Grandmaster's Invitation

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.

By then, because the AFK Panel raised his Soul Ring Year Limit by Five Years every day, his Second Soul Ring Skill, Transformation, had advanced into a Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

As long as any Soul Ring reached the thousand-year mark, its skill effects would be Greatly Enhanced.

Transformation was no exception.

Before Xiao Wu, Hu Jiu's appearance slowly began to change.

His skin became soft and delicate, his head shrank, his cheeks flushed red, and two pink rabbit ears sprouted from the top of his head.

Then his clothes, figure, and tail began changing as well.

In just a few seconds, there were already two Xiao Wus in the room. One was in her Spirit Avatar state, while the other was not transformed.

"Wow! Xiao Jiu, you can even transform into my Spirit Avatar now!" The untransformed Xiao Wu stepped forward, grabbed Hu Jiu's two rabbit ears, and kept playing with them in her hands.

"Ah~!"

"Xiao Wu, don't play with my ears! They're ticklish!" A crisp, alluring voice rang out.

Hu Jiu's gaze turned hazy. He had not expected Xiao Wu's rabbit ears to be so sensitive, nor had he expected his Transformation Skill to replicate even that detail.

"Ah! I forgot." Xiao Wu hurriedly let go. How could she not know how sensitive her own rabbit ears were? For a moment, her pretty face flushed crimson, and she was too embarrassed to even lift her head.

After a long while, Xiao Wu raised her head and casually asked, "Then can you use my Soul Ring Skills, Xiao Jiu?"

She asked because, while lowering her head just now, she had noticed two yellow Soul Rings beneath Hu Jiu's feet. Their rank was exactly the same as hers.

Hearing this, Hu Jiu's heart stirred. He closed his eyes and carefully sensed them.

Only after a long time did he raise his head. Frowning, he shook his head. "It doesn't seem possible. It's just a superficial imitation without any real effect."

Hu Jiu was somewhat disappointed. If he could transform even other people's soul skills, then he would truly strike it rich.

After all, one of his Normal AFK Slots was still empty, and the Seventh Idle Slot was about to open as well.

If he could simulate soul skills too, he could infiltrate those powerful factions and freeload on their Self-Created Soul Skills. Just thinking about it was wonderful.

Just then, the door to Hu Jiu's dormitory was suddenly pushed open.

"You—"

"You two!" Tang San stared at the two Xiao Wus before him in shock, at a complete loss.

"Uh, can I say I was only testing a new skill?" Hu Jiu hurriedly explained, though saying it in Xiao Wu's voice felt strangely awkward.

"You're Xiao Jiu?" Tang San looked at the 'Xiao Wu' in Spirit Avatar state with a puzzled expression.

As he remembered it, Hu Jiu's Transformation Skill could not replicate a Spirit Avatar!

"That's right! I really was testing my skill." As he spoke, Hu Jiu's appearance began changing again. In the blink of an eye, he transformed from Xiao Wu into Tang San.

Not only did he look identical to Tang San, but even his clothing and accessories were exactly the same.

"Blue Silver Grass, appear!" He stretched out his right hand, and a stalk of Blue Silver Grass appeared in Hu Jiu's palm.

"Well?" Hu Jiu looked at Tang San smugly.

"This is my Blue Silver Grass." Curious, Tang San summoned his own spirit and brought it before Hu Jiu for comparison.

"Amazing. There's no difference at all. It's impossible to tell real from fake! Is this the advancement effect of your Second Soul Ring?"

Tang San had already grown numb to Hu Jiu's cultivation speed when it came to Soul Rings. He felt that the theory claiming Soul Rings could not change was worthless before Hu Jiu. At this rate, his Soul Rings were improving even faster than his soul power cultivation!

"What about the skills? Can you use my Bind and Parasite?" Tang San asked the same question Xiao Wu had.

