Seeing that Qian Xunji was going to gift Qin Xuan a spirit bone, Xiangmo Douluo was also thrilled.
He stepped forward and laughed heartily:
“Haha, Your Holiness, then this old man will thank you in advance on Xuan’er’s behalf.
Xuan’er, hurry and thank your Big Brother.” He patted Qin Xuan’s shoulder.
Setting Qian Daoliu aside for a moment.
The other six consecrates were all incredibly proud and self-important.
But undoubtedly, they were all profoundly loyal and heavily valued past relationships.
It was exactly because they had received grace from Qian Daoliu or the Qian family when they were weak that they remained loyal to Qian Daoliu and the Angel lineage, dedicating their entire lives to Spirit Hall.
They were so loyal that in the original story, to cover Qian Renxue’s retreat, they didn’t hesitate to self-destruct just to buy her time.
Before today, Qin Xuan might not have owed Xiangmo any great debt; even their master-disciple relationship was brokered by Qian Daoliu.
They didn’t have a very deep emotional bond.
But things were different now.
Because of Qin Xuan’s Eight-Sided Horizontal Sweep, the two had executed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
This serendipitous event allowed Xiangmo to touch the bottleneck of level 97—a realm he previously thought he’d never reach in his lifetime.
For someone at Xiangmo’s level, this was tantamount to giving him a second lease on life.
It was obvious he felt deeply indebted to Qin Xuan.
“Thank you, Big Brother.”
Qin Xuan didn’t know what Xiangmo Douluo was thinking, but being able to score the very same Spirit Condensing Wisdom Skull Bone (with an actual age reaching 60,000 years) that Tang San obtained in the Continental Tournament just by saying “Thank you” to Qian Xunji?
That was an absolute steal!
Only an idiot wouldn’t say thank you.
Not to mention the other party had already provided him with over 70,000 Emotion Points.
Where else could he find such a generous “cheap Big Brother”?
It didn’t take long.
Qian Xunji quickly ordered someone to fetch the Spirit Condensing Wisdom Skull Bone from the Supreme Pontiff Palace vault.
Only then did he ask about the massive soul power fluctuation from earlier.
Qian Daoliu originally intended to tell the truth, thinking that since the two were now sworn brothers, Qian Xunji wouldn’t move against Qin Xuan.
But unexpectedly, Xiangmo Douluo stepped forward and announced that he had touched the level 97 bottleneck and would definitely break through within five years.
After finishing his speech, he even shot Qian Daoliu a look he thought was incredibly clever.
It was as if he was saying: How about it, Big Brother?
I did good, right?
Kept the secret from your son for you.
Qian Daoliu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
But he wasn’t angry.
On the contrary, he was comforted and happy that his foolish seventh brother had a chance to ascend further.
Qian Xunji was slightly puzzled but didn’t press the issue.
There was no reason for the other party to lie to him about this.
Besides, with his father Qian Daoliu present, he wasn’t worried about being deceived.
Instead, it was the other five consecrates whose expressions turned weird.
Even if Xiangmo Douluo broke through, they would still firmly remain numbers Two, Three, and Four.
But for Light Feather and Qianjun, things just got awkward.
Especially Light Feather.
Although he was the Fifth Consecrate, his soul power—like Qianjun’s and Xiangmo’s—was at level 96.
He had just broken through earlier than they did.
Before today, although he was praised as the most likely person to reach level 97 after the Third and Fourth Consecrates, actual breakthrough was still nowhere in sight.
No matter where you go, strength reigns supreme.
Once Xiangmo broke through, barring any surprises, Light Feather would be demoted to the Sixth Consecrate.
He’d have to call Xiangmo ‘Big Brother’.
It wasn’t that he cared so much about the title of Fifth Consecrate; it was just that the psychological drop was too hard to swallow.
Put yourself in his shoes: the foolish little brother who used to call you “Fifth Brother, Fifth Brother” every day suddenly turns around and makes you call him Big Brother.
Who could stomach that?
Compared to Light Feather, Qianjun took it a bit better.
Although this foolish younger brother of his was about to surpass him—which made his position a bit awkward—he was mostly happy in his heart.
Not just happy because his brother had hope for a breakthrough, but mostly because he had found a path to breakthrough as well!
