A moment later, Bibi Dong, unharmed, glanced at Lin Jie, who had ceased his attack, a hint of satisfaction in her eyes.
"Is this the soul-guided pistol you mentioned? It's quite powerful indeed."
"Your Holiness is too kind. I didn't expect Your Holiness to be so powerful that my soul-guided pistol couldn't even hurt Your Holiness."
"Don't be so self-deprecating. Your soul-guided pistol is indeed powerful. Let me see your soul-power grenade."
"Yes, Your Holiness. But would Your Holiness like to test it yourself?"
"No problem, come on."
"In that case, then I'll show you my skills."
Lin Jie wanted Bibi Dong to witness the power of his soul-powered grenades, so he decided to bring out his most advanced ones.
With a wave of his hand, over a dozen second-tier soul-powered grenades appeared. With a flash of lightning and magnetic force, the soul-powered grenades, controlled by Lin Jie, violently burst towards Bibi Dong.
Bibi Dong's expression remained unchanged as she watched the small iron balls burst forth. Although she had heard from her disciple Hu Liena that Lin Jie had slain spirit beasts over ten thousand years old with this weapon, with her own strength, killing such beasts would be easy.
But then something unexpected happened.
The burst of small iron balls suddenly stopped, and then Lin Jie's hand erupted with several more. Finally, nine iron balls formed a ring, rapidly circling the central one. As they swirled, lightning flashed from the iron balls.
"Your Holiness, be careful! This is no ordinary spirit grenade," Lin Jie shouted at Bibi Dong.
With Lin Jie's strength, a single advanced spirit grenade could kill a spirit master of average Soul Emperor caliber.
The combined power of two would multiply several times. Now, with ten of them forming a ring and attacking simultaneously, the unleashing of power would unleash unimaginable might.
Bibi Dong, while not taking Lin Jie's words too seriously, still listened.
Nine soul grenades, orbiting one, rapidly shot toward Bibi Dong. When they reached a short distance from her, Lin Jie, under his control, clenched his fist.
Boom—boom—.
A tremendous roar echoed, and with a trembling movement, a massive crater appeared in the empty square.
Outside the Pope's Palace, hearing this tremendous roar, all eyes turned toward Li.
Without orders, they remained puzzled, but could only stare from afar.
A gust of wind whistled past, their dress fluttering as Bibi Dong gazed with lingering fear at the massive crater before her.
Fortunately, she had used her soul skills to defend herself beforehand; otherwise, with her current physical strength and without them, she would have been unable to withstand such an explosive attack.
After the explosion, Bibi Dong looked at Lin Jie, her eyes burning with passion. Such a powerful weapon must be in her possession. If only her Spirit Hall could equip such a weapon, wouldn't she be so eager? The thought of this made Bibi Dong's gaze towards Lin Jie even more fiery. This boy is incredibly talented, fortunately he joined the Spirit Hall.
Actually, Lin Jie also possessed C4 soul bombs and other weapons even more powerful than the soul grenades, and the most powerful was even his electromagnetic railgun. However, those were secret weapons, and he was definitely keeping some in reserve. He couldn't possibly bring them all out.
After the explosion, Lin Jie approached Bibi Dong and said, "Your Holiness, are you alright?"
Bibi Dong, unfazed by the incident, smiled and said, "No problem. This is the power of the soul grenade! It's truly extraordinary. Very good, very good."
"Yes, Your Holiness. The soul grenade and the soul guide pistol were both developed by me. Currently, only I can produce them. As for others, even if they had samples, they wouldn't be able to replicate them." "
You said you developed both of these things?" Bibi Dong exclaimed in surprise. Her gaze towards Lin Jie was no longer condescending. She always respected the wise. The fact that Lin Jie had been able to develop something so powerful at such a young age was a testament to his intelligence.
"Indeed. I did research these. Now that I've joined the Spirit Hall, consider the manufacturing drawings for these two items a gift to His Holiness the Pope. However, if we want to mass-produce them, we'll need some precious metals."
Bibi Dong was even more pleased with Lin Jie's words. "Precious metals? With the power of our Spirit Hall, we can find any precious metal we want. You don't have to worry about that."
Bibi Dong, stunned, then recalled Lin Jie's strength. "By the way, Lin Jie, how strong are you now?"
"Strength, Your Holiness. My soul power has reached the fifty-third level, a five-ringed combat soul master." Lin Jie finished speaking, and his soul rings suddenly released, revealing five yellow, purple, and black guiding soul rings.
"What, fifty-three?" Bibi Dong exclaimed in surprise. Seeing Lin Jie's five soul rings, her surprise deepened. She remembered that Lin Jie had reached level forty-seven at the age of fourteen during the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Competition. Now, in less than a year, he'd already reached level fifty-three. He seemed only fifteen.
"Lin Jie, I remember you were only fifteen, how come you can cultivate so fast?"
"Yes, I am exactly fifteen. As for why I can cultivate so fast, it has something to do with my martial soul."
"Martial soul, you mean. Your fast cultivation speed is related to your martial soul."
"Yes. My martial soul is lightning, a very special martial soul. In fact, my innate soul power is only level four."
"Your innate soul power is only level four, how is that possible." Bibi Dong asked doubtfully. Lin Jie was able to cultivate to level fifty at the age of fifteen. In her guess, he must have at least full innate soul power. How could he only be level four?
"It's true. I didn't lie to His Holiness the Pope. Generally speaking, with my innate soul power of only level four, it would be difficult for me to cultivate to the strength of a Soul King even if I spent my whole life."
"When I first learned I was at the fourth level of innate soul power, I tried to give up, but I refused to give in. I wonder if His Holiness the Pope knows Yu Xiaogang. He's the so-called theoretical master."
Now that Lin Jie has entered the Spirit Hall, he naturally wants to pick Yu Xiaogang out and give him a good lashing.
He still remembers that Bibi Dong once liked Yu Xiaogang, but he's unsure if she still does. However, it must be quite satisfying to slander Yu Xiaogang in front of Bibi Dong.
"Yu Xiaogang, I know him," Bibi Dong said calmly.
"I've been quite intelligent since I was a child and I've loved reading, so I've read Yu Xiaogang's books, as well as some Spirit Hall books. But I've discovered that much of Yu Xiaogang's knowledge is the same as in Spirit Hall books. I don't know why. I know about His Holiness the Pope and Yu Xiaogang through my reading."
Bibi Dong's eyes gleamed at Lin Jie's words. Continue listening
. "When I found out my innate soul power was only level four, I sought him out to become his disciple. I thought, with his knowledge, he should be able to break the limitation of my innate soul power level four."
"But unfortunately, when Yu Xiaogang learned my innate soul power was level four, he rejected me."
"But I can understand that. After all, everyone wants their disciples to be geniuses. No one wants their disciples to be useless."
She knew Yu Xiaogang's arrogance, so it was only natural that he wouldn't accept such a useless person as a student!
"But I couldn't give up, so I never gave up. After years of experimentation, I finally, by chance, discovered the secret of my martial soul and the secret of each soul master's qualifications."
"You said you knew the secret of soul master qualifications," Bibi Dong asked.
"Yes, Your Holiness, do you know genetics?" Lin Jie asked mysteriously.
"Genetics?" Bibi Dong's face was full of confusion; she had never heard of genetics.
"Why are children born to soul masters more likely to become soul masters, while children born to ordinary people have a lower chance of becoming soul masters? This is related to genes in genetics. A soul master's martial spirit suddenly mutating is also directly related to genetic mutations."
"Your Holiness, this is a book I've researched over the years. You can take a look,"
Lin Jie said, pulling out a book on genetics and handing it to Bibi Dong.
Bibi Dong took it with curiosity. She valued knowledge, and was particularly interested in what Lin Jie was talking about. After reading it carefully, she was even more astonished. She had no idea there was so much to learn about martial spirit inheritance and talent inheritance. With a mixture of
shock and disbelief, she said, "You figured all this out."
"Yes, Your Holiness, you're only the second person to have seen this book," Lin Jie said shamelessly, his face brimming with pride.
"Generally speaking, when a person is born, their genes are predetermined, and therefore their aptitude is also predetermined. This cannot be altered. However, this world possesses various magical powers that can alter a person's innate aptitude, allowing them to cultivate faster. For example, soul power is a magical power. However, most people only consider soul power to be a means of using soul skills, and haven't studied it in depth. People like Yu Xiaogang only study martial arts, never soul power."
"Also, immortal herbs. Your Holiness, have you heard of immortal herbs?"
Bibi Dong nodded, then shook her head. She had heard of them, but didn't know much.
"Immortal herbs are extremely magical, possessing the power to transform heaven and earth. Even the most ordinary immortal herbs can transform a person of ordinary aptitude into a genius. Some immortal herbs, after taking, can even grant a person the potential to become a god."
"Become a god." Bibi Dong's eyes narrowed; she was now particularly concerned with the word "god."
"Indeed."
"In addition to these two, I know of another thing that can alter a person's innate aptitude."
"What is it?" Bibi Dong asked curiously. Now she was more and more shocked, and besides being shocked, she also admired Lin Jie.
"My martial soul." Lin Jie said calmly.
"Your martial soul."
(End of this chapter)