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Xiao Hongchen was stunned.
When he absorbed a ten-thousand-year soul ring for his fifth ring, he felt like he was about to break through to level 52.
At level 51 peak, he was just about to reach level 52.
But what about Su Yu?
He had absorbed a fifteen-thousand-year soul ring!
Before absorbing the ring, Su Yu had only been at level 40.
Even if the absorption wasn't perfect, he should have at least reached the peak of level 42, or normally, he should have hit level 43, right?
How could he only be at level 41?
And barely that—his soul power seemed like it could drop at any moment.
Compared to Xiao Hongchen's confusion, Jing Hongchen was smiling.
"As expected."
"Hahahaha!"
Jing Hongchen burst into laughter, clearly excited.
"Grandfather, Su Yu only gained one level of soul power," Xiao Hongchen remarked.
"You don't understand anything!" Jing Hongchen smacked Xiao Hongchen on the head, frustrated with his ignorance.
"I've told you many times, while soul tool research is important, the foundation of everything is soul power. You may not need to be the best at martial soul cultivation, but you can't be clueless either."
Xiao Hongchen looked aggrieved.
"Xiao Yu's martial soul has evolved into the ultimate attribute," Jing Hongchen said with a grin, still overjoyed.
Across the entire Douluo Continent, examples of ultimate attributes were incredibly rare.
Each generation's ultimate attribute soul masters, if they matured, almost always became major figures who influenced the fate of the continent.
Unfortunately, such soul masters always seemed to emerge from Shrek Academy.
But now, things were different.
The Sun and Moon Empire, and more importantly, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, now had a soul master with the ultimate attribute!
The strength of a martial soul with an ultimate attribute far surpassed ordinary martial souls, but it came with a cost: slower cultivation speed.
Cultivating an ultimate attribute required more refined soul power, making progress from level 30 to level 70 incredibly slow.
Su Yu's martial soul had only evolved into the ultimate attribute after absorbing his fourth soul ring, and the missing power from levels 30 to 40 was compensated by the soul power of the Swordgrass soul ring.
The ultimate attribute greatly reduced the quantity of his soul power in exchange for increasing its quality.
Though the total amount remained the same, it could be understood as a denser soul power, thus reducing its volume.
Reaching level 41 without dropping below level 40 was already a testament to the strength of the Swordgrass soul ring.
"It's not truly an ultimate attribute yet," Su Yu said, shaking his head. He understood his Blue Silver Grass martial soul better than anyone.
It could be said that with the mutated Swordgrass's support, the life attribute of his Blue Silver Grass had undergone a complete transformation.
However, it was still lacking.
It wasn't that the amount or quality of the life attribute was insufficient.
"The essence of Blue Silver Grass is still too weak."
It wasn't a failed evolution, but rather too much progress at once.
While the Blue Silver Grass had attained the ultimate life attribute, the martial soul itself hadn't yet caught up in terms of strength.
Its inherent weakness didn't mean its potential was capped, but the leap was too large, making it hard to digest.
Over time, Su Yu's Blue Silver Grass would gradually improve to match its new level.
During his first three soul ring absorptions, Su Yu hadn't had a clear standard, so he wasn't sure if he was pushing the limits or not.
But now, after this ultimate attribute transformation, he could feel it clearly.
His martial soul was evolving as the attribute was further developed.
It was a distinct sensation.
"My Blue Silver Grass needs more time to mature. In a few years, it will evolve into a true ultimate martial soul."
Jing Hongchen was not disappointed in the least.
"That's okay. Even though it's just the ultimate attribute for now, it's better than having no hope at all."
Su Yu had already entered a new realm, though he still hadn't fully adapted to it.
"An ultimate life attribute—on the entire Douluo Continent, that's a pretty explosive existence, right?"
Ultimate ice and ultimate fire were more common since martial souls with those attributes were relatively widespread. Occasionally, there was even ultimate strength.
But ultimate life? That was unheard of.
After absorbing the soul ring, the three of them wasted no time and quickly returned to Mingdu. Along the way, Su Yu elaborated more on the abilities of his fourth soul ring.
"My fourth soul skill is Grass Sword Art, which can imbue my Blue Silver Grass with sword energy. The strength of this sword energy increases with my soul power, reaching the same level as the mutated Swordgrass under equivalent circumstances.
"In addition, the fourth soul skill can be combined with the Divine Sword. When using the Divine Sword, it gathers the elemental energy of heaven and earth, condensing into a powerful strike."
