Profound Heaven Soul Sovereign

After retrieving the materials from the Soul Master Tower, Li Rucheng quickly returned to the front of the Profound Light Pavilion.

"Master Rongyang, I’ve returned, successful in my task."

Li Rucheng handed over the Storage Ring.

Rongyang took the Storage Ring and scanned the materials inside, a hint of joy immediately appearing on his face.

"Haha, good, good, good!"

He said "good" three times, the smile on his face impossible to hide. His eyes shone, and he looked completely assured, clearly overjoyed.

"Master Rongyang, from the look on your face, it seems victory in this competition is all but guaranteed," Li Rucheng said with a smile.

"But of course," Rongyang laughed confidently. "That boy knew who I was, yet he still dared to challenge me. He must have some tricks up his sleeve. To be honest, I had some reservations about this competition and was only about eighty percent confident of victory. But now that you, Elder Li, have brought me all the materials I requested, things are different. No matter what tricks that kid has, I am now one hundred percent certain I will win this assessment."

"That confident?"

Li Rucheng and the others were shocked.

Others might not have known Rongyang, but Li Rucheng and his group knew him quite well. Rongyang was a man plagued by doubt and would never speak in absolutes. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have refused to bet his life against Ye Xuan’s earlier.

Even though he knew he had a high chance of winning, what if he lost? What if the unexpected happened? He would never take such a risk.

But now, Master Rongyang was claiming a one hundred percent chance of victory. What did that mean? It meant that in Rongyang’s mind, with these materials, there was simply no room for any accidents.

Seeing their shocked expressions, Rongyang said with a smile, "Don’t be so surprised. Let’s put it this way: with these materials, forget about this kid from the Profound Light Pavilion. I’d even have some confidence in winning a martial soul refining competition against Tower Master Zuo Yuan."

What?

Li Rucheng and the others were dumbfounded.

Tower Master Zuo Yuan was a High-Tier Seventh Grade Soul Refiner, an expert from the Divine Capital. For Master Rongyang to dare say such a thing... just how confident was he?

Amidst their shock, Rongyang glanced coldly at the busy Ye Xuan and his group across the way, a sneer forming on his lips. ’With these treasures and my absolute power, let’s see what other tricks this boy can pull.’

An hour passed in the blink of an eye.

When the time was up, Rongyang walked up to Ye Xuan and said coldly, "Boy, time’s up. Shall we begin the competition?"

"Alright," Ye Xuan replied calmly.

Rongyang sneered and walked directly to the open space in front of the Profound Light Pavilion. Two refining tables had already been set up there in the street.

The rules of the competition had been decided beforehand. Both sides would begin refining at the same time. The refining period would be two hours. After two hours, they would compete using the martial souls they had refined, and the winner would be victorious.

"Let’s begin."

Rongyang said nonchalantly, and then, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he took out a set of Soul Refining tools from a tightly sealed instrument case. The tools shimmered with a rainbow of colors under the sunlight.

"That’s... a set of Five-Color Soul Refining Instruments, crafted from Five-Color Crystal Ore!" a knowledgeable Soul Refiner in the crowd exclaimed immediately.

Martial soul refining is an extremely tedious and delicate process. Therefore, powerful Soul Refiners often prepare special tools to reduce the difficulty of the process and increase their success rate.

For a Soul Refiner, a good set of refining tools is like a good Pill Furnace to an Alchemist—it provides a significant boost.

And the multicolored tools Rongyang had just taken out were crafted from Five-Color Crystal Ore, which was considered a top-grade material in the world of Soul Refiners.

Five-Color Crystal Ore was a unique mineral found deep underground. It could perfectly preserve the Soul Power aura within a Soul Crystal, yet it offered little resistance to a Soul Refiner’s Soul Sense. This allowed a Soul Refiner to manipulate the Soul Crystal with great dexterity and without any loss of Soul Sense.

One could say that a set of Soul Refining tools made from Five-Color Crystal Ore was something almost every Soul Refiner dreamed of owning.

At auction houses across the continent, a set of Soul Refining tools made from Five-Color Crystal Ore would have a starting bid of at least tens of thousands of mid-grade Profound Stones, and even then, it would be a rare find with no guaranteed seller.

"Master Rongyang even brought out his tools made from Five-Color Crystal Ore. It looks like he’s giving this competition his all."

"To be so serious in a Soul Refining duel against a mere teenager... Master Rongyang is truly using a lion’s strength to catch a rabbit."

"That kid from Profound Light Pavilion is in for it now."

A buzz of discussion erupted from the crowd in the street. Some of the Martial Artists who didn’t understand the significance of the multicolored tools quickly began asking those around them. After learning the details, their faces filled with shock.

After taking out his refining tools, Rongyang’s slightly gloomy expression instantly became tranquil. His eyes showed neither joy nor sorrow, and a subtle aura emanated from him.

"This state..." Elder Dong’s gaze sharpened.

