Chapter 188: Attribute Sublimation and Soul Palace Recruitment
After spending two and a half days fusing the spirit ring, Xiao Qiang simply took a quick shower. By the time he stepped out of the bathroom, the third night had already fallen.
Almost immediately, someone knocked on his door.
"Come in."
Ling Luochen pushed open the door. Though she had visited once before, she still felt a bit tense stepping alone into Xiao Qiang's room.
"My timing is pretty accurate, right? You should go to bed first."
"Alright." After their prior conversations, Ling Luochen didn't overthink things. She casually took off her heels and walked straight to Xiao Qiang's bed, sitting down.
"By the way, why is my memory a little fuzzy from last time when I hid under the bed?"
"After you all hid by the window, the teacher came over. There were things you weren't meant to know back then, so I knocked you out."
Ling Luochen: "…"
"But you can know about them now. It's no longer a secret."
"No need to explain. Sometimes it's better to remain in the dark. Thank you for knocking me out at that time."
Ling Luochen quickly pieced the situation together. She wasn't someone like Bei Bei who could bear the weight of critical information. If she had learned too much, she might have been silenced to protect the secret. With Xiao Hongchen still in Shrek at the time, the Sun Moon Empire might've resorted to drastic measures. She wouldn't have survived.
"It's fine. Let's get started."
"Okay." Ling Luochen slipped off her outer coat, her cheeks tinged with red, revealing the backless dress she had worn beneath.
"Hm!" She let out a light sound of surprise as Xiao Qiang placed his hand on her back. But she quickly calmed herself, ready to feel the surge of soul power through attribute sublimation. Yet after waiting a moment, she still didn't feel Xiao Qiang's energy enter her body.
"What's wrong?" she asked, slightly puzzled.
"Nothing," Xiao Qiang replied with a smile. "It just felt nice, so I lingered a bit."
"You…"
Before she could scold him, a wave of soul power surged into her body. Xiao Qiang's level 75 soul power, condensed through the Ultimate Martial Soul and enhanced by his twin martial souls and soul cores, flowed into her with overwhelming force.
Despite being only level 75, Xiao Qiang's soul power was no weaker than that of an eight-ring Soul Douluo.
The condensed soul energy and Ultimate Ice attribute poured into Ling Luochen, whose body only held six rings. As the attribute sublimation began, her meridians expanded slightly, and her soul power grew significantly.
When the process ended, Ling Luochen hurriedly took out a crystal ball for measurement.
Injecting her soul power into it, the number 63 glowed.
"I leveled up! I really leveled up!"
Her eyes sparkled with excitement. After all, at the Soul Emperor stage, soul power cultivation slowed dramatically. In her early stages, she could gain three to four levels a year. But after becoming a Soul King, even two or three levels in a year was considered fast. She had reached level 61 before arriving at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. In the last half year, she had barely broken through to level 62—and that had been less than two weeks ago.
Now, after just a few hours of attribute sublimation, she had risen from level 62 to 63. How could she not be overjoyed?
"Level 63? When did you reach level 62?" Xiao Qiang asked, glancing at the crystal ball.
"Less than two weeks ago," Ling Luochen replied instinctively. Then, realizing his tone, she turned her head with a look of mild annoyance.
Xiao Qiang ignored her expression. "That's about what I expected."
He was very pleased with her progress. Among the people brought by Shrek Academy, he had only invited Ling Luochen, Lan Susu, Lan Luoluo, and Xiao Xiao.
Why those four? Because they all had one thing in common—given the right resources, they could become true combat assets in a short period.
Xiao Xiao had twin martial spirits. If given a ten-thousand-year-level spiritual-type soul bone, she could jump from level 60 to Soul Douluo in one go—complete with five one-hundred-thousand-year soul rings.
Unfortunately, she hadn't come, so she was off the list for now.
Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo both possessed ten-thousand-year-level spiritual-type soul bones. If their soul ring years were optimized, they could become Soul Saints in five years. Once they reached that level and performed a second martial soul awakening, their Martial Soul Fusion Technique would allow them to rival a Control-Type Titled Douluo when combined.
As for Ling Luochen, she was even more valuable. With full control over her growth, the Ten Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Bed, and Ice Scorpion soul ring and bone, she could reach Soul Douluo in about five years. And with Ultimate Ice-enhanced soul skills and support gear, she could surpass even regular Titled Douluo. The strength of Ultimate Ice simply wasn't something ordinary soul masters could match.
If her martial soul fully mutated into true Ultimate Ice by the time of her ninth soul ring, she'd become a high-tier powerhouse. After all, it was once said that a Titled Douluo with the Ultimate Ice attribute was practically unbeatable.
Though the original story eventually discarded that setting, if Ling Luochen did complete the mutation, she could be treated as a Super Douluo-tier fighter. That was exactly why Xiao Qiang wanted to recruit her.
"Alright, don't look at me like that. Didn't your strength improve well enough?"
"Hmph." Ling Luochen turned her head away, obviously still annoyed. Xiao Qiang, as usual, didn't care.
Just then, another knock came at the door. Mu Qingxue entered and saw the two sitting on Xiao Qiang's bed.
"…Looks like I came at a bad time."
"No, you're right on time," Xiao Qiang replied casually. Ling Luochen's attribute sublimation had just ended, and he was now free.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"It's about the Soul Palace. We're still short on people. We need someone from the Qian family or someone with the Angel Martial Soul… and a few reliable retainers."
"What?"