Chapter 206: The Terrifying Speed of Cultivation

Returning to Heaven Dou City after more than a year, Ning Feiliu felt quite sentimental.

In reality, he had not yet completed the mission of traveling through the Northern Territory of the Douluo Dalu, because... the Northern Territory was larger than he had imagined.

He had not even finished traveling through one-third of it yet, which made him hesitate and spend more time traveling.

But later he discovered that it was truly impossible for him to travel through the entire Northern Territory, because this mission was not a check-in mission.

Instead, it required him to truly "travel" through a place.

It was like asking him to go to Mount Tai for tourism; it wasn't enough to just arrive at the foot of Mount Tai and take a photo to consider the trip finished, but rather he had to climb up Mount Tai...

The difficulty of this was much higher.

It mainly required him to stay in a certain place for a period of time and come into contact with the main local locations; most importantly, the local Great Spirit Arena, the Spirit Hall, and the most powerful family or faction. Only then would the travel be considered complete, which was quite troublesome.

That was why he had been gone for so long; this trip lasted for one year and three months.

But in this year and more, he also had quite a few gains.

Dugu Yan was also very curious about what had happened to him during this year, and Dugu Bo also left with a strange smile on his old face, leaving the two of them to chat alone.

"Feiliu, what happened to you this past year? You said you would come back once every half a year or so, why did it take so long to return?" Dugu Yan asked with a mix of curiosity and complaint.

"Well, I just wanted to travel a bit longer, and I accidentally got carried away and lost track of time," Ning Feiliu said with some helplessness.

He really hadn't expected that he wouldn't finish traveling through the Northern Territory of the Douluo Dalu in over a year, having only covered one-third of it.

Recalling that mission from back when he was still a Spirit Master, where traveling through one cardinal region in a year could increase his soul power by sixteen levels...

That was simply impossible to complete.

He was already a Soul Ancestor now, and even he couldn't finish traveling through one part of the Northern Territory in a year, so back when he was a Spirit Master...

It would probably have been very difficult to complete relying on his own abilities.

However, it wasn't without bugs to exploit, for example... having Dugu Bo, a Title Douluo, take him along.

That would probably be quite fast.

Ning Feiliu smiled at Dugu Yan again and said, "But I did see many interesting things this time, as well as some special Spirit Masters; it was quite interesting."

During his journey through the Northern Territory, he was also constantly helping people—mainly to complete these two missions.

【Obtain sincere gratitude from others; after collecting 10,000 times, you can obtain the Wandering God's harvest—Blessing of Life: Increase intimacy with intelligent beings by 40%, increase the probability of epiphany by 10%. (Still need 2,812 times)】

【Heal 10,000 sick patients, obtain the Verdant God's protection—increase Pharmacology learning ability by 40%. (Still need 3,967 times)】

Although the progress bar for completing the missions was a bit long, Ning Feiliu did them while he was at it.

And returning this time, he also thought of the previous mission.

【Help one hundred wandering souls fulfill their dying wishes, obtain Mordekaiser's Undead Forbidden Arts and Ochen Language Proficiency.】

To help one hundred wandering souls fulfill their dying wishes, the prerequisite was to be able to see these wandering souls.

So he thought of the Blooming Spirit Flower that should have bloomed by now.

Returning this time, if he carried some Blooming Spirit Flowers with him while traveling, he should be able to encounter people who had just died and easily help them fulfill their dying wishes.

Dugu Yan, however, was more interested in the stories of his travels through the Douluo Dalu, and she continued to ask Ning Feiliu what had happened along the way.

Ning Feiliu immediately smiled and told her about the interesting things he encountered during his travels, such as meeting some rather interesting Spirit Masters in the Great Spirit Arena of a certain large city in the Northern Territory.

Like the "orc" Spirit Master who couldn't retract his martial soul due to a martial soul mutation.

Or the summoning-style Spirit Master whose martial soul was both a Beast Spirit and a Tool Spirit.

Or the Beast Spirit Spirit Master who attacked by commanding beasts, just like Yu Xiaogang.

He also saw Spirit Master duos who could use Spirit Fusion Skills.

As for others with all sorts of strange martial souls, that went without saying.

There was one who used their own arm as a martial soul, with soul skills that simply strengthened their arm in various ways; Ning Feiliu hadn't expected that there were Spirit Masters similar to the Body Sect ten thousand years ago.

Perhaps this Spirit Master was the original ancestor of the later Body Sect.

There were also those who attacked with sound waves, those who attacked with light, those with only "half" a Beast Spirit, those who attacked with foul odors, and those whose control method was to trap enemies with a sticky, glue-like liquid...

He even saw a bandit group that wanted to kill him, where one Spirit Master's martial soul was a large piece of glass; besides using the glass as a Hidden Weapon, their attack method was to focus sunlight.

And the efficiency of the focusing was very high, similar to that so-called Fresnel Lens from Ning Feiliu's past life.

