As Su Cheng strolled towards the Elder's Hall, a glimmer of gold suddenly flashed, and a figure pounced towards him diagonally.
With the two about to collide head-on, Su Cheng pointed his finger, hitting the other person right on their smooth forehead.
"What are you doing?" he exclaimed, looking at the golden-haired girl who was nearly as tall as his chest with a helpless expression.
"Teacher, you don't need to do this, really," the girl said, her eyes sparkling with the first signs of her extraordinary beauty. "My grandpa told me that I don't need to worry about the Ninth Soul Ring."
"Who's worrying about your Ninth Soul Ring?" Su Cheng replied nonchalantly.
Rolling her eyes, Qianren Xue implied he shouldn't act tough. "I saw it all at my grandpa's."
"Oh?" Su Cheng raised an eyebrow. "Your martial soul only needs one Ninth Soul Ring, right?"
"So, you mean..." Qianren Xue caught on. "I can start absorbing ten thousand-year soul rings at level 80?"
She didn't doubt that with this teacher's help, she could achieve it in the future.
"I believe that for a soul master, the importance of the true form of the martial soul surpasses even the Eighth Soul Skill."
"The true form of the martial soul..." Qianren Xue murmured, then her eyes widened in disbelief. "That's impossible... I can't do that..."
"Don't worry, I'll help you," Su Cheng reassured her, patting her shoulder. "Focus on advancing to Soul Ancestor first, and don't worry about anything else, kid."
If there was a chance to absorb ten thousand-year soul rings at level 70, what would Qiandao Liu do, whether there was a way to obtain soul rings or not? He wasn't sure.
But it's always good to be prepared.
"I'm not a kid," Qianren Xue protested, "and you're not much older than me."
"As long as I'm older than you, it's fine,"Su Cheng casually replied as he continued walking towards the back mountain.
Qianren Xue snorted lightly and followed suit.
"Teacher, what's the deal with your martial soul anyway?"
"What do you think?" Su Cheng countered.
Hearing his question, the girl voiced her recent speculation, "Is it related to the attributes added to the martial soul by the soul rings? Soul masters' martial souls also have attributes, and it seems like the malignant mutation of the martial soul is due to a change in its inherent properties."
Su Cheng nodded approvingly, "Some insight there. At least the books weren't read in vain."
Limited by the knowledge and perspective of this plane, reaching this conclusion was already commendable.
The entanglement of attributes within martial souls was far more complex than it seemed.
Even though Su Cheng understood the principles of the Five Elements, it took years of accumulation to put theory into practice.
He didn't hold back and proceeded to roughly explain the theory of martial soul mutation and second awakening.
Qianren Xue couldn't help but fall silent after listening.
Over the years, under Su Cheng's guidance, she had read many books, but she never considered herself as insightful as Su Cheng.
This teacher always found unconventional paths, paths that others couldn't even imagine.
Often, the most crucial and difficult step was the initial spark of inspiration.
"Learning without thinking is useless; thinking without learning is dangerous," Su Cheng continued as he watched Qianren Xue ponder.
"I had you read so much before to broaden your horizons.
"You're bright, but your knowledge is lacking. Blind pondering is like building castles in the sand; the more fanciful ideas you have, the easier it is to stray from the right path.
"Now that you've read enough books, it's time to think more. Otherwise, that knowledge will only imprison your spirit.
"Figure it out for yourself."
"..."
As they spoke, the two had once again reached the back mountain of the Martial Soul Hall and entered a dim dungeon.
There were no others in the dungeon, only torches burning on the walls for illumination.
At the end of the dungeon, a freshly minted ten-thousand-year-old Holy Light Beast was tightly bound in a cage, its once bright and dazzling white fur now dull and lifeless. Despite its battered appearance, the pure and holy aura emanating from its body still exuded a sense of divinity.
This Holy Light Beast was precisely Qianren Xue's target on this journey.
Don't judge it by its current beaten-down state; it was actually extremely powerful, and under the sunlight, it possessed remarkable healing abilities. Hence, it was imprisoned underground to suppress it.
"Let's get started," Su Cheng said after confirming that it was completely powerless to resist, turning to Qianren Xue beside him.
Qianren Xue nodded, took a deep breath, and drew a long sword from her soul device.
With a swift and decisive thrust, she ended the soul beast's suffering.
The pitch-black ten-thousand-year soul ring slowly emerged.
Su Cheng nodded inwardly, couldn't help but marvel at their stroke of luck this time.
There were many soul beasts with divine or evil attributes, but those with holy attributes as their primary attribute were extremely rare, even rarer than those with extreme attributes.
If their luck hadn't been good, they might have had to settle for a fire-attributed soul beast as Qianren Xue's fourth soul ring, but that would have undoubtedly been inferior in enhancing her Angelic Martial Soul.
What's more, the timing of this Holy Light Beast's age was just perfect.
Qianren Xue's previous soul rings weren't absorbed across different age ranges; surpassing ten thousand years for the fourth soul ring was already the limit.
This was achieved only under the premise of Su Cheng continuously nurturing her body and spiritual power in recent years, combined with her deep foundation in her Six-Winged Angelic Martial Soul.
"Very good, you can start preparing to absorb this soul ring," Su Cheng said, signaling to Qianren Xue that she could proceed to the next step.
Su Cheng had long since taught her the specific methods and acupoints for needle insertion.
Qianren Xue didn't respond but took another deep breath and silently retrieved silver needles and pre-prepared potions from her soul device.
Upon seeing this scene, Su Cheng prepared to leave the dungeon first and stand guard outside for her.
"Teacher, wait."
A trembling voice suddenly came from behind him.
"What's wrong?" He stopped in his tracks, turning his head back with some confusion.
He saw Qianren Xue's figure with her head lowered.
Her cheeks were covered by the shadow of her hanging golden hair, making it hard to discern her expression.
Her fingers holding the needle case seemed to be trembling slightly.
"I've never practiced distinguishing those acupoints. Please help me, teacher."
"Huh?"
For a moment, Su Cheng didn't even understand what she was saying.
After a moment, he spoke again, "What did you just say?"
"I don't know how to use the silver needles to stimulate the acupoints. Please help me!"
Su Cheng's tone grew darker, "Qianren Xue, are you out of your mind?!"
When absorbing the fourth soul ring, the main acupoints to be stimulated were all located along the Ren and Du meridians, almost all concentrated in sensitive areas around the abdomen and waist. How could he possibly help with that?