— Chapter 14 —

Three months have passed since Han Yue and I absorbed our first spirit rings. After deciding to focus on our training, I wrote a letter to Grandpa Mu in Green Stone Village, informing him that we wouldn’t return for at least half a year. Since then, we have lived in this unknown mountain range near the Soul Hunting Forest.

I also have successfully deduced the truth behind choosing “obtainable” spirit skills.

There are three “main” keys in this matter.

First, the affinity between the Martial Soul and Spirit Rings, as well as their elemental attributes and bloodlines, plays a crucial role. Two sides must be compatible by at least 90%.

Second, the quality of the Martial Soul is vital. Only a top-tier Martial Soul or higher can choose “suitable” spirit skills for itself because, at this level, one’s Martial Soul has enough Martial Soul’s origin.

Third, there is the issue of resentment. Yes, the spirit beast’s resentment of the spirit rings can cause chaotic disorders during absorption, making it difficult for the Martial Soul and the spirit ring to communicate effectively. After all, the spirit beast’s resentment in the spirit ring is their last attempt to take revenge on their killer.

In the first case, the Glorious Moon’s noble aura tamed the Moon-coiled White Snake, which allowed Han Yue to absorb the spirit ring with little to no resentment. In fact, the Moon-coiled White Snake gave Han Yue an easy way out.

In my situation, I purified the Thunderstruck Tree’s resentment using the Sky Poison Pearl, making the absorption process “easier” for me.

Of course, there is a further conjecture in this theory of mine.

Spirit Beasts who sacrificed themselves to Spirit Masters can grant them their spirit skills because they can access Martial Soul’s origin of Spirit Masters, grafting the said origin with their essences.

Simply put, it’s like finding gaps and filling them in.

Unfortunately, I can’t confirm this theory.

Even then, I felt conflicted.

Maybe because I watched Ah Yin sacrifice herself to be Tang Hao’s ninth spirit ring, yes, that must be it.

Sigh, the fate of Spirit Beasts in the Douluo Dalu is bleak. Very bleak.

From the first book to the most recent, they seemed to be plot devices for protagonists. “Xiao Wu, Ah Yin, Deep Sea Demonic Whale, Dark Devilgod Tiger, Titan Giant Ape, Daydream Ice Worm, Ice Emperor, Snow Emperor, Auspicious Emperor, Silver Dragon King, Demon Soul Great White Shark, the Golden-eyed Dark Dragon, and the list goes on.”

“The fate of these spirit beasts becomes worse as the story continues…”

“Yet half of them are happy to be in such a situation.”

“Silver Dragon King boasted that she would lead Spirit Beasts to a new height, but a simple “Love” from the son of Tang San, and she folded immediately.”

“What an incompetent leader.”

“No wonder people joke that Douluo Dalu has another title, Love Continent.”

“Humans and spirit beasts can suffer from an incurable disease called Love-Brain Syndrome. Well, they are equal when it comes to this.”

I sighed, “Now that I think about it, the spirit beasts like the Uchiha of Douluo Dalu, though not entirely the same.”

“Dragon God’s presence is too strong.”

“Because of the Dragon God, the Divine Realm can’t accept an identical existence like it. It’s exactly what the Konoha did to the Uchiha Clan because of Madara’s deeds.”

“Living in confinement.”

“One step away from extinction.”

I shook my head helplessly. Perhaps I’m being too sentimental.

Those events are too far in the future.

I can’t judge someone’s character based on the knowledge of the Douluo Series alone. After all, they are “real” living beings in the real world I live in now.

Concentrating on my own progress, I have made several discoveries regarding the theory of “obtainable” spirit skills, insights into the mimicry of Spirit Rings, and the inner core of Spirit Beasts.

The mimicry of Spirit Rings is really important for their current level.

In this era, if one’s first spirit ring is thousands of years old, it would be too eye-catching. It isn’t until the third book that having a first spirit ring with an age of 1,000 years or more becomes normal. And that’s 20,000 years into the future.

I developed a technique to manipulate the frequency of a spirit ring, allowing me to change its size, fluctuation, and color. It is only possible primarily because I have the Sky Poison Pearl, which purifies the spirit ring and makes it easier to control.

The Spirit Ring Mimicry technique named Thousand Eyes uses “Spiritual Energy” to influence the energy within the spirit ring, creating a distortion in and around the halo.

After Thousand Eyes reaches a certain mastery, it is possible to detonate Spirit Ring and quickly increase the strength of Spirit Master just like the secret technique of Clear Sky Sect, Ring Explosion.

As for the neidan (inner core), I can boldly declare that my research in this field allows me to discover a fast way for the spirit master to cultivate their spirit power and even allow “Martial Soul” to evolve or undergo a second awakening.

Since the neidan was ‘naturally’ formed like a pill inside the Spirit Beast’s body, I theorized that I could replicate the process with Sky Poison Pearl, using the purified blood of Spirit Beast, their essence (flesh and bone), and earthly treasures with spiritual power to form an artificial neidan that not only could enhance one’s talent and cultivation speed, but also give their chance to reach something higher.

For instance, if a person with a “lizard-type” Martial Soul consumes an artificial neidan made from the essence of a Red Dragon, that individual could evolve their Martial Soul into that of the Red Dragon.

The artificial neidan can also act as an extra “energy reserve” to create Soul Core and increase the spirit ring’s age by consuming its essence.

Then again, I felt unfortunate because I didn’t have people to experiment with my thoughts. So, I could only use myself as a test subject.

In the last three months, I have experimented with the “essence” of Spirit Beasts to imitate Thunderstruck Tree’s Inner Core and create an artificial neidan using Sky Poison Pearl’s extraction and refining power.

It took me a month of self-torture before I was able to make a stable product. Yes, I made it. I made the artificial neidan, or should I say Demonic Pill.

The Demonic Pill is the very crystallization of a purified spirit beast’s essence. Upon consumption, it will bind itself to the host and fill in the gap of Martial Sou’s origin, allowing it to get stronger and evolve.

Even a trash-type Martial Soul, like a handkerchief, could develop into a man-slaughter weapon if the Spirit Master consumed the right Demonic Pill, but this also comes with a price.

A Martial Soul might only be able to consume one Demonic Pill in their life because it will become part of their body until their death, which means choosing the right Demonic Pill is a crucial decision that determines life and death.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t eliminate the Demonic Pill’s drawback due to a lack of materials, and Han Yue also stopped me because she didn’t want me to hurt myself.

If I could get myself a handful of 10,000-year-old Spirit Beast’s corpses, I might be able to make a better Demonic Pill.

After all, a true neidan doesn’t have Demonic Pill’s weakness. It will just melt away and be absorbed “entirely” by the Spirit Master in one way or another, like Ma Hongjun, who consumed the Neidan of Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent, evolving his Phoenix into the Ten-Headed Fire Phoenix when reaching the Divine Realm.

Well, that’s my harvest in the last three months.

Oh, yeah! I reached level 20 after twenty-seven days and waited for Han Yue to catch up before we could hunt our second spirit rings.

“Xiao Yuan! It’s time for dinner!” Han Yue’s sweet voice called me.

I curled my lips upon smelling scents of food cooked by Han Yue and walked into a cave inside complicated rock formations, “I’m coming!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep