Chapter 22: The Pope Summons

"Extreme Earth attribute... Is there anything special about it?" After listening to his explanation, Qian Renxue pondered for a moment but still couldn't figure it out.

As the young master of the Martial Soul Hall, she had read a lot of books with Su Cheng over the years and had some understanding of extreme attributes. But as far as she knew, these attributes were more effective for special martial souls. Besides extreme strength, she didn't think there was anything else remarkable about them.

"You'll see soon enough," Su Cheng replied without further explanation. He didn't have much confidence in whether this method could improve his congenital martial soul's malignant mutation.

The two walked side by side, quickly arriving at the mountain behind the Martial Soul City. The city was built on the mountains at the border of the Tian Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, and the area behind the mountain was vast, many times larger than the Martial Soul City itself.

The outskirts of the city were guarded by guards, core members of the Martial Soul Hall, and some captive soul beasts were also kept here.

Su Cheng and Qian Renxue walked non-stop until they reached the place where soul beasts were imprisoned.

In one of the cages, a massive Cloud-Patterned Bronze Horned Rhinoceros was tightly bound by special iron chains, its entire body constrained to the ground.

Its skin was a light gray color, extremely rough and thick, indicating an astonishing level of defense. It was adorned with a layer of intricate cloud-shaped patterns that shimmered brightly in the sunlight.

Its horn, over a meter long, curved backward with a thick layer of dark sediment on it, emitting a dull metallic luster.

Despite being over two meters tall at the shoulder and over five meters long, the beast now lay on the ground, gasping for breath, greatly weakened.

Su Cheng felt no pity for the soul beast.

Quietly extending his right hand, he summoned his martial soul and swiftly pierced its heart with a sword. The Cloud-Patterned Bronze Horned Rhinoceros, already at death's door, immediately breathed its last breath, and its soul ring soon appeared.

Watching from the side, Qian Renxue's eyes flickered, her heart stirred.

But it had nothing to do with this soul beast.

But it was Su Cheng's sword thrust that seemed to contain some kind of profound charm that she couldn't understand. Just with that one sword, she felt that with her current strength, she still couldn't resist.

"Teacher, your sword..."

Su Cheng glanced at her and said lightly, "Focus on improving your cultivation first, don't worry about anything else. I'll teach you about soul skills after you reach level seventy."

With that, he unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his well-defined bare torso.

Then he took out some medicine and silver needles from his soul communicator, preparing to stimulate his potential and enhance his physical strength, making it easier to absorb the soul rings later.

Qian Renxue, who had been discreetly observing from the side, quickly stepped forward and said, "Let me help you."

"No need."

Su Cheng waved his hand to refuse, not giving her a chance to continue speaking, and quickly applied the medicine on his body. With skilled movements, he inserted the silver needles into his body, completing a series of actions smoothly.

Then, his muscles tensed up, and a familiar sensation of heat flowed through his body. A strong thirst coursed through his meridians.

This method involved using silver needles to instantly widen the meridians, diluting the soul power running through them. It could greatly accelerate the absorption speed of soul power in a short period. However, it was not suitable for cultivation. Developed by Su Cheng to avoid overexertion, this method could only be effective for a short period, lasting at most half a day. If there was no breakthrough in cultivation and physical strength during this period, the excess soul power would have to be released from the body, or it would risk tearing the meridians.

Therefore, this method was only suitable for absorbing soul rings.

Su Cheng then sat cross-legged on the ground and began to absorb the carefully prepared special soul ring.

Qian Renxue stood not far behind him, silently watching his figure.

...

Meanwhile, in the Pope's Palace, Bibidong was also assisting Huliena in absorbing her second soul ring.

However, absorbing the second soul ring wasn't risky at all, and the soul beast used for it was a species easily found in the mountains behind the Martial Soul City, requiring little effort.

Her mind had long drifted elsewhere, pondering the situation between Su Cheng and Qian Renxue.

Honestly, the growth rate of those two over the past few years had exceeded Bibidong's expectations, making her feel uneasy.

In her mind, she had always regarded Qian Renxue as an enemy and naturally didn't want to let her develop peacefully.

As blood relatives, Bibidong certainly had some feelings for Qian Renxue, but these feelings were suppressed deep within her heart, perhaps even imperceptible to herself.

"A Soul Ancestor at twelve years old, not bad for speed, but nothing to worry about. Once I complete the Rakshasa God Exam, everything will change," she thought.

Despite saying this, she couldn't shake off the feeling of unease in her heart.

Sinister. In her perception, Su Cheng seemed to have some resemblance to Yuxiaogang at times, but at other times, she felt they were completely different.

Most importantly, she now realized that this man was truly unbeatable in theory, often doing things that surpassed common knowledge.

Initially, handing Qian Renxue over to Su Cheng for study didn't bother her much; after all, theory was just theory.

Her anger back then was mostly because he disrupted her plans for usurping the throne.

But in recent years, seeing Qian Renxue spending all her time with Su Cheng, and the two of them advancing together and supporting each other, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable subconsciously.

"Oh, how good it would be if you were still by my side, Xiaogang," she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Over the years, Bibidong had been secretly keeping an eye on Yuxiaogang's situation.

Although she couldn't inquire too much due to various constraints, from the intelligence returned by various hall branches, with the release of the Martial Soul Temple's "Core Competitiveness of the Fourth Soul Ring," Yuxiaogang seemed to have gained some prominence. Many speculated that he was one of the contributors to this theory, given his distinctive name.

Although his reputation still lagged far behind Su Cheng's, the word of mouth had clearly begun to turn around.

Thinking about this, Bibidong felt a shock in her spirit.

Glancing at Huliena and seeing her steady breaths, Bibidong stepped out of the hall and called for Yueguan, the Chrysanthemum Douluo, asking, "How's Su Cheng's research in martial soul going lately?"

Yueguan wasn't surprised by the question; after all, the Empress had always been interested in Su Cheng's progress in that area. "Seems to be progressing well. Mr. Su mentioned a long time ago that there might be a chance to solve the issue of martial soul malignancy."

Trust. Bibidong's delicate eyebrows arched high, wearing a confident expression. "Just him?"

Martial soul absorption is based on human body research, completely different from martial soul theory, and she couldn't be clearer about the distinction between the two.

But... that's the issue of martial soul malignancy, isn't it? Isn't Xiaogang's martial soul malignantly mutated...?

Her initial impression of Su Cheng was also impressive, wasn't it because of that trash martial soul with only 0.5-grade innate soul power?

"Summon Su Cheng to the Palace."