"Yes, yes, yes, Lady Herta, peerless in the world; Lady Herta, exceedingly wise; Lady Herta, a beauty who puts even the fairest to shame." Lu Jingming raised his hands helplessly in a gesture of surrender and began a string of compliments.
Herta nodded in satisfaction, a smug smile appearing on her face. She said, "At least you know how to flatter. Say a few more. With my intelligence and beauty, no amount of praise would be too much. If only you could be a bit more heartfelt, it would be perfect."
Lu Jingming's mouth twitched slightly. He should have known that with Herta's level of narcissism, a few compliments wouldn't embarrass her in the slightest.
In Herta's heart, her excellence could never be fully described by anyone's words.
Lu Jingming walked to Herta's side and glanced at the soul-guiding crystal floating in midair, saying with a hint of resignation, "You're still working on your simulated universe! Don't forget, in this place we're in right now, there aren't such abundant resources for you to squander at will. Plus, there are no like-minded companions to help you dig deeply into your research here, let alone a rich patroness who'd fund you to easily buy a planet-destroying warship with pocket money!"
Herta gently flicked a strand of hair by her ear and replied calmly, "Of course I know. Even if my wisdom is said to be the greatest in the universe, without enough resources, everything is rootless. But, can a true powerhouse be constrained by the external environment?"
"Alright, then I'll look forward to your results. I won't disturb you further. The main reason I came this time was to sincerely thank you. I have to admit, your beauty and intelligence are indeed unparalleled. Without your help, I couldn't have gained such a powerful martial soul out of thin air."
Lu Jingming shrugged. He knew well that Herta was proud by nature, always focused only on things that interested her, and only poured her efforts into people and things she cared about. Other matters rarely caught her attention.
And at this stage, the person Herta was most interested in was, without a doubt, Lu Jingming.
After all, the power of Truth—capable of turning fantasy into reality—that Lu Jingming possessed was an endless source of attraction for her.
Watching Lu Jingming's figure recede into the distance, Herta's eyes gradually became deep, as if she had fallen into contemplation.
She muttered to herself, "I think I'm starting to understand why the void comes into being, and what exactly is the truth behind the pleasure I glimpsed…"
She gently shook her head, trying to dispel these tangled thoughts, and her gaze returned to the soul-guiding crystal.
At this moment, inside the soul-guiding crystal, strings of mysterious numbers continuously combined and split, changing unpredictably.
They seemed to have a life of their own, forging a brand-new world full of infinite possibilities.
In a modern-style bedroom, soft soul-guided lights shone down, illuminating Lu Jingming's cross-legged figure.
He slowly opened his eyes, finishing this session of the meditation technique. He shook his head slightly, a look of resignation appearing on his face.
Because he had not yet obtained his first soul ring, his soul power level was stuck at its current stage, unable to break through.
This was a fundamental rule of the Douluo Continent; with his current abilities, it was hard to change this.
Although his soul power had indeed grown during cultivation, the rate was extremely slow. The efficiency of absorbing and refining soul power before and after breaking through is vastly different.
With the same talent, the higher one's soul power level, the more efficiently one can absorb and refine soul power.
Even though Lu Jingming practiced the top-tier meditation technique created by Jingliu, his situation didn't change much.
Jingliu, with over a thousand years of experience, quickly updated the advanced meditation technique inherited from the Lu family after learning the methods of soul master cultivation.
After meticulous improvement, this meditation technique was completely renewed, becoming one of the top cultivation methods on the entire Douluo Continent. On Douluo, cultivation methods are relatively uniform; most people rely on meditation to enhance their spiritual and soul power, rarely possessing other special effects.
That is why a certain God King's Mysterious Heaven Skill, passed down for tens of thousands of years, has never been eliminated.
The meditation technique Jingliu designed for Lu Jingming incorporated the strengths of both Xianzhou cultivation methods and traditional Douluo meditation.
It not only boosted spiritual and soul power but also had the unique effect of tempering and strengthening the body.
For soul masters, this was significant. Before absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring, how many years of soul ring one could withstand and absorb largely depended on one's physical condition.
Because of this, Lu Jingming gave this meditation technique a meaningful name—"From Beginner to Standing Above the Heavens."
…
Three days had passed since Lu Jingming awakened his twin martial souls, Black Abyss and White Flower.
In these three days, he didn't rush to hunt his first soul ring but chose to calm down and fully familiarize himself with the surging soul power in his body and his newly awakened martial soul.
One must know that before awakening a martial soul, humans on Douluo Continent couldn't freely control their internal soul power; Lu Jingming was no exception.
In his previous life, he was just an ordinary mortal. Though he had learned some basic swordsmanship from Jingliu in this life, he still felt unfamiliar with such mysterious supernatural energies.
So, he made the most of these three days, carefully sensing and mastering all his current power, preparing thoroughly for the upcoming journey to absorb his first soul ring.