Bi Ji saw the state of things and pursued the matter, "Your Excellency, do we still need to help the Blacksmith Association? If we refuse, I'm afraid that in the not-too-distant future, the Blacksmith Association will completely vanish!"
Gu Yuena glanced at her and negated, "There's no need for that!"
If Teacher Xu personally sought help, there would naturally be no reason to refuse!
Even though that was an impossibility!
Bi Ji immediately understood and agreed, "I understand, Your Excellency!"
Gu Yuena waved her hand dismissively, "Let's just pretend this never happened. If there's nothing else, you can go about your business."
This time the fusion with the Life Force had caused substantial depletions to her soul power and spiritual power, and she needed to rest for a good while!
But Bi Ji made no move to leave, instead fixing her gaze intently on Gu Yuena...
Sensing something amiss, Gu Yuena frowned and asked, "Bi Ji, you have been staring at me incessantly, is there a problem?"
Bi Ji did not intend to hide her concern and spoke very seriously, "Your Excellency, it seems that a very rich Life Force has emerged within you. Although it's very faint, I can clearly feel it!"
Moreover, this Life Force gave her a sense of familiarity, yet she could not quite place it...
Upon hearing this, Gu Yuena immediately guessed the reason...
It must be that the Life Force left by Teacher Xu was too pure, and during the process of fusion, some of it remained within her own body!
With this in mind, she calmly replied, "Mm, I am well aware of it."
Only then did Bi Ji withdraw her gaze and, clasping her fist, said, "Since Your Excellency is aware, I shall not say more."
Even she could see that Gu Yuena was somewhat weakened and needed to rest properly!
Watching Bi Ji leave, Gu Yuena couldn't help but let out a wry smile, "Wonder if Wulin has told Xie Xie and the others about the Life Force."
"If he insists on keeping it a secret, I'm afraid it could cause discontent among the ranks."
...
Martial Soul City, Pope Hall!
Months whisked by rapidly...
Xu Sheng looked at Flame with a trace of praise, having just stepped down from the arena, "Not bad, Flame. You've made considerable progress since the beginning. I doubt even Evil Moon would be assured of victory against you!"
Receiving affirmation from him for the first time, Flame felt a surge of excitement and replied with confidence, "Of course, I am no longer what I once was. How could Evil Moon possibly be my match!"
After the last battle, he had gradually changed his combat style; no longer just relying on the power of his Martial Soul to bulldoze through, instead he began to think and act!
This led to significant improvement!
Hulena covered her mouth and laughed, teasing, "Flame, Xu Sheng has only complimented you once, and you're already this arrogant. What if he praised you a few more times?"
Flame responded feeling somewhat aggrieved, "Nana, you and Evil Moon are used to it, but this is the first time I've received Xu Sheng's affirmation. In the previous few times, he surely would've said that my combat had no strengths, filled with flaws!"
Hulena blinked and said, "But that's the truth. With your previous combat style, you might not have been able to defeat them at all!"
After finishing, she pointed to the other members not far away...
Hearing this, Flame scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, "That... regardless, isn't this me making progress?"
Seeming to think of something else, he changed the subject, "By the way, Nana, where has Evil Moon gone? I haven't seen him all day today!"
Hulena pondered for a moment, then responded, "My brother said yesterday that he seemed to have reached a bottleneck. He's probably in his room, fully committed to cultivating."
Flame's eyes widened, "What?? If he's reached a bottleneck, doesn't that mean Evil Moon is about to make a breakthrough?"
I had just caught up to that guy, and now he's going to break through again. It's really annoying!
Xu Sheng pondered, "Evil Moon has just broken through not long ago, and now he's about to do it again. This is not a good sign!"
Evil Moon's cultivation speed is even faster than I imagined!
Is it because of my own anomaly?
Hulena revealed a hint of confusion, "Xu Sheng, what do you mean by that? Doesn't quickly advancing through soul power ranks signify superior talent?"
Xu Sheng nodded, "Essentially, that's true, but if one only focuses on increasing their soul power rank, it can lead to an unstable foundation, which could affect future achievements!"
Hulena was even more puzzled, "Unstable foundation? Why have I never heard of such a thing?"
Flame also shrugged his shoulders, "I haven't heard of it either. With Soul Master cultivation, the norm has always been that the faster the breakthrough, the better!"
Xu Sheng glanced at them and explained, "Just because you haven't heard about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!"
"There are many Soul Masters with outstanding talent on the Continent, but not all of them can break through to the realm of Soul Douluo or Titled Douluo!"
"One of the reasons is being too eager for quick success!"
Hulena and Flame exchanged glances, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes...
Although they didn't understand very well, they managed to grasp a bit of the concept!
It seems that too rapid a pace in cultivation isn't necessarily a good thing!
Flame immediately asked, "Xu Sheng, what should we do then, should we make Evil Moon stop cultivating?"
Xu Sheng shook his head, "Of course not, but after his breakthrough this time, he really needs to spend some time consolidating his cultivation level!"
No sooner had these words fallen than they saw Evil Moon running over excitedly...
"Xu Sheng, Flame, Nana, I bet you didn't expect this. In such a short time, I've broken through another rank!!"
But the next second, he noticed something was off...
Because no one showed even the slightest bit of surprise...
"Uh, can I get a reaction, please? I've broken through again!"
Upon hearing this, Flame just responded indifferently with an "Oh!"
Evil Moon's mouth twitched, and he turned to look at Hulena...
To his surprise, she looked back at him with a worried gaze...
Evil Moon swallowed hard and asked, "Uh... Nana, shouldn't you be happy that I've broken through? Why do you look like that?"
Hulena didn't answer his question, but instead turned to Xu Sheng and said, "Xu Sheng, after my brother's breakthrough, his soul power aura has become somewhat chaotic. I suppose this is what you mean by an unstable foundation."
Xu Sheng affirmed, "Yes, if Evil Moon continues to cultivate in this state, it will do more harm than good!"
Evil Moon was even more bewildered and couldn't help interrupting, "Wait... wait, Xu Sheng, Nana, what are you actually talking about?"
Hulena sighed and patiently explained...
After listening, Evil Moon finally seemed to ponder, stroking his chin, "I see, so the foundation is unstable because of the excessively fast soul power cultivation speed?"
"No wonder I've been feeling like my body can't quite keep up lately. I didn't realize it was for this reason!"
"Thanks to Xu Sheng for noticing in time. Otherwise, it would have been a real mess."