"Alright, I'll let the two of you communicate first."
The floor ahead opened, and a platform slowly rose upward. Standing upon it, the imposing Sky-Rending Crying Eagle faced Su Qiu directly.
Drawing out a strand of spiritual power, Su Qiu connected his mind with that of the soul beast.
The moment the connection was established, a violent aura surged toward him.
"Leave"
The impatient, piercing cry suddenly stopped. Unlike the humans who had come before, the Sky-Rending Crying Eagle sensed a strange power within this one, something that made it both uneasy and strangely at ease at the same time, a deeply contradictory feeling.
"Human… what do you want?"
This time, its cry sounded gentle and clear.
Just over a thousand years old and already possessing the intelligence to communicate normally with humans? Su Qiu was astonished. With intelligence like this, ten thousand years ago it would have been virtually guaranteed to reach the hundred-thousand-year level.
"Will you become my spirit soul?" Su Qiu went straight to the point. "Please entrust the rest of your life to me."
"Human, you are arrogant," the eagle replied disdainfully.
"Why should I choose you?"
There's hope.
Su Qiu's eyes lit up. In matters of spirit contracts, the fact that the other party had not refused outright already indicated a leaning toward agreement.
He gently invoked the power of the Sword of Promised Victory. He knew clearly what set him apart from others, this was the only power capable of attracting the soul beast.
A sacred, ethereal, yet immensely powerful aura slowly emerged.
"Well? What about now?"
"…."
The Sky-Rending Crying Eagle did not answer, falling into silence.
After a moment of thought, Su Qiu drew upon the power of the Holy Lance as well.
"Agreed."
This time, before Su Qiu could even ask, the eagle gave its answer. It had sensed a power that stood above all things, though still faint, like a newborn spirit. It did not suppress the eagle; rather, its sheer noble nature drew it in irresistibly.
The spiritual powers of man and beast began to resonate.
Radiant light burst from the eagle's body, gradually enveloping its entire form until it dissolved into a sphere of light.
From the void above, several beams of light descended, spiraling downward and wrapping around Su Qiu.
Off to the side, Su Wuyan, who had been tense the entire time, finally relaxed. He could sense that the contract was being formed; it seemed the communication between Su Qiu and the spirit soul had gone smoothly.
Using the spirit contract as a bridge, their auras intertwined. The shrinking sphere of light transformed from the Sky-Rending Crying Eagle and entered Su Qiu's body.
At that moment, all the surrounding phenomena froze briefly before flowing into him like a swirling current.
A mysterious purple soul ring then rose into the air. Upon closer inspection, faint green-gold patterns could be seen engraved across its surface, elegant and noble.
At the same time, Su Qiu's soul power, previously stuck at Level 10, broke through its bottleneck and surged upward.
It rose all the way to the peak of Level 14, only stopping just short of Level 15.
"How does it feel?" Su Wuyan asked curiously. This was the first time he had ever seen someone contract a thousand-year unyielding spirit soul as their very first one.
"I feel… I feel…" Su Qiu frowned with his eyes tightly shut.
"What's wrong?" Su Wuyan's heart skipped a beat, worry flashing across his face. Did something go wrong?
"It feels amazing!"
His soul power erupted outward. The purple soul ring behind him suddenly shone, and summoning the Sword of Promised Victory, Su Qiu swung his arm and released a slash of sword energy.
The fierce sword energy shot straight toward Su Wuyan. He did not dodge, allowing it to strike him while carefully evaluating its power. His eyes lit up.
"So this is your first soul skill? Its power already rivals that of most assault-type Soul Elders."
"You're underestimating me, old man," Su Qiu said with a grin. "My first soul skill is called Mana Burst."
"It can enhance my body and my weapon. That sword slash was simply the result of the skill acting on the weapon."
"If used on myself, it increases all my attributes by one hundred percent."
"A one-hundred-percent increase to all attributes?!" Su Wuyan was almost numb from shock. In such a short time, his nephew had already brought him far too many surprises.
"Though the soul power consumption is quite high," Su Qiu added.
Stretching his body and casually throwing a few punches, he carefully felt the increase in strength granted by Mana Burst, feeling refreshed and invigorated. Calculating silently, he realized that with his current soul power he could not sustain it for long, he would need to activate it at critical moments in battle.
Raising the Holy Sword in his hand, Su Qiu offered a quiet word of thanks. His first soul skill should originally have resembled one of the Sky-Rending Crying Eagle's attack abilities, but under the influence of the Holy Sword it had transformed into the far more powerful Mana Burst.
Moreover, Mana Burst was not a fixed skill, its strength would continue to grow as his cultivation level increased.
A faint golden flash ran across the Holy Sword, as if responding, No need to thank me.
Don't worry, Su Qiu thought to himself, I'll do my part as the sword's wielder.
He could not help but sigh in admiration, being the wielder of the Holy Sword was truly effortless. All he had to do was hold on and let the sword carry him forward.
"Good! Good! Good!"
Finally snapping out of his daze, Su Wuyan exclaimed three times in succession.
"Xiao Qiu, attack me with your full strength!"
"Alright."
Su Qiu did not hesitate. He also wanted to know what level his full power had reached.
Activating Mana Burst, he gripped the Holy Sword and charged forward, his swift figure shooting toward his uncle.
At the same time, a powerful wind inexplicably rose within the sealed chamber, boosting his speed even further, speed itself was power.
This strike contained the entirety of his remaining soul power.
A flash of cold light cut forward, the blade unstoppable.
"Very good. That attack alone could already defeat the vast majority of Soul Elders," Su Wuyan said calmly, raising his hand and catching the blade between two fingers. Then he asked in surprise, "But what's with this strong wind? Is it also part of that Mana Burst effect?"
"More or less."
Nodding, Su Qiu dismissed the Holy Sword and instead summoned the Holy Lance. A green soul ring rose behind him.
"While the Holy Sword gained a soul ring, the Holy Lance independently condensed one of its own. This ring grants me the ability to control the wind element."
"Of course, my control over wind is still quite crude. The gale just now was created by channeling wind attributes into Mana Burst."
A self-generated soul ring, and the soul skill it granted was powerful wind-element control.
Staring at the floating green soul ring, Su Wuyan swallowed hard. In the present era, twin martial souls actually carried a drawback: the user's spiritual power often could not withstand the burden of too many spirit souls.
A martial soul capable of condensing its own soul rings meant that Su Qiu now had no weaknesses at all.
Wind-element control combined with Mana Burst's balanced offense and defense meant that the moment he became a Soul Master, Su Qiu already lacked any obvious shortcomings.
"Wait!" Su Wuyan suddenly realized something. "You can use the soul skills of both martial souls at the same time?"
"Huh… it seems so. I just used them naturally without thinking," Su Qiu replied, scratching his head, only now noticing it himself.
For twin martial souls, the ability, or inability, to use both sets of soul skills simultaneously was a difference as vast as heaven and earth.
Looking at his nephew, Su Wuyan could not help but sigh. This… this is what a true genius looks like.
Not long after awakening his martial souls, he had already begun to reveal the makings of invincibility.
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