Unfortunately, Ning Feiliu had absorbed the Blazing Apricot Delicate and possessed the 【Blessing of the Forging Demigod】, so he didn't fear fire much unless the Spirit Master was of a much higher level than him.

After all, he usually cultivated by directly absorbing that scorching sunlight using the Sunlight Breathing Method.

But Ning Feiliu had truly broadened his horizons.

As expected, the variety of martial souls on the Douluo Dalu was truly countless, and the Spirit Masters' attack means and methods were also very numerous.

The main point was that they were impossible to guard against.

However, Ning Feiliu was too strong now; the mechanism of the Crescent Moon Divine Weapon meant that although he currently only had four Soul Rings, he possessed twenty-four soul skills, as well as the two blessing soul skills: 【Summoning of the Forging God】 and 【Summoning of the Ice and Snow God】.

Then, because he had absorbed the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Blazing Apricot Delicate, he had a pseudo-immunity to water and fire.

Besides that, don't forget that Ning Feiliu also had an incomplete Resurrection Rune and a complete Presence of Mind Rune.

With the existence of Presence of Mind, as long as he didn't frequently use the two blessing soul skills that consumed the most soul power—【Summoning of the Forging God】 and 【Summoning of the Ice and Snow God】—his soul power was sufficient for consumption.

Even if his soul power was exhausted, he still had the Soul Guidance Device, the Steel Sun Box, which could emit light wave attacks and a shield to protect himself.

At the same time, Ning Feiliu's combat experience and martial arts were constantly accumulating; don't forget that Jax had lived for thousands of years.

His experience and martial arts could be described as inexhaustible compared to Singed and Renata.

Currently, he had already accumulated four hundred years of Jax's combat martial arts.

Here on the Douluo Dalu, he was truly an incarnation of a Martial God.

It was also because of this that Ning Feiliu took the initiative to fish for trouble, deliberately baiting some Spirit Masters or bandits with ulterior motives, and then counterattacking to eliminate them.

He even killed quite a few wanted criminals of the Spirit Hall.

"... I eliminated the Soul King leader of that stronghold, and afterwards, I released the civilians in the stronghold." Ning Feiliu smiled as he told Dugu Yan about his seemingly thrilling experience. In fact, after killing that Soul King, he had also obtained a very special item from the bandit stronghold he had occupied—a map recording the location of Slaughter City.

This guy's martial soul was an evil martial soul that could gain strength by devouring others' hearts, but he had committed crimes three years ago and was wanted by the Spirit Hall; he was a bona fide Evil Soul Master, but in the current official terminology of the Spirit Hall, the concept and title of "Evil Soul Master" did not yet exist, and they were likely referred to as Fallen Ones.

In fact, the term "the Spirit Hall" also carries the meaning of distinguishing between Fallen Ones who are evil and causing chaos, and Spirit Masters who possess evil martial souls.

The two are actually not the same; having an evil martial soul does not mean that one is a fallen, evil Spirit Master.

Just like the Scorpion Tiger Douluo during the Peerless Tang Sect era; that person's martial soul was evil, but at the beginning, they had no intention of killing to cultivate.

It was only after discovering their martial soul was evil that they were forced into the "Holy Spirit Cult" to become an Evil Spirit Master.

It is truly somewhat too tragic.

But this Soul King who cultivates by devouring human hearts is different; he is clearly an evil Fallen One, and while he was being hunted by the Spirit Hall, he actually thought about running away to Slaughter City.

But what he did not know was that Slaughter City is not as wonderful as the propaganda about it being a paradise for Fallen Ones...

With his strength, if he went in, he would die even more miserably in minutes.

However, none of this matters anymore; he has already died at the hands of Ning Feiliu.

Dugu Yan was also listening with some worry as Ning Feiliu vividly recounted that thrilling yet safe experience, but since Ning Feiliu had returned safely now, she would not go and blame him for anything.

"Feiliu, you really are just a pushover," she said with some helplessness.

Yes, Ning Feiliu was a pushover, and that had never changed.

And she also liked that Ning Feiliu was so kind, but it was not just his kindness.

She liked his intelligence, his handsome face, his profound knowledge that was different from ordinary people... she liked everything about Ning Feiliu.

"Alright then," Ning Feiliu also said with a smile, "I can't help it, I am just this kind, a good person, handsome and strong, the most perfect man on the Douluo Continent."

He winked playfully at Dugu Yan.

Dugu Yan was stunned for a moment; although she also agreed with Ning Feiliu's point of view, she still scolded him with a smile, "Hmph! Vain! You really have no shame, saying you are the most perfect man on the entire Douluo Continent; aren't you afraid of losing face if you say that out loud?"

"How is that losing face? After all, I am telling the truth!" Ning Feiliu said with a chuckle.

"Hmph, the truth... the most perfect man, your cultivation must be very impressive now, right? Have you reached Title Douluo?" Dugu Yan let out a delicate snort and said.

