After spending a wonderful, heated night with Ning Ruoyan, Tang Xiao resumed his cultivation plans.
At the same time, news of Tang Xiao's intention to build an academy for commoners and rebuild the Clear Sky Sect within the Heaven Dou Empire spread throughout the entire sect.
The Clear Sky disciples were filled with doubt and curiosity. However, since the decision had been made by the sect leader himself—and the elders all seemed to support it—they could only carry out the tasks assigned to them.
Team by team, disciples departed for the Heaven Dou Empire, each heading in different directions.
By the end of the month, only young disciples and a few older ones remained in the sect.
With the sect enveloped in an eerie silence, more than a month slowly passed…
---
Mimicry Cultivation Room
Atop the massive hammerhead, Tang Xiao sat cross-legged. His upper body was bare, his explosive muscles bulging as if they contained unimaginable strength waiting to erupt.
Six soul rings circled his body rhythmically—two yellow, two purple, and two black. In addition, the vague outline of a seventh black soul ring could be seen materializing, yet it felt unreal, as if it might dissipate at any moment.
Dense crimson soul power spiraled through the surrounding space. Upon closer inspection, fragments of shattered black soul rings could be seen slowly transforming into red soul power, dissolving steadily into his body.
It had been two days since Tang Xiao detonated his seventh soul ring. Today, he detonated his eighth ring, carefully sensing every change within his body while spiritually communicating with his martial soul.
As time passed and all the soul ring fragments were absorbed, Tang Xiao's soul power stopped increasing. At that moment, the concentrated spiritual power he had released snapped back into him like lightning.
Circulating his soul power, he gently expelled the foreign energy lingering within his body. His physical state returned to normal, containing only his own cultivated soul power.
The process of controlling his soul power felt like a divine artist painting delicate strokes—beautiful, natural, and effortless.
"The feeling I had when detonating my eighth ring… it was indeed correct."
Tang Xiao slowly opened his eyes, joy flickering within his gaze.
"Unlike my other soul rings, which were deeply ingrained into my Clear Sky Hammer, this eighth soul ring—being the most recently absorbed—has a noticeably looser attachment."
After conducting a second round of experiments, Tang Xiao fully confirmed the vague sensation he had felt during his initial test of the ring detonation technique.
Relying on his extraordinary control over soul power and his Spirit Abyss Realm mental strength, he patiently examined every subtle change that occurred whenever a soul ring detonated.
After these two experiments, Tang Xiao gained a complete grasp of the ring detonation secret technique of the Great Sumeru Hammer. His understanding had reached the level of a veteran who had used the technique hundreds of times.
And the conclusion he reached was—
Tang Hao had been right.
If one used the ring detonation technique again before the thirty-six-day cooldown period ended, the soul ring would permanently disappear. And the damage would be irreversible.
The reason lay in the connection between soul rings and martial souls.
Whenever a soul ring was newly absorbed, although it greatly enhanced the physical body and fused with it, its final destination was always the martial soul.
Each soul ring formed an unbreakable bond with the martial soul, allowing soul skills to be released effortlessly. As time passed, the soul ring would completely merge with the martial soul, interlinking with its very origin.
At that point, calling the martial soul and soul ring a single entity would not be an exaggeration.
Damage to one would inevitably rebound upon the other.
Furthermore, as more soul rings were added, the earlier rings would merge even more thoroughly with the martial soul.
Thus, if someone used the ring detonation technique a second time within the cooldown period and permanently destroyed a soul ring, the martial soul's origin would suffer irreparable damage—damage that would prevent another soul ring from ever being absorbed in its place.
At that stage, the person would lose their soul ring/s entirely, retaining only their soul power—just as Tang Hao had warned.
More importantly, if all soul rings were destroyed, the martial soul's origin itself would collapse, rendering the martial soul impossible to summon.
No wonder the Clear Sky Sect's Great Sumeru Hammer users had never attempted to repeatedly destroy and reabsorb soul rings, as Tang Xiao had once speculated.
They simply couldn't.
And Tang Xiao was mostly no different from them.
But only mostly.
Although Tang Xiao confirmed that permanently destroying a soul ring would prevent him from replacing it and damage his martial soul's origin, this restriction applied only to his first seven rings.
His eighth ring was different—it could be completely removed.
After consuming four immortal herbs, Tang Xiao's foundation lacked nothing. His evolved super-grade martial soul overflowed with origin power, enough to withstand the removal of the eighth soul ring without suffering damage.
Even if damage occurred, it would be minor. And with immortal herbs available, recovery would not be difficult.
But his instincts told him—there was no need. His martial soul could perfectly endure the removal.
Even the seventh soul ring… There was a slim chance it could also be replaced.
However, since it had been absorbed decades ago—and with the eighth ring layered atop it—destroying it would likely annihilate thirty to forty percent of his martial soul's origin.
To recover such damage, Tang Xiao had no idea how many immortal herbs would be required.
"Based on my understanding of immortal herb origin essence… perhaps ten."
"And my battle prowess would decline significantly during the recovery period."
Recovering without immortal herbs?
Impossible.
"Mu En from Douluo Dalu II is the perfect example," Tang Xiao chuckled softly. "Even at level ninety-nine, he could only await death after his martial soul origin was damaged."
His expression soon turned solemn.
"The seventh soul ring… replacing it with a hundred-thousand-year red soul ring would indeed provide a tremendous boost, especially since it affects the Martial Soul Avatar."
"But the cost…"
"It's far too high."
Tang Xiao sighed.
If he wanted to replace the seventh ring, the decision had to be made quickly. Once the ninth soul ring was absorbed, the seventh ring's attachment would be fully completed, making replacement utterly impossible.
If he intended to act, it had to be before destroying and reabsorbing the eighth ring.
Tang Xiao weighed his options carefully.
Finally, he exhaled heavily.
The cost was too great. The risk was too high.
Ten immortal herbs—while he might scrape together that number from the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Pool—he didn't even know how to properly consume most of them.
And if he used everything…
Then his plan to raise his son or daughter into a god would have to be abandoned.
Even worse, ten herbs was only an estimate.
If his martial soul recovered to ninety-nine percent but not a full hundred, it could permanently block his path to level ninety-nine.
The price was unacceptable.
"Forget it."
"With two red soul rings alone, once I reach level ninety-nine… even if Bo Saixi and Qian Daoliu join forces against me in the sea, I'm confident I can fight them."
After careful consideration, Tang Xiao made his decision.
With the Great Sumeru Hammer technique and his evolved martial soul, possessing two red soul rings would grant him at least five times the combat power of Tang Chen at his peak.
Although Tang Chen had lost to Bo Saixi, Tang Xiao was confident that—even without red soul rings—his martial soul and Great Sumeru technique would allow him to fight her head-on.
With an evolved martial soul, Tang Xiao was destined to stand above both Tang Chen and Tang Hao. Under the same soul power and soul ring conditions, his strength would crush theirs by a factor of 2.5.
Even if Bo Saixi was equivalent to two Tang Chens within the sea, he could still fight her.
And with two red soul rings?
Facing Bo Saixi and Qian Daoliu together would no longer be an issue.
"Well… whether that's truly the case can only be confirmed through battle."
"And even if it isn't—so what? It's not like I'll ever have to face them together."
"If anything… Bo Saixi is my grandmother, no?" Tang Xiao chuckled lewdly, recalling the stunning woman in red from his memories.
Then again…
Tang Chen really was an old dog—to fall in love after marriage, even with grandchildren already.
"Ah… sweet romance in old age," Tang Xiao sighed with admiration. "Abandoning everything in pursuit of godhood… my grandfather truly was a man."