Chapter 24: An Invitation After Seven Days

The woman known as Aunt Mei observed Qian Renxue’s weary posture, a flicker of reluctance passing through her eyes, though it was quickly replaced by an odd, fleeting expression. Perhaps because she held Qian Renxue’s absolute trust, even at such close proximity, Qian Renxue did not notice anything amiss about her.

Watching Qian Renxue in such a state, the woman’s eyes betrayed a brief moment of internal struggle before she regained her usual look of gentle concern.

"My Young Lady, you are a person of immense status; why waste your energy on such trivial matters? A mere soul master from a backwater place who happened upon a bit of good fortune—who can truly say how far he will grow in the future?"

"If you are interested, my Lady, simply send someone to extend a gesture of goodwill; he would hardly refuse the kindness of the Crown Prince. If you are currently too busy, there is no harm in waiting until his talent becomes more apparent before making a decision."

"Hmm..." Qian Renxue shook her head, saying nothing. Yet, in her heart, she agreed with Aunt Mei’s assessment.

For most factions, a thousand-year second soul ring is something that only appears through rare opportunity or sheer coincidence. But for the Spirit Hall, it is hardly difficult; it is merely a matter of whether they deem it worth the effort.

The Spirit Hall’s ancestry traces back to the Angelic God, and every generation has possessed a peerless Douluo as the High Priest of the Angelic God. Within the Consecration Hall and the Elder Hall, every era has been populated by Titled Douluo from all corners of the world. The heritage accumulated over these ten thousand years is not something an ordinary person could possibly fathom.

Qian Renxue understood the mechanics of absorbing soul rings well, and she knew that enhancing one’s physical fitness could increase the age limit of the rings one could withstand. However, for the Seraphim clan, such methods were truly unnecessary.

The Six-Winged Seraphim martial soul naturally grants twenty levels of soul power. By absorbing two century-level soul rings, one can achieve at least level twenty-three soul power and become a Soul Grandmaster within two years, ready to absorb a third ring. Although the sheer potency of the attribute causes cultivation speed to slow down after level thirty, that is only a relative deceleration.

Even with this slowed pace, the possessor of a Seraphim martial soul remains superior to those with standard innate full soul power, not to mention the various resources and inheritances provided by the Spirit Hall. By age eight, after obtaining a third ring and becoming a Soul Grandmaster, one can reach the level of a Soul Ancestor by around age twelve, and a Soul King by seventeen or eighteen.

But what if Qian Renxue wanted to absorb a thousand-year soul ring as her second?

She awakened her martial soul at age six; although she possessed twenty levels of soul power, due to the restrictions of the world, only ten levels could manifest before absorbing the first ring. It was only after absorbing that first ring that her cultivation would rise to level twenty. When a child has just awakened their martial soul at six, even with the benefit of various medicinal baths and a god-tier martial soul, their body is simply not yet fully developed.

The stimulation of soul power is a long and arduous process of refinement. The same soul power and martial soul have different effects at different ages. The rapid, superhuman development of people on the Douluo Continent fundamentally relies on the stimulation of soul power.

For a child, physical fitness grows significantly every year. With a year of soul power nourishment, a seven-year-old soul master’s body is far stronger than that of a six-year-old who has just awakened their soul, even if their soul power and martial soul are identical.

If Qian Renxue wanted to absorb a thousand-year second ring, she would need at least two years of development and conditioning after absorbing her first ring before she could attempt it; for the sake of safety, it would likely take three years. Even then, after absorbing a thousand-year second soul ring, her soul power would at most hover around level twenty-seven.

After all, while one can accumulate soul power upon hitting a level cap and increase it after obtaining a soul ring, such suppressed cultivation can never compare to normal progression.

And if one were to honestly absorb standard soul rings and cultivate normally? Assuming only two years pass, the possessor of a Seraphim martial soul should at least be a level thirty-three Soul Grandmaster by then—a gap of roughly seven or eight levels.

On the Douluo Continent, a single major realm is only ten levels. Who would waste their most precious golden years and nearly an entire major realm of soul power for a mere few hundred years of soul ring age?

For the Qian family, suppressing one’s level to improve physical fitness just to accommodate a higher-age soul ring in the early stages is purely a thankless, inefficient task. Furthermore, the Spirit Hall possesses the inheritance of the Angelic God; even if the first few soul rings are of low age, the later divine trials can directly elevate them to the thousand or ten-thousand-year level.

Instead of wasting energy for a mere two or three hundred years of soul ring age, it is better to save that effort to perform well during the divine trials.

This is, in essence, a very counter-intuitive phenomenon. Talented soul masters reach their soul power threshold long before their bodies do, and except for those with extremely unique martial souls, their limit at that stage is only a century-level ring. Those who toil for ten years find their bodies better prepared for high-age rings due to long-term nourishment, but such soul masters generally possess low-quality martial souls, and their bodies may have various underlying issues. Moreover, they might not even be capable of hunting a thousand-year soul beast. Even those who can hunt them are not necessarily bold enough to absorb an over-leveled ring, and those who are bold enough may not succeed. It is the combination of these factors that makes the case of a thousand-year second soul ring so rare.

In short, those lucky enough to have a thousand-year second soul ring are few, but to Qian Renxue, who understands the essence of the process, it is no mystery. If she wished, she could even artificially manufacture such geniuses.

In her view, Chen Ming had simply stumbled upon good fortune—perhaps ingesting some herbs or the flesh of a precious soul beast. Although his martial soul had evolved, his mere innate level five talent was not worth her concern. To her, the best he could hope for was to become a Soul Saint. With diligent cultivation, the most he could achieve was the level of a low-tier Soul Douluo.

Unless he encountered some extremely rare opportunity or accident, he would likely never touch the threshold of a Titled Douluo in this lifetime. And even if he managed to become a Titled Douluo through a series of miraculous encounters...

Qian Renxue thought about the timeline and felt that by then, she would at least be close to the level of a semi-god peerless Douluo like her grandfather, Qian Daoliu, if not a deity herself. An ordinary Titled Douluo would struggle to even withstand her first soul skill.

However, as the Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, now that Xue Ye had delivered this file into her hands, Qian Renxue could not simply ignore it. After all, while a genius with the talent of a Soul Douluo was nothing to the Young Lady of the Spirit Hall, for a country like the Heaven Dou Empire, which suffered from a scarcity of high-end combat power, there was no reason for Xue Qinghe, the Crown Prince, to overlook a potential future Soul Douluo.

Qian Renxue sat on her stool in silence for a long while, mentally reviewing her recent schedule before finally making a decision.

"In half a month, send someone to bring him here. As for the location... the top floor of the Seven Treasures Restaurant. Set the time for the hour of the Dragon."