Triggering a treasure chest in Douluo Continent

Chapter 24 Second Soul Ring

Logically speaking, he could have applied for graduation after absorbing his first spirit ring, since the graduation requirement for the Soul Master Academy is to become a spirit master.

The timing just wasn't right.

Because his situation is too special, if he were to change academies rashly, it would only attract more attention. If he stayed at Notting Academy, at least he would have a dean as a backer, which would make things much easier for him.

After careful consideration, it was not appropriate for him to graduate early at that time.

The timing is much more opportune now than before.

However, before applying for early graduation, he still had many things to do, the first of which was to obtain his second spirit ring!

The next morning, Shi Quan told Mald about his breakthrough to level 20.

After examining him with surprise, Mald exclaimed, "Your talent is now almost equivalent to that of a fully innate soul power."

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

Dawson was also surprised to see that Shi Quan had broken through to level 20 so quickly.

After confirming that everything was correct, there was no delay.

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

"What! You want to absorb something that's a thousand years old?!"

Mard suddenly stood up, his head slamming hard against the roof of the carriage with a bang. Ignoring the pain, he stared intently at Shi Quan and said in a deep voice, "No, a thousand years is too high. Your first soul ring is less than a hundred years over. A thousand years is more than two hundred years over the limit of the second soul ring. Moreover, there is a big difference between a thousand-year soul beast and a hundred-year soul beast. Their energy is much more violent. The difference between a thousand-year soul ring and a hundred-year soul ring is not just a little bit."

Because of the hasty departure, Shi Quan had not discussed the age limit of the second spirit ring with Mald beforehand, which is why he reacted this way.

Dawson also looked at Shi Quan with surprise and doubt. A thousand years and a hundred years is a leap of a level. Although there is only a one-year difference between nine hundred and ninety-nine years and a thousand years, the pressure they bear is multiplied.

Shi Quan smiled and reassured him, "Taking risks is inevitable if I want to perfect my theory, but I'm not foolish enough to risk my life. Don't worry, teacher, I'm confident in my choice."

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

"Let's wait and see."

Shi Quan smiled and lowered his head, turning his gaze to the book in his hands.

Dawson then spoke up at the opportune moment, saying, "The book in your hand only records hundred-year-old soul beasts; you need to read this one to learn about thousand-year-old soul beasts."

As he spoke, Dawson handed another book to Shi Quan. Compared to the book in Shi Quan's hand, this book was noticeably thinner.

"Dawson, you..." Mald could only sigh helplessly upon seeing this.

Shi Quan was wondering why he hadn't seen the thousand-year-old soul beast, and now he knew the reason.

How could such a vast Soul Beast Forest not have even a single thousand-year-old Soul Beast?

Shi Quan took the book from Dawson and immediately began to read it.

Most of the soul beasts in the book are low-age thousand-year soul beasts, with the highest being around 1,400 years old. After all, it's only a beginner-level Soul Hunting Forest, so while there are thousand-year soul beasts, their age won't be too high.

Looking at the enthusiastic Shi Quan, Dawson smiled and reminded him, "If you want a thousand-year-old plant-type soul beast, you can take a look at the plant-type soul beast on the second to last page. It is exactly a thousand years old, and it is also a rare high-level soul beast."

"A high-level thousand-year-old soul beast?" Shi Quan's eyes lit up, and he skipped the previous content and flipped to the last page.

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

"Black Jade Bamboo?"

Upon hearing the name, Mald immediately looked enlightened. Generally speaking, high-level soul beasts rarely appear in the Soul Beast Forest, and even if they do, they are usually very special high-level soul beasts.

The Jade Bamboo is a case in point. It has no offensive capabilities whatsoever; it only possesses one characteristic: hardness. It is precisely because of this one attribute that the Jade Bamboo has managed to squeeze into the ranks of high-level soul beasts.

