Yu Qing led Dugu Yan by her soft little hand to a cleared area on the edge of the residential zone. There, thirty-three children of various ages were playing or doing simple physical drills under the watch of several adult disciples.
Yu Qing squatted down, set little Dugu Yan gently on the ground, and patted her back encouragingly. "Yan Yan, go on—go play with those big brothers and sisters."
The tiny girl was still shy; her jade-green eyes timidly studied the unfamiliar children, and her small fist clutched Yu Qing's sleeve. But under her teacher's encouraging gaze she gathered her courage at last and, on stubby legs, half-ran toward the group.
Thanks to more than two months of Yu Qing's expense-no-object care, Dugu Yan was no longer the frail girl who gasped after a few steps. Her cheeks were rosy, her body sturdy; she could run and jump like any normal child.
The youngsters soon noticed the newcomer with the unusual hair color. Dugu Yan's delicate features and timid air stirred every boy's protective instinct, and since she wasn't spoiled—Grandpa Dugu Bo hadn't had time to ruin her yet—she blended in at once, silvery laughter ringing across the clearing.
Yu Qing stood nearby, hands behind his back, watching his little disciple mix with the others, a pleased smile on his face. He wanted her to have not only power, but a whole and happy childhood.
Time slipped by in busy fulfillment. The entire Yin Yang Sect bustled with energy. Yu Qing's days were regular and full: he kept company with his two pregnant wives, using the Power of Life to sense and nurture the growing fetuses; inspected Ling Xin and Ling Mou's medicinal baths and Cultivation progress; guided his two fathers-in-law in sect affairs; and occasionally checked on the thirty-three children.
The sisters Ling Xin and Ling Mou advanced at lightning speed. With special medicinal baths and the Blood Burning Meditation Method, their spirit power had risen two whole Ranks in two months—reaching Rank seventeen. Such speed would shake the outside World. Yu Qing planned that once they hit Rank twenty and gained their second spirit rings, stronger medicinal cuisine would launch them toward the Spirit Elder Realm before next June.
For little Dugu Yan the plan was gentler and longer-term. Her baths and diets now included herbs that quietly reinforced Meridians and Physique, aiming for the day two years hence when her Spirit Awakening would give her at least Innate Full spirit power.
Dugu Bo's procurement had been superb; mountains of herbs now filled the storehouses. With ample supplies, Yu Qing formally launched a large-scale training program for the thirty-three children.
So vast an amount of herbs couldn't be handled alone. Yu Qing drafted a group of absolutely loyal, quick-handed clansmen from his fathers-in-law, teaching them to identify herbs, control flame, and proportion ingredients, turning out batch after batch of medicinal bath stock and cuisine base-packs.
Thus Yu Qing needed less than two hours a day for final inspection and fine-tuning, freeing far more of his own time.
Sun and moon alternated, seasons turned. While the World outside lay under biting wind and white snow, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well remained warm as spring, only a little cooler in the air.
One chilly dawn Yu Qing made his usual rounds of the "Children's Training Center" in Qinghui Hall, nodded approvingly at the thirty-three youngsters grimacing yet enduring in their special bath-barrels, then strolled back to his study.
Outside the window, winter sunlight filtered through crystal panes, warm without heat. Yu Qing brewed a cup of clear tea, sat at his desk, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into that vast sea of mental force. His goal: to keep probing the unfathomable complete version of spirit soul technology.
The deeper he studied, the more staggering and ahead-of-its-age the technology seemed. Far more rigorous and perfected than the prototype the future God of Emotion would develop with Electrolux's tattered Soul, it demanded more of both Spirit Masters and Spirit Beasts—yet promised far greater potential.
According to the technical description, a Spirit Master must reach the Spirit King Rank, possess formidable mental force, and have a body tough enough to endure the initial Soul shock and energy Fusion brought on by contracting a spirit soul. After the contract succeeds, the spirit soul not only provides the fifth spirit ring but can also be summoned as an energy entity, fighting side-by-side with the Spirit Master, their minds perfectly linked as one.
