Douluo Continent: Starting with controlling Ning Rongrong and establishing the Holy Cult

Reaching level 40 in Chapter 49

Huo Shengsheng emerged from the shadows and walked up to Ning Rongrong, scrutinizing her for a long time. Reason told her that this was indeed Ning Rongrong, the girl she had threatened a few days ago. But her intuition told her that this person was not Ning Rongrong; perhaps she had experienced some kind of fortuitous encounter, or perhaps she had been possessed. In any case, this person was dangerous, and it was best to avoid contact.

"What do you need me for?" Ning Rongrong asked, somewhat puzzled.

Hearing Ning Rongrong say this, Huo Shengsheng became even more certain that the person in front of her was not the same person from a few days ago. If it really was that Ning Rongrong, unless she had encountered some extraordinary opportunity, she would have already prepared to run away by now.

Of course, this is actually a small matter for her.

She clapped her hands and said casually, "It's nothing. Congratulations on becoming the new Seventh Elder of the Holy Spirit Church."

As she spoke, her gaze inadvertently drifted to one side.

Ning Rongrong followed the gaze but saw nothing. Then she realized that the words were meant for her, and she became even more puzzled: "I've become the Seventh Elder? Is your Holy Spirit Cult so casual?"

Lu Ma actually knew about this; it was mentioned in the item description. He just didn't know the Holy Spirit Cult's logic, so he asked to see how the game's logic worked.

Huo Shengsheng nodded and said, "That's how our Holy Spirit Cult works. People within the cult generally don't meet in person using their real identities, so most people don't know who each other is. However, the elders are the most important people in the cult, so they have elder tokens to help confirm their identities. Under this system, if you have the Seventh Elder token, then you are indeed the Seventh Elder."

As she spoke, Huo Shengsheng sighed and continued, "I just didn't expect that in just a few days, you've gone from—that person hiding in the wooden box—to an elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, a position even higher than mine. Oh, by the way, I'm the head of the Holy Spirit Cult, and my job is to assist and supervise the work of the Seventh Elder and the Eighth and Ninth Quasi-Elders. Now that the Ninth Quasi-Elder has died at your hands, and the Eighth Quasi-Elder has an eccentric personality and doesn't need a leader, in other words, all my work now revolves around you. I came here to see who the new Seventh Elder is, and I never expected it to be you."

Huo Shengsheng gave Ning Rongrong a meaningful look.

"The wooden crate... never mind, I don't think there's any need to discuss that." Lu Ma thought for a moment, then controlled Ning Rongrong and said, "Then, can I ask you not to be my person in charge, like Yu Xiaogang did?"

Huo Shengsheng looked at Ning Rongrong in surprise: "Who is Yu Xiaogang? That soon-to-be Eighth Elder?"

"It seems you don't know who he is."

“Of course, he doesn’t have the Elder’s Token. The person in charge can only sense the location of the Elder’s Token, not the location of the Elder.” Huo Shengsheng answered matter-of-factly, “Now I’m telling you, since you have the Elder’s Token, you have no right to refuse.”

"What if I give the Elder's Token to someone else?"

Huo Shengsheng smiled and said, "Of course, the choice is yours. But what if I told you that the Elder's Token could bring you many benefits?"

"Oh?" Lu Ma suddenly became interested. "Holy Spirit Pill, Holy Spirit Scroll?"

"You know quite a lot. But that makes sense, you've already dealt with two elders and quasi-elders. You guessed right, with an elder's token, these things can be obtained. However, the procedures might be a bit complicated, requiring you to be promoted. I don't know much either, you'd better save it for the next meeting and ask the other elders. Yes, the meeting, that's the main reason I came to see you. There's a meeting in a week. Yes, that's it. I don't know much about the elders' meetings, but you don't need to worry about it. When the time comes, the sect leader will teleport you all there."

Huo Shengsheng thought for a moment, and realized there was nothing else to discuss.

Seeing that Ning Rongrong was still thinking, she decided to stay and listen to her finish.

"By the way, do you have any Holy Spirit Pills or Holy Spirit Scrolls on you?"

Lu Ma thought about it for a long time before raising this question.

Logically speaking, since the Seventh Elder and the Ninth Elder both possessed Holy Spirit Pills and Holy Spirit Scrolls, the Eighth Elder should also have them.

However, Yu Xiaogang was still at level 29. Either his talent was too poor, or he didn't use the Holy Spirit Pill or the Holy Spirit Scroll at all.

So where did these things go? That's the question.

Lu Ma thought about it for a long time and felt that the person in charge in front of him might know something.

Huo Shengsheng's face first showed confusion, then surprise, then hesitation, and finally she spoke: "I have another copy here, which is theoretically supposed to be given to the Eighth Elder. But the Eighth Elder doesn't need to be in charge, so I have no obligation to give it to him."

She reached into her clothes and pulled out a pill and a scroll.

“If you want it, then you can have it,” she added.

Ning Rongrong's face gradually revealed an irrepressible joy.

She reached out and took the two items, putting them into her backpack, and replied, "Thanks. It's nothing, you can go back now."

"Mm." Huo Shengsheng nodded and walked back.

A short while later, she also disappeared from Ning Rongrong's sight.

[Holy Spirit Pill: Reserves 3]

[Holy Spirit Scroll (Part Five): Automatically destroyed after all uses are exhausted (3/3)]

"This is quite a haul. I need to find a place to use these two items."

