Another month had passed.
It had already been one month since Xiao Lin and his companions returned to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well after their trip to Heaven Dou City.
During that time, all four of them had made noticeable progress — each had gained another level.
Now, Xiao Lin's spirit power was at Level 49, Tang San's at Level 47, Xiao Wu's at Level 49, and Tang Ni's at Level 44.
Thanks to his Chaotic Right Leg Bone and the abundant ice–fire spiritual energy here, Xiao Lin's cultivation speed had been quite fast.
Tang Ni's progress, on the other hand, was slower — the power of her "extreme attribute" made advancement harder.
Still, despite her lower rank, Tang Ni's actual combat ability surpassed both Tang San (when using only his Blue Silver Emperor spirit) and Xiao Wu.
Yet, even with all his confidence, Xiao Lin found it hard to believe how quickly his own spirit power had grown.
Could it be that his spirit power still wasn't compressed enough?Otherwise, how could he be advancing this fast?
"Brother Lin, we're almost Level 50 now," Xiao Wu said one day near the Ice and Fire Well. "Why don't we go get our spirit rings? It's so boring here!"
"Spirit rings?"
At her words, Xiao Lin immediately opened his eyes.
"That's a good idea. I've been wanting to head to Thunder Canyon to get a ring. It's pretty far from here — enough time for us to hit Level 50 on the way."
He nodded slightly. To him, becoming stronger was always the right choice.
"Brother Lin, are you sure about this?"
Tang San frowned, his tone skeptical.
"Xiao Wu I can understand — she's got the King of Immortal Herbs in her body. The medicinal energy alone could push her straight to Level 50."
"But you, Brother Lin… if you stop training here, your cultivation speed should be about the same as any ordinary person, right?"
Tang San rubbed his chin seriously.
In his original timeline, it had taken him six full years to go from Level 10 to Level 29.Excluding the spirit ring boosts, that was about three levels per year.
Now that Xiao Lin was already a Soul Ancestor, even one level of progress should normally take half a year — at the very least.
Unless… Xiao Lin had absorbed that ten-thousand-year soul bone, the Chasing Wind Left Arm Bone.
Hearing Tang San's reasoning, Xiao Wu finally realized — Xiao Lin's progress was tied to the abundant energy here at the Ice and Fire Well.
Without it, he could never have advanced at the same speed as her.
Tang Ni nodded quietly in agreement.
It really would be better to wait until Level 50 before hunting for spirit rings.
"小了,格局小了."
"You're thinking too small," Xiao Lin said, wagging his finger with a playful smile.
"To tell you the truth, in the past month, I've developed a new theory — the Soul Core Acceleration Theory."
"In simple terms, a soul core can be used to accelerate cultivation."
At first, that sounded obvious — but Tang San and the others knew Xiao Lin wasn't like Yu Xiaogang; there must be something deeper.
"Brother Lin, just say it straight," Tang San urged eagerly.
Seeing both Tang San and Xiao Wu's expectant faces, Xiao Lin was very satisfied.
He glanced toward Tang Ni too — she only looked his way from the corner of her eye, feigning indifference though she was clearly listening.
Chuckling, Xiao Lin took out two ten-thousand-year soul bones.
"Look closely — do you notice anything different about these two?"
Tang San immediately activated his Purple Demon Eye to inspect them.
Moments later, his expression changed.
"These soul bones… they're filled with ice–fire spiritual energy!"
He was stunned. That shouldn't have been possible — wasn't this kind of accumulation supposed to take ages?
If they could inject their own spirit power into soul bones, they could make the bones absorb energy and even increase their age.
Could it be that Brother Lin had already completed the soul bone enhancement theory?
Tang San looked at Xiao Lin with open admiration.
"That's right," Xiao Lin nodded. "The ice–fire energy inside these bones lets me maintain my cultivation rate even while traveling."
"But — that's not what my Soul Core Acceleration Theory is about."
He began to explain:
"A soul core is essentially a highly compressed, rapidly rotating sphere of spirit power.
It can absorb our energy, make it denser, and open more meridians for us to passively draw in more of heaven and earth's essence."
"My idea is to use soul bones as substitutes for soul cores — to build a Spirit-Gathering Formation that speeds up our cultivation."
At that, Tang San's eyes lit up with sudden realization.
"I see! But that would require the soul bones themselves to rotate and actively absorb surrounding energy… how do we make them do that?"
Tang San grasped the concept, but the actual method eluded him.
He knew many spirit power arrays, but spirit-gathering formations were still beyond him.
If it was just about spinning at high speed, he could easily manage it with a soul device.
"Little San, the Spirit-Gathering Formation isn't as complicated as you think," Xiao Lin smiled.
"As long as the gravity inside the array is heavy enough, that's all you need."
"When the gravity inside is strong, the spiritual energy drawn in from the air will naturally get compressed."
"And once that happens, a temporary vacuum forms around the array — constantly pulling in more spiritual energy to fill it."
As Xiao Lin finished, Tang San fell deep into thought.
Then Tang Ni spoke up curiously:
"But how do you make sure the energy inside doesn't leak out? You'd need a completely sealed formation for that, wouldn't you? Otherwise, the energy would just escape."
Her question hit the core issue.
To others, that would be a major obstacle — but to Xiao Lin, it was nothing.
"I can use my Chaos Domain to trap the energy and keep it from escaping."
"As for compression — that's the least of our worries. With four of us, we'll drain it all anyway."
His Chaos Domain could break down even enemy attacks into their basic elements and absorb them.Capturing mere spiritual energy was trivial in comparison.
"In that case," Tang San said, fired up with determination,"I'll get to work — I'll build a gravity-based, high-speed rotating soul device within a few days!"
Though gravity wasn't his specialty, with Xiao Lin's teachings on electricity and circuits, he was confident he could do it.
After all, it was simple: generate magnetism with electricity, then use the magnetic force to make iron spin.
The only problem was… how to create gravity.
Just as that question crossed his mind, Xiao Lin smiled knowingly.
"Don't worry, Little San. As long as an object's density is high enough, its own weight will generate plenty of gravity."
"If that's still not enough, we can use atmospheric pressure. We'll figure it out together."
He placed a reassuring hand on Tang San's shoulder — a gesture of trust and camaraderie.
"Alright!"
Seeing Xiao Lin's confident smile, Tang San felt their bond deepen — and his own resolve ignited anew.
He nodded firmly.
(End of Chapter)