Douluo: I am a biologist, awakening the weapon spirit?

Chapter 157 Rings and Bones

After hearing Chen Feng's explanation, Zhu Zhuqing understood what Chen Feng meant.

She had no complaints about the soul bone, even though its effectiveness might be somewhat weakened.

Even if it is weakened, it is still a soul bone, and a soul bone produced by a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast.

In the history of the mainland, two kingdoms once fought each other to the death over a 20,000-year-old soul bone, resulting in rivers of blood.

Therefore, the ten-thousand-year-old soul bone has also been given another name: the Blood River Treasure.

Zhu Zhuqing was deeply moved to receive such a gift.

Ning Rongrong noticed another problem, "Xiao Feng, you just said that this soul bone was made?"

Chen Feng nodded. "That's right. It wasn't obtained through the traditional method of killing soul beasts, but rather it's a product of human creation. I'll explain the details to you later."

Upon hearing the words "man-made," both Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing were astonished.

They were well aware of the significance of artificial soul bones, and naturally understood that the emergence of such a thing marked the beginning of a new era.

Just like the Foundation Building Method back then.

However, since it was Chen Feng who told them this, Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing quickly accepted the fact.

Zhu Zhuqing took the dark purple soul bone from Chen Feng and asked:

"Then can I just absorb it directly?"

“Yes, I want to see what happens after you absorb the soul bone after reaching the bottleneck stage,” Chen Feng said.

“I understand, which part of the soul bone is it?” Zhu Zhuqing asked.

"Right leg bone," Chen Feng said.

This soul bone originated from the ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, the Shadow Serpent, a soul beast capable of burrowing into the shadows and moving freely within them.

Clearly, the soul bones it produces are the most suitable match for Zhu Zhuqing.

As for why it was the right leg bone, Chen Feng speculated that it might be related to mobility.

After all, the Shadow Serpent's specialty is moving freely in the shadows.

Furthermore, the fact that the Silver Lightning Flying Serpent produced head soul bones in the past can also support this conjecture to some extent.

However, more examples are needed to truly confirm this hypothesis.

In addition, a 100,000-year-old soul bone should not conform to this rule, because the part of a 100,000-year-old soul bone will change according to the needs of the soul master.

To understand the inner workings of the soul bone parts, or even to create soul bones for specific parts, there is still a long way to go.

After listening to Chen Feng's explanation, Zhu Zhuqing did not hesitate for long. She immediately sat down cross-legged and then attached the soul bone in her hand to her right leg.

The next moment, her entire right leg was enveloped in a dark purple light.

Chen Feng and the others kept a close eye on Zhu Zhuqing's situation. At first, Zhu Zhuqing's condition was normal, similar to when Chen Feng absorbed the soul bone before, with the part of her absorbing the soul bone being enveloped in light.

But soon, the light spread to Zhu Zhuqing's entire body and dyed the entire wooden house a dark purple.

A small metal ball fell to the ground with a thud.

At the same time, Zhu Zhuqing frowned and let out a groan, as if she was enduring some kind of pain.

“This doesn’t seem like absorbing a soul bone; it’s more like absorbing a soul ring,” Dugu Bo said, standing up.

“If it’s about absorbing a soul ring, wouldn’t Zhu Qing be in great danger? That’s the soul bone of a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast,” Ning Rongrong said.

"Senior, may I interrupt Zhu Qing?" Chen Feng asked.

The current situation confirms his suspicions, but if the soul bone that Zhu Zhuqing absorbed really turns into a soul ring, then she might be burst by the soul ring.

At least that's how it is when absorbing a spirit ring; it's still too much of a stretch to get a ten-thousand-year spirit ring for the third ring.

Even if this soul bone might not reach the strength of ten thousand years due to the materials used in its creation, it is still at least several thousand years old.

However, Zhu Zhuqing is only level 30 now, and a soul ring that is thousands of years old is very difficult for her.

After carefully observing Zhu Zhuqing's condition, Dugu Bo shook his head and refused Chen Feng's request.

"There's no need to interrupt. The energy the soul bone is giving this girl is rapidly diminishing, and she'll be fine soon."

Just as Dugu Bo said, Zhu Zhuqing's pained expression quickly calmed down, which indicated that the crisis was over.

