...
"Brother Hao..."
Zhu Zhuqing raised her head, her eyes filled with a mixture of shock and confusion:
"Is this test result... really accurate?"
"Moreover, this testing method..."
She had never heard of anyone being able to accurately test the limits of spirit rings through pressure.
Usually, people rely on the experience of predecessors or gamble by slightly exceeding those limits; where would you find such quantifiable data?
"Of course it's accurate."
Xuan Hao handed her a bottle of water.
"About five thousand years, that's your current limit."
"Although it's a bit risky, it's entirely feasible with the double protection of the immortal herb and the soul bone."
"As for this testing method..."
Xuan Hao pointed to his head and explained:
"This thing requires extremely high levels of skill in controlling soul power, micro-management of mental power, and theoretical knowledge."
"First of all, I myself had to absorb these high-level spirit rings, or even spirit rings that were above my level.
Only by personally experiencing that kind of pain could I know what kind of pressure my body and mind would endure when absorbing these spirit rings."
"Secondly, I need a huge amount of data to support this."
"I have to thank my teacher for this."
"Without her in-depth research on martial spirit theory and the calculation formula she taught me, even a titled Douluo could only guess roughly based on intuition, and could not be this accurate at all."
"Moreover, this thing is far more complicated than you think."
Xuan Hao took a sip of water, and looking at Zhu Zhuqing's still somewhat confused eyes, patiently added:
"The number of years is just a reference, not an absolute standard."
"You need to understand that even though both are soul beasts with five thousand years of cultivation, the soul rings of top-tier soul beasts and ordinary soul beasts are completely different concepts."
"The former is violent and ferocious, containing terrifying spiritual resentment and destructive power; the latter is gentle and stable, and much easier to absorb."
Xuan Hao pointed to the dense forest:
"Therefore, when choosing a spirit ring, you can't just look at a dead data.
You have to look at the specific situation, the species of spirit beast, its attributes, and your physical and mental state at the time."
"Everyone's situation is unique, so there are no absolute rules."
"That's right!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Wu, who was standing next to her, crunched loudly on the carrot in her hand and complained with a look of disgust:
"That's why I hate that master the most, who spends all day swindling people with his so-called ten core competencies of martial spirits."
"What do you mean by the first spirit ring's limit of 423 years and the second spirit ring's limit of 764 years... It makes me want to laugh!"
Xiao Wu rolled her eyes dramatically, her rabbit ears drooping down, her face full of disdain:
"Doesn't he even consider where his data for that theory comes from?
How many Soul Masters has he surveyed?
Is the sample size sufficient?
Does it cover all types of Martial Souls?"
"The most ridiculous thing is..."
Xiao Wu pointed to Ning Rongrong beside her, "He actually set the same limit value for all Soul Masters!"
"Please! The physical attributes of an offensive beast soul master and the physical attributes of a support weapon soul master are not the same thing."
"How can the limits of endurance be the same for someone who practices taking a beating every day and someone who hides in the back every day?"
"But that guy insisted on setting a fixed number for each stage, and he thought he was the truth, and anyone who didn't listen was ignorant."
"opinionated!"
Listening to Xiao Wu's merciless "sharp commentary," Zhu Zhuqing nodded thoughtfully.
Really.
In the past, when my elders taught me, they always said that things should be tailored to the individual.
Only a master would quantify and dogmatize everything.
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about that guy anymore."
Xuan Hao waved his hand, "We're eating, why bring up such disgusting people?"
"Eat quickly, we still have a long way to go.
If we don't find a suitable soul beast before dark, we'll have to camp in the wilderness tonight."
"Okay, time to eat!"
Upon hearing this, the women said no more and picked up their bowls and chopsticks to begin their lunch.
After running all morning, everyone was quite exhausted, especially Zhu Zhuqing, who had just undergone a pressure test and was now starving.
However.
While eating, Zhu Zhuqing suddenly noticed something strange.
Everyone was eating with relish, except for Xuanhao…
Although he was holding a bottle of water, he didn't touch the bowl and chopsticks in front of him.
He just leaned against the tree trunk and closed his eyes to rest.
"Um... Brother Hao?"
Zhu Zhuqing put down her chopsticks, glanced at Xuan Hao, then at the remaining food in the pot, and asked hesitantly:
Why aren't you eating?
"Did we... bring not enough things?"