As Ning Rongrong spoke, her gaze was drawn to the hotel in front of her.

Isn't this inn just the right place? Besides, my father and the others just left, so there must be rooms left.

Thinking it over, she strode inside.

"Book a room."

……

Some time later, in a hotel room.

Two newly acquired scrolls were spread out in front of Ning Rongrong. One scroll had already been opened; it was the scroll with only one use left.

Immediately afterwards, two energies, one cold and one warm, surged into Ning Rongrong's body. Her martial spirit emerged, emitting a purple light starting from the bottom layer, followed by the second layer. However, compared to the purple light emanating from the bottom layer, the purple light emitted by the second layer was negligible.

Level 34, breakthrough!

Level 35, breakthrough!

Level 36, breakthrough!

Level 37, breakthrough!

Level 38, breakthrough!

Ning Rongrong could sense that the scroll's power had completely dissipated. She didn't even need to sense it; the scroll itself had already turned to ashes and vanished before her eyes.

But how can this level-up be abruptly stopped?

Thinking about it, she reached out and took the other one, then opened it.

Two more streams of energy surged into her body, and the purple light on the second level of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda continued to brighten, now as bright as the first level. Naturally, the purple light then began to emanate from the third level.

Level 39, breakthrough!

Level 40 achieved!

The moment I broke through to level 40, the world changed drastically.

A bolt of lightning flashed above Soto City.

The hotel manager was startled. He stepped outside the hotel, looked at the sky, and muttered, "The weather is so changeable. Is it going to rain?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a light drizzle began to fall in Soto.

Chapter 50 Second Soul Skill Reversal

Is it possible to attract extraordinary phenomena simply by breaking through to level 40?

Before, Ning Rongrong would never have believed it. But this moment was different. After witnessing the power of the Holy God and Zhao Xiaoya breaking through to level 51 in an instant and even condensing a soul ring, Ning Rongrong suddenly felt that it wasn't so strange that a breakthrough would attract strange phenomena from heaven and earth.

Especially since it was only a light rain after the thunder.

Ning Rongrong felt like she had forgotten something, but when she sensed the increasing aura of soul power within her body, she suddenly remembered—

Didn't His Highness the Silver Dragon King say that he would definitely appear in the Silver Dragon King Palace at level 40?

But right now, he's about to condense his spirit ring and break through to level 41...

Wait, that's not something she should be thinking about.

As she pondered this, she realized that her aura had actually remained at the peak of level 40.

However, Lu Ma saw it differently. In Lu Ma's eyes—

Level 40, breakthrough!

Level 41, breakthrough!

My soul power kept rising until it reached a little over level 42 before it stopped.

The character panel looks like this now:

Ning Rongrong, Class of '40 (42)

[Martial Soul: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda (+4)]

Next, enter the Martial Soul interface. After using the Holy Spirit Scroll, you will need to use the Holy Spirit Pill.

[Reverse Second Soul Skill (Consumes 2/3 of Holy Spirit Pill)]

[Reverse Third Soul Skill (Consumes 3/3 Holy Spirit Pills)]

[Acquire the fourth soul skill (please complete the relevant task)]

Before clicking into this interface, Lu Ma was still thinking about how to use the Holy Spirit Pill, since both of his soul skills could now be reversed.

Ignoring special effects, the first soul skill is power amplification, and after reversal, it absorbs the opponent's power and can be used to counterattack—this is known. And so on—

The second soul skill is speed amplification. After reversal, it can absorb the opponent's speed under certain conditions. In other words, it slows down the opponent, which is a kind of soft control. However, if the value is set very high, then it is no different from hard control. For example, if it absorbs 99.99% of the opponent's speed, then the opponent is no different from being unable to move.

The third soul skill is a poison attribute amplification. If the same logic is reversed, this soul skill, after being reversed, would allow the user to absorb the opponent's poison attribute damage. To increase its strength, it might reduce the opponent's poison attribute resistance. However, in this case, after the reversal, this soul skill would be completely indistinguishable from the Trapped Beast skill.

Lu Ma thought for a moment and decided that it would be better to use his second soul skill to reverse the situation. His main source of damage was the Eight Spider Lances, which, although guaranteed to hit after the first strike, didn't always hit. Thinking about it that way, applying a slowing aura to the opponent would be very useful.

Thinking it over, he immediately reversed his second soul skill.

[Second Soul Skill: Speed ​​Boost]

[Can provide a 60% speed attribute boost to a designated unit (subject to Soul Power level)]

[Second Soul Skill Reversal: Mitosis]

[It can absorb 60% of the target's speed attribute. Afterwards, it performs a perfect mitosis, generating a clone completely identical to the original; the original's attributes remain unchanged.]

The clone possesses 60% of the original's attributes, has independent consciousness, and completely obeys the original's commands. The clone's and the original's health are calculated independently; the clone's death has no effect on the original, and the clone can be summoned again after 600 minutes.

The clone can use all non-reverse soul skills of the original body, with an effect equal to 60% of the original body's. These skills can be stacked with the original body's. The clone does not possess any soul bones.

[Special Effect: When the target is a plant-type soul beast or plant-type soul master, absorb an additional 6% of the target's all attributes]

[Soul Ring Age Limit: 3000 years]

……

Silence, a long silence.

Lu Ma looked at the second soul skill after the reversal. The effect slightly exceeded his expectations.