Spirit Realm

At the secret underground room.

Qin Lie’s Soul Beast avatar was lying on the floor like a dead object. It didn’t exude even the slightest hint of soul presence.

However, a giant Soul Tree was floating above it. In fact, its thick branches were shaking violently like octopus tentacles.

A powerful soul aura was emanating from the Soul Tree itself. It filled up the entire underground palace.

The wriggling Soul Tree’s trunk and roots were swelling bit by bit eerily.

The Soul Beast avatar was currently evolving to rank ten through a special method.

Unlike humans or other flesh and blood beings, a Soul Race clansman’s breakthrough lay in their soul.

The Soul Beast avatar was just a flesh puppet to them. If the main soul was powerful enough, they could even control several Soul Beast avatars at once.

The Soul Race’s bloodline was different from other races. What it really referred to was actually the “soulline”.

When someone said that a Soul Race clansman was at rank ten bloodline, what they actually meant was rank ten soulline. However, the Soul Race didn’t want to be judged differently from other flesh and blood races, which was why they had used the term “bloodline” to refer to their “soulline” as well.

Every branch on a Soul Tree represented a soul servant.

In Qin Lie’s eyes, the Soul Tree’s branches were similar to the muscles and veins of a flesh and blood being.

The only difference between the two life forms was that blood flowed inside a flesh and blood being’s veins, whereas refined souls flowed inside the Soul Tree’s branches.

Moreover, the refined souls flowing inside the branches were the purest of soul energies!

If there was another person present at the secret underground room, they would notice a strange, black light flowing inside the Soul Tree’s branches.

A wave of thick, pure soul energy suddenly poured into the Soul Tree’s roots and trunk from a tree branch as if overflowing.

Within a certain range, two Soul Race clansmen could detect each other’s soul.

The more powerful a Soul Race clansman was, the clearer and further they could sense the other party.

Qin Lie’s subsoul was a product of his True Soul and three Soul Race generals.

Moreover, his True Soul had also inherited the Soul Progenitor’s soul origin.

Strictly speaking, none of his relatives were connected to the Soul Progenitor through the soul.

He was the only one in his family who was born with two souls, and he was the only one inherited the soulline from the Soul Progenitor after several generations.

Qin Lie’s unusual soul composition proved that he was imprinted with the Soul Progenitor’s soul mark from the beginning.

The Soul Progenitor might have been a fusion between Qin Tian and the Soul Race’s First Prince, but the First Prince was undoubtedly the cause of his unusual soul.

Going further up the line, both the First Prince and the two Soul Race clansmen’s soul imprints and soul origins had come from the Imperial Soul Monarch.

When two flesh and blood beings—siblings, for example—were tied by blood, they could usually sense each other in some ways.

Qin Lie and the two Soul Race’s princes shared the same soul origin—the Imperial Soul Monarch—so their soul cores must come from the same source as well.

Maybe that was why his Soul Beast avatar was able to sense the two princes so clearly while it was ascending to rank ten. The strength of its soul was a big factor as well.

Although the Central World and the Land of Chaos were extremely far apart from each other, Qin Lie could still sense their presence clearly.

Since the detection worked both ways, he was certain that the two princes of the Soul Race had noticed his presence at the Central World too!

His Soul Tree shook violently inside the silent palace.

Suddenly, his true body flashed into existence next to the Soul Beast avatar.

Qin Lie shot a look at the giant Soul Tree, pondered for a moment, and sat down on the floor.

He tapped his glabella once with his finger, and the embedded Soul Suppressing Orb suddenly glowed darkly before flying out into the air.

The Soul Suppressing Orb floated above the giant Soul Tree as it grew brighter. The blackish light it emanated seemed to wrap around the entire Soul Tree.

It almost looked like a huge, eerie eyeball floating in the air.

The Soul Suppressing Orb seemed capable of averting any mishaps while the Soul Tree was evolving.

Qin Lie noticed that the Soul Tree’s roots and trunk was swelling faster and faster.

He also noticed that the branches were growing thicker as well.

At the same time, countless Soul Race runes containing souls’ core secrets kept circulating and blinking throughout the leaves and the branches of the Soul Tree.

On the verge of a breakthrough, many hidden and wonderful soul secret arts started pouring into his soul origin like rivers.

As a result, his grasp over the Soul Race’s secret arts and soulline’s inheritance grew deeper and better.

In fact, the change hadn’t only affected him.

The giant Soul Tree’s transformation was affecting his subsoul and his soul servants as well!

Zhuang Jing was speaking with Lin Jie in a room when an electrifying shiver suddenly coursed through her entire body.

Falling silent all of a sudden, she sat down on the floor as astonishment and shock flashed across her eyes.

A look of mad joy suddenly appeared on Zhuang Jing’s face.

An instant later, Lin Jie saw tiny bits of lightning and black runes that looked like tiny orbs swimming inside Zhuang Jing’s pupils.

Moreover, a strange soul ripple started spreading out from Zhuang Jing’s body. The woman had to adjust her breathing constantly and suppress the shock she was really feeling.

