboding.
Xue Shiqi laughed.
"Why don't you just unify the continent's four nations instead? That would be more convenient."
Li Zhongyuan, meanwhile, offered a serious analysis:
"Chu Qing, with your strength, we naturally believe that even Shrek's monsters aren't as monstrous as you. But while you might be able to do it, if we went up there, we probably couldn't even beat the reserve contestants from an ordinary academy!"
Chu Jiazheng and Xu Sanshi's father heard them from a distance and walked in laughing.
"Fine ambition!"
The moment they entered and saw Xue Zhan, they froze, evidently not having expected him. Both bowed and greeted him as Elder Zhan.
Xue Zhan nodded in acknowledgment.
Chu Qing knew the Soul Ring had arrived and immediately stood up to thank him.
"Thank you, Uncle."
"No need for courtesy."
Smiling, Xu Sanshi's father tossed out a strange purple-gold snake that was barely clinging to life.
It was strange because it had its head and tail joined, and although it was almost dead, it was still devouring itself.
Yang Tian looked at Chu Qing in disbelief. Was he going to absorb a nine-thousand-year Soul Ring as his Third Soul Ring?
Xue Zhan's interest was also piqued. He stood and came forward to observe, rather surprised himself.
"I didn't expect it to be a mutated nine-thousand-year Purple-Gold Ouroboros."
He seemed to sigh softly.
"Can't even an Ouroboros that has grown to this stage escape the fate of devouring itself?"
The Ouroboros was a Soul Beast with an immense amount of Soul Power. However, whenever they grew to a certain stage, they would begin devouring themselves as if possessed, as though it were a program engraved in their genes.
As a result, despite the great potential of this snake-type Soul Beast, there had never been one more than ten thousand years old. Even thousand-year specimens were exceedingly rare.
Xue Shiqi and the others could all tell how extraordinary this Purple-Gold Ouroboros was, and they looked at Chu Qing with immense envy.
He could absorb another Soul Ring. Delighted, Chu Qing stepped forward to finish it off. Wind coiled around his hands, and after two punches, a deep, dark-purple Soul Ring floated out, magnificent and mysterious.
Chu Qing sat down cross-legged and took the spirit herbs he had prepared beforehand, one by one, before beginning the absorption. Although nothing dangerous happened, it still took him a full three days and three nights to absorb the nine-thousand-year purple Soul Ring.
His body was strong enough to withstand a nine-thousand-year Soul Ring. The main issue was that the amount of Soul Power contained in this Soul Ring was simply too immense.
He stood up. Although he had grown a little thinner, his eyes shone brightly and his face was full of excitement as he said to everyone:
"My Soul Power Level broke through to level 40!"
His words were like a stone shattering the heavens.
Xue Shiqi, who had brought over the purple-gold snake soup they had saved, nearly spilled it on the floor when he heard that. Fortunately, Li Zhongyuan was quick to react beside him.
Xu Sanshi could not resist protesting.
"Wait, what?"
"That's just ridiculous!"
Even Chu Jiazheng and Xu Sanshi's father did not know what to make of it for a moment.
Only Xue Zhan remained relatively calm. He said:
"That can only mean the compatibility was very high."
"Tell us, what kind of Soul Skill did you get?"
He was also very curious to know what heaven-defying Soul Skill Chu Qing had obtained.
Chu Qing spoke in an excited tone:
"My Third Soul Skill is called Ouroboros Mutual Generation."
"It creates an Ouroboros Formation beneath my feet that follows me and continuously shrinks."
"While the formation exists, it increases my Soul Power by 50 percent, and I can also devour my own Soul Power."
Devour his own Soul Power?
Never mind the others-even Xue Zhan, a Titled Douluo, could not understand that. In all his many years, this was the first time he had heard such a thing.
Chu Qing naturally saw the confusion in everyone's eyes and explained:
"After I activate the skill, it gives my Soul Power a special transfer property, allowing me to temporarily transfer and store my Soul Power in the formation."
"That means that when the formation ends, regardless of whether the Soul Power gained through devouring myself has been used, I only need to return half of it to restore the amount of Soul Power I previously lost from my body."
"If I don't use that portion of Soul Power after devouring it, then after I return it, the extra Soul Power, equal to twice the amount returned, will remain for the duration of another formation."
"Simply put, my Third Soul Skill increases the amount of Soul Power I have. Its mechanism just isn't that simple and direct; it requires a certain conversion."
Now everyone understood.
"In that case, isn't the increase in Soul Power far too terrifying?"
Xue Shiqi did the calculations in his head and cried out in shock:
"It's equivalent to a 300 percent increase in Soul Power!"
Chu Qing nodded. He did feel that, compared with a simple percentage increase, there might be more ingenious uses for it. He needed to experiment more in private to test what he had in mind.
Xu Sanshi's father and Chu Jiazheng found it incredible. They understood perfectly well what an increase in Soul Power of that magnitude meant.
Xue Zhan exclaimed repeatedly:
"When he becomes a Limit Douluo in the future, that terrifying amount of Soul Power will rival a Ferocious Beast's. He'll surely reign supreme over his entire era!"