After the Fire Shadow Martial Soul successfully evolved—
Huo Wu, seated cross-legged on the ground, suddenly opened her amber-colored eyes.
She turned her head slightly, looking behind her.
When she saw her newly evolved Martial Soul—
Her heroic, stunningly beautiful face lit up with sheer joy and excitement.
"It evolved!"
"It really evolved!"
Unable to hold herself back, Huo Wu immediately sprang to her feet and leapt into Ye Yu's arms, planting a passionate kiss on his cheek.
Her amber eyes sparkled with affection as she whispered:
"Thank you, Master!"
Damn it! Another one!
Watching Huo Wu throw herself into Ye Yu's arms and kiss him, the rest of the girls couldn't help but twitch at the corners of their mouths, a collective sense of dread rising in their hearts.
Even though they'd all expected this outcome ever since Huo Wu acknowledged Ye Yu as her Master and joined their group—
Ye Yu had always maintained a calm, detached attitude toward her.
And Huo Wu herself hadn't shown any particularly strong "ambitions" toward him either.
Plus, since Ye Yu had been so focused on his cultivation, his interactions with Huo Wu were rare.
This had left the other girls with a sliver of hope.
But now—
Huo Wu had finally exposed her "wolfish intentions."
Off to the side, Dugu Bo could only sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.
This grandson-in-law of his was outstanding in every way—
Devoted to his granddaughter Dugu Yan, loyal, and gifted beyond measure.
But the one flaw?
Too damn charming.
And while Ye Yu never actively flirted with other girls—
He also never rejected their advances.
The ultimate "don't pursue, don't refuse" technique.
Still, what could he do? The kid was just too excellent.
And at this point, Dugu Bo didn't have the strength or authority to interfere anymore.
As for Huo Wu's romantic gesture toward Ye Yu—
Dugu Bo had mixed feelings, but ultimately said nothing.
After all, Huo Wu's talent was undeniable.
And now, with Ye Yu having given her an immortal herb that catalyzed her Martial Soul evolution—
Her potential now ranked among the top across the entire continent.
Instead of merely serving as a subordinate—
Dugu Bo thought it'd be far more effective to tie her down by letting her become Ye Yu's woman.
As long as Dugu Yan remained the main wife, he could accept the arrangement.
"No need to thank me."
"Since I, Ye Yu, made a promise—naturally, I'll keep it."
Ye Yu touched the kiss mark on his left cheek, casting a sideways glance at the other girls with a faint smile.
It was oddly surreal—he hadn't expected to receive the same kind of "treatment" as Tang San.
Meanwhile, like Dugu Bo, Dugu Yan also had her own thoughts.
Now that Ye Yu clearly had other women around him—
As the official main wife, rather than sulking and causing trouble,
It would be better to embrace her role gracefully and take the lead.
By drawing Huo Wu closer, she could stabilize her position even more.
Three against two—they could finally suppress that little brat Ning Rongrong, who was always trying to climb over her.
Wearing a radiant, well-mannered smile, Dugu Yan stepped forward to congratulate Huo Wu.
"Sister Huo Wu, congratulations on your Martial Soul's evolution!"
"Your new Martial Soul is beautiful! Have you thought of a name for her?"
After thinking it over—
Huo Wu officially named her evolved Martial Soul: Flame Empress.
After consuming the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent's inner core and the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower—
Dugu Yan and Huo Wu had successfully evolved their Martial Souls into the Five-Headed Crimson Phosphor Serpent Dragon and the Flame Empress, respectively.
Their cultivation had also broken through—
Dugu Yan to Rank 60, (Quasi-Spirit Emperor),
Huo Wu to Rank 50, (Quasi-Spirit King)..
The next step was to hunt Spirit Beasts and obtain new Spirit Rings—
To officially break through into Spirit Emperor and Spirit King.
Ye Yu brought Dugu Yan, Huo Wu, and the rest of the girls to Sunset Forest.
Deep in the forest's inner region—
Ye Yu helped Dugu Yan and Huo Wu each find a powerful Spirit Beast.
Dugu Yan hunted a 23,000-year-old Crimson Poison Bird.
Huo Wu targeted a 11,000-year-old Crimson Flame Demon Bear.