A small part of Zhuang Jing’s soul was attached to the Soul Tree. Right now, it was absorbing a large amount of soul secrets and power frenziedly through an unassuming tree branch and transferring it all back to Zhuang Jing.

All kinds of soul secret arts had opened up to her in that moment.

Thanks to the soul origin she had submitted to Qin Lie, she was now able to absorb all the Soul Race secret arts that were coursing through the Soul Tree through the tree branch that represented her.

Not only was she gaining a huge amount of knowledge by the second, the branch that represented her on the Soul Tree was undergoing its own tiny transformation.

She could sense an overflowing amount of refined soul energy inside the Soul Tree.

This overflowing soul energy was passing through the branch and pouring straight into her soul.

A plethora of soul secret arts, the Soul Race’s secrets and a stream of pure soul energy were all flowing into her.

How could Zhuang Jing not be overjoyed by this?

“Soul servant, soul servant! Who knew that a soul servant could grow alongside their master and obtain all these rewards!” she exclaimed while shivering.

Lin Jie stared at Zhuang Jing enviously while sensing the strange waves of energy emanating from her body, and the strange bits of lightning and Soul Race runes swimming inside her eyes.

She knew that it was very possible that Zhuang Jing was going to achieve a breakthrough thanks to this boon.

While she was happy for Zhuang Jing, she also couldn’t help but be disappointed at herself. She was starting to regret her own self-important attitude many years ago.

If she had submitted her soul origin to Qin Lie without hesitation when the latter was still willing, she would’ve gained a huge amount of benefits just like Zhuang Jing, wouldn’t she?

Lin Jie sighed deeply in regret.

Meanwhile, at Rock Calamity Domain.

Curtis, the Asura Race clansmen and even the Lizard Progenitor suddenly shuddered in unison.

“Are you all sensing this?” Curtis’s eyes burned fiercely.

The rest of the Void Realm Asura Race clansmen were just as excited as he was. Some of the experienced ones were even shouting, “Our master is ascending to rank ten right now! We must grasp this opportunity and enjoy this feast of souls to our hearts’ content!”

These Asura clansmen had become Cadak’s soul servants since a long time ago!

In fact, a lot of them had acquired a plethora of soul secret arts, soul energy and soul knowledge when Cadak was ascending to rank nine.

That was why they knew full well the meaning behind this transformation!

“We are…” The Lizard Progenitor exclaimed.

He could sense his soul changing in strange ways just like the rest of the Asura Race clansmen, but since this was the first time he was experiencing this, he was feeling a little afraid as well.

“Our master is about to ascend to rank ten. During this period, our souls and his Soul Tree will become deeply connected with one another, and any soul secret art or profound secret of the Soul Race that is opened to him will be opened to us as well. What this means is that we will be gaining far more benefits than usual, and we will be able to study the true secrets of the soul while our master is achieving a breakthrough!” Curtis explained.

The Lizard Progenitor looked overjoyed when he heard this.

Currently, every Ninth Heaven martial practitioner that resided in Rock Calamity Domain had been killed to the last.

The only reason they were still staying in Rock Calamity Domain was because they were searching for underground ore veins and spirit materials Ninth Heaven had already excavated.

In fact, they were just about to carry their findings back to Boluo Realm.

“Good luck, everyone!” Curtis yelled.

“Good luck!” the Asura Race clansmen responded.

After that, the soul servants sat on the floor and started absorbing the Soul Race’s secret arts through their branches, just like Zhuang Jing.

Every one of their eyes was flashing with pitch black light and lightning bits.

All kinds of Soul Race secret arts and powerful soul energy were pouring into their soul origin from the Soul Tree’s branches.

“Roar!”

Curtis suddenly looked up and let out a long howl. It was filled with joy and excitement.

It was because he had successfully crushed the so-called wall that was blocking his way to higher bloodline rank and Soul Altar level in an instant.

Not only had he become a rank ten Asura martial practitioner in an instant, he was now free to build the seventh level of his Soul Altar as well!

He had taken a step forward in terms of bloodline just like his master, Qin Lie.

As a soul servant, his bloodline rank and his Soul Altar had been at their limit since a long time ago.

The reason he hadn’t made a breakthrough until now was because his master was still at rank nine back then. He had had to watch himself.

In this regard, the Lizard Progenitor was different was because he was already at rank ten from the moment he became a soul servant.

He had been waiting all this time for his master to break through the limits of his soulline and enter rank ten.

Only then would he be allowed to ascend himself.

The idiom “the guest shouldn’t outshine the host” was referring to a case like him.

As a soul servant, he wasn’t allowed to achieve a careless breakthrough and become a threat to his master’s rule.

There were several late stage Void Realm Asura experts besides Curtis who were experiencing the same dilemma. That was why they were overjoyed to see Curtis’s breakthrough.

They themselves could sense that the invisible wall that had been stopping them from ascending higher had vanished completely.

It meant that they could all enter the next realm and stage of power in the near future!