Shaking his head, Hu Jiu calmly explained, "Not yet. I can't transform Soul Ring Skills for now, but there's no need to rush. The Soul Ring Year Limit is only at a thousand years right now. Once it reaches ten thousand years, who knows?"

It was only a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. He would reach it after waiting a few years. Even if he still could not transform skills by then, there would definitely be other effects.

So Hu Jiu was not worried in the slightest.

"That's true. Your Soul Rings improve quickly anyway." Tang San nodded in agreement. A genius like Hu Jiu absolutely could not be judged by ordinary standards.

"Oh, right. I came to tell you that my Teacher is very interested in your First Soul Ring Skill. He wants to meet you." Only then did Tang San remember why he had come to find Hu Jiu.

"Grandmaster wants to see me? Then let's meet." Hu Jiu had long known this day would come. He just had not expected it to come so late. Grandmaster really was slow to react!

He definitely had to meet Grandmaster. He had no reason to refuse, since his First Soul Ring had been obtained so smoothly in the first place thanks to Grandmaster's guidance.

So, even if it was only to repay a favor, he had to make this trip.

"When?" Hu Jiu asked.

"Right now. We shouldn't make Teacher wait anxiously." Tang San held Grandmaster in great respect. Anything Grandmaster instructed, he would carry out without fail.

"Fine, let's go."

Hu Jiu still knew a little about Grandmaster.

Old-fashioned, stubborn, inflexible.

That was the impression Grandmaster left on Hu Jiu.

The man did not know how to adapt at all. He wore a stern face every day, as if the whole world owed him money. Hu Jiu had no interest in associating with someone like that.

Moreover, Hu Jiu looked down on how he handled his feelings for Liu Erlong.

If only he had been a little less restrained, or simply more decisive, things would not have become what they were now. Hiding for decades was not something a man should do.

When they arrived at Grandmaster's residence again, everything was just as it had been a year ago. Books were scattered everywhere in the room, and the entire place was filled with the scent of books.

"Grandmaster, it's been a long time." Hu Jiu spoke first.

"I truly didn't expect you to have grown to this point already. I have to say, cultivating to your level with only level-two Innate Soul Power is indeed remarkable!"

Seeing Hu Jiu again, Grandmaster looked at him and sighed.

Grandmaster had not had much impression of Hu Jiu. If not for Tang San, he might have already forgotten him.

But over the past few months, he had noticed that Tang San's soul power cultivation speed had become somewhat abnormal. The first three months had been fine; he had merely advanced from level twenty-two to level twenty-three. After all, he possessed Innate Full Soul Power, so Grandmaster could accept that rate of improvement.

But the following three months had become abnormal. He had actually risen another two levels in such a short time, becoming a level-twenty-five Soul Grandmaster. This frightened Grandmaster, who feared Tang San had cultivated some forbidden text from an unorthodox path.

After all, no matter how talented Tang San was, his cultivation could not possibly progress so quickly. Soul power cultivation only became harder and harder, especially at higher levels.

Under Grandmaster's stern interrogation, Tang San finally revealed Hu Jiu's name.

Grandmaster remembered that this was the little fellow who had ignored his advice and insisted on choosing trash as his Soul Ring. Back then, he had concluded that Hu Jiu's path forward was already cut off.

One step behind meant falling behind at every step. With merely level-two Innate Soul Power, instead of finding a way to catch up through his Soul Ring Year Limit, he had actually chosen a Ten-Year Soul Ring. It was simply destroying his own future.

Yet he had never expected that after only one year apart, this little fellow would have achieved so much.

According to Little San, Hu Jiu's soul power had already reached level twenty-eight. He was only one level behind Tang San.

And that was not even the most important part. Most crucially, he had actually broken the iron rule that Soul Rings could not be improved.

Grandmaster had been utterly stunned when he heard this from Tang San. If Tang San had not said that he had personally verified it, Grandmaster would never have believed it.

So Soul Ring Year Limits really could be raised artificially!