Chapter 187: Birth of a Million-Year Soul Ring
"Million-year soul ring? Is this really possible?"
Xiao Qiang blurted out, then suddenly recalled the ninth soul ring of Huo Yuhao's Ice Jade Empress Scorpion in the original timeline.
That soul ring had been condensed through the combined efforts of the Snow Empress, Ice Empress, and the ultimate attribute beings like the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass. However, the Snow Empress had the highest cultivation level among them, and while they might have researched million-year soul rings, they had never truly understood them.
After all, they were not million-year soul beasts themselves. Lacking the requisite power, it was impossible to form a true million-year soul ring. Therefore, Huo Yuhao's ninth soul ring was ultimately just stronger than the Snow Empress's original soul ring—it didn't reach the qualitative transformation that defined a genuine million-year soul ring.
But Xiao Qiang's situation was completely different.
Tianmeng, a true million-year soul beast who had already successfully condensed a million-year soul ring, was at the helm. The three spiritual souls worked together not to achieve something unheard of, but to replicate an accomplishment Tianmeng had already achieved. With the leader's experience and the team's combined strength, all that remained was a suitable foundation and proper execution. The creation of a new million-year soul ring wasn't just plausible—it was inevitable.
"Hmph, don't you know who I am? I've already created one million-year soul ring. A second one is hardly a challenge. Get ready to absorb the Titan Snow Demon King's soul bone and soul ring. Leave the rest to me."
"Then I'll trouble you, Brother Tianmeng," Xiao Qiang said with a smile, no longer wasting time.
He sat cross-legged and began the fusion process, first absorbing the soul bone of the Titan Snow Demon King, then the soul ring. With the right leg bone of the Titan Snow Demon King fusing smoothly, the first part of the process was complete.
Thanks to the enhancement of the Gold of Life and the soul bone's augmentation, Xiao Qiang's physical strength now rivaled that of an average Titled Douluo. While such Douluo could typically absorb soul rings up to 100,000 years in age, Xiao Qiang's soul—already doubling the limit—allowed him to handle a 200,000-year soul ring with ease.
Once the bone was fully fused, the soul ring followed. The immense soul power surge from the 200,000-year ring pushed Xiao Qiang straight to level 70. At that exact moment, Tianmeng and the spiritual soul beasts launched their prepared technique.
"Silver Wolf, Xier, whether we become gods with Xiao Qiang depends on this step. We must succeed!"
"A million-year spiritual soul ring—condense it!"
After two and a half days of intense cultivation, Xiao Qiang's eyes slowly opened—and with them, a terrifying spiritual power fluctuation burst out. The overwhelming mental aura spread rapidly, even drawing the attention of Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui.
"Limit Douluo? No, it can't be. In the past two hundred years, aside from Du Busi, no one has ever possessed a soul ring over 300,000 years. And Du Busi isn't even in the Sun Moon Empire. Could it be… the Body Sect really is joining forces with the empire?"
"Damn it! Is Xu Tianran lying to me? Has he already made a deal with Du Busi?!"
Furious at the implications, Ye Xishui quickly suppressed her rage and headed to confront Xu Tianran for answers.
Meanwhile, back in the cultivation room, Xiao Qiang quickly restrained the leakage of his mental energy, but a wave of dizziness followed.
"Hiss… what just happened?" he muttered.
Tianmeng's voice echoed in his mind, "One piece of good news and one piece of bad news. The good news is, your seventh soul ring—your martial soul avatar—has successfully reached the million-year level. Your martial soul avatar has undergone a complete qualitative transformation. Right now, your spiritual power is on par with that of an Ultimate Douluo. In fact, even ordinary Ultimate Douluo might not match you. I'm certain that with a full-force mental shock, you could instantly kill a Titled Douluo. If you use it in your martial soul avatar state, even a typical Super Douluo will fall before you. Only spiritual-type Super Douluo above level 95 or Ultimate Douluo can survive such an attack."
Xiao Qiang nodded thoughtfully. This kind of mental power was comparable to Huo Yuhao's level when he had fought ten enemies at once. Back then, his spiritual might had annihilated the level 96 Scorpion Tiger Douluo Zhang Peng in an instant.
All thanks to Tianmeng and the others, and this million-year spiritual soul ring. Xiao Qiang had achieved a feat far beyond a typical Soul Sage, despite having only one soul core and a soul power level of seventy.
"That's excellent news. What's the bad news?"
"Because your body can't withstand the strain of a standard million-year soul ring, I had no choice but to condense a purely spiritual one. It worked—it boosted your spiritual power to the Ultimate Douluo level—but your body can't handle the full release of that power. In the martial soul avatar state, using a full-power mental shock will cause severe backlash."
"Outside that state, using a standard mental shock is fine, but don't overuse it—twice a day at most. A third time could seriously harm your body."
"I understand. There should be a way to solve this issue though, right?"
"Yes. A ferocious beast-level spiritual-type head soul bone would fix it, or simply reaching the Titled Douluo stage yourself. Even advancing to Soul Douluo would help; at that point, your body would no longer suffer severe backlash from using your martial soul avatar's spiritual abilities."
"Soul Douluo…" Xiao Qiang murmured.
He pulled out a crystal ball—one designed to measure the soul power of anyone below Titled Douluo.
Infusing it with his energy, the number 75 slowly lit up.
The spiritual soul ring created by Tianmeng had only enhanced mental power, not soul power. Still, the massive energy from the Titan Snow Demon King's 200,000-year soul ring had boosted him straight from level 69 to level 75.
After activating his spiritual soul core slightly, Xiao Qiang immediately felt his cultivation speed skyrocket. The soul power gathered between heaven and earth surged toward him at an astonishing rate.
"Nice… every version has its own era-defining advantage. This soul core is the trump card of this era. At this pace, it'll probably only take me a year to rise from level 75 to level 80."
Tianmeng chuckled. "That's about right. Anyway, I've exhausted a lot of energy this time. I'm going to sleep for a while. If anything comes up, talk to Bingbing."