"And what about you, Sister Yan?" Ning Feiliu asked with a smile, "I am almost about to break through to Soul King now..."

"You are at level 49 soul power?!" Dugu Yan was truly shocked.

She had broken through to Soul Ancestor much earlier than Ning Feiliu, and it had been nearly a year and a half to two years since she consumed the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid; even with the Mysterious Water Pill, she had only increased her soul power by seven levels in total, reaching level 48.

This was naturally only possible because of the talent gained after consuming the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid and the Mysterious Water Pill, as well as the credit of the Moonlight Breathing Method and the Poison Core Gathering Method.

But Dugu Yan's cultivation speed was still too fast.

Let's put it this way: that group of geniuses from Shrek Academy with Tang San, including Oscar who also consumed the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid, was at level 38 soul power after eating the Immortal Herb.

But later, when he broke through to Soul Ancestor, under the condition of working very, very hard—he was stimulated by Ning Fengzhi at the time and wanted to be worthy of Ning Rongrong. (Oscar was the fastest among the Shrek Seven Devils to break through to Soul Ancestor at the time, even with the cultivation speed limitations of an Auxiliary System Soul Master.) For those last two levels of the Soul Elder stage, he spent four and a half months to break through, averaging one level of soul power every two months or so.

Dugu Yan had gained seven levels of soul power at the Soul Ancestor stage; in one year and eight months, which is twenty months, that is also one level of soul power every two to three months.

The gap between one level of soul power at the Soul Elder and Soul Ancestor stages is very large.

This is enough to prove how strong the Moonlight Breathing Method and the Poison Core Method are.

But... if Ning Feiliu had really gone traveling for this one year and three months and reached level 49 soul power, then he would have increased eight levels of soul power in fifteen months.

That is an average of one level of soul power increase in a little over a month, less than two months...

Ning Feiliu smiled and said, "No, what I mean is... I am now one Soul Ring away from breaking through to Soul King, and I came back to absorb a Soul Ring."

Dugu Yan's eyes widened instantly, and she said in disbelief, "Feiliu, you are already at level 50 soul power?!"

Ning Feiliu nodded with a smile and said, "That's right..."

Dugu Yan's eyes widened again, because the current Ning Feiliu was...

When he transmigrated into this body in this world, he was already twelve years and five months old; later, he spent a year and a half in Heaven Dou City, followed by more than a year of traveling.

A Soul King who is fifteen, not yet sixteen years old—this record is truly too terrifying.

But... for Ning Feiliu, it was still slow.

You must know that he has the World Rune "Presence of Mind" imbued on him. Presence of Mind—holding this rune increases soul power growth speed by 100% and soul power recovery speed by 200%! Then he also has the bonus from the travel mission—

【Travel through any one of the Dong Jing, Nan Jing, Xi Jing, or Bei Jing of the Douluo Dalu; during the travel, soul power increase speed is doubled, and after the travel ends, obtain the incomplete rune Revitalization.】

Plus there are the Sunlight Breathing Method and the Moonlight Breathing Method, but the two major cultivation methods cannot double the soul power increase speed; they provide a fixed rate.

For example, before Ning Feiliu ate the Immortal Herb and the Mysterious Water Pill, the soul power he absorbed and increased daily was 0.000001 levels, so the two major cultivation methods gave him an increase of 0.002 levels, adding up to 0.002001.

It does not mean his cultivation speed doubled; even if his talent improved later, the soul power he absorbed daily from the outside world was 0.001 levels, and with the Moonlight Breathing Method and the Sunlight Breathing Method, it would be 0.003, but that cannot be considered his cultivation speed doubling; it was just added on.

However, even so, these soul power increase speeds would double based on this situation; although they are not a multiplicative mechanism between each other, but an additive mechanism.

But it still allowed him to cultivate at nearly four times the speed of conventional cultivation.

The fact that he only increased nine levels of soul power in this one year and three months... is actually because he had to complete the travel mission, which delayed him somewhat.

After all, in his situation, he could not spend most of his day cultivating.

But if he stopped traveling and chose to cultivate soul power, the soul power increase speed bonus from the travel mission would be gone, so it depended on his trade-offs.

But this cultivation speed of his... in Dugu Yan's eyes, how was it slow!

How could this cultivation speed be slow? If Ning Feiliu felt this cultivation speed was slow... then it was time for her to reflect on whether she had not been cultivating properly this past year, which was why her own soul power increase speed was so slow.

Of course, Dugu Yan certainly did not know that Ning Feiliu felt his own cultivation speed was slow.

She was just so shocked that she didn't know what to say, "Feiliu, you really are... making geniuses doubt themselves..."

Not suppressing levels, the main focus is on speed; of course, it also emphasizes some rationality. You saying you suddenly jumped up is definitely impossible.

However, next I will sort out the plot; the protagonist will probably run to Slaughter City and not have any improvement for several years.

(End of chapter)