The hardness of the black jade bamboo far exceeds that of its peers. Even some ordinary thousand-year-old soul beasts cannot harm a hundred-year-old black jade bamboo in the slightest. As for a thousand-year-old black jade bamboo, almost none of its peers can break its defenses, and the same is true for high-level soul beasts of the same level.

It's the kind of build where defense is maxed out, but speed, strength, and attack haven't been increased at all.

Such resilient black jade bamboo should be extremely rare and sought-after by plant-type control soul masters who pursue resilience.

However, the awkward thing is that because the hardness and toughness of the black jade bamboo are too high, the plant-type martial soul will harden itself after absorbing it, making the martial soul hard and difficult to control. Over time, this has led to plant-type soul masters who are good at control not daring to choose black jade bamboo as their soul ring.

There are very few defensive-type Soul Masters among plant-type Soul Masters, and Beast-type Soul Masters also do not choose plant-type Soul Beast Soul Rings, which makes the Ink Jade Bamboo, a type of Soul Beast, very unpopular among Soul Masters.

"Although the Jade Bamboo is powerful, its drawbacks are too great. Xiao Quan, you probably don't know how to..."

"That's it!"

Before Mald could finish speaking, Shi Quan had already made his decision.

"Xiao Quan, you should know the drawbacks of the Jade Bamboo Soul Ring. Don't choose it just because it's a high-level soul beast," Mald quickly advised.

"I've overcome so many difficulties, what's a little stiffness in a martial soul? Teacher, I believe I can solve it. Blue Silver Grass is naturally weak, and its lack of resilience is one of its biggest problems. If it has the spirit ring of Ink Jade Bamboo, I believe the weakness of Blue Silver Grass's resilience can be greatly alleviated." Shi Quan looked at Mald with a serious expression.

Mald shook his head. "Fine, it's just a hardship for my old bones."

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

"I do hope so," Mald said with a smile.

The black jade bamboo is incredibly hard. Although it has no offensive power, it is not something that just anyone can handle. Ordinary attacks may not affect it, but the attacker may be in serious trouble. The hard bamboo body is like iron and stone, generating a considerable recoil force. If you are not careful, you may not only fail to attack but also get injured.

Because of the delay in the morning, it was already late afternoon of the next day when we arrived at the Spirit Hall's base outside the Soul Hunting Forest.

The location of the Jade Bamboo is deep in the Soul Hunter Forest, which is quite far away. After discussing it, the three decided to set off early the next morning.

After all, it is the Soul Beast Forest. Although it is only the beginner level, it is still very dangerous to run towards the deepest part at night.

Early the next morning.

The three set off and traveled for several more hours until near noon when they finally spotted the long, jet-black bamboo in a thicket of bushes.

Determining the age of black jade bamboo is simple: it takes one hundred years to form a single section. Each additional section on the bamboo indicates that it has been aged for another hundred years.

There are exactly ten sections of black jade bamboo in front of me.

Besides appreciating the powerful resilience of the Black Jade Bamboo, another reason Shi Quan chose it was that bamboo is a type of grass, not a tree, and bamboo spirit beasts have strong vitality, making it extremely compatible with the Blue Silver Grass spirit in every aspect.

As for the problem of stiff martial spirit, Shi Quan had already come up with a solution: the immortal herb, Ink Jade Divine Bamboo.

The difference between Ink Jade Bamboo and Ink Jade Divine Bamboo is only one character, but both share the common characteristic of being hard. If he remembered correctly, the hardness of Ink Jade Divine Bamboo is increased within its flexibility, and it will not make the martial soul stiff.

Shi Quan speculated that the spirit beast, Ink Jade Bamboo, might have originated from the immortal herb, Ink Jade Divine Bamboo.

As for the immortal herbs, Shi Quan felt that with the special nature of the Nine Yin Nine Yang Divine Skill, he should be able to consume more than one immortal herb. The Black Jade Divine Bamboo was originally just a backup option, but if he absorbed the soul ring of the Black Jade Bamboo, then the Black Jade Divine Bamboo would become one of his top choices.

