"What… what's wrong?"
Hearing Su Cheng's voice, Ah Yin was taken aback. Her half-closed eyes widened slightly.
She then instinctively pulled back her arm, gripping her collar tightly and stammering in a low voice.
Once she spoke, she suddenly realized that her slightly hoarse voice sounded somewhat unusual.
It felt like a sticky, moist warmth was surging through her throat, caught between her lips and tongue, and then exhaled along with her breath.
Her heartbeat was rapid, like the pounding of drums.
A burning flame blazed within her chest, blood gushed from her heart's aorta, and then, like scalding lava, spread throughout her body, drowning her reason and leaving her feeling a bit dizzy and light-headed.
At that moment, Su Cheng's heartbeat also quickened considerably.
He swallowed and quickly averted his gaze, getting up to walk into the flowerbed to examine the transplanted precious plants.
In the flowerbed, apart from the species found in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Spring, there were also rare herbs that Chrysanthemum Douluo had found elsewhere during this period.
Yue Guan was obsessed with flowers and had discovered many precious plants from various famous and dangerous places.
However, these plants mostly required special growing conditions, and he didn't have the means to keep them alive in ordinary environments, so he had not transplanted them.
Later, after witnessing Ah Yin's abilities, he no longer hesitated and brought those long-desired rarities back to Spirit City for cultivation.
Although Su Cheng had stayed in Spirit City for a long time, he had never visited this flowerbed. However, due to his professional interests, he was also very interested in herbs.
At the moment, he was attracted by the scenery here, observing with great interest, gradually letting go of the earlier moment of enchantment.
After a long time, Ah Yin's figure finally approached him from behind, her face still tinged with a bit of shy redness.
Su Cheng was carefully examining a tea tree that was as tall as a person.
Its trunk was bent and tough, its bark crisscrossed with deep grooves, marked with the passage of time, and its jade-like tender leaves shimmered under the sunlight, looking quite robust.
If it weren't for Bibi Dong mentioning it before, he would not have guessed that this plant required such a demanding growing environment. It was impressive that Ah Yin was able to maintain its vitality so well.
Su Cheng did not turn around but continued to focus on the tea tree and casually asked, "Is this the mother tree of the Dragon-scented Heavenly Fragrance tea that produces those tea leaves? Where did you find it? I had never heard of this variety before."
Upon hearing his calm question, Ah Yin was taken aback. She did not answer immediately but instead stole a glance at Su Cheng.
Her eyes then showed a trace of shock and resentment.
The calmness of the other party was not pretended!
Although she understood that Su Cheng's calm demeanor was probably to avoid awkwardness, it still made her feel a bit frustrated.
So her tone when she spoke was somewhat cold, "I don't know. Elder Chrysanthemum found it and it was already half-dead when he asked if I could save it."
"I see."
Su Cheng nodded and glanced at Ah Yin in surprise.
This tone didn't quite fit her usual demeanor.
Was she upset?
Because of what happened earlier?
It seemed that his behavior had been a bit excessive.
He had been so absorbed at the time that he did not consider Ah Yin's feelings.
Now that he thought about it, his actions might have been even more unacceptable than when he studied her physical composition before.
The reaction after the research also confirmed this.
But if that's the case, why didn't she choose to stop him midway?
Although stopping halfway would have resulted in incomplete data, the effect wouldn't be significantly different…
The two continued to walk through the flowerbed in silence.
Other than the rustling sound of the breeze through the flowers, the entire flowerbed was quiet.
Su Cheng occasionally reached out to touch unfamiliar flowers and plants, observing and smelling them, then contemplating their uses.
It wasn't until they reached a deeper part of the flowerbed that Ah Yin hesitantly spoke up, "Su Cheng, I want to ask you something."
"Go ahead."
Su Cheng put down the branches and leaves he was holding and looked up.
Earlier, Ah Yin had seemed hesitant, but for some reason, she appeared to have concerns and had not spoken up until now, finally gathering the resolve to do so.
"Do you have any way to allow ordinary Soul Masters to advance in rank by self-condensing soul rings without needing to hunt soul beasts?"
She knew that Su Cheng could do this himself.
