Yes, Al's initial plan was to get old Jack straight to Rank 99. Although he knew he wouldn't be able to bridge the gap to Godhood with pure Spirit Power alone, he had no doubt Titled Douluo was still possible.
((Because, although those artificial Soul Rings won't give him any Spirit Shock, from the residual resentment of Soul Beasts and all, there are still your thoughts and parts of your soul assimilating with him. Two rings is already the limit, any more and his very personality would begin to change, being influenced by your soul and thoughts.))
"…"
Al frowned at that.
'Then should I abort the other plan?', he asked. Although the advantages of this method were indeed great, if it ended up hurting, or worse, erasing the mind of the individual on which it is used…
((As I said, two rings is the limit. But it just takes some time. For someone old and experienced like your grandpa, around a year should be enough. But for safety, you can postpone it to two years instead. So two years later, you can once again let him assimilate a Soul Ring you make. If it's just one ring at a time, a gap of around half a year is more than sufficient for him.))
((If it's someone young like the kids, and especially simpleminded like the Meng brothers, one ring every year is the limit. Though you probably shouldn't try the whole procedure on them, since your Spirit Power is too dense for their bodies. Even with Life Force healing them, it isn't good for their bodies. Just making the rings for them is enough, no need to boost them through the Ranks.))
Al nodded before looking at Ai.
"Ai, was what we just did hard for you?"
Ai blinked her big cute eyes, instantly ignoring the game she had been concentrating on the moment she heard her papa call her, and shook her head.
"No, it was actually nice. I got to drink so much of papa's thick essence!"
"…"
"…"
((…))
"Ah, but Ai still has room for more! If it's from papa, Ai can drink any amount!"
"…"
"…"
((…))
Looking at her innocent smile, neither Al, nor the speechless Ella and Ah Yin, could bear to tell her anything.
((…let's just forget she said anything.))
"Good idea."
"Absolutely."
Ah Yin and Al nodded, while Ai looked at her papa and big sister curiously.
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
{Exit}
A ripple in space engulfed the figures of Al, with Ai sitting on his shoulder, old Jack, and Tang San, as they disappeared from the Garden, reappearing in the alley.
Tang San then nodded towards the two before running in a different direction from where they had come from, obviously going back to the group separately.
At the same time, Al and old Jack walked around buying lots of necessary and unnecessary stuff, the majority of it being stored in Al's Garden while old Jack also stored some of it in his own storage device.
"Grandpa, although you're not able to control your strength completely, you should still be ready just in case that Titled Douluo tries to do something."
"Oh don't worry about her, dear.", old Jack grinned, "I'm already confident of confronting her head on and winning easily, a mere rank 93 Titled Douluo."
Al shook his head as he chuckled, feeling rather emotional all of a sudden.
Just six years ago, old Jack was but a simple old farmer and village chief, who had no more hopes than of one of the children in the village becoming a Spirit Master.
If a Spirit Grandmaster or, by luck, even a Spirit Elder, appeared from the village, he would have already been happy enough to dance on his Ancestor's graves.
Now, though?
Even a rank 93 Titled Douluo, the pope of the Spirit Hall, wasn't in his eyes.
"Don't underestimate her, although her rank is low, she has twin Spirits like little San, not to mention, as someone from the Spirit Hall, she should have many trucks up her sleeve."
Old Jack nodded thoughtfully as he increased his vigilance. Although he was still confident he could take her on, being cautious was never bad.
"Well, let's go back."
The two then headed back to the group.
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
"Ah, Boss, you're back."
Just as the two approached the group, the veiled guard from the Spirit Hall froze as her eyes stared at old Jack's figure.
Their eyes met and old Jack grinned, making her heart almost skip a beat.
'Impossible!'
Her pupils constricted as her Spirit Power almost gushed out in instinct, though she barely managed to restrain herself.
Still, her aura turned chaotic as everyone glanced at her for a moment before proceeding to ignore her, except for Xiao Wu who seemed to have recognised her aura and realised something, as she froze in shock.
'Impossible! He was just a Spirit King five minutes ago!'
The veiled woman, Bibi Dong, felt tumultuous waves shake her heart as she sensed something she had only ever felt when facing those far stronger than her, which, even with her relatively low Spirit rank, numbered very few.
'Why…why doesn't my Emperor Spider Sense warn me of danger…?'
Her Spirits, twin Spirits, were the Soul Devouring Spider Emperor and the Death Spider Emperor. And both her Spirits gave her an innate ability which she had never revealed to anyone, an ability which had let her survive more assassination attempts and calamitous events that she would care to count.
The ability to 'sense' various crises.
And, that moment, as she looked at old Jack's figure, smiling and laughing goodnaturedly as he and the group of kids interacted, her sense told her.
'If I do anything to anyone here…I…will die?'
Ignoring Bibi Dong's conflicting thoughts, which Al more or less had an inkling to, he looked at the kids.
"Ready to get your Soul Rings?"
And everyone answered his question at the same time.
""Yes!""