Chapter 247: Losing the Essence for the Superficial
Dazed and disoriented, Hu Liena felt as if she were floating in the clouds, her body weightless.
Her consciousness gradually cleared, yet she felt as though she had both lost something and gained something.
Slowly opening her eyes, she immediately saw a faint white soul ring surrounding her body. Her pupils constricted in shock, and a sense of unease arose within her. But as she recalled her purpose for coming here, she forced herself to calm down and began assessing her condition.
She quickly realized that her soul power level had plummeted from Soul King down to a mere Soul Master, likely only around level ten.
However, Hu Liena was not surprised by this. Many books had already recorded what would happen when a soul master lost their rings.
Since soul rings were directly linked to a soul master's life force, losing them would cause their soul power to dissipate. If all rings were lost, some could even end up crippled.
Fortunately, inside the Soul Tower, she had its support. Though she had lost her original rings, she had immediately condensed a new one. However, the age of this ring was far too low.
Looking at the faint white glow of her new soul ring, she estimated that it was only around 20–30 years old.
And most importantly she had no recollection of how she had undergone this transformation. She only remembered being in a trance, and then suddenly, it was done.
"As expected, White Cloud City wouldn't let us students so easily uncover the secrets of the Soul Ring Condensation Method."
Hu Liena sighed in disappointment, but she wasn't too surprised.
From the very beginning, everything had been going too smoothly.
If White Cloud City had truly intended to let them access the technique freely, they could have just made it public. There was no need to go through this elaborate process of recruiting students.
Clearly, there were preventive measures in place.
"I should test my cultivation and see what's different now."
Hu Liena shook off her disappointment.
Since she had already successfully enrolled, she had plenty of opportunities in the future to uncover White Cloud City's hidden truths.
She refused to believe that this place was an impenetrable fortress without a single loophole to exploit.
With that thought in mind, she calmed herself and prepared to meditate.
Yet, as she instinctively tried to use Spirit Hall's meditation method, she suddenly realized
Her body had already begun cultivating on its own, following the method of Basic Qi Condensation Technique, which she had only just learned!
Her mind froze in shock.
Why?
She had only just started learning this technique, yet her body automatically chose it over Spirit Hall's method?
This wasn't normal this was far from normal!
Her subconscious actions could not lie.
Even though she had only practiced the Basic Qi Condensation Technique for a short time, her body had already instinctively accepted it as the superior method.
A deep sense of unease settled in her heart.
However, before she could dwell on it, a surge of pure energy flooded into her body. The overwhelming rush of power forced her thoughts aside, leaving her no choice but to focus solely on cultivation.
At the same time, a radiant beam of light descended from above, enveloping her and assisting her training.
Unprecedented Growth
The moment Hu Liena immersed herself in cultivation, she lost all sense of time.
When she finally snapped back to awareness, she was stunned.
Her soul power had already reached level 20!
That fast?!
Even with Spirit Hall's top tier resources, she had never cultivated this quickly before!
And now, she could break through at any moment, allowing her second soul ring to form naturally.
But
She hesitated.
Her first soul ring's age was too low.
Although she could increase its age through training, the more rings she had, the harder it would be to enhance them.
For example, if she only had one soul ring, she could likely train for a month or two and push it from 10 years to 100 years.
But once she had two rings, her cultivation would be split between them, making it exponentially harder.
Raising two rings to 100 years might take half a year or longer!
This was vital intelligence that Spirit Hall had analyzed from the future video broadcasts.
Before coming here, they had already planned out her cultivation path:
After obtaining her first ring, she should delay forming a second one.She should first train her first ring to 100 years, ensuring a strong foundation.Only then should she condense her second ring.
After all, it was common knowledge that the higher the age of one's soul rings, the stronger their soul power and soul skills.
The stronger the soul skills, the greater the advantage over one's peers.
Spirit Hall's strategy was to have Hu Liena closely match the traditional ring configurations of old soul masters in the early stages.
Once she became a Soul Sage, her cultivation speed would naturally slow down.
That would be the time to focus on tempering her existing soul rings, enhancing their age, and building a deeper foundation for reaching higher realms.
A Common Misconception
Some might wonder
"Why not just train a single soul ring all the way to 100,000 years before forming the next one?"
In theory, that sounds ideal.
But in reality
It was completely impractical.
The higher the soul ring's age, the harder it became to upgrade it.
The time investment would be enormous.
Imagine spending 20 years just to cultivate a single 100,000 year soul ring
But still being stuck at level 20.
What would be the point?
A 100,000 year soul skill might be devastatingly powerful, but it wouldn't matter if she didn't have enough soul power to activate it!
Every soul skill consumes soul power.
A 100,000 year soul skill might require 10,000 units of soul power to activate
But at level 20, she would barely have 10 units.
How could she even use it?
Worse yet, delaying breakthroughs would also cause physical deterioration over time.
Aging would stiffen the body, reducing flexibility and making future progress even harder.
Thus, obsessing over a single soul ring's strength was a grave mistake
It completely ignored the essence of cultivation.
Discovering Her Soul Skills
With her power stabilized, Hu Liena shifted her focus.
What were her soul skills now?
Closing her eyes, she began sensing her newly formed white soul ring.
After a moment, she received feedback
The information flooded her mind, leaving her momentarily stunned.
This new soul ring contained multiple abilities
And strangely, they resembled the skills she had previously possessed before shattering her old rings!
How is this possible?
She recalled the future videos that had revealed insights about soul ring condensation.
They had stated that self condensed soul rings would generate skills tailored to the user's martial soul
And influenced by subconscious desires.
Realization dawned.
Because her previous five rings had been deeply ingrained in her subconscious, and because she had considered their abilities useful,
Her newly formed soul ring had replicated a similar effect.
"Not bad at all."
A faint smile formed on Hu Liena's lips.
This result was not only unexpected but also exceeded her expectations.
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