Chapter 61: Goodwill Greatly Increased, the Secret of Deep Dual Cultivation

(The reference image of Qian Renxue's appearance in this book can be viewed on QQ Reading or Starting Point.)

——————

With the opening of the White Tiger martial soul, ring after ring of soul rings rose beneath Dai Xiyu's feet.

Yellow, purple, black, black, black, red!

At the moment the sixth red soul ring appeared, Qian Renxue stared wide-eyed in utter shock.

A six-ring Soul Emperor, and the sixth soul ring is a ten-thousand-year one!

"You've advanced to Soul Emperor? So fast!"

It's no wonder Qian Renxue is shocked, for no matter how monstrous one's talent, after rank fifty it's impossible to advance so easily.

Moreover, between rank fifty and rank sixty there is also a bottleneck at rank fifty-nine.

Even if it's not as major as the rank sixty-nine bottleneck, it's not something that can be easily crossed in just a month or two.

Moreover, Dai Xiyu also absorbed a ten-thousand-year soul ring!

Back then, Bibi Dong spent who-knows-how much effort searching for a ten-thousand-year soul ring.

Now, merely a rank-sixty Dai Xiyu actually possesses a ten-thousand-year soul ring so easily.

Whoever was in this situation would probably not be able to stay calm.

Seeing Qian Renxue's shocked expression, Dai Xiyu said calmly:

"Just good luck; this ten-thousand-year soul ring of mine is a bargain find, and I don't even have a soul bone."

"However, the soul power boost from a ten-thousand-year soul ring is not low. I originally cultivated to rank sixty, and after absorbing this ten-thousand-year soul ring I have reached rank sixty-four."

Hearing Dai Xiyu say that, Qian Renxue couldn't help but nod.

A ten-thousand-year soul ring helping a Soul Emperor rise four ranks is a quite reasonable range.

However, after the surprise, Qian Renxue shook her head again.

"Even if you break through to rank sixty-four, it's still hard to reach Soul Saint within three months."

"Rank sixty-nine is a huge bottleneck; breaking through it is countless times harder than rank fifty-nine. With only three months, even breaking the bottleneck is difficult, let alone advancing from rank sixty-four."

What Qian Renxue said is correct; many talented Soul Masters need two or three years to break through rank sixty-nine.

Even if talent is higher, achieving twin martial souls or innate full soul power at rank twenty, without external assistance, breaking through the rank sixty-nine bottleneck still requires at least a year.

So, although happy for Dai Xiyu, Qian Renxue still thinks the situation is not optimistic.

Seeing this, Dai Xiyu also retracted his martial soul and sat back on the bed.

Apparently offhand, he sighed and said, "If we could further deep dual cultivate, that would be great; my soul power could explode in growth, reaching the rank seventy-nine bottleneck in three months would not be impossible."

Qian Renxue blinked, then instinctively asked, "Deep dual cultivation? If it can rapidly increase soul power, what's not allowed? Why didn't you say so earlier."

Qian Renxue found it strange; since deep dual cultivation can have such high effect, Dai Xiyu should have brought it out earlier.

If we could reach rank seventy-nine within three months, plus the rank eighty-six former head of Star Luo Royal Academy, we wouldn't need to worry about Luo Er Di Ya La and Sa La Si.

By then, even if we can't win, escaping back to Star Luo would probably still be simple.

Dai Xiyu gave Qian Renxue a strange look, shook his head, and sighed:

"Useless, my deep dual cultivation can only be done with an opposite-sex partner with whom I've long practiced shallow dual cultivation. Although we've done shallow dual cultivation for two months, meeting one condition, you're a big man and cannot deep dual cultivate with me."

Qian Renxue's brain couldn't catch up for a moment, and she asked naively, "Why must it be with the opposite sex?"

Dai Xiyu held back a laugh, leaned close to Qian Renxue's ear, and muttered a few words.

In an instant, Qian Renxue's eyes widened, her face reddening to the base of her neck, like a flaming cloud.

She had just wanted to call Dai Xiyu a pervert, but she forced herself to endure and put on a calm, carefree appearance.

Almost forgot, her current guise is that of the Tian Dou Empire's great crown prince, not the Spirit Hall's young master Qian Renxue.

Between men, chatting a bit about risqué topics in private seems rather normal.

Qian Renxue thought her soul bone disguise was very good, but little did she know, in Dai Xiyu's eyes that shy appearance was already fully exposed.

Dai Xiyu sighed and said:

"That's why I say it's a pity; if we could deep dual cultivate, we'd have nothing to fear from those two White Gold Bishops."

