The purple seawater, like an enraged beast, roared and lunged again and again at the pure white flower in the center, attempting to utterly destroy it.
However, each fierce impact failed to break the flower's will; instead, it plated the flower with a deeper, more profound radiance.
The power of the Dream Demon's soul ring was absorbed with every collision.
The seawater's color gradually paled, its force weakened, while the bright flower grew more erect, shining with a crystalline light.
At this moment, [Concentration] displayed its formidable efficacy. The scattered vengeful instincts originating from the Dream Demon's soul ring were finally utterly defeated by the solidified spirit!
"Boom—"
A tremendous roar exploded in his mind. The Sea of Spirit violently churned, expanding to its unprecedented boundary.
Zhao Liuyun's eyes remained tightly shut, but a wisp of pale purple light seeped through the lids.
"Crack!"
At the same time, a very faint crisp sound reached his ears; a certain restriction quietly broke.
The soul power that had been stuck at a bottleneck in his body underwent a qualitative leap. The docile soul power instantly transformed into a gentle yet surging torrent.
His body did not show significant growth, but his spiritual power soared to a brand-new level, like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon.
Zhao Liuyun found it hard to precisely describe his current feeling.
It was as if a warm current spread from the depths of his soul, and everything it passed through was enveloped in an indescribable comfort.
Like dewdrops on a flower petal at dawn, silent yet bringing the tremor of life.
The soul ring absorption was complete, and he officially became a One-Ring Soul Master.
To his pleasant surprise, following the expansion of the Sea of Spirit by the first soul ring, he could now finally sense his Sea of Spirit and directly mobilize his spiritual power!
However, this nascent perception was still hazy, like looking through a thin mist, far from the clarity he had anticipated.
It definitely didn't achieve the effect Zhao Liuyun had imagined, where the image quality would jump from 480p to 720p.
Naturally, he couldn't perform the kind of minute, detailed observation that Huo Yuhao could.
That was a skill granted by the Million-Year Heavenly Dream Ice Worm's soul ring, not a capability spiritual power was inherently supposed to have.
Zhao Liuyun was clearly aware of this, so he wasn't disappointed.
Perhaps a Spirit-type Soul Master could achieve it after cultivating to a higher realm.
The first soul ring absorption took about six hours.
The sky was only faintly bright. The bearded man, Tian Wenlong, and his teammates were dutifully standing guard nearby.
This time was precisely when diurnal Soul Beasts began to become active.
It was impossible to set off and leave the Soul Hunting Forest while visibility was poor, so Zhao Liuyun was in no rush to get up.
Time to check the System Panel.
Upon becoming a One-Ring Soul Master, the panel underwent dramatic changes.
[Soul Ring: 339-year Dream Demon (0/10)]
Ten experience points equal one year. If this pattern holds, to upgrade this soul ring to the 100,000-year level would require perhaps a million experience points...
That was too much.
If Zhao Liuyun truly had such a massive amount of general experience, pouring it all into his soul power would likely elevate him by an untold number of ranks.
It was useless in the early stages.
Changing the color of a soul ring was seeking death.
Even though only a few people truly understood the underlying meaning.
Yet, the sole act of changing a soul ring's color was enough to attract the attention of the entire continent.
It would be unnecessary in the later stages.
By that time, besides Martial Soul True Body or certain percentage-based augmentation skills, those who still relied on soul skills in combat were mostly mediocre.
The truly powerful ones relied on self-created skills, and a deeper application of spiritual and soul power.
If all the soul skills were 100,000-year level, then perhaps they could still play a role in combat.
However, rather than spending so much experience on the soul ring, it would be better to enhance his own cultivation.
Zhao Liuyun's assessment was, "It's a bit of a chicken rib."
But having a path was better than having no path at all.
What if he found a way to acquire a large amount of general experience?
Composing his thoughts, he looked at the next section.
[Soul Power: Level 11 (3009/3200)]
The 300-year soul ring provided less soul power than expected, only increasing it by less than 2 levels, pushing his soul power to the peak of Level 11.
This might be related to the Dream Demon being a pure spiritual energy body.
His gaze shifted to Physique.
