Fusion of Soul Rings, Successful Ascent
The tidal surge of soul power within Yao Xuan crested, pounding against the final, resilient barrier with the patience of eternity and the force of a primordial storm. The bottleneck—the last membrane separating him from the next realm—flexed and groaned, web-like fissures spreading across its metaphysical surface, yet it held with stubborn tenacity.
The system's prompt was a cool, logical counterpoint to the fiery tumult within him.
'Yes!'
With his mental command, ten points vanished from his reserve, dissolving into a river of pure, potent energy that joined the churning tide in his meridians. It was the final, critical reinforcement. The soul power's intensity swelled, its impact magnifying by half again. The network of cracks widened, merged, and then—
CRACK.
A sound like shattering crystal echoed in the silent theater of his consciousness. The barrier imploded. Soul power, once confined, exploded into a new, vaster landscape within him. He was thrust from Level 19 into the liminal space of Level 20—a quasi-Great Soul Master, his vessel expanded but not yet filled.
A profound vacuum manifested in his dantian, pulling the incense-thick, energy-rich air of the chamber into him in visible, shimmering currents. For ten minutes, he was the eye of a silent storm, refining the incoming torrent with the relentless efficiency of the Creation Soul Forging Technique. His soul power reservoir deepened and purified, his meridians singing with newfound elasticity. But this was only the prelude.
In ages past, the next step would have required a treacherous hunt, a life-and-death struggle in the spirit beast forests for a suitable ring. Now, in the era of Spirit Souls, advancement was a communion, not a conquest.
Yao Xuan centered himself. With a focused thought, he summoned his power. A nimbus of nine-colored light, faint as dawn mist, materialized before him. Within it, the majestic form of the Ancestral Dragon Spirit coalesced, and beside it, the more tangible projection of his Ancestral Dragon Martial Soul. They hovered, a pair of sovereigns from a forgotten age.
At his silent command, the Spirit opened its maw. From within, a halo of deep, resonant yellow—darker and richer than his first—spiraled out. This was no ordinary second ring. The Creation Soul Forging Technique had nurtured not just Yao Xuan, but his Spirit as well, its cultivation quietly blossoming from a century to four centuries of power. The ring thrummed with condensed potential.
The phantom ring drifted. The Martial Soul advanced. In a moment of silent, profound fusion, the Martial Soul absorbed the halo. The process of refinement began.
Instantly, Yao Xuan's body became a crucible again. His soul power, freshly expanded, seethed and boiled as it integrated the ring's profound structure, channeling its power to assault the final, formal gate to the Great Soul Master realm. In his mind's ear, he heard the rhythmic, thunderous pounding of his own essence against the last lock.
BOOM.
It gave way. Not with a crack this time, but with the deep, final sound of a massive door swinging open onto a new world.
A second, more powerful suction gripped him. The spiritual energy in the chamber, already depleted, was drawn down to the last wisp. Simultaneously, a furnace ignited at the base of his spine. Heat, thick and potent as lava, erupted from his coccyx and raced through his bloodstream, a scalding river of vitality that every cell drank from greedily.
And deeper still, something fundamental shifted. From the depths of his awakening bloodline, streams of mysterious nine-colored energy unfurled. They wove through his body, not along meridians, but through the very fabric of his being, forming an intricate, luminous grid—a blueprint of primordial power. It pulsed with an aura so ancient it seemed to predate time.
Before him, his Martial Soul underwent its own apotheosis. Its scales, once a dull grey-white, shimmered and shifted through hues of gold, bronze, azure, and violet before settling into a pale, opalescent sheen that held all nine colors within it. Its size increased marginally, but its presence multiplied. Its claws elongated, becoming wickedly curved sabers of light; its horns spiraled with sharper, more lethal grace. The aura it exuded was no longer just powerful; it was authoritative, a silent declaration of supremacy that would make lesser martial souls quail in their essence.
Far away, in her dormitory at Donghai Academy, Gu Yuena's head snapped up. Her amethyst eyes, fixed on nothing, saw everything. A tremor ran through her, a vibration in the very core of her Silver Dragon King's blood. The familiar, sweet-call of his aura had just intensified exponentially, becoming purer, denser, more… sovereign.
'This resonance…' she thought, a storm of emotion behind her placid expression. 'It's not just an echo of the Dragon God anymore. It is becoming something uniquely his, yet just as foundational. If he is not a legacy of the Old One, then what is he?' A profound curiosity, deeper than any strategic bet with Na'er, took root. Her plans of aloof observation began to crumble before a genuine, dawning need to understand.
Back in the chamber, Yao Xuan's evolution culminated. A state of perfect, harmonious unity embraced him—a return to the source, a feeling of being cradled by the universe itself. His soul power solidified at a new peak. His mental strength, tempered in the fires of advancement, made a significant leap. The cellular nourishment from the bloodline surge left his body humming with latent power, his physical strength now resting at a terrifying new baseline.
'Yes,' Yao Xuan responded, his inner voice calm amidst the triumph.
[Status Interface]
Name: Yao Xuan
Age: 9
System Abilities: Eye of Appraisal, Enhanced Charm, Enhanced Comprehension, Spatial Storage (50m³), Enhanced Meditation, Extraordinary Condensation, Simulated Battle Space
Martial Soul: Ancestral Dragon (Evolving)
Soul Power: Level 21 (0.0%) — Great Soul Master
Cultivation Technique: Creation Soul Forging Technique (First Layer)
Ancestral Dragon Bloodline Unlock: 14.5%
Mental Strength: 237 (Mid Spirit Connection Realm)
Spirit Soul: Ancestral Dragon (400-Year)
Spirit Rings & Skills:
• First Ring (100-Year): Ancestral Dragon Sky-Splitting Strike
• Second Ring (400-Year): Ancestral Dragon Overlord Body
Bloodline Abilities:
• Passive: Primary Ancestral Dragon Body, Right Claw Dragon Transformation
• Active: Ancestral Dragon Shattering Void Step
Professions: Blacksmith (Level 3)
Evolution Points: 3,277
Golden Evolution Points: 1,005
As the interface faded, Yao Xuan opened his physical eyes. They glowed with a quiet, contained radiance before settling into their usual calm depth. He flexed his hand, feeling the world-bending strength coiled within his flesh and bone. He touched the scale necklace resting against his sternum—it was warm, almost vibrating in sync with his new power.
He was no longer just a student with potential. He was a Great Soul Master, a bearer of a deepening draconic legacy, and one step closer to the heights he needed to scale. The journey was long, but the path ahead was illuminated by the light of his own hard-won ascent. The Ancestral Dragon had spread its wings a little wider.