Zhu Zhuqing pursed her lips and sensibly pushed aside a little of her share:
"How about... you eat mine?
I have a small appetite and can't eat this much."
She thought that Xuanhao was starving himself so as to save food for them.
"puff--"
Na'er, who was drinking soup, couldn't help but laugh when she heard this.
"Zhuqing, you're overthinking it!"
Na'er put down her bowl and looked at Zhu Zhuqing with an amused expression:
"My brother isn't not eating because there isn't enough food."
"He's because... he hasn't digested it yet."
"Not...not digested?"
Zhu Zhuqing was stunned, her face blank.
"Have you forgotten how much your brother ate at the restaurant last night?"
Na'er held up two fingers and waved them in front of Zhu Zhuqing:
That's enough for more than twenty people!
"And it's all high-energy soul beast meat and refined pasta."
"this..."
Zhu Zhuqing recalled the mountain of plates piled up last night; it was indeed terrifying.
But at the time, she thought Xuan Hao simply had a big appetite; after all, powerful soul masters need more energy to replenish themselves, which was normal.
"My brother's body structure is different from ours."
Na'er pointed at Xuan Hao, "He's not the kind of person who eats and then excretes it all."
"Every bite of food he eats, every bit of energy he consumes, is perfectly absorbed, compressed, and stored by his body."
"After that big meal last night, he basically didn't do any strenuous exercise."
"In other words..."
Na'er shrugged:
"His energy reserves are still full."
"Based on the amount of food we ate last night, as long as there is no intense battle, my brother will not need to eat for at least the next three to five days, and he will not feel hungry at all, nor will his physical functions decline in any way."
After hearing this explanation, Zhu Zhuqing was completely dumbfounded.
One meal can sustain you for several days?
It can also store excess energy like soul power and save it for later use?
Is this a human?!
"Zhuqing, do you still remember the scene last night at the restaurant when Tang San ambushed my brother with that bunch of iron lumps?" Na'er asked.
"Remember."
Zhu Zhuqing nodded; that scene was etched in her memory.
Sixteen crossbow bolts, powerful enough to pierce metal and stone, were stopped just three inches from Xuan Hao's body by a faint, seemingly alive, red aura, unable to advance an inch.
At that moment, she felt that the airflow was terrifying, filled with a scorching and violent aura.
"That layer of red energy that blocked the hidden weapon is actually the power of blood and qi."
Na'er pointed to Xuan Hao's muscles, which didn't seem particularly exaggerated, but had extremely perfect lines:
"That is, the massive amount of food energy that my brother ingests is transformed into pure life energy through high-intensity digestion and refining."
"That energy did not disappear, nor did it turn into fat.
Instead, my brother used an extremely special method to highly compress and seal it in every cell and every drop of blood in his body."
"Normally, this energy lies dormant, maintaining the body's efficient operation and keeping him tireless."
"And once a battle occurs, or an attack is launched, this energy, compressed to its limit, will erupt instantly like a volcanic eruption, forming that indestructible blood and qi barrier!"
"this..."
Zhu Zhuqing was stunned.
Can food be converted into vital energy for combat?
And can it be compressed into the body?
"Is this kind of technique... something that all Soul Masters can learn?"
Zhu Zhuqing couldn't help but ask.
"Of course not."
Na'er shook her head.
"This is a cultivation method created by my brother.
Ordinary people can't learn it at all."
"First of all, compressing the violent blood and qi power into the body is an extremely dangerous thing in itself."
"It's like having a powder keg inside your body that could explode at any moment.
If an ordinary Soul Master doesn't have a sufficiently strong physical body to withstand this pressure, the only outcome of attempting this move is..."
Na'er made an explosion gesture:
"Bang! He exploded and died!"
Zhu Zhuqing's face turned pale, and she subconsciously shrank her neck.
"Secondly..."
Na'er pointed to her head:
"To remove impurities from the diverse food energy ingested and precisely transform it into qi and blood power of the same attribute requires an extremely terrifying control over soul power, mental power, and the internal structure of the body."
"So, Zhu Qing."
"Although my brother usually likes to fight directly and looks like a brute who only knows how to talk with his fists."
"But his cultivation system is very mentally taxing."
"Don't assume that just because he always seems to do everything in his way, he's all brawn and no brains."
Na'er's lips curled into a sly smile as she concluded:
"In this world, wanting to have well-developed limbs..."
"The prerequisite is that you must have a... more developed brain!"
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