Chapter 24: The Second Soul Ring

Actually, logically speaking, he could have applied for graduation after absorbing his first Soul Ring, because the graduation requirement for a Primary Spirit Academy is to become a Spirit Master.

It was just that the timing at the time was not appropriate.

Because his situation was too special, if he were to rashly change academies, it would only attract more people's attention; if he stayed at Notting Academy, at least he still had the Dean as a small backer, making it extremely convenient to handle matters in all aspects.

After comprehensive consideration, he was not suited to graduate early at that time.

The timing now is much more mature than before.

However, before applying for early graduation, he still had many things to do; the first thing was to obtain his second Soul Ring!

Early the next morning, Shi Quan told Maerde about his breakthrough to level twenty.

After Maerde checked him with surprise, he sighed, "Your talent now is already comparable to Innate Full Spirit Power."

Seeing that it was still early, Maerde took Shi Quan directly to the Spirit Hall to find Daosen.

Daosen was also full of surprise when he saw that Shi Quan had broken through to level twenty so quickly.

After confirming there were no errors, they did not delay.

The three of them sat in the Spirit Hall's carriage again and set off for the Primary Soul Hunting Forest.

"What! You want to absorb a thousand-year one!"

Maerde stood up abruptly, and with a bang, his head hit the roof of the carriage hard. At this moment, he couldn't care about the pain; his eyes stared tightly at Shi Quan as he said in a deep voice, "No, a thousand-year one is too high. Your first Soul Ring was only less than a hundred years over the limit, but a thousand-year one exceeds the limit of a second Soul Ring by a full two hundred years or more. Moreover, there is a significant gap between thousand-year Spirit Beasts and century-level ones; the energy is much more violent, and it is not just a little bit different from a Century Spirit Ring."

Because of the hasty departure, Shi Quan had not discussed the age of the second Soul Ring with Maerde beforehand, which was why he had such a reaction.

Daosen also looked at Shi Quan with suspicion; the thousand-year mark and the century mark were a leap in grade. Although nine hundred ninety-nine years and a thousand years only differ by one year, the pressure endured increases exponentially.

Shi Quan smiled and pacified him, "To perfect my theory, taking risks is inevitable, but I won't be stupid enough to throw my life away. Don't worry, Teacher, I definitely have confidence in choosing this way."

"But this is too dangerous." Maerde rubbed his head helplessly and sat down, "Xiao Quan, I still suggest you choose a plant over nine hundred years old; that should be enough."

"Let's take a look first."

Shi Quan smiled, lowered his head, and shifted his gaze to the book in his hand.

Daosen spoke up at this moment, "The book in your hand only records century-level Spirit Beasts; for thousand-year Spirit Beasts, you have to look at this one."

As he spoke, Daosen took out another book and handed it to Shi Quan. Compared to the book in Shi Quan's hand, this one was significantly thinner.

"Daosen, you..." Seeing this, Maerde could only sigh helplessly.

Shi Quan had been wondering why he hadn't seen any thousand-year Spirit Beasts; it turned out the reason was here.

In such a large Spirit Beast Forest, how could there not be a single thousand-year Spirit Beast?

Taking the book from Daosen, Shi Quan immediately began to flip through it.

Most of the Spirit Beasts in the book were low-year thousand-year Spirit Beasts, with the higher ones being around fourteen hundred years. After all, it was only a Primary Soul Hunting Forest; while there were thousand-year Spirit Beasts, their age wouldn't be very high.

Daosen looked at the enthusiastic Shi Quan and reminded him with a smile, "If you want a thousand-year Plant Spirit, you can look at the plant-type Spirit Beast on the second-to-last page. Its age is exactly around a thousand years, and this plant is also a rare high-level Spirit Beast."

"High-level thousand-year Spirit Beast?" Shi Quan's eyes lit up, and he skipped the previous content and turned to the end.

"Ink Jade Bamboo!" Shi Quan's expression was a bit strange.

"Ink Jade Bamboo?"

Upon hearing this name, Maerde immediately revealed a look of realization. Generally speaking, high-level Spirit Beasts rarely appear in Spirit Beast Forests, and even if they do, they are some very special high-level Spirit Beasts.

The Ink Jade Bamboo belonged to this category. The Ink Jade Bamboo itself does not possess any offensive ability; it only has one characteristic, which is hardness, and it was precisely because of this attribute that the Ink Jade Bamboo squeezed into the ranks of high-level Spirit Beasts.

The hardness of the Ink Jade Bamboo far exceeds that of its peers. A century-level Ink Jade Bamboo cannot be harmed at all even by some ordinary thousand-year Spirit Beasts, and for a thousand-year level one, almost nothing of the same level can break its defense; the same applies to high-level Spirit Beasts of the same level.

It belongs to the type where defense is maxed out, while speed, strength, and attack have not been added at all.

