Divine Monarch: No need.

....

Ye Mingqiu closed the chat interface. He didn’t tell Chen Ran and Tang Ruobing, but he actually had a feeling that he might not be completely unable to use Soul Power, just that this power seemed to be only a fallback strength when mastered.

The closer he got to a death crisis, the more apparent that feeling became; the less danger he was in, the harder it was for him to harness his Soul Power.

Precisely because of this vague feeling, Ye Mingqiu always possessed more courage and confidence than most people, more willing to engage in life-and-death duels. Even when he was attacked by cultists before, even if he didn’t know how strong the opponent was, he dared to charge straight in.

"Speaking of..."

"What is my Soul Strength now?"

Ye Mingqiu fell into thought. Previously, he had greatly enhanced his Soul Strength through the Eye of Omaragon, but the specific values increased so much that he couldn’t calculate it, and normally he couldn’t be bothered to check the Soul Strength increase notifications.

Without specific observations, he only knew that his Soul Strength was very high, but how high exactly, he didn’t actually know himself.

.....

Afternoon

A meticulously disguised Chen Ran entered the Dark World. His flamboyant appearance seemed nothing like a normal student. Moreover, his makeup and style were completely different from before, and without private messages for confirmation, Ye Mingqiu wouldn’t have recognized him as Chen Ran.

"What’s this...?"

"Bro, be careful. Lately, that Qing Yu guy has been going crazy. If he catches me, he’ll probably kick my butt until it’s sore." Chen Ran said cautiously.

He didn’t have a big conflict with Qing Yu, just the usual minor scuffles among juniors. The guards and adults wouldn’t intervene, so even if he got beaten up because of it, no one would help him out.

Of course, he could directly seek Ye Mingqiu’s help, asking him to actively shelter him, but Chen Ran was inherently stubborn and unwilling to do so.

Because doing so would mean admitting defeat!

He would never admit defeat easily!

And in such a situation, Chen Ran was still willing to help Ye Mingqiu, and it wasn’t just because he was especially loyal as a brother, but also because he was smart.

The reason was simple: Chen Ran was actively sought out by Ye Mingqiu for help, so during this period, if something happened to Chen Ran, Ye Mingqiu would have perfectly justified reasons to help him settle things, making it an absolutely safe haven.

Having such a safe spot was still quite advantageous for Chen Ran.

Helping each other out!

"Come in, it’s safe here."

Ye Mingqiu led Chen Ran into the basement, and the two walked together through the tunnel.

Chen Ran looked at the tunnel, and the dark place made him feel a bit eerie, so he couldn’t help but ask, "No, dude, why did you choose such a creepy place to train? You’re not about to trick me into playing some kind of special game, are you?"

Having said that, he instinctively retreated, then covered his hook with a hand.

"....go ask Tang Ruobing."

"Could it be... you’re actually the protagonist?"

"...."

Ye Mingqiu fell silent. Although he wanted to refute the question, if he weren’t strong enough and didn’t similarly like Tang Ruobing, it seemed he could indeed become the protagonist.

"Why aren’t you speaking?"

"...."

"Could it be you’re admitting it by default?"

"...Stop talking!"

"Got angry."

"...."

Ye Mingqiu turned around, his cold eyes fixated on him, carrying an extremely dangerous gaze.

"Bro, I was just joking, you know, I normally like to joke around. Don’t take the jokes seriously, otherwise, it wouldn’t be funny." Chen Ran instinctively stepped back two steps, his smile a bit forced.

Subsequently, the tunnel echoed with a scream more harrowing than Tom Cat’s.

....

A few minutes later

Ye Mingqiu sat on the sofa, looking at the grinning Chen Ran who was holding his butt, and said, "Sit down."

"No, no."

"Chen Ran, sit down."

"Really don’t need to."

Chen Ran rubbed his butt, still not recovered from the previous kick hurting too much. Had he known it would be like this, he wouldn’t have mouthed off.... right?

"Alright then, let’s get to the point."

"Mm."

Chen Ran took out a piece of jade from his Storage Space. This jade was similar to the Testing Stone that Tang Ruobing had used before, but it seemed relatively more advanced, presumably an upgraded version, capable of testing higher limits of Soul Strength.

He handed the jade to Ye Mingqiu, who took it and watched the numbers on it continuously rise and change.

400...

500...

600...

Chen Ran’s expression gradually changed, his eyes wide with disbelief, knowing that many Tier One Level 10 Soul Race strong ones couldn’t even reach such high Soul Strength.

What’s more terrifying was that this guy’s Soul Strength value was still rising; how high could his Soul Strength really be? Could it be this absurd?

Under normal circumstances, although Tier One Spiritualists were very strong, truly aiming to rapidly boost Soul Strength had to wait for Tier Two transformation, allowing their Profession and Soul Strength to completely transmute.

Tier One only signifies possessing a Profession, but the rate of Soul Strength increase doesn’t vary significantly, as there are so few channels to enhance Soul Strength and Soul Potential.

Spending extravagantly gets you nowhere near high!

Of course, correspondingly, the dreadful expense means higher strength and more frightening same-tier combat power than the Technique could provide.

To know, a Tier One Spiritualist normally has no Soul Defense abilities, and their Soul Strength is generally very low, which leads to taking higher damage.

So, this isn’t just true damage! It’s even weak-point-exploiting true damage!