As a Soul Refiner himself, he knew exactly what was happening. Rongyang had entered the state of ’selflessness’ unique to Soul Refiners. In this state, a Soul Refiner forgets everything around them, their mind completely immersed in the upcoming refinement, allowing them to unleash even greater potential than usual.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

After taking out his instruments, Rongyang quickly and neatly arranged the materials he needed on the refining table.

Plump, round Soul Crystals appeared one by one—four in total—laid out for all to see. Besides these four Soul Crystals, there were also other special materials required for Soul Refining, all placed quietly on the table.

"That’s a top-grade Soul Fusion Stone! It can dissolve impurities in Soul Crystals to the greatest extent, making the refined martial soul purer."

"And that is... Soul-Stabilizing Liquid! Looking at the color, it must have been refined from the blood and marrow of a Tier Eight Profound Beast. You can’t even find this on the market."

"Huh? Why are there four Soul Crystals? Usually, a Soul Refiner only needs one Soul Crystal to refine a martial soul. Why did Master Rongyang take out four at once? What’s going on?"

With every material Rongyang produced, the Soul Refiners present would cry out in astonishment. When he laid out the four Soul Crystals, some of them voiced their confusion.

Normally, refining a martial soul only requires the Soul Power from a single Soul Crystal to form its core. But Rongyang had taken out four at once, instantly shattering everyone’s understanding.

"Wait, what kind of Soul Crystals are these? Why do they have such a dense Fire Element Soul Power? All four should be Tier Eight, but why is the aura of the one in front so much more powerful than the other three? What kind of Profound Beast did it come from?"

Suddenly, a Soul Refiner’s exclamation drew everyone’s attention.

Some of the more powerful Soul Refiners quickly focused their senses to get a closer look.

Just as the Soul Refiner had said, although the auras of all four Soul Crystals were clearly Tier Eight, one of them was noticeably larger than the other three. A terrifying Fire Element power emanated from it, causing the onlookers’ expressions to change drastically.

"This is..."

Ye Xuan’s eyes narrowed, and his pupils contracted suddenly.

’This Rongyang... he’s actually trying to refine *that* martial soul?’

Ye Xuan instantly identified the types of Profound Beasts the four Soul Crystals had come from, and his heart skipped a beat.

He had never imagined that Rongyang would possess such Soul Crystals.

’A martial soul refined from these Soul Crystals would be inherently superior to any other. No wonder he’s so confident.’

Ye Xuan’s expression grew solemn, yet deep down, he was becoming even more excited.

’This makes things much more interesting, doesn’t it?’

A powerful fighting spirit surged within him, and his eyes shone with brilliant light.

While the crowd was still in shock, Rongyang, fully focused, had already begun his refinement.

In truth, Rongyang had already decided what kind of martial soul he was going to refine from the moment he sent Li Rucheng to the Soul Master Tower for the materials.

The steps of the refining process flashed through his mind. His Junior Seventh Grade Soul Sense rapidly radiated out, covering the refining table before him. The powerful Soul Sense swept across the center of the street, filled with a domineering aura.

Suddenly, a brilliant light erupted in his eyes. His right hand moved like lightning, rapidly tapping each of the four Soul Crystals.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Four sharp cracks echoed as all four Soul Crystals shattered under Rongyang’s touch, turning into piles of crystal dust. A terrifying Soul Power aura surged up from the four piles of powder.

"That’s... the Phantom Crystal Split Hand!"

The crowd erupted in gasps of astonishment. The eyes of Elder Dong and the other powerful Soul Refiners went wide with shock.

"An expert reveals their skill with a single move." The Phantom Crystal Split Hand was an extremely profound technique for refining Soul Crystals, passed down among Soul Refiners.

The Soul Power contained within each Soul Crystal is unique, and not all of it can be used in the subsequent martial soul refinement. Therefore, a Soul Refiner must first analyze a Soul Crystal multiple times, then carefully cut it to extract the most useful core portion of the Soul Power.

The Phantom Crystal Split Hand, however, streamlined this entire process. Once executed, it could instantly pinpoint the core Soul Power within the crystal. By shattering the crystal’s structure and using a unique Soul Power vibration, it could perfectly extract the core Soul Power.

Because of this, the Phantom Crystal Split Hand was incredibly difficult to master; not just any Soul Refiner could learn it.

To an ordinary person, it might look like he was simply smashing the Soul Crystals with his finger. In reality, a Soul Refiner first had to use their Soul Sense to analyze the crystal and locate the core Soul Power. Then, at the very instant their finger touched the crystal, they had to project Soul Power from their fingertip to shatter the crystal without harming the core Soul Power contained within.

This required a Soul Refiner to have an extremely high level of control over both their Soul Sense and Soul Power.

From Rongyang’s fluid movements, it was clear that he had not only mastered the Phantom Crystal Split Hand but had also reached an extremely profound level of perfection with it.