Logically, such a highly resilient Ink Jade Bamboo should be something that Control System Spirit Masters who pursue resilience would find hard to come by.

But the awkward part is that because the hardness and resilience of the Ink Jade Bamboo are truly too high, after a Plant Spirit absorbs it, it will cause the plant spirit itself to harden, leading to the martial soul becoming hard and difficult to control. Over time, this has led to Control System plant Spirit Masters simply not daring to choose the Ink Jade Bamboo as a Soul Ring.

Defense-type Spirit Masters among plant spirits are even rarer, and Beast Spirit Masters would not choose a plant-type Spirit Beast Soul Ring, which has led to the Ink Jade Bamboo being very unpopular in the Spirit Master world.

"Although the Ink Jade Bamboo is strong, its drawbacks are truly too great. Xiao Quan, you shouldn't..."

"It's the one!"

Before Maerde's voice had even faded, Shi Quan had already made his decision.

"Xiao Quan, you should be clear about the drawbacks of the Ink Jade Bamboo Soul Ring; don't choose it just because it's a high-level Spirit Beast," Maerde hurriedly advised.

"I have walked through so many difficulties, am I still afraid of a stiff martial soul? Teacher, I believe I can solve it. Blue Silver Grass is naturally weak, and resilience is originally one of its biggest problems. If I have the Ink Jade Bamboo Soul Ring, I believe the drawback of the Blue Silver Grass's resilience can also be alleviated to a great extent." Shi Quan looked at Maerde with a serious expression.

Maerde shook his head, "Very well, it's just bitter for this old bone of mine."

Shi Quan smiled and said, "Teacher, you are still young and strong."

"I wish I were." Maerde also smiled.

The Ink Jade Bamboo is extremely hard. Although it has no attack power, it is not something anyone can handle. Ordinary attacks landing on it might not affect it, but the attacker might not be so lucky. The hard bamboo body is like iron and stone, producing significant counter-shock force. If one is not careful, instead of attacking, one might get injured.

Because of the delay in the morning, by the time they arrived at the Spirit Hall station outside the Hunting Soul Forest, it was already the afternoon of the next day, nearing sunset.

The location of the Ink Jade Bamboo was deep in the Hunting Soul Forest, and the journey was long. After some discussion, the three decided to set off early the next morning.

After all, it is a Spirit Beast Forest; although it is only a primary one, running toward the deepest part in the middle of the night is still very dangerous.

Early the next morning.

The three set off, and after several more hours of travel, it wasn't until near noon that they saw that long, ink-black bamboo in a bush.

Judging the age of the Ink Jade Bamboo is very simple: one hundred years per segment. Each additional segment on the bamboo body indicates that its age is one hundred years older.

The Ink Jade Bamboo before them had exactly ten segments, no more, no less.

Besides coveting its powerful resilience, another reason Shi Quan chose the Ink Jade Bamboo was that bamboo plants belong to the grass family; they are a type of grass, not trees. Moreover, bamboo-type Spirit Beasts have very strong vitality, and in every aspect, they are extremely compatible with the Blue Silver Grass martial soul.

As for the problem of the martial soul being stiff, Shi Quan had already thought of a solution, which was the Immortal Herb, Ink Jade Divine Bamboo.

The Ink Jade Bamboo and the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo differ by only one character, but both share a commonality: rigidity. If he remembered correctly, the rigidity of the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo increases within flexibility and would not cause the martial soul to become stiff.

Shi Quan speculated that this type of Spirit Beast, the Ink Jade Bamboo, might originate from the Immortal Herb, the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo.

As for the Immortal Herb, Shi Quan felt that by relying on the uniqueness of the Nine Yin Nine Yang Divine Art, he should be able to consume more than one Immortal Herb. The Ink Jade Divine Bamboo was originally just a backup, but if he absorbed the Ink Jade Bamboo Soul Ring, then the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo would become one of his top choices.

The specific follow-up arrangements would have to wait until they reached Heaven Dou City to make a detailed plan.

In the midst of his thoughts, Maerde had already been swinging his long staff, striking fiercely at the Ink Jade Bamboo, with sounds of violent impact ringing out incessantly.

His powerful, heavy long staff could only manage to leave a scratch on the Ink Jade Bamboo, but fortunately, the Ink Jade Bamboo had no aggression and could only passively endure Maerde's constant attacks.

To kill the Ink Jade Bamboo, one must break every single joint of its bamboo segments.

The whole process could be described as time-consuming and laborious.

Maerde and Daosen could only take turns attacking the Ink Jade Bamboo, and in this manner, they attacked for a full hour.

This was only a thousand-year Ink Jade Bamboo, yet it withstood the attacks of a Soul Ancestor for a full hour, which shows just how exaggerated its toughness is.

"Xiao Quan, it's your turn." Maerde panted heavily, waving at Shi Quan with trembling hands.

"Coming." Shi Quan hurriedly stepped forward and picked up the Refined Iron Spear beside Maerde.

