After a slight pause, Huo Yuhao looked at Ling Luochen and spoke:
"You have three choices now.
"First, I will condense an Ultimate Ice attribute soul ring for you in a moment. This soul ring will, in all probability, cause your martial soul attribute to completely evolve into Ultimate Ice.
"However, the price is that your cultivation speed from Rank 50 all the way to Rank 70 will become exceptionally slow.
"Second, I will condense a special soul ring for you. This ring will contain Ultimate Ice level energy that you can absorb.
"It acts like an external 'soul power storage device.' While it won't evolve your martial soul, it can accelerate your cultivation speed.
"However, this method has currently only been tested on thirteen people. Although the success rate is high, there is still a certain amount of risk.
"Third, a standard Ice attribute soul ring containing a trace of Ultimate Ice aura. This will allow your martial soul to take a step forward, but it still won't reach the level of Ultimate Ice.
"This method has no drawbacks and is similar to obtaining a normal soul ring.
"The choice is yours."
Huo Yuhao laid out the three options before Ling Luochen. He didn't like completely arranging things for others (with the exception of Tang San); giving choices and letting people decide for themselves was how he preferred to operate.
"Is the second type similar to the imprint you left on me?"
Ling Luochen suddenly thought of something.
"Mmm, indeed. However, the difference is that the Ultimate Ice energy stored in this soul ring is hundreds of times that of the imprint. As long as your body can handle it and the stored energy is sufficient, you can use this soul ring to maintain 'Ultimate Ice Mode' indefinitely."
"Which means... I... won't need to find you anymore to replenish the imprint's energy?"
Ling Luochen unconsciously clenched her hands against her chest, her eyes fixed intently on Huo Yuhao, waiting for his answer.
"Not necessarily..." Huo Yuhao, who was busy calibrating the "Custom Soul Ring Device," didn't notice Ling Luochen's slightly off expression. He continued calmly:
"The special soul ring of the second type is just a prototype. Although we've confirmed there's likely no danger, it's not 100% yet. So, I will request leave from the academy for you to stay at the Spirit Transmission Pagoda for a while.
"During this time, I will check your soul ring from time to time to ensure no problems arise. Since you are willing to trust me, I must take responsibility for you."
Trust is mutual. Since others gave him 100% trust, Huo Yuhao naturally wouldn't hold anything back.
He had to be responsible for his own people.
However... the same words, falling upon different ears, carried entirely different meanings.
Ling Luochen took a step forward, tightly grasping Huo Yuhao's hand, her eyes burning with intensity:
"I choose the second type!"
"...Huh?" Huo Yuhao blanked for a moment.
"I want the second type!" Ling Luochen raised her volume slightly.
"No, I mean—" Huo Yuhao wanted to say more, but Ling Luochen interrupted him without hesitation.
"I just want the second type!" Her tone was filled with thick determination.
Ling Luochen was fearless. Who cared about uncertainty! Her mind was filled with the phrase "I must take responsibility for you"!
Reason? What reason?! I'm going all in!
"Well... alright."
Huo Yuhao didn't quite know what had happened.
Although he had the ability to sense the emotions of others... can someone tell me why Ling Luochen's current emotion is excitement?
Huo Yuhao was puzzled; Huo Yuhao was greatly shocked.
Nevertheless, since Ling Luochen had made her decision and her attitude was so firm, Huo Yuhao naturally wouldn't go back on his word.
His Ultimate Ice martial soul possessed him, and soul power of the purest ice-blue was injected into the Custom Soul Ring Device. Soon, a singular, ice-blue soul ring slowly emerged.
"This soul ring..."
"This is the result of my latest research. Though it's just a prototype... you can call it an 'Energy Storage Ring'."
From proposing the idea to producing a prototype, Huo Yuhao had spent less than a month.
After all, the so-called "Energy Storage Ring" could be seen as a "lite" version of his "Soul Ring hosting a Soul Core" method. The theories were already established; he just needed to make it universal.
Of course, the current "Energy Storage Ring" couldn't compare to Huo Yuhao's own "External Pseudo-Dantian" that hosted a soul core.
A 25,000-year "Energy Storage Ring" was equivalent to directly increasing Ling Luochen's soul power upper limit by more than 100%! Furthermore, the soul power contained within came from Huo Yuhao's own Ultimate Ice power!
And this wasn't even the limit of this "Energy Storage Ring."
In his vision, the future "Energy Storage Ring" would be able to use "Ring Fusion" methods to gradually increase the limit of storable energy!
For example, if a normal Titled Douluo's total energy is 1, then if they are equipped with nine "Energy Storage Rings," their total soul power would directly reach 10!
With ten times the soul power boost, even just slapping someone with raw soul power could easily kill a Super Douluo under the normal soul master system!
This is the "Brute Force" approach!
Of course, this is only for an average Titled Douluo. What if the subject was a Limit Douluo like Mu En?
With nine Energy Storage Rings and such massive soul power, it was entirely possible for quantity to trigger a qualitative change—thus achieving soul power godhood, just as Huo Yuhao envisioned!
The only problem was that because the "Energy Storage Ring" did not host a soul core like Huo Yuhao's external pseudo-dantian, it couldn't automatically absorb heaven-and-earth primordial energy to convert into stored energy; it had to be recharged manually.
Aside from that, research on the "Energy Storage Ring" wasn't fully complete, so recharging currently required Huo Yuhao to act personally.
After hearing the pros and cons of the "Energy Storage Ring," Ling Luochen nodded. She stepped forward and sat on a pre-prepared prayer mat, immediately beginning the absorption of the soul ring.
She still chose to trust Huo Yuhao.
And by her side, Huo Yuhao did not fail her trust. A golden light swirled in the depths of his eyes; his gaze pierced through clothes, skin, and flesh to watch the soul power within Ling Luochen's body. If a problem occurred, he would intervene at any moment.
The "Energy Storage Ring" had been tested on a total of 42 evil soul masters. Aside from the first four evil soul masters who died instantly, the subsequent 38 evil soul masters showed no issues.
From this result, the "Energy Storage Ring" appeared to be safe, but one can never be too sure—probability is a fickle thing.
"The current experimental subjects are being consumed far too quickly... it seems I need to find an opportunity to release some products targeting evil soul masters to get them to send more people..."
The Scorpion Tiger Douluo and another Titled Douluo evil soul master sent by the Holy Spirit Cult to scout the Spirit Transmission Pagoda and find the missing Scorpion Tiger Douluo had already sacrificed themselves to soul tools after participating in Huo Yuhao's "Soul Severing" experiments.