Su Cheng slowly opened his eyes.
Having experienced absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring before, although this time the span of years crossed was comparatively larger, his talent spoke for itself. Moreover, his mastery in body studies was at a grandmaster level, making the entire process very smooth.
With the Eternal Sword in hand, Su Cheng silently assessed his current state.
"Nineteenth level. Absorbing the energy of the martial soul across the time limit has increased by about three levels. Judging from this, with an initial strength of the martial soul at or above the fifteenth level, the difference compared to Xiao Xue's Six-winged Angel Martial Soul is not far off."
Under various conditions, Su Cheng smoothly broke through to the nineteenth level upon completing the additional attachment of the first ring.
However, early-stage soul power cultivation was not difficult, and with his talent, reaching this level wouldn't take much time even relying solely on his own cultivation.
Next, he needed to properly adapt to his body, nurture his spiritual power, and when the time was ripe, breakthrough to the twentieth level and attach the second soul ring.
Adapting to the body was a necessary step.
After undergoing the modification of the simulation, subtle changes appeared in his body structure, making it more suitable for exerting force and combat.
Although Su Cheng had deep knowledge of human body studies and could easily perceive the changes, many details were not yet fully grasped, requiring sufficient practice to achieve perfection.
At the current stage, soul power advancement naturally took precedence, but "sharpening the axe doesn't delay the chopping of wood." Having a clear understanding of every detail of his body was also extremely helpful in laying a solid foundation.
Then, the first soul ring attached to his Eternal Sword lit up.
[First soul skill: Bearing Virtue.]
As the soul skill was used, the Eternal Sword instantly became slightly heavier, and at the same time, Su Cheng felt as if he were connected with the earth, warmth emanating from beneath his feet.
If before, the land gave him the feeling of a generous elder treating all children equally, then at this moment, the earth seemed to have turned into a loving mother, eager to give all her love to her only child.
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Su Cheng's mouth. "A good soul skill."
As he expected, the soul ring of the Mout Town Earth Dragon gave him an auxiliary enhancement skill.
After use, it could increase his own strength by twenty percent and endurance and tenacity by fifty percent, with a slight reduction in speed. However, if firmly rooted on the ground, the enhancement effect could double, with no compromise to speed.
Although a longsword was clearly an offensive weapon, the first soul ring attached by Su Cheng brought a defensive auxiliary soul skill, but he was quite satisfied with it.
He wasn't pursuing extreme offense in his path.
Of course, if a sword was chosen for stacking maximum attacks, it wouldn't be wrong either, but the nature of his martial soul determined that it wasn't suitable for that path.
If it were a Seven-Kill Sword-type martial soul, Su Cheng would absolutely pursue extreme sharpness without hesitation, pushing the offense to its limit.
But the Eternal Sword wasn't a Seven-Kill Sword; balance was its essence.
Moreover, with this soul skill, his sword stance could be further improved.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that when used, even a first-ring Haotian Hammer of the same level using the chaotic Wind Hammer technique could be met with some resistance.
...
After obtaining the soul rings, Su Cheng quietly returned to the academy.
He didn't make a fuss about advancing to a soul master.
In fact, the knowledge of the academy was dispensable to him. The main reason he chose to stay in Nuoding City was to have a foothold. He was quite familiar with the Spirit Hunting Forest, which was very suitable for early development.
After reaching the third ring, when the hidden dangers of sword intent were completely eliminated and his spiritual power broke through, he would be able to leave for the imperial city.
At that time, he could also start the next simulation.
As he walked into the seventh dormitory, several people inside immediately fell silent, quieting down instantly.
Especially Xiao Wu, her gaze avoiding his, showing some lingering shadows in her heart.
On the contrary, Tang San, meeting his gaze, seemed quite calm, with a hint of provocation in his eyes.
Su Cheng was somewhat surprised at first, but then he understood the other's thoughts.
Probably because he just attached the first soul ring and his strength had greatly increased, Tang San felt that the situation like last time wouldn't happen again.
Moreover, with the improvement in his sword intent and the advancement to soul master, although there was still a lot of pressure in his sea of consciousness, at least his momentum wouldn't easily leak out.
In this comparison, Tang San's deterrent power naturally appeared much weaker in the perception of the senses.
Su Cheng didn't mind.
He really didn't want to get too involved with Tang San now, especially dealing with Tang Hao, who had a weird habit of stalking his son from the shadows.
And he still had to worry about the hundred-thousand-year soul bone of others. In the future, they would each rely on their own means, and there was nothing more to say.
This time he came back to pack things up, although there was nothing besides the academy certificate.
With money in hand, Su Cheng didn't plan to continue living in the collective dormitory of the work-study students. It was inconvenient here, both for deploying potions and practicing martial soul cultivation.
When he left, Tang San looked at his back, nibbling his lips, but in the end, he didn't speak.
Just because he remembered what the teacher had said to him, "You two are from two different worlds, and the gap between him and you will only grow bigger."
In fact, it wasn't just Tang San who was concerned about Su Cheng. Su Cheng was also thinking about how to deal with Tang San in the future as he walked on the road.
This kid was naturally opposed to the Martial Soul Hall and was fond of licking the boots of the royal family and nobles. He would definitely clash with Qian Renxue in the future. Su Cheng's education in his previous life determined that he didn't have a good impression of the Martial Soul Hall, but he had an even worse impression of the nobility.
He didn't have the leisure or intention to carry out any reforms, but for Xiao Xue's sake, he would have to deal with Tang San in the future.
But the specific approach was just a rough idea for now.
The most crucial thing was to understand what was behind the Asura God behind the other party and how strong the so-called Child of Destiny's luck was.
"I still need to find an opportunity to test it out."
He thought silently.
...
In this calm atmosphere, a year passed quickly, and during this period, Su Cheng also advanced to the realm of the Soul Grandmaster, and during the school break, he went back to Wangsu Village once, giving a considerable amount of gold soul coins to the village chief, Wang Pan, who had always taken care of him.
As he walked back to his residence after finishing his meal at the cafeteria one day, a voice suddenly came from behind.
"Su Cheng, do you dare to spar with me?" The voice came from Tang San, surprising Su Cheng. Beside him, Xiao Wu lowered her head, her expression unreadable.
Over the past year, there had been no conflicts between them, and they had essentially become strangers. So why did Tang San suddenly seek him out right after he returned for the semester?
Su Cheng was unaware that Tang San's actions were purely for Xiao Wu's sake.
Tang San had realized that Xiao Wu still harbored fear towards Su Cheng, which could potentially hinder her future cultivation.
With his past life experience, Tang San understood that allowing this fear to persist would be detrimental to Xiao Wu's progress.
Thus, he decided to take matters into his own hands and confront Su Cheng to help Xiao Wu overcome her inner demons.