The more soul power and elemental energy it gathered, the stronger the resulting burst.
Jing Hongchen couldn't help but marvel at Su Yu's explanation.
He had seen the strength of the mutated Swordgrass firsthand.
At that time, sixteen level-six suppressive bombs, coordinated in unison, were used to trap the Swordgrass, yet it sliced through the restraint with a pinpoint strike. That one blow had a force comparable to a full-strength strike from a Soul Saint.
Jing Hongchen felt that, under the immense pressure he applied, the Swordgrass had undergone yet another transformation in that moment.
Still, it was ultimately killed, and Jing didn't dwell on it for long.
"Training with the ultimate attribute will be slow between levels 30 and 70, so you need to be mentally prepared," Jing Hongchen reminded Su Yu before they parted ways.
He was worried that Su Yu might not accept how slow his soul power cultivation would be from now on. After all, Su Yu was only thirteen years old and had already reached level 40.
On average, Su Yu had been increasing his soul power by five and a half levels per year!
Now that he had an ultimate attribute, his progress would be much slower. He might not even gain a single level in a year.
Shrek Academy was the only place known to have successfully nurtured an ultimate attribute soul master. Other academies had encountered soul masters with ultimate attributes before, but the slow cultivation speed always prevented them from reaching level 70, never allowing them to unlock the full potential of their ultimate martial souls.
Jing Hongchen didn't know how Shrek Academy managed to speed up the cultivation of ultimate attribute martial souls, but in the Sun and Moon Empire, there was no shortage of resources for soul power cultivation.
"Medicinal baths, elixirs, medicinal meals—I'll arrange everything. I refuse to believe Su Yu won't grow."
After returning to his dormitory, Su Yu took out a round, full elixir and swallowed it.
Jing Hongchen had improved his treatment significantly.
The medicinal meals were no longer supplied by the academy but instead came directly from Sun-Moon Hall, allocated at the same level as a rank-seven soul engineer.
In addition to the medicinal meals, Su Yu also received various elixirs, including those that aided cultivation with virtually no side effects—one pill every month.
Then there were the medicinal baths.
Jing Hongchen had already instructed Sun-Moon Hall's personnel to prepare them for Su Yu.
These three resources alone demonstrated Jing Hongchen's determination to cultivate Su Yu.
And once Kong Deming returned and learned of Su Yu's situation, he would likely provide even more resources on top of that.
Compared to Jing Hongchen, Su Yu wasn't at all worried about his future cultivation speed.
"I've already figured out several optimal soul power circulation routes, enough to perfect and refine my cultivation technique.
"Old Yi has also awoken. I might be able to consult him on how to improve the technique.
"Lastly, I still have my spiritual power cultivation method, which can further aid my soul power training."
Author's Note
Someone is stirring up trouble, and it really ticked me off yesterday! I usually don't curse, but I couldn't hold back this time.
Let me explain once more: Su Yu isn't suppressing his level. The ultimate attribute naturally works this way. I've made it very clear in this chapter. While Su Yu's cultivation will become more difficult, his technique is improving, and his spiritual power training will enhance his soul power cultivation. Plus, Old Yi is there to guide him.
Overall, Su Yu's growth rate won't slow down; it might even speed up!
Also, don't say that soul power quality doesn't matter. It's been established very clearly that it does. Ultimate attributes dominate at the same level. Why do you think they're unbeatable at equal levels?
Some people are complaining about the effort to compress soul power and suggesting Su Yu will struggle in battles against characters like Huo Yuhao. Is it me that's not thinking straight, or are those stirring up drama lacking common sense? Who would design a plot where a level-40 protagonist can't beat a level-20 side character?
Soul fusion skills? You think the protagonist can't interrupt them? Who in their right mind would allow an enemy to use a soul fusion skill mid-battle (Ahem, Su Yu letting Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen use their fusion skill was intentional, just to showcase his strength. In a real battle, he wouldn't make such a mistake. He'll do whatever it takes to win).
Lastly, to those who still insist I'm suppressing Su Yu's level: absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring at the fourth ring and only reaching level 41 isn't about level suppression.
If you've read the original story, you'd know that in Douluo Dalu 1, the God King's fourth ring was also a ten-thousand-year Earth Demon Spider soul ring. What level did he reach after absorbing it? Level 41!
Now, how will you respond to that?
(End of chapter.)