The bamboo segments of the Ink Jade Bamboo were not as hard as the outer skin, but they could not be pierced by an ordinary dagger; to hunt it, the two had specifically prepared this Refined Iron Spear for Shi Quan when they entered the forest.

Shi Quan picked up the heavy spear, thrust it fiercely into the remaining bamboo segment of the Ink Jade Bamboo, and then twisted it violently.

"It really is hard." Even though Shi Quan was mentally prepared, his hands were still left numb by the counter-shock force transmitted from the spear.

After putting down the spear, a pale purple Soul Ring floated out after a short while.

Shi Quan stopped his movements, walked to an open space nearby, and sat down.

"Good luck, Xiao Quan." Maerde, off to the side, did not forget to encourage him.

Shi Quan's expression was calm; looking at the purple Soul Ring not far away, he summoned his martial soul and began to guide and absorb it.

A familiar scene reappeared, but the difference this time was that the yellow, bracelet-sized Soul Ring had turned purple.

"Hiss!" As the violent energy entered his body, Shi Quan's body shuddered violently, and after a sharp intake of breath, his body began to tremble.

Compared to the last time, this energy was even more explosive!

That's right, it was explosive; the surging energy was like clusters of crazy Gunpowder detonating inside Shi Quan's body, and even Shi Quan could not help but let out muffled groans of pain.

The Yi Jin Xi Sui Method operated rapidly, but fortunately, although the process was painful, everything was still within the limits of what Shi Quan could endure.

Time passed second by second.

Internal Vision.

Unlike last time, the flames this time were all black, dyeing the entire world black, leaving only the pale blue Blue Silver Grass swaying in the middle, emitting a faint luster, as if it were resisting the entire world.

Under the scorching of the flames, the Blue Silver Grass began to change again; the originally thinner branches and leaves grew long and wide once more, the faint blue became deep, and the black halo seemed to want to dye the entire Blue Silver Grass black. It was also at this moment that the deep dark glow emerged again from the depths of the Blue Silver Grass—it was a black deeper than black, like an abyss, a black capable of devouring everything.

In the end, the pale blue Blue Silver Grass stopped at a deep blue; compared to ordinary Blue Silver Grass, the current Blue Silver Grass was deeper in color, its originally slender branches and leaves had returned to their previous thick state, and its skin carried a jade-like luster, appearing even tougher.

Crack—

The explosive hot current within his body gradually returned to calm, dispersed, and then merged and was absorbed.

This familiar feeling of breaking through brought a sense of pleasure, and his Internal Energy rapidly merged with the power of the Soul Ring.

Level twenty, Breakthrough!

Soul Ring absorption successful!

"Phew!" Maerde, off to the side, let out a long breath; seeing the purple Soul Ring slowly settle, he understood that Shi Quan's absorption of the Spirit Beast was successful, and his tightly clenched fists finally relaxed.

Shi Quan, sitting in meditation, also slowly opened his eyes; the once bright sky was now shrouded in darkness.

Time had gone straight from noon to night.

"Congratulations, Xiao Quan." Maerde's voice carried surprise and also a touch of admiration; if it were him, he definitely wouldn't have had the courage to attempt a thousand-year Soul Ring, but Shi Quan not only attempted it, he succeeded—a true pioneer.

"I still have to thank Hall Master Daosen and Teacher for their help in hunting and guarding," Shi Quan said with a smile as he stood up.

Maerde waved his hand with a hearty laugh and hurriedly asked, "That's a small matter; tell me, how do you feel?"

"The increase in soul power is about the same as last time, only one level, and there is still a distance to go before twenty-two," Shi Quan said while stretching his body, "but the strength of my body has improved quite a bit."

"As for the martial soul..." As he spoke, Shi Quan raised his hand and summoned his martial soul; the deep blue Blue Silver Grass appeared in his hand. Apart from the color becoming deeper, the Blue Silver Grass as a whole had grown a size larger, emitting a faint luster, and it looked very tough.

Maerde asked in surprise, "Xiao Quan, why does your Blue Silver Grass not seem to have become rigid?"

Shi Quan pondered for a moment and said, "I think it is because the Blue Silver Grass itself is too weak; even with the toughness added by the Ink Jade Bamboo, combined with the special Life Attribute of my Blue Silver Grass, it possesses an extremely strong ability to adapt, which is why the phenomenon of rigidity did not occur."

Regarding the current situation, Shi Quan was also somewhat surprised; the fundamental reason why the Blue Silver Grass did not become rigid was that the Devouring Attribute hidden within the Blue Silver Grass had devoured and absorbed the Ink Jade Bamboo's aggressive toughness attribute, which also allowed the Blue Silver Grass to absorb the Ink Jade Bamboo's Soul Ring almost perfectly, giving the Blue Silver Grass's resilience a earth-shaking change.

(End of chapter)