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Early the next morning, just as dawn broke, Chu Chengzhou rushed back to the Sea God Island.
"Nana, are you ready?"
He glanced at Evil Emperor—the Evil Eye Tyrant Emperor—standing obediently nearby, primed for sacrifice, and turned to Hu Liena.
Evil Emperor was a psychic-type apex beast with an unusual biology: essentially a giant eyeball with tentacles. Normally, upon death, such a creature would only drop a head soul bone.
There was also a small chance it might yield an external soul bone—the Evil Eye, which also enhanced psychic power.
This meant Hu Liena didn't need to pre-occupy other soul bone slots with filler bones to force a head bone drop—unlike Ning Rongrong's case.
If Evil Emperor dropped a head bone, Chu Chengzhou would simply remove Hu Liena's existing 60,000-year Wisdom Head Bone (Spirit Concentration).
But if luck smiled upon them and it dropped an external soul bone? Even better.
After all, in the original timeline, Hu Liena had possessed a fox-tail external soul bone. But perhaps due to Chu Chengzhou's butterfly-effect meddling, she'd missed out on that rare treasure. This would be the perfect chance to make up for it.
"Mhm! All ready!" Hu Liena nodded eagerly, eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"Begin the sacrifice." Chu Chengzhou turned to Evil Emperor and gave the order.
But unlike the humble 600,000-year sea cucumber, Evil Emperor hesitated. Its eyes flickered with intense inner struggle.
"Oh? Strong will, huh?"
Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow, mildly surprised.
Through Void Illusion Realm and his overwhelming spiritual power, he'd never failed to compel a 100,000+ year beast to sacrifice itself—until now.
Truly, Evil Emperor deserved its title as the Second among the Ten Great Fierce Beasts—not only was its psychic power immense, but its willpower was exceptional.
But raw power disparity couldn't be bridged by will alone—not yet, at least.
Instantly, jade-green light flared—Nine Heavens Chaos Armor materialized.
In the same breath, his True Spirit Banner martial soul appeared in hand. His ninth soul ring blazed—Xiao Guang, the Dragon of Time, coalesced beside him, then dissolved into his body as a white-gold beam.
With armor active and Spirit Fusion State engaged, Chu Chengzhou's spiritual pressure exploded. He reactivated the Void Illusion Realm.
Evil Emperor's struggle vanished.
Dark-purple light surged—it transformed into its true form and began the sacrifice.
---
The ritual concluded swiftly.
The golden-veined blood ring orbiting Hu Liena contracted violently.
In an instant, her Star Moon Nine-Tailed Fox spirit manifested—
Her seven existing rings appeared: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, red—
Then the contracting ring solidified into her eighth soul ring: blood-red with seven golden patterns.
Simultaneously, a beam of blood-light struck her forehead—
A black-purple, single-eyed silhouette flashed and vanished into her mind.
And from Evil Emperor's massive corpse emerged not one—but two soul bones:
A black-purple head bone, and a floating external soul bone of the same hue.
"??? Two soul bones?!"
Chu Chengzhou's eyes widened in disbelief.
Soul beasts over 100,000 years always dropped a soul bone—but almost never two.
Of course, "almost never" meant exceptions existed.
Like Bibi Dong—when she hunted the 100,000-year Death Spider Emperor, she'd gotten two arm bones in one go.
Though neither were the more valuable head or torso bones, two 100,000-year arm bones still outweighed a single head/torso bone in total value.
But Hu Liena's luck was even more absurd—
She'd gotten both a head bone AND an external soul bone!
While Chu Chengzhou was still stunned, Hu Liena's soul power shattered its Level 80 limit, skyrocketing to Level 87 Soul Douluo.
Now a true eight-ring Soul Douluo, she felt the tidal force of soul power surging within her. Gazing at her new seven-golden-veined eighth ring, she couldn't help but grin like a fool.
"Stop grinning like an idiot—there's still another soul bone!"
Chu Chengzhou chuckled, nudging her.
She looked up—Chu Chengzhou was holding out a head bone so deep black-purple it seemed to swallow light itself.
"What's this…?"
Hu Liena blinked, confused.
"What do you think? You just hit the jackpot, that's what!"
"You're the one who hit the jackpot!"
She rolled her eyes—but snatched the bone with glee, admiring it proudly.
This is a 700,000+ year head bone! Probably the only one on the entire continent!
"Alright, enough preening," Chu Chengzhou laughed. "Let me remove your old Wisdom Head Bone first."
"Hurry up!"
She nodded eagerly.
In under a quarter-hour, he extracted her old bone.
But refining the Evil Eye Tyrant Head Bone would take far longer—its colossal psychic energy couldn't be tamed in a day.
---
Time flowed. Days turned.
By the third morning, after two full days and nights, Hu Liena neared the end of her refinement.
Suddenly, the psychic fluctuations around her stabilized, settling just below Peak Soul Douluo-tier—then her eyes snapped open.
"How do you feel?"
Chu Chengzhou stepped forward.
"Your madam's invincible now!"
She tilted her chin up, brimming with confidence.
"Yeah, sure~ You're still far from invincible," he scoffed.
True—thanks to the Evil Eye Head Bone and External Evil Eye, her psychic power now brushed against Peak Soul Douluo levels. But "invincible"? Not even close.
Still, she was now undoubtedly a top-tier powerhouse.
With near-Peak Soul Douluo psychic might, a 700,000+ year psychic eighth skill, and matching soul bone skills—even Jin E (Level 98 Golden Crocodile) would have to kneel.
Not that Jin E was weak—but in this era, most soul masters neglected spiritual power cultivation. Without effective mental training methods, their spiritual power lagged far behind their soul power, leaving them vulnerable to Hu Liena's newfound dominance.
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