Back in the Blue Silver Grass Forest, although he did not possess the Blue Silver Emperor's bloodline, he forcefully activated the powerful martial soul bloodline within the Eternal Sword, absorbing the vast amount of soul power gathered from the Blue Silver King and directly condensed his fifth soul ring.
At that time, Ah Yin had a very close connection with the Eternal Sword and could sense everything that happened.
The entire process was astounding to her.
Thanks to this, she had made a similar attempt and successfully condensed her eighth soul ring to advance to a Soul Douluo.
However, because she had attempted this herself, she knew the difficulty involved.
In this process, it was relatively easier to acquire a large amount of external natural concentrated soul power.
The medium to stimulate the martial soul bloodline was not an issue either, as the Soul Master's soul power could activate it.
The biggest difficulty was that only powerful and pure high-quality martial soul bloodlines could generate a blank law ring.
So this method was clearly difficult to popularize.
But Ah Yin recalled that Su Cheng did not understand how to use soul power at that time; he used a certain drug to complete the step of stimulating the bloodline.
So she wondered if improving and optimizing the drug could have some effect?
"…" Ah Yin looked at Su Cheng with expectation.
She believed that if there were a way to self-generate soul rings, the survival pressure on soul beasts would be greatly reduced.
The risk of Soul Masters hunting soul beasts was only one aspect.
The key was that as long as there was enough external natural soul power, self-generated soul rings could easily reach their maximum age limit, and the resulting soul skills would be extremely compatible with the Soul Master's martial soul, making their post-advancement combat strength stronger.
No Soul Master could resist such an allure.
Once this method was popularized, Soul Masters would only hunt soul beasts when they had nothing else to do.
The risks were high, and the effects were poor.
"This matter is significant and very troublesome…"
"I can help you research it further. You said before that you disliked this method of advancement, didn't you? Moreover, I am also highly skilled in spiritual medicine and can offer many ideas."
"…"
Su Cheng did not immediately respond but stood there in contemplation.
Whether Ah Yin helped or not was not the main issue.
Even the so-called "trouble" was not the primary concern.
The real issue was the risks involved after achieving success.
He needed the right timing to undertake this task.
This action's impact is no less than the public release of the full version of the first volume of Innate Skill, and in some ways, it might be even more serious.
If it draws the attention of the Divine Realm or disturbs the Silver Dragon King, who may still be in slumber, the consequences could be unpredictable.
At present, he doesn't have much ability to resist such risks.
Otherwise, without needing Ah Yin to mention it, he would have gladly taken the initiative to push this matter forward.
For soul masters to cultivate innate power, the purer their own energy composition, the better.
Absorbing soul rings from soul beasts inherently contaminates their soul power.
If the soul ring's attributes don't match the martial soul, it could even sever the path forward, making it extremely difficult to reverse.
Su Cheng can purify the law impurities from the soul beast's soul rings because he can resonate with the five elements. How many other soul masters can achieve this?
However, these secrets are too significant to share directly with Ah Yin.
"..." Ah Yin's gaze never left Su Cheng.
She noticed some concerns in his expression.
Although she didn't know the exact reason, it was clearly more than just a complicated process.
Her clear blue eyes went from initial anticipation to worry and unease, finally dimming bit by bit, leaving her feeling empty inside.
She said in a low voice, "You still don't trust me, do you?"
Su Cheng didn't answer.
The surroundings fell silent for a moment.
Just a moment ago, things weren't like this between them.
Although the atmosphere was a bit awkward, it felt as if they had returned to two years ago when they were honest with each other and even shared their hearts...
After a while, Su Cheng cleared his throat, still preparing to explain a bit.
After the recent "body check," even though the process was academic and proper, speaking too plainly again this time might seem heartless.
Moreover, this matter isn't about trust or distrust but about a choice.
And the choice isn't his to make.
"Ah Yin, I might as well tell you directly. If nothing goes wrong, I will inevitably have a life-and-death battle with Tang San in the future, and I have reasons for doing so. This also means the same with Tang Hao.
"Besides, you should understand that even if I don't target Tang Hao, because of your existence, he will inevitably see me as a mortal enemy. And with my character, I will never sit idly by. So as long as I'm alive, one day, he and Tang San will die by my hand."
"..." Hearing this, Ah Yin's breath hitched, and her face turned a bit pale.