Chen Feng looked around at the wooden houses, which were dyed a dark purple, and guessed:

"Could all that excess energy have dissipated? I don't recall this happening when we absorbed spirit rings before."

"We'll have to wait until Zhu wakes up to find out," Tang San said.

It wasn't until late at night that Zhu Zhuqing opened her eyes again; the dark purple light emanating from her body had completely dissipated.

"Zhuqing, how are you feeling?" Chenfeng asked.

"It seems I've gained an extra spirit ring," Zhu Zhuqing said somewhat uncertainly.

To confirm this, she summoned her martial spirit to possess her.

As expected, three soul rings, two yellow and one purple, pulsated slowly around her.

"From this perspective, soul bones and soul rings are indeed the same thing; the former can replace the latter," Tang San said.

"But what's the point? Soul bones are far more precious than soul rings," Dugu Bo asked.

Chen Feng thought for a moment and then asked Zhu Zhuqing:

"Zhu Qing, have you successfully absorbed the soul bone?"

Zhu Zhuqing closed her eyes and sensed it for a moment, then shook her head with a strange expression.

"The soul bone is gone."

Chen Feng nodded. "That means the soul bone has been completely transformed into a soul ring, and Zhu Qing doesn't have a single soul bone in her body now."

He had anticipated this outcome, so he wasn't too surprised.

Chen Feng had previously speculated that soul bones and soul rings were essentially the same, and that the former could replace the latter.

There are two possibilities for this substitution: one is that after absorbing the soul bone, a part of the soul bone is transformed into a soul ring, while the remaining part remains in the soul master's body as a soul bone.

As for the second possibility, it is the current situation, where the soul bone has been completely transformed into a soul ring.

If there's anything left over, it's probably just the small metal ball that served as the receiver.

"What a huge loss," Xiao Wu muttered. Turning a soul bone into a soul ring, in terms of value, was indeed a huge loss for her.

But Chen Feng shook his head, "You can't calculate it that way. If Zhu Qing gets a soul ring and a soul bone at the same time, then she will really lose out."

Tang San thought about it and understood what he meant.

"Are you saying that in this situation, converting a soul bone into a soul ring will result in significant losses, and the remaining portion is not worth occupying a soul bone slot?"

"That's exactly what I mean. In this situation, it's best if the soul bone is completely consumed." Chen Feng nodded.

He sighed softly and said:
"When I first guessed that soul bones could replace soul rings, I wondered why there were no records of this. Logically speaking, in such a long period of time, there should be a chance of such a coincidence. I even doubted whether this guess was correct."

"But now this question has been answered. While soul bones can replace soul rings, they will be completely consumed. Even if someone in history tried this, they probably wouldn't have passed it down."

"Firstly, it's because one can't easily reveal the fact that they have a soul bone. Secondly, doing so would be extremely cost-effective, like using a gold brick to prop up a table leg. No normal person would do that."

"But you did it anyway," Xiao Wu muttered.

"I was pursuing the truth, and I had already considered the possibility of this happening beforehand," Chen Feng said nonchalantly.

Research is never without its costs. Chen Feng felt that exchanging a ten-thousand-year-old soul bone for proof of the nature of soul rings and soul bones was not a bad deal.

Although he has successfully created the soul bone, he still needs to truly understand what soul rings and soul bones are in order to completely determine the production process of these two.

Otherwise, if something happens in the future and Chen Feng doesn't even know where the problem lies, the consequences could be quite serious.

Knowing not only what to do, but also why to do it is an essential quality for researchers.

If you use "maybe," "probably," "possibly," or "more or less" to describe everything, and just mess around haphazardly, that's not research; that's just shamanistic rituals.

As Erlang Shen once said, "Normally it's all about the same, but at crucial moments it's always just a little bit off."

In other matters, a slight deficiency might not be a major problem, but in scientific research, a slight deficiency could be fatal.

"Speaking of which, Zhu Qing, what soul skill did you acquire?" Chen Feng asked curiously.

“This soul skill is very useful to me,” Zhu Zhuqing said with a smile. “It allows me to move between unconnected shadows.”

"Oh? This soul skill makes up for one of your weaknesses," Chen Feng said with some delight.

Before this, Zhu Zhuqing had a weakness: she could only move within a continuous shadow, which greatly limited her agility.

