"Did you hear? The experimenter from the Star Luo Empire successfully exceeded the limit and absorbed a soul ring."
"I heard too. Although it's not from a very strong soul beast, it was successful nonetheless."
"What do you mean not very strong? Even if it's not the strongest, it's still stronger than a plant-type soul beast. If her martial soul was a plant-type, she could definitely absorb a 450-year-old soul ring."
"Yeah, exactly. This person, Lin Dong, his theoretical knowledge and research on martial souls are so thorough."
"I agree. Isn't Lin Dong more impressive than that master, Yu Xiaogang?"
"I think we should start referring to him as Master Lin Dong."
"By the way, thanks to Master Lin Dong's theory, my kid now insists on going to the blacksmith to work out, claiming it will strengthen the body."
"My kid too! He told me to work him harder."
…
At a restaurant in Notting City, several soul masters were chatting while drinking. Just as they spoke, Xiao Lin and Tang San, with Xiao Wu, happened to pass by the restaurant. Upon hearing their conversation, they were filled with pride. It felt as if people were referring to them as the 'masters.'
"Brother Lin, you're amazing," Xiao Wu exclaimed, her big eyes full of admiration.
With such a master guiding her martial soul, she was filled with hope for revenge.
"Brother Lin, it's good you changed your alias," Tang San said, breathing a sigh of relief. As they were heading to their secret base, they happened to pass by the Spirit Hall. With Tang San's sharp eyes, he immediately noticed some members of the Spirit Hall looking for someone.
Without a doubt, it was because of Xiao Lin's actions.
The entire continent, from the edge of the Tiandou Empire to small cities like Notting City, was buzzing with discussions about Lin Dong's theory. No need to mention the bigger places where powerful organizations might even be preparing to absorb a 450-year-old first soul ring, just like Tang San.
"Exactly! That's why I'm so proud of my brilliant wisdom. The more aliases, the better," Xiao Lin said with a proud smile. This way, even if he accidentally wrote a flawed paper, his reputation wouldn't be affected.
Ever since Xiao Lin published his second paper, nearly every soul master had been talking about the topic of exceeding the limit and absorbing soul rings. It had been about two and a half months since then.
During this period, both Xiao Lin and Tang San had leveled up twice. Xiao Lin was now at level 17, while Tang San was at level 16.
Xiao Wu's progress was even more remarkable. She had gone from level 12 to level 15, leveling up three times. Despite not having the Xuantian Technique or the Vajra Body technique, and even slacking off a bit during cultivation, Xiao Wu's progress was on par with Xiao Lin and Tang San.
Xiao Lin secretly suspected that Xiao Wu's Hundred-thousand-year cultivation base might be the reason for her rapid progress early on.
It was said that a soul beast that had transformed after Hundred thousand years needed to interact with humans to lose its beastly aura and become truly human. Was Xiao Wu's rapid progress due to treating Xiao Lin and Tang San like regular humans, thereby leveling up quickly?
A Hundred-thousand-year soul beast's first soul ring was 400 years, the second likely above 1,000 years, the third around 3,000 to 4,000 years, and perhaps the fourth would follow the same plan as Xiao Lin's, with a ten-thousand-year soul ring. After that, the fifth and sixth soul rings might also be ten-thousand-year ones. By then, Xiao Wu's Hundred-thousand-year soul power would likely be depleted.
This explained why hundred-thousand-year soul beasts only lost their soul beast aura when they reached the Soul Saint rank.
Xiao Lin was very eager to figure out how to condense soul rings himself. Could soul masters first condense their desired soul skills and soul rings, then use the soul power from soul beasts to make up the necessary soul ring cultivation?
It seemed he would need to add this topic to his research. The matter of soul cores was just as important.
Everyone gathered in the secret base, brainstorming ideas together. Soon, the three of them arrived at Xiao Lin's rented house and entered the dim underground room of their secret base.
Lighting an oil lamp, the flickering light shone on their faces, and all three of them couldn't help but smile.
"Alright, everyone, stop laughing. Let me introduce today's topic," Xiao Lin said seriously, though a smile still tugged at his lips.
They had done many sneaky things in this underground room over the past few months.
For instance, in order to gain practical experience, Xiao Lin proposed a plan to execute sneak attacks. Tang San, being a member of the Tang Sect, had a lot of experience in this, so he helped with reconnaissance and gathering intelligence.
In Notting City, every evil soul master who had committed misdeeds was remembered by Tang San.
As for Xiao Lin, being the "good guy," he would not actively strike from behind but would disguise himself as a dark-robed figure with a mysterious adult appearance.
Of course, Tang San was the one guiding Xiao Lin from below while Xiao Lin dealt with the inherently evil soul masters from the front.
This form of combat gave Xiao Lin great experience. Now, whenever an enemy wanted to attack him, he could instantly defend using his Diamond Body soul power.
Naturally, Xiao Lin never used his Staff, relying solely on his soul power to fight. But when he encountered an enemy that was too difficult to handle in a short time, Xiao Wu would appear in the background.
Whether it was a flying kick or a low blow, Xiao Wu's kick techniques were getting better and faster.
Because of this, Tang San and Xiao Wu thought they would soon be executing more justice, so they began to chuckle. This made Xiao Lin almost laugh too.
"Ahem, quiet down," Xiao Lin said, clearing his throat and giving a stern look at the giggling Xiao Wu. Then he started to introduce their next training plan.
"Over the past two and a half months of executing justice, our combat experience has greatly improved."
"So starting now, we won't target evil-doers and rogue soul masters anymore, to avoid anyone discovering our true identities."
"We need to adjust our training plan."
"I recently spoke with Su Yuntao, and he said he could take us to the Soul Hunting Forest to broaden our horizons and train."
"So, from now on, we need to focus on gaining survival experience in the wild and strategizing when facing soul beasts."
Xiao Lin's words immediately gained Tang San's approval.
Tang San nodded seriously: "I trust Brother Lin. I'm already level 16, and you're at level 17, Brother Lin. It won't be long before we're ready to get our new soul rings."
"We really need to broaden our experiences and gain more knowledge. The Star Dou Forest is very complex after all."
Xiao Lin turned to Xiao Wu: "Xiao Wu, what about you?"
"I'll go too!" Xiao Wu immediately clenched her fist and answered.
At first, Xiao Wu didn't want to just watch others hunt soul beasts, but not going would make her feel out of place, so she decided to join them.
"Alright then, I'll contact Tao Ge, and we can leave tomorrow."
"But for now, let me introduce my new research topic."
"The possibility of compressing soul power into a soul core, and the possibility of self-condensing soul rings."
As soon as Xiao Lin finished speaking, Tang San and Xiao Wu were stunned. Both of them looked at him with expressions of disbelief.
Could this really be possible?
Wasn't this something that only ten-thousand-year soul beasts had, with their soul cores and self-condensing soul rings?
Tang San and Xiao Wu both thought this in their hearts, and their admiration for Xiao Lin grew even more.
(End of Chapter)