Chapter 7: Power of Sharing

A cloud of poisonous mist was exhaled, spreading through the air and gradually turning transparent and colorless.

The wild boar caught in the poisonous mist lasted only a few seconds longer than the rabbit before its entire body convulsed, foam oozed from its mouth, and it collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

A white soul ring slowly rose into the air...

Seeing the soul ring emerge and confirming the boar's death, Li Chang'an leisurely slithered his snake body over to the massive wild boar. Comparing their body sizes, he quickly realized that swallowing the boar whole, as he had done with the rabbit, was simply impossible.

This beast was too large.

It seemed he would have to eat it piece by piece.

With that in mind, Li Chang'an opened his fang-filled mouth wide and tore off a chunk of the boar's flesh. The body of the Jade-scaled Snake Emperor was vastly different from that of ordinary snakes in the real world—not only did it have venomous fangs, but it also possessed saw-like teeth that could easily slice and tear apart prey!

Its method of consuming prey wasn't limited to swallowing whole; it could also rip and bite chunks off its prey like a shark.

Its teeth were exceptionally sharp, and with minimal effort, it tore off the boar's fatty flesh. Even bones were easily snapped. Soon, Li Chang'an had devoured everything edible from the boar, leaving behind only the inedible organs and debris.

The energy contained within the boar was far greater than what the rabbit had provided. Although the two beasts were of similar age, the boar's larger body ensured it held much more energy than the rabbit.

Once again, Li Chang'an ate until his body was misshapen. He needed to return to his burrow to rest and slowly digest the meal.

This time, however, the increase in his soul age was only about ten years.

Despite the boar being far superior to the rabbit in every aspect and containing more energy, the resulting increase was less significant. There was a clear reason for this—after consuming the rabbit and growing in size, the energy required for further growth had also increased.

As his soul age continued to rise, the effectiveness of ten-year soul beasts in providing energy would diminish. He would need to hunt higher-level soul beasts to achieve significant leaps in strength.

Leaving the soul beast avatar aside to quietly develop...

Meanwhile, on the other side.

In his human form, Li Chang'an was sitting cross-legged in his room, adopting the meditation pose of five hearts pointing to the sky. He silently followed a meditation technique to absorb the soul power from the world around him and cultivate. The process was swift, and with his innate full soul power, he could sense his soul power increasing at a visibly rapid rate.

After cultivating for a while, his breathing gradually steadied. Then, opening his eyes, he murmured, "Level 13."

After acquiring his first soul ring, Li Chang'an's level had reached slightly over level 12. Now, after several days of cultivation, he had easily advanced another level. Yet, he remained unsatisfied.

This rapid advancement was only temporary. Since his soul power was currently low, his cultivation speed appeared fast. As his level increased, however, progress would slow down significantly.

According to the empire's historical records over thousands of years, most individuals born with innate full soul power only reached the rank of Title Douluo at seventy or eighty years old. A few exceptional cases achieved it at fifty or sixty. Tang Hao, becoming a Title Douluo at forty-four, had set a record as the youngest in history.

As for the protagonists like Tang San, who reached Title Douluo in their twenties, that was purely thanks to the Sea God's blessing. Without external assistance, progressing beyond the Soul Saint level required several years for each advancement, making it common for most to reach Title Douluo only in their later years.

Had he been unaware of the storyline, Li Chang'an might not have felt so pressured. But knowing that by the time he reached Title Douluo in his later years, the major events would have long concluded, left him anxious. By then, Tang San would have acquired dual god positions, standing high above the world, treating all living beings as ants and turning the Douluo Continent into his personal domain under various righteous guises, blocking all paths to godhood for others.

As a transmigrator without any cheat-like abilities, Li Chang'an was destined to remain a minor character in history, a mere Title Douluo without any significant legacy. How could he be content with that?

Having transmigrated once, he wouldn't let it go to waste without leaving his mark on the world.

Li Chang'an knew that if he wanted to rise, to hold sway over future events, he had only about twenty years to do so. If he couldn't amass enough strength to intervene in the main plot during this time, he would lose his chance once the Sea God's inheritance was taken, no matter how great his talent was.

Therefore, he urgently sought to strengthen himself, aiming to become a Soul King by age twelve, a Soul Emperor by fourteen or fifteen, a Soul Saint by seventeen or eighteen, and a Soul Douluo by twenty. Then, he planned to acquire the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud and gain the Sea God's recognition. His ultimate goal was to become a god in his twenties!

However, even with innate full soul power, achieving Title Douluo by his twenties would be impossible without some sort of cheat.

"Fortunately, I have a soul beast avatar!"

A slight smile appeared on Li Chang'an's lips. He had recently discovered that the connection between his Jade-scaled Snake Emperor avatar and his human body was far stronger than he had initially thought.

When his soul beast avatar devoured other soul beasts to cultivate and increase its soul power, Li Chang'an was astonished to find that some mysterious force was transmitted back to him, turning into his own strength.

This feedback boosted his soul power significantly. In other words, as his soul beast avatar grew stronger, his human body would also receive some of the benefits, including a slight enhancement in physical strength.

Although the feedback wasn't substantial each time, it was essentially free soul power. Over time, as it accumulated, the total amount would become quite considerable.

Li Chang'an speculated that perhaps this soul beast avatar was his cheat ability, albeit a modest one. Compared to other transmigrators who typically received overpowered systems, god-level martial souls, innate level 99 soul power, and similar advantages, his ability to share strength and slightly enhance his physique seemed rather unimpressive.

...

After confirming that the avatar's growth could feedback some strength to him, Li Chang'an conducted some experiments. He discovered that, aside from his physique directly strengthening, the soul power feedback from the avatar could be temporarily stored instead of being immediately absorbed.

Where exactly this stored power resided, he had no idea. It might be stored in the avatar or in some other dimension—who knew?

Li Chang'an wasn't interested in delving into the mechanics of it. He only needed to know that he could store the soul power shared by the avatar and absorb it whenever necessary.

Now, sensing that he had accumulated a considerable amount of stored power, he decided it was time to use it to enhance his strength.