In battle, this makes it even easier for the enemy to find a weakness.

Especially on the arena, without a Soul Master like Tang San to create the arena, Zhu Zhuqing's Shadow Escape technique is almost ineffective at concealing her whereabouts.

But now things are different. Zhu Zhuqing's ability to move within unconnected shadows means she will truly become elusive, and the limitations imposed on her by the arena will be greatly reduced.

At least in 2v2 and team battles, Zhu Zhuqing no longer needs anyone to create a special arena for her; she can jump directly in the shadows of others.

Even in one-on-one arena battles, Zhu Zhuqing possesses the ability to directly enter the enemy's shadow within a certain range, which poses a significant threat to her opponents.

In other words, Zhu Zhuqing has completely become a dangerous shadow assassin with independent combat capabilities.

The soul bone that Chen Feng brought back successfully solved Zhu Zhuqing's soul ring problem and gave her an excellent soul skill.

However, there is only one soul bone, so other people still need to find soul beasts to obtain their soul rings.

After consuming the herb, three people—Ma Hongjun, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong—reached a bottleneck.

Bai Chenxiang and Gu Yueling have reached level 29 and level 39 respectively, only one level away from their respective bottlenecks.

Upon learning of this, Flander was overjoyed and planned to take his students to search for spirit beasts after a few days of preparation.

Since Zhu Zhuqing's soul ring problem has been solved, only Ma Hongjun and Ning Rongrong need soul rings now.

Ning Rongrong needs a wide range of soul beasts, and those that can boost her attack, defense, and soul power are all viable options.

Ma Hongjun's needs were more specific; he undoubtedly needed a fire-attribute soul beast, preferably one that could fly.

As a Soul Master whose Martial Soul is Phoenix, his obsession with flying is ingrained in his bones, and he no longer wants to be a ground-dwelling chicken.

Especially with the white agarwood as a backdrop, the fact that he couldn't fly made Ma Hongjun feel like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat.

After considering the circumstances of the two individuals, Flander decided to lead everyone to the Death Desert.

There are a large number of fire-attribute soul beasts living there, as well as many metal and earth-attribute soul beasts, which can meet the needs of both Ma Hongjun and Ning Rongrong.

During the few days of preparation, Gu Yueling began to inquire about the self-condensed soul ring from Chen Feng, intentionally or unintentionally.

Chen Feng didn't hide much from her inquiries and directly told her the general process of the Soul Ring experiment, emphasizing that both parties could benefit from the process.

The benefit that humans gain is naturally the spirit rings, while the spirit beasts can obtain the spirit power left behind by humans. It's a win-win situation.

But Chen Feng didn't say much, because he didn't want to arouse Gu Yueling's suspicion.

Fishing is something you can't rush. First, you need to prepare the bait area before you can cast your line.

If you rush things, the fish will be scared away and won't bite easily.

Chen Feng has now prepared a nest called "Human Soul Ring Condensation," and is just waiting for the ferocious beasts' reaction after the news reaches their lair.

After making preparations for the departure, Flander led a group of teachers and students toward the Desert of Death.

The students were naturally the eleven members of Hydra, while the teachers were the Golden Triangle plus Zhao Wuji.

This lineup is already quite powerful, considering they're only going to find the thousand-year-old soul beast needed for their third soul ring.

The reason they didn't hunt spirit beasts as usual was because these teachers already knew about Chen Feng's spirit ring experiment.

Flander and his companions were naturally very happy that the students could obtain transcendent spirit rings, so they decided to follow the experimental procedure given by Chen Feng and first find the target spirit beast to negotiate with.

If negotiations fail, then we'll consider hunting for the rings.

The Death Desert is located to the west of Tiandou City, covering a vast area, with its borders about five days' journey from the city.

After a five-day journey, Flanders and his party successfully arrived at a city located outside the border of the Death Desert.

Red Sand City.

Because this city is located on the edge of the desert, its customs and culture are quite different from those of other cities.

The most important point is in terms of clothing. Because of the temperature, the people here wear relatively cool clothes.

Flanders and his party, who were about to enter the Death Desert, were no exception; they changed into local clothing to suit local customs.

To cope with the low temperatures in the desert at night, they also prepared a thicker set of clothes.

After all preparations were complete, the group entered the Death Desert.

(End of this chapter)