Qian Renxue's two fair, slender hands clasped together, and after a moment she whispered:

"Or… how about finding a suitable one at the academy and pursuing them? With your talent and status, you should easily be able to win them over…"

"In that case, we still have three months; using shallow dual cultivation to get used to each other would be enough."

Dai Xiyu glanced at Qian Renxue and said, "Then does your academy have anyone with talent comparable to yours? Not many needed; innate soul power above rank nine and cultivation over rank forty will do."

Qian Renxue thought carefully; it seems that in the Tian Dou Royal Academy, nobody meets even one of those two conditions.

The Tian Dou Royal Academy looks glamorous on the surface, but in reality it's just propped up by Qian Renxue alone.

Besides Qian Renxue, there isn't even an innate rank seven, and the highest soul power among the students is only just over rank thirty.

By the time Qian Renxue graduates, the Tian Dou Royal Academy simply can't compare to the Star Luo Royal Academy; overall strength is lacking by a whole tier.

The conditions Dai Xiyu mentioned can be fully met by only Qian Renxue.

Actually, this isn't Dai Xiyu making excuses.

He once tried dual cultivating with someone whose qi luck was under two hundred thousand, but it produced hardly any effect.

Once he got the chance, he dual cultivated for an hour with Zhu Zhu Yun, whose qi luck was 190,000; the result was that Dai Xiyu didn't gain any qi luck at all, and Zhu Zhu Yun only gained 1,000 points of qi luck in that hour.

At that rate, even if they dual cultivated nonstop for twenty-four hours a day, they could only increase the other's qi luck by over twenty thousand, which is still less than what half an hour of dual cultivation with Qian Renxue adds; it's really too slow.

If the initial qi luck is below one hundred thousand, the efficiency becomes absurdly low.

Therefore, everything Dai Xiyu said is true.

However, he replaced the initial qi luck with a more stringent personal talent condition.

Now we're a bit stuck; in this crisis, the only solution still doesn't work.

Qian Renxue fell silent, her face flushing with waves of red, not knowing what she was thinking.

After a while, she finally smiled and said, "Then we can only take it step by step; who knows, maybe a turning point will appear."

Just as Qian Renxue said those words.

A special notification popped up in the upper left of Dai Xiyu's field of view.

【Gain from Qian Renxue's fortune +2,000,000】

The timing of this notification is somewhat off; logically it should have appeared when Qian Renxue was just moved by me.

Its appearance now shows that Qian Renxue's favor toward me has increased significantly, and our relationship has made noticeable progress again.

After thinking, Dai Xiyu couldn't help but smile, then Qian Renxue said:

"I hope so."

Between men and women, there's never much truly pure friendship—it's just fortune perched on one's head.

With such a good opportunity, Dai Xiyu naturally wanted to take advantage and push further.

Currently, Dai Xiyu is invincible below rank seventy-six; if he can break through to Soul Saint in three months, then even facing the White Platinum Bishop Luo Erdi Ala would pose no worry at all.

By then, Dai Xiyu could use cognitive interference for strong control, and perhaps gain a Soul Douluo‑level escort along the way.

……

Meanwhile.

Heavenly Fight City, Spirit Hall branch, inside the council chamber.

Two middle‑aged men wearing white robes embroidered with gold sat opposite each other at the head seats of the round table.

The relatively younger one kept tapping his right hand on the tabletop, making a soft "tap‑tap" sound, as if waiting for something.

He is Luo Erdi Ala, the newly appointed White Platinum Bishop of the Spirit Hall, the most tragic Soul Douluo in the original story, and also a spy planted by Pope Bibi Dong to monitor Qian Renxue.

Not long after, shadows shifted in the room, and the Black‑robed Bishop previously dispatched appeared at the doorway, bowing to Luo Erdi Ala.

"My lord, I'm back."

Luo Erdi Ala turned his head and asked, "How did it go, young mistress? What did she say?"

The Black‑robed Bishop said, "The young mistress refuses to act; she says she wants to win over Dai Xiyu and make him an insider for the Star Luo Empire."

Hearing this, Luo Erdi Ala furrowed his brow.

On the other side, the wrinkled Saras said, "The young mistress is still too young; that Dai Xiyu is a constant grave danger and must not be allowed to return to the mountains."

Luo Erdi Ala shook his head and said, "I only worry that prolonged contact will cause the young mistress to develop unnecessary feelings for that guy."

"In that case, our plan could be affected."

Saras then said:

"No matter what, we must not let Dai Xiyu return alive to the Star Luo Empire. From now on, cut off all information the academy sends to Star Luo, and don't let the delegation call for reinforcements."

