Chapter 175: The Force Clan Visits

If one does not consider the difficulty of absorption, then perhaps Wan Yao Wang could also be the seventh Spirit Beast Zhou Heng subdues, but that remains the same: Zhou Heng might be able to win in a one-on-one, but once he enters the Star Dou Great Forest, he would definitely be swarmed, so unless Wan Yao Wang seeks death and runs out on his own, Zhou Heng will not consider it.

As for the Sun Moon Continent, the Evil Emperor is quite suitable.

But the problem is that with the Evil Emperor's combat power, which is second only to Di Tian, and his 780,000 years of accumulation, the current Zhou Heng cannot say for sure that he could really take the other party down.

In the deep sea, the million-year-old Deep Sea Demon Whale King is the most suitable, but in the sea, the other party's combat power is likely not much worse than Di Tian's; even the Evil Emperor would not dare say he could handle it, so Zhou Heng simply cannot hunt the Deep Sea Demon Whale King right now.

Moreover, with his current physical constitution, Zhou Heng has the confidence to absorb a Soul Ring of at most 300,000 to 400,000 years; if the ones after that were placed in front of him for him to absorb, he would barely be able to handle it.

Therefore, for his sixth ring, Zhou Heng's requirements are not high; anything over 100,000 years will do.

When he reaches the eighth Soul Ring, he will consider those guys who are hard to hunt, and at the very least get a Soul Ring around 200,000 to 300,000 years.

After finishing his thoughts, Zhou Heng casually picked up A Yin, who was curled into a ball, from the ground nearby.

On a physical level, this was just a lump of Blue Silver Grass that had curled into a small ball for some unknown reason.

Yet on a spiritual level, in Zhou Heng's eyes, A Yin looked like some dignified young lady in a state of nervous, head-clutching, crouching defense.

He casually injected a bit of soul power and life force, then gave it a shake; only then did the head-clutching, crouching A Yin heave a sigh of relief and stretch out her body again.

Looking at A Yin, who was now about a meter tall, Zhou Heng was somewhat silent, not knowing how to deal with her.

He pondered whether to just throw her into the Storage Soul Guidance Device like this, or to find a pot for her first before throwing her in.

When Zhou Heng asked this question, A Yin, who had already had enough of the stifling environment inside the Storage Soul Guidance Device, could not help but ask in a somewhat dejected manner.

"Is there any way that doesn't involve me entering the Storage Soul Guidance Device?"

"This..." Zhou Heng touched his left leg, feeling the connection between it and A Yin, then looked at his right arm, which was nourishing the Small Sword, and had an idea.

He reached out to grab A Yin, pressed her against his leg, and adjusted the soul power between himself and A Yin.

Accompanied by the brightening of a blue-gold light, A Yin, who had grown to over a meter, rapidly shrank and then merged into Zhou Heng's right leg; relying on the connection between herself and the Right Leg Bone, she directly lodged herself and her main body into Zhou Heng's left leg.

"It feels so strange."

Having been swallowed whole for the first time—no, having entered someone else's body for the first time—A Yin felt her current sensation and could not help but subconsciously complain.

However, although the feeling was strange, it did not mean she felt uncomfortable.

On the contrary, this feeling actually made A Yin very comfortable, even somewhat intoxicated.

In the state of being inside Zhou Heng's body, a portion of Zhou Heng's life force and soul power would very naturally flow through the Right Leg Bone and be injected into A Yin, greatly accelerating A Yin's cultivation speed.

This not only made her main body grow rapidly, but even her spiritual body was gradually solidifying.

Zhou Heng closed his eyes and slightly manipulated his spiritual power and Spirit, and thus an illusory projection appeared beside him.

That projection did not exist in reality, but was a kind of "illusion" that Zhou Heng created for himself, an existence within the "self-perception" of Zhou Heng and A Yin.

In this state, A Yin could see what Zhou Heng saw and possessed an illusory body.

But in reality, she was still unable to interact with the outside world or be perceived, because she was merely an "illusion" Zhou Heng had created for himself.

Although this feeling was not real, for A Yin, who had been silent for so long, this was already a quite wonderful thing.

Despite still being in the sealed lead room, A Yin still examined every corner of the room with great interest, examining every detail of Zhou Heng, attempting to feel the sensation of being alive once more.

Of course, it was only under Zhou Heng's active control that A Yin could perceive the outside world; if Zhou Heng did not agree, then A Yin could only slowly recover in a semi-dormant state within Zhou Heng's Right Leg Bone, unable to even control her own main body to leave Zhou Heng's right leg.

Zhou Heng adjusted his state and then left the secret chamber.

At the entrance of the secret chamber, a middle-aged man was sitting on a chair monitoring the situation; when he saw Zhou Heng appear, he immediately stood up and bowed deeply to Zhou Heng.

"Greetings, Hall Master." Zhou Heng remembered that this was Lou Gao's disciple, named Si Long.

Although Zhou Heng's status was special, all of Lou Gao's disciples knew of it; to Lou Gao, these disciples were both his successors and his children.

And to these disciples, Lou Gao was equivalent to a father-like existence.

In the entire Blacksmith Association, these disciples were the people Lou Gao trusted the most.

Therefore, after Lou Gao and Zhou Heng had spoken, these people naturally became members of the Soul Hall.

Of course, the Soul Hall only had one Hall Master and one Forging Elder in total, and joining the Soul Hall was also under the name of the Forging Elder, Lou Gao.

In reality, even going through the motions had no meaning.

"No need for such formalities." Zhou Heng gently helped Si Long up.

"In the few days I was in seclusion, did any major events happen in the Blacksmith Association?"

Zhou Heng had only asked casually, but unexpectedly, Si Long revealed an expression of admiration.

"As expected of the Hall Master, even while in seclusion, you knew that something had happened in the Association.

Some time ago, my master Lou Gao lost his composure while forging, which led to his body becoming somewhat weak, so some people in the Association had some crooked thoughts; originally, these people were not a problem at all, but who would have thought that the nominal Vice President of the Blacksmith Association, who is also known alongside my master Lou Gao as one of the three God Craftsmen, Tai Tan, also learned of this matter.

Although Tai Tan is only a nominal Vice President and doesn't manage anything, his status as a God Craftsman naturally has a kind of... among blacksmiths?"

Si Long also didn't know how to put it; after all, to him, who only had his teacher Lou Gao in his heart, Tai Tan, this God Craftsman, was truly somewhat unworthy of the title of God Craftsman.

Especially after Lou Gao's technical breakthrough, Tai Tan, the only God Craftsman on the continent besides Lou Gao (Tang Wu is currently still in a state of being missing on the surface), became particularly awkward in the hearts of these disciples.

After thinking for a moment, Si Long continued to speak.

"Some blacksmiths, because of his status as a God Craftsman, believed that after something happened to the teacher, Tai Tan would control the Blacksmith Association as the only God Craftsman on the continent, so they actively leaned toward Tai Tan.

And they leaked the fact that the teacher had made a breakthrough in forging technology." When Si Long said this, he was somewhat gritting his teeth.