"Sū Chéng, you said earlier that you would rather give up the power you've worked so hard to cultivate over the years for the sake of freedom?"
"Of course," Sū Chéng's face remained extremely pale, and his voice sounded somewhat weak. "Power is just a tool to achieve goals. But, how can one pursue freedom without power?"
"Yeah, without power, nothing can be accomplished," Zhū Zhúqīng's voice lowered.
Sū Chéng glanced at the three soul rings not far away and then asked, "What are you holding?"
Zhū Zhúqīng hesitated for a moment, then stuttered, "This... this is a special potion that can temporarily restore soul power or even stimulate cultivation..."
However, before she could finish her sentence, Sū Chéng grabbed the glass bottle from her hand.
"A restoration potion, huh? You seem to be well prepared."
With that, he pulled out the stopper and gulped it down in one mouthful.
Zhū Zhúqīng's face immediately showed a trace of astonishment.
As the potion flowed into his body,
Sū Chéng instantly felt a rush of heat surging up and down his body.
Then, his soul power quickly circulated, vaporized, and surged through his meridians like a torrential river.
A tingling sensation emerged from his bones, flesh, and skin, gradually spreading throughout his body, causing him to lose partial sensation bit by bit.
This sensation wasn't exactly painful, but rather extremely strange, as if his flesh was being gently peeled away, and he was gradually being split in half, even his soul seemed to vibrate along with it.
This was thanks to his strong willpower, resilience, and the presence of sword intent.
Unlike the chronic potion described in the manuscript given to Zhū Zhúqīng, the effect of this bloodline potion was more thorough and violent.
As martial souls coexist with soul masters' souls, if it were anyone else, they would probably have lost consciousness under such a strange sensation long ago.
Even soul masters with slightly lower cultivation and spiritual power would be unable to withstand the potency of the potion, most likely turning into a puddle of blood after ingestion.
However, to Zhū Zhúqīng, Sū Chéng's state at this moment seemed terrifying.
She saw the illusionary White Tiger martial soul spontaneously manifesting from him.
But it was no longer the fierce and violent appearance of before, with white fur and black stripes.
Instead, it resembled a skeletal frame, with blood-red muscles exposed, covered with viscous blood vessels and constantly rising blood qi.
Crimson tiger eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
But since they had reached this point, Zhū Zhúqīng couldn't hesitate anymore.
She forced herself to calm down, and her Hell Civet martial soul manifested outside her body.
Before coming here today, Zhū Zhúqīng had already read the entire contents of the manuscript.
With her current cultivation and knowledge, although she couldn't create such a secret technique herself, she could roughly understand its feasibility, the general principles involved, and the subsequent changes after its use.
Otherwise, with her meticulous thinking, she wouldn't easily use it on anyone, even if it weren't for Sū Chéng.
As the secret technique operated, dark and profound mist surged from the Ghost Shadow Cat martial soul, then enveloped the approaching Blood Tiger.
The Blood Tiger, as if possessing self-awareness, instinctively looked towards the drifting mist.
Its exposed bone-white fangs gently opened, revealing sharp, gleaming teeth, as if emitting silent growls.
In the next moment, the mist covered the frame of the blood-red White Tiger martial soul.
The Blood Tiger roared in anger, but no sound came out.
As the Blood Tiger struggled, Zhū Zhúqīng's face turned pale.
She was also injured in the previous battle, and her soul power consumption was immense.
Because of her slightly lower cultivation than Sū Chéng, her condition was even worse at the moment.
But at this moment, the Blood Tiger's struggles suddenly weakened, and then it stood motionless, allowing the dark mist to absorb and devour it.
Soon, the essence of the White Tiger martial soul's bloodline was completely consumed, leaving only scattered remnants.
At the same time, a far greater soul power fluctuation erupted from Zhū Zhúqīng than what her current surface-level Soul Emperor cultivation would suggest.
Her aura was even stronger, surpassing that of an ordinary Title Douluo!
Her martial soul had completely changed.
A giant translucent, white-haired, black-striped tiger with purple eyes shimmering now crouched behind her.
From now on, she no longer needed to rely on martial soul fusion skills to recreate the might of the Hell White Tiger.
On the other side, as Zhū Zhúqīng's bloodline technique reached its conclusion, the remaining traces of martial soul residue in the air returned to Sū Chéng's body.
But his aura plummeted.
Once at the formidable seventy-sixth rank of soul power, he now barely reached thirty ranks.
And this was a permanent drop.
His martial soul was now crippled, with no possibility of recovery.
Unlike the typical malignant mutation of martial souls, this was a fundamental injury, almost impossible to remedy.
Zhū Zhúqīng looked at Sū Chéng, who seemed to have lost consciousness, with a complex expression, then got up and walked towards the nearby corpses of the three Thousand Ant Emperors.
The central area of the Star Dou Forest they were in was originally dominated by the two Forest Kings, the Ape God and the Bull God, and no soul beasts dared to approach within a hundred miles.
Later, when those two Forest Kings disappeared, this place was occupied by three 90000-year-old Thousand Ant Emperors.
Now that the Thousand Ant Emperor had just died, there would be no risk in absorbing soul rings here for a short period.
