Over the past year, Wu Ling had not deliberately cultivated. Even so, relying solely on the Spirit Power circuits in his body automatically absorbing energy, his level had reached eighty-seven.
Aside from his level, the greatest change was in his Spirit Rings. Wu Ling's rings had now become three black, four red, and one gold. This was one of Rose's research achievements over the past year. She extracted pure Spirit Power from the world, then compressed and absorbed it to increase the age of existing Spirit Rings. Unfortunately, absorbing this special Spirit Power required Spirit Power circuits, so at present, no one except Wu Ling could enjoy the result.
"The tournament starts in a week. How are the defenses, Rose? It would be hilarious if the main force went outside to fight and someone stole the base. Although Old Master Lucius and I will both remain here, who knows whether some shameless fellow will show up."
Wu Ling asked as he followed Rose.
"Of course, main body. More than ten years of preparation will absolutely not disappoint you. Especially now that this has been added."
Under Rose's guidance, Wu Ling walked through a long corridor. The space within it was so complicated and the traps were so hidden that even a Titled Sage could not be confident about getting through it.
"According to your ideas about the Hanging Gardens, I have spent these ten-plus years continuously adding Magecraft circles throughout Spirit City. Streetlights, flower beds, and other objects are used as concealment and substitutes. If the formation path passes through occupied houses, I buy the property and turn it into a new Soulcraft shop. Openly, we renovate the shop. Secretly, we lay the arrays.
"In particular, after you returned from the Qin Emperor world last time, you brought back a large amount of dragon bone. The grade was not high, but the quantity was enormous. It kept me busy for quite a while."
As she spoke, Rose opened the final door for Wu Ling.
A special wave swept over both of them. It was an inspection spell. Assassin-class Presence Concealment, a Servant's spirit form, invisibility, disguise, and similar minor tricks would all be exposed before it.
Of course, it could not stop First Hassan. After all, he was the one who directly beheaded Ozymandias inside the Great Temple and was discovered only afterward.
At that time, Ozymandias had been inside his own Great Temple, holding the Holy Grail, strengthened by territory advantage, homeland advantage, and Holy Grail support all at once. Even under those conditions, he still noticed nothing and had his head cut off by First Hassan. Although the immortality granted by the Great Temple kept him alive even after the beheading, that dark history was forever engraved into every player's memory.
So if First Hassan targeted you, there were only two options. Either you had a way not to die and could endure being marked with death, or you should eat well, drink well, and lie down on your bed in a comfortable position.
Even the current Wu Ling did not dare guarantee he could detect First Hassan's approach one hundred percent of the time, unless he kept his Martial Soul True Form active twenty-four hours a day.
As for learning that state, the spiritual realm beyond life and death was honestly a little too much for Wu Ling, a living person. Each time he possessed First Hassan, he could feel it. But the moment he released the possession, all insight vanished like a dream. It was almost as if that realm was saying, "the dead may pass, the living must keep away."
Wu Ling waved away his wandering thoughts. At the same time, he waved away the blank white glare before his eyes.
"Rose, let me say this. Those scenes in anime are all lies. So please stop setting a flash spell every time a door opens. Every time I come here, it blinds me."
Rose tilted her head and replied, "But main body, the world in a blind person's eyes is usually black or colorless. A small number may see bright spots, but generally speaking, it would not become a field of white."
Wu Ling looked at Rose speechlessly. She was starting to change the subject in strange places again. He could only reach out and pinch Rose's soft cheek while saying, "Fine, fine. I will ask a specialist later what a blind person's world looks like. For now, tell me where that thing is."
As he spoke, Wu Ling walked in by himself.
The moment he entered the room, he did not need to search. The object in the center immediately caught his attention.
It was huge, savage, and covered from head to toe in golden scales.
A dragon.
Wu Ling looked at the dragon-shaped hatchling. It was clearly still young, yet already stood three to four meters tall. His expression was terrifyingly calm.
"A Sacred Giant Dragon hatchling... So the genetic engineering is complete."
Rose also walked to Wu Ling's side with a serious expression and introduced it.
"Correct, main body. Based on the theory that each person's Martial Soul comes from bloodline and genes, I spent this year studying the blood obtained from Ethan Drake, Scarlet Pyre, and Flender. After countless rounds of genetic separation, editing, and recombination, I finally assembled a gene carrying the Sacred Giant Dragon bloodline. Then I cultivated this creature from it.
"When the time comes, the dragon bones spread throughout Spirit City will serve as its skeleton, the Soulcraft Dragon Frame as its core, and this little one as its flesh. Its strength should be enough to rival a Ruler-level Titled Sage.
"Unlike the Dragon Frame's power, which can be used only a limited number of times, as long as these three components are not completely destroyed, I can repair them again in a short period of time and reuse them repeatedly.
"Although there is still a distance limitation, and it can only operate inside Spirit City..."
Before Rose could finish, Wu Ling interrupted her directly.
"That is fine. I do not care about that. I only want to know whether you have the thing I asked for."
Rose showed an expression that said she had expected this long ago. She reached beneath the Sacred Giant Dragon hatchling and took out a sphere. Inside was an energy-form Sacred Giant Dragon. If one looked closely, it was extremely similar to the Martial Soul Wu Ling had once pulled out of Elio Quinn's body.
Wu Ling took it, weighed it in his hand, and only then revealed a smile.
He twisted the storage ring on his hand. The storage ring Rose had modified unfolded into several layers of space. One of those spaces had nothing else inside, only rows upon rows of massive shelves, each shelf divided into slots.
Wu Ling placed the sphere representing the Sacred Giant Dragon Martial Soul on the most luxurious rack in the final row.
Below it sat a dragon-shaped Martial Soul covered in blue lightning. That was the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul.
"Now that the Sacred Giant Dragon is here, the next one should be the Netherworld White Tiger. Right, and Demon Charm too. I remember drawing blood when I sparred with them before, so use what was collected then. If it is not enough, I will find them for some pre-tournament sprint training.
"After all, it is rare to be invincible on the continent. I might as well casually collect a complete Martial Soul encyclopedia."