After absorbing the Crimson Poison Bird's Spirit Ring, Dugu Yan gained her Sixth Spirit Ability:
Crimson Phosphor Storm
Releases a storm of toxic crimson fire in all directions.
The ability deals high fire damage and carries potent poison effects.
Huo Wu, upon absorbing the Crimson Flame Demon Bear's Spirit Ring, gained her Fifth Spirit Ability:
Heavenly Fire Meteor Shower
Summons a barrage of flaming meteors over a wide area.
An intensely destructive AOE ability.
After assisting them in obtaining their new Spirit Rings, the group left Sunset Forest.
On the way back—
Ning Rongrong returned to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan,
While Ye Lingling and Huo Wu returned to their respective factions—
Nine Heart Begonia Clan and Blazing Academy.
At Blazing Academy—
When Huo Xiaotian heard that his daughter Huo Wu had successfully evolved her Martial Soul and broken through to Spirit King, he was utterly ecstatic.
"Good! Wonderful!"
"This whole 'acknowledge him as your Master' thing was absolutely worth it!"
"He really helped you evolve your Martial Soul!"
"Your innate Spirit Power was already at Rank 9—nearly full innate Spirit Power!"
"You've always had the potential of a future Titled Douluo!"
"But now, after evolving your Martial Soul, your talent might be comparable to full innate Spirit Power cultivators!"
"If you keep working hard, forget Titled Douluo—you might even become a Super Douluo!"
Then, rubbing his hands shamelessly, he asked:
"Xiao Wu…"
"Next time you see Ye Yu, could you ask him—maybe… maybe your brother Huo Wushuang could acknowledge him as Master too?"
"Wushuang's not bad, either!"
Huo Wu: "…"
In the end, Huo Wu agreed.
After all, Huo Wushuang was her blood brother.
In the blink of an eye, several more months passed.
During this time—
Ye Yu remained in the Dugu Clan's residence, focusing on cultivation and undergoing the Heavenly Thunder Tempering technique to enhance his physical strength.
At the same time—
He continued teaching the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree Martial Soul how to cultivate using both Inner Core Techniques and the Mysterious Heaven Skill, while also guiding the girls in mastering Mysterious Heaven Skill and Tang Sect martial arts.
With his body's strength constantly improving—
Ye Yu's Eighth Spirit Ring had already surpassed 900,000 years in cultivation age.
But relying solely on Heavenly Lightning Tempering to boost his body—
Still felt far too slow.
Ye Yu's goal was to push his Eighth Ring to 1,000,000 years as quickly as possible—
And then go even further beyond!
He discovered that strengthening his internal blood essence had a far more direct effect on physical development than Heavenly Lightning Tempering alone.
This made him eager to find a way to directly cultivate and nourish his blood essence.
Not just circulating energy using the Inner Core Method—
That was still too inefficient.
But aside from the Inner Core Method, Ye Yu had nothing else to rely on for blood essence cultivation.
After all, on the Douluo Continent, no such cultivation systems or research existed.
Creating a new blood essence-tempering technique from scratch would not be easy.
However, after more than a month of instructing the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree Martial Soul in the Inner Core Method and Mysterious Heaven Skill—
The Martial Soul had finally grasped how to cultivate using the Mysterious Heaven Skill!
As for the Inner Core Method—
Perhaps because the Spirit Jade Tree's newly developed consciousness was still too rudimentary—
It struggled to comprehend and apply the method.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill, on the other hand, was relatively simple—
All it required was channeling Spirit Power through fixed meridian routes.
Though the Martial Soul lacked human meridians—
As a plant-type life-attribute Martial Soul, the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree guided the growth of golden veins within itself to simulate a complete meridian system.
With that, it began cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
And perhaps because it was a Martial Soul in essence—
Even though it was practicing the Mysterious Heaven Skill—
The energy it cultivated was not internal energy like a human would produce—
But instead, extremely pure Spirit Power, which could be seamlessly integrated into Ye Yu's own Spirit Power and Mysterious Heaven internal energy.
In short—
The Mysterious Heaven Skill allowed the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree to accelerate its cultivation of Spirit Power.