A few seconds later, Qian Yuelong's aura settled down.

The vines, covered in dark brown thorns, coiled around the menacing body like serpents, quickly forming a vine ball that blocked all prying eyes from the outside world.

Several long, branching tendrils wrapped around the vine ball, their tips pointing in their direction, looking menacing.

Everyone: "."

Wei Ming choked for a moment, then pressed his throbbing temples and said to Xie Yue and the others, whose expressions varied, "It seems that Yue Long doesn't need us for the time being. You all just expended a lot of energy, so quickly sit down and recover your soul power. We'll keep watch for you."

Qu Yuanyi and Hao Xuan also gathered around, forming a stable and safe triangular position with Wei Ming, who was closest to the vine ball, as the apex.

With a pale face, Hu Liena said "Thank you, teacher" and then sat down on the ground to regulate her breathing.

With Zhang Ping's help, Xu Yu, whose soul power was greatly depleted, approached the safe triangle, crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and the air around him became slightly misty.

Hao Xuan withdrew his gaze, his worried eyes falling on the vine ball. Using a telepathic connection, he conveyed his confusion and concern to his two colleagues: 'Seriously, that's not just a ten-thousand-year spirit ring, it's a twenty-thousand-year one. Will the Holy Maiden really be alright?'

Cherishing a genius is one thing, but he's even more afraid that if something goes wrong with the saintess, they'll be caught in the crossfire!

Qu Yuanyi, usually a man of few words, was unusually calm: 'Let's learn to look at this Holy Maiden from a perspective that doesn't follow conventional wisdom. Besides, if she can truly break the limit on the number of years a Soul Master can absorb Soul Rings, a limit that the Spirit Hall has practiced and summarized for thousands of years, it will shake the entire Spirit Hall, and even the continent.'

Wei Mingwei nodded almost imperceptibly, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the six members of the small group who were frowning, meditating, and teasing him, with a hint of deeper meaning.

Within the space of the soul's sea of ​​consciousness—

Qian Yuelong's soul consciousness watched with interest as she easily suppressed the Purple Scale Serpent King with her vast spiritual power and formidable soul force, sensing the ominous black aura constantly emanating from the Purple Scale Serpent King's energy phantom.

"So this is soul tremor. Unfortunately, your soul is far less resilient than mine." Qian Yuelong smiled as she watched the Purple Scale Serpent King writhe madly in impotent rage after being pinned down, her eyes crinkling. "If it were just targeting my current body, you might actually have succeeded in devouring me. Unfortunately, being in the same soul state, you are facing me at my peak. In the low-martial-world of Douluo Continent, you can only become a toy in my palm."

During the process of absorbing the first three spirit rings, similar situations were encountered, but at that time, the objects they faced were pure energy bodies, not soul energy bodies with their own will.

The Purple Scale Serpent King, its eyes now blinded by an ominous black aura, roared even more furiously. It opened its blood-red maw, revealing sharp fangs several centimeters long, and spewed out highly venomous liquid. It tried its best to deal with Qian Yuelong, but all its efforts were in vain.

Having a deep understanding of the "soul tremor" mentioned by the female lead Xiao Wu in the original story, Qian Yuelong suddenly clenched her outstretched white fingers, suppressing the invisible power of the Purple Scale Serpent King and instantly crushing its soul energy body.

With a crisp "crack" sound, scattered dark purple light clusters floated in Qian Yuelong's sea of ​​consciousness, as if drawn by something, and flew towards Qian Yuelong and entered her body.

On the other side, 886, a ball of light, was circling around the golden gate that had been blocked by a flash of light, which was located on the outer edge of the soul's sea of ​​consciousness.

It would occasionally conjure up something resembling a megaphone, attaching the receiving end to the golden gate in an attempt to eavesdrop on what was happening inside.

For anyone, even if that person is not a cultivator, their soul sea is an extremely important existence, and they would never allow others to easily peek into it, let alone generously allow 886, the unfamiliar system that intercepted her ascension, to stay in her important soul sea.

However, powerful cultivators can divide their soul sea into multiple layers, like different perspectives split by a prism. Some parts are in the soul sea, but not entirely.

Since 886 was forcibly bound to her and could not be expelled, she simply placed 886 in the outermost layer of her soul sea space, sealing off the middle and inner layers, so that the newly appeared small system could not invade it at all.

"boom--!"

A violent surge of energy rippled out from inside the tightly concealed vine ball, like waves of wheat being blown by the wind. Hu Liena and the others were immediately jolted out of their cultivation state. Wei Ming and the other two, sensing that something was wrong, used their soul power to create a protective shield, blocking the raging storm outside.

"What happened?! Is it going to succeed or is it stuck?" Yan, who had just snapped out of his cultivation state, looked up and pinpointed the source of the anomaly.

"It feels a bit like the shockwave when absorption is successful?" Sun Chuantao said uncertainly.

Xie Yue frowned, looking at his sister Hu Liena with a worried expression. He patted her shoulder reassuringly without saying a word.

Zhang Ping glanced at Xu Yu, whose brows were furrowed into a deep frown, yet who stubbornly maintained his balance even under such a powerful shockwave, still immersed in his cultivation, and her eyes showed admiration.

You wouldn't guess it, the chassis is quite stable.

A gap was revealed in the layers of intertwined vines, through which golden light and mist flowed out.

"rustling"

The sound of vines swaying increased, and the vine ball wrapped around them spread outwards, revealing Qian Yuelong sitting cross-legged on the huge main branch.

"Buzzing—"

The jet-black soul rings were arranged on the outermost of the four rings of shimmering light, their powerful aura subtly exuding a sense of oppression.

It was clear that this pressure came from Qian Yuelong and had become one with her, unlike the independent pressure she had when she had no master spirit ring.

She succeeded.

Disbelief appeared in everyone's eyes.

After the shock came ecstasy.

Wei Ming excitedly stepped forward, and the quiet vines immediately stretched out their long branches, the tips of which were aimed at the approaching two-legged beast.

Wei Ming: "."

His smile froze, his raised right foot hovered in mid-air, and he silently withdrew the half-step he had taken, stopping in place.

Hao Xuan, having witnessed his friend being targeted, burst into laughter. His gaze burned as he looked at Qian Yuelong, who had defied the established theories of their predecessors. He then turned his expectant gaze to Hu Liena and the others, who were also watching intently, and laughed heartily, "Good! Little ones! Your captain has already proven the feasibility of breaking the conventional age limit for Soul Masters. I hope the next one to break the rules will be you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Yu, who was sitting on the ground, also felt a "buzz" as if he had been enlightened, and waves of energy rippled out from his body.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to Xu Yu. Even Qian Yuelong, who had just opened her eyes, looked at Xu Yu, who jumped up from the ground with a "whoosh".

"My soul power has broken through to level 30!"

With an excited blush rising on his face, Xu Yu shouted excitedly.

Qian Yuelong was taken aback for a moment, then felt happy for Xu Yu and clapped her hands with a smile to congratulate him: "Congratulations to you too."

Wei Ming and the other two stared at Xu Yu with even more intense gazes.

"Good lad!"

Here comes the second "verification".

—A side note—

(Hand-drawn pancake) I'll slack off for another day today, and update twice tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)