A quarter of an hour later.
Zhu Lie was the first to complete the soul ring absorption, officially becoming a Soul Emperor-level soul master. Although the Diamond Rhinoceros soul ring was close to twenty thousand years, for Zhu Lie, whose martial soul was the One-Horned Mountain-Crushing Boar, absorbing it was still quite easy. If Diamond Rhinoceroses weren't so rare, he would have preferred a thirty-thousand-year sixth soul ring instead.
"Congratulations." Zhang Lexuan congratulated him on behalf of everyone.
"Hehe, I still have to thank you, Senior Sister Lexuan, Senior Sister Ruoruo, and everyone else." Zhu Lie scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Once we get back, I'll cook a feast for all of you."
"Great!" Su Meng was the first to clap in agreement.
Everyone laughed.
While smiling, Zhang Lexuan turned her gaze to Ma Xiaotao, who was still absorbing her soul ring. Her brows slightly furrowed as she murmured, "Let's hope Xiaotao can absorb the soul ring successfully."
At that moment, Ma Xiaotao was tightly furrowing her brows as she channeled all her strength to absorb the Fire Spirit Tiger's soul ring. Her body trembled slightly, but she firmly held onto the soul ring. The gentle yet vast soul power surged from the ring, repeatedly crashing into her meridians and flesh. Despite the intense pain, she endured it all, stubbornly absorbing every bit of that power.
Time ticked by.
"Chirp—"
A phoenix's clear cry echoed.
With a crisp cry, Ma Xiaotao suddenly leapt up from the ground. Behind her, five soul rings glowed: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black. A crimson phoenix illusion flickered behind her—it was clear she had successfully absorbed her fifth soul ring.
With her martial soul and soul rings retracted, Ma Xiaotao shot forward like a gust of wind, instantly arriving in front of Zhu Ziyang and hugging him tightly. The girl was overcome with joy and clung to the still-dazed youth.
Her actions made it clear to everyone that Zhu Ziyang had been right. Zhang Lexuan and the other girls who were close to Ma Xiaotao all smiled warmly, clearly relieved that her martial soul flaw might now be resolved.
"Sister Xiaotao, I can't breathe!" Zhu Ziyang's face was buried in something soft, his nose and mouth completely blocked, making his voice sound muffled. His hands gave a small gesture, reminding Ma Xiaotao of the situation.
Ma Xiaotao quickly let go of him, then looked at him with shining eyes full of joy and gratitude. "Ziyang-didi, thank you so much!"
"Xiaotao, did your martial soul defect get resolved?" Wu Ming asked.
"Not yet, but I can clearly feel that the influence of the evil fire has weakened a lot. At least now I don't have to worry about losing control during battle!" Ma Xiaotao said excitedly. Then she once again hugged Zhu Ziyang. "Ziyang, this is all thanks to you! If you ever need anything, your sister will give it to you!"
"It's nothing, Sister Xiaotao." Zhu Ziyang smiled. "Do we even need to be so formal, given our relationship?"
Zhu Ziyang meant their mentor-disciple bond, but Wu Ming and the others who didn't know the truth all looked at them with teasing expressions. Some of the male students were even getting ready to whistle.
"So... Xiaotao's evil fire problem isn't completely gone?" Zhang Lexuan stopped everyone from making a fuss. She understood Zhu Ziyang's meaning and was also well aware of his relationship with Jiang Nannan.
"Yeah." Ma Xiaotao nodded but wasn't discouraged. "But it doesn't matter. At least I now know a way to suppress it, right? As long as I absorb a few more soul rings like the Fire Spirit Tiger's, I'm sure the evil fire problem can be resolved. Right, Ziyang?"
"Heh..." Zhu Ziyang gave a wry smile. "It's not that easy, Sister Xiaotao. Let's not even talk about how rare Fire Spirit Tigers are. Even if you find more of them, they won't help much. Your evil fire stems from demonic energy—ordinary purifying flames only work once. To truly cure it, you'd need heavenly treasures, just like your ancestor Phoenix Douluo Ma Hongjun did."
"Is that so..." Ma Xiaotao's excitement dulled a little, but she still smiled. "It's okay, I was being greedy. Even suppressing it once is a huge relief."