On the Spirit Beast's side, the creature must have at least ten-thousand years of cultivation, because only at this level is its Soul sufficiently complete, granting higher growth potential and malleability. Once contracted, it doesn't freeze at the ten-thousand-year mark; instead, it advances together with the Spirit Master's rising strength. If the Spirit Master eventually becomes a Titled Douluo, the spirit soul may even break past racial limits and evolve into a terrifying hundred-thousand-year existence!
As for thousand-, hundred-, or ten-year Spirit Beasts, contracting them isn't impossible—simply extremely inefficient. Their growth ceiling is low and their Soul strength inadequate; even if contracted, the boost to the Spirit Master and the beast's own evolution would be negligible.
'If only it could be paired with the Ascension Platform technology that increases a spirit soul's age…' Yu Qing sighed inwardly. 'Alas, that won't be developed until tens of thousands of years later, when Douluo Continent enters its interstellar era.' He shook his head, pushed aside the impractical thought, and refocused on the spirit soul technology before him.
When he reached the ultimate, core secret of the technique, even someone of his composure couldn't help gasping, shock written across his face.
This spirit soul technology actually contained the mighty power of Legacy!
When a contracted Spirit Master reaches the end of his lifespan and his Physical Body perishes, the spirit soul does not dissipate with him. Instead, it sinks into slumber as a special Soul-energy form, attaching itself to the blood descendants of the Spirit Master or to a designated Legacy artifact. Should a Genius appear among those descendants, the dormant spirit soul awakens and may enter a new contract, continuing its evolutionary path!
If the contracted Spirit Beast originally possessed an exceptionally noble Bloodline—true Dragons, Phoenixes, top-tier apes, and the like—gifted beyond compare, and is further nurtured by generations of outstanding contractors, it might even break the hundred-thousand-year ceiling and glimpse the legendary million-year Realm!
A Spirit Master contracted with such a spirit soul would receive unimaginable enhancements; the road to godhood would broaden dramatically! Even if he ultimately failed to condense a true God Position, the feedback power could very likely push him to the pseudo-god hundredth Rank, granting strength comparable to a low-level god officer!
'This… this is practically creating an entirely new cultivation system—Family heritage capable of lasting ten thousand generations!' Yu Qing's heartbeat sped up. 'A Rou… you really are my lucky star! Without the Beginner's Chest our first meeting granted, who knows how long it would have taken to obtain such a Heaven-Defying technique!'
One could imagine that once this technology became reality and spread, the entire structure of Douluo Continent would be rewritten. Powerful clans would possess truly immortal guardian beasts of Legacy!
But after the excitement, Yu Qing quickly calmed, a trace of regret flashing in his eyes.
'Unfortunately… all this requires long years of accumulation and tempering. To birth million-year spirit souls and hundred-Rank pseudo-gods would take at least ten thousand years of Family heritage and the combined efforts of countless generations of geniuses—distant water can't quench present fire.'
He couldn't help thinking of the current situation: Spirit Hall was ambitious, Bibi Dong unfathomable and possibly capable of extreme acts; Tang San—who hadn't yet Transmigrated—possessed a Protagonist Halo and the Tang Sect background; and Qian Renxue, inheritor of the Angel God… If he could field organized armies of hundred-Rank pseudo-gods and million-year spirit souls right now, and add the dual God King thrones of Life and Destruction he might attain in the future, sweeping the continent—or even contending with the Asura God and Sea God—would not be impossible!
But that was only a beautiful fantasy.
Just as Yu Qing's thoughts raced, marveling at the grandeur of spirit soul technology and its real-World limits—
Suddenly his mind stirred; he keenly sensed a familiar ripple of energy from the poison-barrier zone surrounding the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
That aura was warm yet resilient, carrying a longing that haunted his dreams—it was A Rou! She had returned!
Moreover, beside her presence were two much weaker auras. One brimmed with lively, playful vitality—undoubtedly Xiao Wu. The other… was completely unfamiliar, deep and reserved, exuding an Innate Charm yet clearly not a human Spirit Master.
'She's finally back…' Yu Qing's lips curved unconsciously, his eyes filled with anticipation and tenderness. 'And she's brought a "guest"? Who could it be?'
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