[Physique: 4.5 (Standard physique for an adult male is 10)]
The 0.5 was the result of natural development over the past year or so.
As expected, his body received almost no nourishment from this soul ring absorption.
But in stark contrast, his soul experienced an astonishing transformation.
[Soul: 34 (Standard soul strength for an adult male is 10)]
This soul ring, which was most compatible with a Spirit-type Soul Master, indeed had an effect on the soul beyond imagination.
It went from 17 to 34, doubling instantly!
A powerful soul meant the generation of more vast and purer spiritual power.
This was what every Spirit-type Soul Master dreamed of.
Continuing to look at [Class], this was the most special sight after absorbing the soul ring—
[Hypnotist Lv1] was constantly flickering.
Having been on the Douluo Continent for so long, this was the first time he had seen a locked class exhibit such an anomaly.
Without hesitation, Zhao Liuyun made contact with his mind.
[Possessing the Power of Dreams, all conditions for class advancement have been met. Proceed with special class advancement?]
This was the first special class advancement that he had to actively choose, rather than one that quietly appeared on the panel.
Zhao Liuyun was silent for a moment, his gaze resolute: "Advance!"
Of course he had to!
[Hypnosis] was very useful, but it just couldn't level up.
Zhao Liuyun had vaguely suspected before—
[Hypnotist] originated from his previous life, and its mode of operation was distinctly different from a soul skill. The reason it was locked was probably because its fundamental nature was difficult to reconcile with the laws of this world.
Perhaps it needed to leverage some form of bridge to transform this power into a class that fit the Douluo Continent.
And on the Douluo Continent, the most suitable medium for this bridge was naturally a soul ring.
He had long been looking forward to this day.
The advancement was quick. Almost the instant his intention fell, [Hypnotist Lv1] disappeared, replaced by the class [Dream Master Lv1].
"Lv1?" A hint of confusion flashed in Zhao Liuyun's mind, "Shouldn't it be Lv2?"
Then he realized: So, it was a parallel advancement, and the level remained unchanged?
Parallel advancement was not necessarily a bad thing. The [Hypnosis] skill was still locked, and [Still Mind] remained unchanged.
[Hypnosis] was soundless when cast and could be a lifesaver at critical moments.
And [Still Mind] allowed him to remain calm and uninfluenced by emotions, also tied to his trump card of Rational Reboot.
It was naturally best to retain his original abilities.
Zhao Liuyun began studying the newly acquired class.
[Dream Master], as the name suggested, was a class related to dreams. Both its traits and skills revolved around "dream."
A new trait [Phantasmal Dream] and a new skill [Enter Dream] were added.
[Class Skill: Enter Dream (The Dream Master consumes spiritual power to enter a living being's dream and can mildly interfere with the dream)]
[Class Trait: Phantasmal Dream (Can reduce the Dream Master's manipulation traces on the dream, making the dream's development more natural and coherent)]
The skill was to enter and interfere with the dream, and the trait was to reduce interference traces, making the dream more coherent and less jarring, preventing detection.
Combining the two, Zhao Liuyun was perfectly equipped to become a Dream Thief, covertly stealing the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record from Tang San.
As for the Soul Masters meditating every night and not sleeping...
Setting aside Xiao Wu, that air-headed transformed Soul Beast who had slept every night since enrollment and continued to do so.
Wasn't there the soul ring from the Dream Demon?
In the absence of a congenital domain, the [Soul Master] class advancement had no skills.
And the soul skill provided by the Dream Demon was, as expected, counted under the skill section.
[Class Skill: Dream Creation (Can consume soul power and spiritual power to induce drowsiness in a living being, stimulating the subconscious to make them dream)]
[Dream Creation] makes people dream, and [Enter Dream] allows for infiltration—a complete package service.
And [Phantasmal Dream] could reduce traces, and after everything was over, [Hypnosis] could be used to silently erase the memory.
Vast and magnificent, generous and passionate in the dream, becoming a Buddha or an Ancestor, only to wake up without a trace, leaving only a blank void—
This is what a dream is!
It was perfectly normal for a person to not remember their dream experiences after waking up.
Zhao Liuyun's heart surged with excitement.