"So when will this theory be published?"
Tang San asked.
"We've got six years to think about it there's no rush," Zhou Qing replied, not seeing any need to hurry. Besides, the person who publishes it definitely can't be himself it has to be Romantina.
The reason? Among all the people he knew who could already use spiritual power at the Soul Master stage, there was only one: Romantina, who possessed a brain-type martial soul.
There likely wasn't a second brain martial soul user in this world.
That's what gave her "authority."
Furthermore, the paper to be published needed to be carefully worded, filled with qualifiers like "approximately," "perhaps," and "possibly"—avoiding firm conclusions.
That way, it wouldn't attract too much attention…
Evening.
Xiao Wu returned from shopping, carrying a pile of new clothes. After learning that Zhou Qing had completed the second refinement of his spirit ring, she asked doubtfully,
"Second refinement? Spirit ring? Are you serious?"
"No joke. You'll understand when you see it." Zhou Qing led Tang San and Xiao Wu back to the grove in the rear mountains and demonstrated the soul pattern that appeared after the double refinement of his spirit ring. He even briefly transformed the spirit ring into a spirit disk.
In that very moment, Xiao Wu's expression toward Zhou Qing changed—suspicion and astonishment flickered in her eyes.
The aura of the Moo Spring Ox soul beast!
As a hundred-thousand-year-old soul beast in human form, she sensed it immediately and clearly.
If not for the fact that Zhou Qing's martial soul was that strange blood-circulatory system and that his first ring had come from hunting a Moo Spring Ox, she might've thought he too was a soul beast who had cultivated for a hundred thousand years and taken human form.
But right after that, Xiao Wu got extremely excited—because if she could complete her own spirit ring's second refinement, then perhaps there would be no need to hide her identity as a soul beast anymore!
In truth, Zhou Qing had always found it strange that Xiao Wu's self-condensed spirit rings couldn't fully integrate with her martial soul on their own.
Logically speaking, since Xiao Wu was originally a hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit who had formed a human body, using her own cultivation to condense spirit rings should have naturally synced with her martial soul. So why?
Wait!
A realization struck Zhou Qing.
In the original work, Xiao Wu's spirit abilities—aside from her seventh, eighth, and ninth rings, which weren't self-generated—were all self-condensed. And it seemed each of them scaled with her spiritual power or cultivation.
Her first skill, Waist Bow, was a prime example: every level her soul power rose, the boost increased by 1%.
The second skill, Charm, a control-type move Zhou Qing personally found underwhelming, had only one restriction: it couldn't affect spirit masters with greater spiritual power or it would backfire. That implied the skill's strength scaled with her spiritual power.
The third skill, Teleport, wasn't clearly stated in the original whether it scaled with level, but it seemed as long as soul power was sufficient, it could be used repeatedly within a set range.
The fourth skill, Invincible Golden Body, was an insane defensive technique—three seconds of immunity to any non-divine attack, with every ten-level increase adding another second.
The fifth skill, Soft Bone Lock, was nearly a conceptual control move: if the enemy's spirit power wasn't at least five levels higher, they'd have difficulty breaking free, and it required a minimum five-second duration.
The sixth skill had two parts:
Void: immunity to all physical attacks and 50% damage reduction against energy attacks.
Explosive Eight-Stage Throw: every strike inflicted stun and boosted attack power by 70%.
As for whether these two skills scaled with Xiao Wu's strength, the original work didn't say much because once Xiao Wu was resurrected, the story was already approaching the finale.
Zhou Qing guessed they probably did.
Originally, he thought it was because Xiao Wu's first six spirit ring abilities were body-based, making them naturally grow stronger as her soul power increased.
But now, he realized it was likely because her first six spirit rings were formed directly from her previous cultivation as a soul beast and were already tightly linked to her martial soul.
The reason they couldn't be upgraded further might be that Xiao Wu herself didn't know how to further strengthen the connection between her rings and her martial soul.
Human bodies are rare.
But once obtained, many fail to treasure them.
Just look at Xiao Wu she cultivated soul power purely based on her body's innate talent, never really investigating the difference between a human body and a beast's. She hadn't even explored how to optimize the connection between her martial soul and her rings.
This explanation, Zhou Qing thought, made sense.
[This hypothesis can be tentatively retained.]
Just then, Xiao Wu asked him:
"How did you do it? Can I do it too?"
"You can."
Because the Skydream Iceworm had forcibly bonded them together in the Notting Forest, Zhou Qing never intended to keep it from her. After explaining the process, he asked:
"Your first spirit ring what soul beast was it from?"
Zhou Qing wanted to confirm whether a self-condensed spirit ring by a hundred-thousand-year beast could originate from a different species.
"Same as my martial soul—Soft Bone Rabbit," Xiao Wu answered without hesitation. Then, as if recalling something, she added,
"Don't bother suggesting other suitable soul beasts in the future. I'll only ever choose skills from Soft Bone Rabbits."
"Why? To better acquire the innate skills of the Soft Bone Rabbit soul ring?"
Tang San was confused.
"Although spirit rings from the same species as your martial soul are easier to absorb and integrate, and may even make second refinement easier, martial souls aren't the same as real beasts or items. As long as the ring can be absorbed, the soul power circuit gets established."
"From there, the key is finding a soul beast whose essence aligns with your martial soul's attributes that's how you gain its most fundamental abilities, rather than minor branches."
"Your martial soul may be the Soft Bone Rabbit, excelling in speed, agility, and leaping, needing flexible and powerful joints but you don't need to always choose Soft Bone Rabbit skills."
After all, Soft Bone Rabbits were at the bottom of the soul beast food chain exceptionally weak. The rings obtained from such beasts were unlikely to offer strong skills.
To Tang San, Xiao Wu getting Waist Bow, a skill that scaled with soul power, was pure luck.
But from Zhou Qing's perspective, every single one of Xiao Wu's spirit rings was condensed from her original hundred-thousand-year cultivation meaning all six could only come from Soft Bone Rabbits, not even other rabbit-type beasts.
In the original work, her first six ring abilities may have been innate techniques gained after reaching ten-thousand or hundred-thousand-year levels, only to be re-expressed as spirit skills after she became human.
As for why a Soft Bone Rabbit would have abilities like Teleport, Invincible Golden Body, or Void, which seemed spatial in nature…
Zhou Qing didn't want to delve into that too deeply right now.
If Blue Silver Grass a plant barely above weeds could become Blue Silver King or Blue Silver Emperor at a hundred-thousand-year level, gaining shockingly powerful skills like Blue Silver Domain and Blue Silver Overlord Spear, then...
Why not a Soft Bone Rabbit?
In weakness, it's only a step above Blue Silver Grass no matter how weak, a rabbit could still eat the grass.
In strength, once it hits the hundred-thousand-year level, it could stand on par with the Blue Silver Emperor, gaining all sorts of strange abilities.
Treating a hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit as the king or emperor of its kind, blessed with almost cheat-level skills that made perfect sense.