"Xiaotao, you..." Zhang Lexuan wanted to comfort her.
But Ma Xiaotao waved her hand and said, "I'm fine, Sister Lexuan. Let's keep going."
"Alright." Zhang Lexuan nodded and turned to the group. "Everyone, let's prepare to move out."
The group quickly tidied up, assumed formation, and continued hunting for soul beasts.
"Sigh... If heavenly treasures were that easy to find, would Xiaotao have to suffer like this?" Xuanzi muttered as he watched from a tree nearby.
—
Over the next few days, the group traveled several kilometers, moving from place to place in exhausting pursuit.
But the hard work paid off. Most of the team members had already acquired the soul rings they wanted. Only Zhang Lexuan, Zhu Ziyang, and Wu Ming hadn't yet found suitable ones.
Though not for long in Wu Ming's case.
Ma Xiaotao, Wu Ming, Luo Wei, Wan Wan, and Long Yu were currently surrounding a twenty-five-thousand-year-old Earth King. The Earth King was a ferocious fire-attribute soul beast. Despite its name, it was actually a scorpion beast—murderous and extremely aggressive. It had provoked them unprompted, forcing the group to defend themselves.
Following Zhu Ziyang's suggestion, this Earth King was now set to become Wu Ming's sixth soul ring.
"Phoenix Sky-Blue Flame!" Ma Xiaotao, in midair, activated her fifth soul skill. A phoenix of blue flames burst from behind her and dove straight toward the Earth King, which was currently restrained by Wan Wan.
Phoenix Sky-Blue Flame released a phoenix-shaped flame imbued with purifying power, inflicting massive fire damage on its target while cleansing Ma Xiaotao of all negative effects.
The Earth King, struck directly, was immediately on the brink of death. Wu Ming delivered the finishing blow and claimed the soul ring.
She began absorbing it while the others formed a protective circle around her.
"Ziyang, isn't my fifth soul skill powerful?" Ma Xiaotao plopped down beside him, a bit smug.
"Yeah, it's very strong." Zhu Ziyang smiled.
"Hehe, of course!" Ma Xiaotao giggled, her body brushing lightly against his.
Half an hour later, Wu Ming completed the absorption and advanced to Soul Emperor.
"Everyone, should we go deeper or keep searching here?" Zhang Lexuan asked.
"Senior Sister, only you and Ziyang-didi haven't found a suitable soul beast yet. Ziyang doesn't need to worry—there are plenty of suitable beasts around here. But you need an eighth soul ring. There's no way the right soul beast is in this area. Why not go deeper?" The speaker was Zhang Weiwei, a woman with an icy aura. "Once you find your eighth ring, we can come back for Ziyang-didi."
"But if we go deeper, we'll be entering the core zone." Zhang Lexuan hesitated. As a responsible team leader, she couldn't risk everyone's safety. But her eighth soul ring was crucial for her attempt to break through to Titled Douluo—she couldn't afford to compromise.
"It's okay, Lexuan." Han Ruoruo said. "We might've been weaker at first, but now we're a team with one Soul Douluo, four Soul Sages, four Soul Emperors, and three Soul Kings. As long as we don't run into a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, we can handle anything!"
"But..." Zhang Lexuan was still unsure.
"Why not vote? If you think we should go deeper, raise your hand." Cheng Hui suggested.
Everyone raised their hands, including Zhu Ziyang.
"You guys..." Zhang Lexuan was deeply moved and finally nodded. "Alright. But let me be clear: we only go a thousand meters deeper, and we stay for one day. Whether I find a soul beast or not, we leave after one day."
"Understood!" everyone responded in unison.
"You all can stay longer." Xuanzi suddenly appeared in front of them. "With me protecting you, there's nothing to worry about. Lexuan, you don't need to compromise."
"Eh... thank you, Elder Xuan!" Zhang Lexuan broke into a bright smile.
With Elder Xuan's guarantee, confidence surged through the group. With a Level 98 Super Douluo overseeing them, even a hundred-thousand-year beast wouldn't intimidate them now.
(End of Chapter)
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