They both possessed the Coiling Dragon Staff.
Both could attract and resonate with the Changming Sword.
If his foolish brother could find the catalyst for a breakthrough through fusion, why couldn’t he?
As long as he broke through as well, he’d still be the older brother!
The consecrates and the Pope exchanged pleasantries for a while.
Qian Xunji offered some words of congratulation and then left.
Once Qian Xunji left…
The Elder Palace returned to the dead silence it had when Qin Xuan first arrived.
Except there was one person left behind, being stared at by two pairs of wolf-like eyes, as if he were a peerless beauty.
The person was Qin Xuan.
The wolves were Light Feather Douluo and Qianjun Douluo.
At this moment, the massive Elder Palace hall was empty save for the three of them.
Although the seven great consecrates didn’t manage political affairs, none of them were idle.
They had all hurried back to their respective rooms to cultivate.
The one who ran the fastest was undoubtedly Xiangmo Douluo.
The moment Qian Xunji left, he excitedly bid farewell to his older brothers and announced he was entering closed-door cultivation, vowing not to emerge until he reached level 97.
Then Qian Daoliu, Golden Crocodile, Green Luan, and Male Lion also left…
Their goal was to take one step further and reach a higher realm during their lifetimes.
Even Qian Daoliu was no exception.
Although he knew it was impossible, he still wanted to do his utmost to break through to level 100 in his lifetime, just so he could go see his ‘Xi Xi’…
“Uh…” Qin Xuan felt his scalp tingle under their stares.
do you need something?”
He was still in a rush to get back and refine his spirit bone and immortal herb.
“Calling me Consecrate is too formal,” Light Feather—who looked and sounded like a half-grown kid—stepped forward and slung an arm around Qin Xuan’s shoulder.
“Call me Brother…”
Standing side by side, they looked exactly like a pair of brothers.
Qin Xuan as the older brother, and Light Feather as the younger.
“Shoo, shoo…
Light Feather, Xuan’er doesn’t have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with you.
Stop joining the fun.
If you have all this free time, you should spend it cultivating.
Otherwise, when Xiangmo and I both reach level 97, you’re going to end up as Ol’ Seven.”
Before Qin Xuan could reply, the usually calm Qianjun stopped caring about being called Fifth Brother.
He shoved Light Feather aside and threw his arm around Qin Xuan’s shoulder too.
“Come, my good disciple, let’s go to my room.
We need to properly discuss our Martial Soul Fusion Skill.”
“Damn it, Qianjun.
You play dirty.” Light Feather pouted his small lips, flicked his sleeves, spread his frost wings, and flew back to his room, throwing a tantrum like a child.
Qin Xuan broke out in goosebumps.
“I think we should pass for today, First Master.
After fighting Senior Yue Guan earlier, my soul power is already bottomed out.”
After saying that, Qin Xuan fell into deep thought.
Recalling the scene where he used Eight-Sided Horizontal Sweep to summon the fiery red dragon, he formulated a hypothesis: Qianjun and Xiangmo’s martial souls shared the exact same origin.
The only difference was the slight deviation in their cultivation focus.
If Eight-Sided Horizontal Sweep could grant a soul to Xiangmo’s Coiling Dragon Staff and complete the Martial Soul Fusion Skill…
Then would Hundred-Step Flying Sword do the same for Qianjun?
“It’s fine.
First Master will help you recover,” Qianjun said.
Without caring if Qin Xuan agreed or not, he grabbed Qin Xuan and dragged him back to his room to discuss things.
(P.S.: Don’t misunderstand, it was purely a discussion about the Martial Soul Fusion Skill.)
The result was a foregone conclusion.
The fire dragon summoned by Eight-Sided Horizontal Sweep showed significant progress compared to previous fusion attempts, but ultimately, it still failed.
Qin Xuan knew deeply that before possessing absolute strength, exposing all his cards was a massive taboo.
In the end, he held back a trick.
His performance today had been stunning enough.
Eight-Sided Horizontal Sweep could barely be passed off as a lucky self-created skill.
He could fool them with that.
But if he also revealed the Hundred-Step Flying Sword, it would truly be impossible to explain.
At the very least, he needed to wait until he survived the Slaughter Capital before showing it.