Zhū Zhúqīng temporarily suppressed irrelevant thoughts and silently sat cross-legged on the ground, summoning the first of the three nine-thousand-year soul rings before her.
Her original plan was to absorb one of them to advance to Soul Emperor.
With her current physical strength and actual cultivation level, this step wouldn't require much effort.
After quickly absorbing the second soul ring, regardless of whether she could fully accommodate it, she had to attempt to break through the final barrier before the last soul ring disappeared.
However, when she summoned a soul ring from one of the Thousand Ant Emperors, something unexpected happened.
Three black mists simultaneously emanated from the bodies of the three Thousand Ant Emperors, forming black-red soul rings that enveloped her Hell White Tiger.
Watching this scene unfold, Zhū Zhúqīng was momentarily startled but quickly reacted.
Her current strength, combined with the immensely powerful Ghostly White Tiger martial soul, exerted too much attraction to the soul rings.
Although she only initiated the summoning of one soul ring, the proximity of the three spirit beasts' bodies, coupled with the immense power of her martial soul, and her attainment of the level of a Title Douluo, caused all three soul rings to react simultaneously.
However, absorbing three soul rings at once undoubtedly posed great risks, especially considering they were all across the ten-thousand-year threshold.
Yet, Zhū Zhúqīng didn't hesitate for a moment and allowed the three soul rings to encase her Hell White Tiger.
The interaction between martial souls and soul masters is mutual.
This is particularly evident in soul masters with beast martial souls.
The kingly aura of the Hell White Tiger also subtly influenced Zhū Zhúqīng.
If in the past she leaned more towards cautiousness and calmness, she now exuded a more profound and domineering aura.
Even in the face of the terrifying three 90000-year soul rings, she showed no sign of retreat.
For this step, she had already paid a hefty price and had no other choice.
Soul rings are for tempering and evolving martial souls. When absorbing soul rings, the soul master's physical fitness is just the first threshold. However, if the energy within the soul rings is too immense, it's possible for the martial soul to be shattered by it.
Under the impact of immense energy, the Hell White Tiger roared angrily, its purple eyes turning crimson, blood oozing from its pristine fur, and its domain spontaneously expanding.
The surge of energy pouring into her body was terrifying. Despite Zhū Zhúqīng's thorough preparation, she still felt her vision darken and nearly fainted from the shock.
A trickle of blood seeped from her lips, but her gaze remained as resolute as ever.
"Come."
Whether it was the three 90000-year soul rings or the Hell White Tiger, both were peerless in the world.
At this moment, Zhū Zhúqīng's seemingly delicate body became the battleground for these two vastly different powerful energies colliding with each other.
It was fortunate that she had been absorbing soul rings beyond her years, which had elevated her physical fitness far beyond her peers.
Combined with her constant cultivation of the Nirvana Scripture, her meridians were extremely resilient; otherwise, she wouldn't have lasted even a moment.
However, even so, she felt that she was nearing her limit.
The violent soul power rushed through her meridians, tearing her body apart.
It wasn't just her meridians.
Blood flowed rapidly through her veins, and her organs were under extreme pressure, blood seeping from all seven orifices.
But Zhū Zhúqīng couldn't afford to slow down her soul power circulation.
The energy within the soul rings was too violent for her to guide; the only solution she could think of was to meet it head-on.
The sharp and ferocious soul power inherent in the Hell White Tiger wouldn't be at a disadvantage in this collision.
However, as the two tremendous energies collided, Zhū Zhúqīng's meridians finally couldn't withstand the pressure, and fractures began to appear.
Intense pain swept through her body, and her entire body was covered in a layer of blood.
Sū Chéng, who had been silently observing Zhū Zhúqīng's state, frowned slightly, his expression becoming serious.
He had underestimated the power of the three 90000-year soul rings gathered together.
Even though he had instructed Zhū Zhúqīng to suppress her soul power beforehand and had helped her transform her martial soul into the Hell White Tiger and ascend to the level of a Title Douluo, attempting to absorb three soul rings simultaneously with her newly advanced physical constitution was still too strenuous.
After a moment of contemplation, Sū Chéng got up and walked towards Zhū Zhúqīng.
Her clothes were already tattered from the overflow of violent soul power within her body.
With a flick of his soul power at his fingertips, Sū Chéng effortlessly cut through her clothes, which then fell to the ground.
Zhū Zhúqīng naturally felt his movements.
In fact, she had already sensed it when Sū Chéng got up.
Although she had almost all of her focus on controlling her own soul power, Zu Zhuqing's current strength level was vastly superior to his, making it impossible to conceal his actions from her.
In Zhū Zhúqīng's perception, the familiar aura and soul power fluctuations gradually approached and then stood behind her, emitting soul power.
His actions made her sigh inwardly.
But she didn't have much desire to resist.
However, when she realized that his soul power only cut through her clothes, she couldn't help but feel a surge of anger, her face involuntarily flushing with embarrassment.
But then, a complex mix of emotions washed over her mind, even strangely devoid of any disgust.
Instead, it quickly turned into calmness.
"Let him do whatever he wants..."
. . .
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