Luo Erdi Ala also nodded and said, "Also, have the academy personnel closely monitor Dai Xiyu's movements; he must not be allowed to escape."

The Black‑robed Bishop lowered his head in assent and melted into the shadows.

Luo Erdi Ala and Saras then exchanged a glance.

Saras said, "We should also prepare—gather some personnel from other branches, and when the time comes try to take out that old coot Modir as well, to avoid future trouble."

Having said that, the two rose together and left the council chamber.

……

In the following period, Dai Xiyu did not pay special attention to Saras and the others' actions.

From the moment they laid their cards on the table, Dai Xiyu and Qian Renxue entered a state of frantic cultivation.

Each day, aside from attending classes and eating, all spare time was devoted to dual cultivation.

In this state, Dai Xiyu could gain over seventy thousand fortune each day.

Qian Renxue, however, was even more terrifying—at the start she could increase her fortune by over six hundred thousand per day.

Until the sixth day, when Qian Renxue's fortune surpassed thirty million, did it begin to slow.

Even so, after subtracting what Dai Xiyu plundered, she could still harvest several ten‑thousand each day.

And just like that, three months passed in a flash.

On the morning of the Graduation Soul Battle, Dai Xiyu opened his eyes and looked at the fortune hovering above Qian Renxue's head.

【42429681】

Half a year ago, Qian Renxue's fortune was only twenty million.

Now half a year later, it has more than doubled.

At this moment, Dai Xiyu's own fortune remains only a little over three hundred ninety thousand.

It's not that Dai Xiyu's fortune ran into trouble; rather, all the fortune he gained during this period was exchanged for soul power.

In the store he repeatedly exchanged third‑tier soul power, spending a total of 9.6 million fortune, leaving his balance at only these few hundred thousand.

Now, Dai Xiyu's soul power has reached rank sixty‑nine.

According to others, Dai Xiyu has already touched the second‑largest bottleneck in a soul master's career.

—Without doubt, the top bottleneck is from rank eighty‑nine to ninety.

Advancing from sixty‑nine to seventy involves a change in the martial soul's true form, making the breakthrough extremely difficult.

If relying solely on gradual personal training, success might not come even in a year of monkeys and horses.

Yet his remaining fortune is now insufficient to support purchasing more soul power.

The next level of soul power costs 3.6 million fortune, and Dai Xiyu has so far saved only one‑tenth of that.

Speaking of this, Dai Xiyu couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh.

Since Qian Renxue's favor surged and she contributed a lump sum of two million fortune.

Each morning after cultivation ends, she has not contributed any extra fortune since.

In other words, under the current relationship, Qian Renxue's favor toward me has been maxed out.

If you want to keep increasing affection and plunder fortune, you can only break through to the next level of relationship.

That level of relationship, Dai Xiyu had a premonition; it shouldn't be far off.

At this moment, Qian Renxue also awoke from her cultivation.

As soon as she opened her eyes, Qian Renxue anxiously asked, "How is it? Did you break through?"

The breakthrough she referred to naturally meant asking Dai Xiyu whether he had broken through the bottleneck of rank sixty‑nine.

Three days ago, Dai Xiyu had already told Qian Renxue that he had reached rank sixty‑nine.

With only three days left, Qian Renxue had already given up hope; her question now was merely a wish for a miracle.

After all, whether Dai Xiyu breaks through could affect some of Qian Renxue's upcoming choices.

Without any surprise, Dai Xiyu shook his head and said, "I'm still far from breaking through; there's probably no hope."

The miracle did not appear, and Qian Renxue fell silent.

After a while, in the quiet air, Qian Renxue's voice sounded once again.

"Xiyu."

"Huh?"

"After the final spirit duel ends, I have something to tell you."

Before Dai Xiyu could speak, Qian Renxue continued, "Can you promise me that, no matter what I say to you then, you won't despise me or sever our ties?"

Dai Xiyu smiled, flicked her clean forehead with his finger, and said at the same time:

"How could it be? I've said before, you will always be my best friend; no matter what you become, I will always be me."

Hearing Dai Xiyu's affirmative reply, Qian Renxue finally blossomed into a smile like a flower.

She got out of bed, took Dai Xiyu's right hand, and said, "Come on, today is my graduation spirit duel ceremony, and also the last day of your visiting team at the academy—don't be late."

Dai Xiyu had already anticipated what Qian Renxue would do, so his mood was good; he naturally put on his shoes, got out of bed, and went with her to the bathroom to wash up.

After they were ready, the two left the dormitory together and headed for the Central Spirit Arena of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

(End of chapter)