Specific follow-up arrangements will be planned in detail after Tiandou City's arrival.

Lost in thought, Mald had already swung his long staff and struck at the black jade bamboo, the violent impacts echoing continuously.

His powerful long staff could only barely leave a scratch on Mo Yuzhu's body. Fortunately, Mo Yuzhu was not aggressive and could only passively endure Mald's continuous attacks.

To kill the Black Jade Bamboo, you must break all the joints of each section of the bamboo.

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

Mald and Dawson could only take turns attacking Mo Yuzhu, and they attacked him in this way for a full hour.

This is a thousand-year-old black jade bamboo, which withstood the Soul Sect's attack for a full hour, demonstrating just how incredibly resilient it is.

"Xiao Quan, it's your turn." Mald gasped for breath, his hands trembling as he waved to Shi Quan.

"They're here." Shi Quan hurriedly stepped forward and picked up the fine iron spear beside Mald.

The nodes of the black jade bamboo are not as hard as the outer skin, but they are not something that can be pierced by an ordinary dagger. In order to hunt it, the two of them specially prepared this fine iron spear for Shi Quan when they entered the forest.

Shi Quan picked up the heavy spear and thrust it fiercely into the last remaining bamboo node of the black jade bamboo, then twisted it violently.

"It's really hard." Even though Shi Quan was mentally prepared, his hands still went numb from the recoil from the spear.

He put down the spear, and in no time, a pale purple spirit ring floated out.

Shi Quan stopped what he was doing and sat down in an open space to the side.

"Keep it up, Xiao Quan!" Mald encouraged from the side.

Shi Quan remained calm as he looked at the purple soul ring not far away, summoned his martial soul, and began to draw in and absorb it.

The familiar scene reappeared, but this time the difference was that the yellow bracelet-sized spirit ring had turned purple.

"Hiss!" As the violent energy entered his body, Shi Quan's body trembled violently. He gasped for breath and his body began to shake.

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

That's right, it was explosive. The surging energy exploded in Shi Quan's body like a bunch of crazy gunpowder. Even Shi Quan couldn't help but let out a series of painful groans.

The Yi Jing marrow cleansing method was quickly put into operation, but fortunately, although the process was painful, it was all within the limits that Shi Quan could endure.

Time passed second by second.

Internal inspection.

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

Under the scorching heat of the flames, the Blue Silver Grass began to change again. Its originally thinner branches and leaves grew longer and wider, and its pale blue color deepened. The black halo seemed to dye the entire Blue Silver Grass black. At this moment, that deep dark light emerged from the depths of the Blue Silver Grass again. It was a blackness deeper than black, like an abyss, a blackness that could devour everything.

The pale blue Blue Silver Grass eventually settled into a deep blue. Compared to ordinary Blue Silver Grass, the current Blue Silver Grass is much deeper in color, and its originally slender branches and leaves have returned to their previous robust appearance. Its skin has a jade-like luster, making it appear even more resilient.

click-

The intense heat within the body gradually subsided, dispersed, and then merged and absorbed.

This sense of broken familiarity brought a feeling of pleasure, and the inner strength quickly merged with the power of the soul ring.

Level 20, breakthrough!

Soul ring absorption successful!

"Phew!" Mald breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the purple soul ring slowly settle down, he realized that Shi Quan's soul beast had successfully absorbed it, and his tightly clenched fists finally relaxed.

Shi Quan, who had been sitting quietly, slowly opened his eyes. The once bright sky was now shrouded in darkness.

Time went straight from noon to evening.

"Congratulations, Xiao Quan." Mald's voice was filled with surprise and admiration. He would never have had the courage to try a thousand-year-old soul ring. Shi Quan not only tried, but also succeeded. He was a true pioneer.

"I still have to thank Lord Dawson and my teacher for their help in hunting and protecting us," Shi Quan said with a smile as he stood up.

Mald waved his hand and laughed heartily, then quickly asked, "It's nothing, tell me how it feels?"

"My soul power has increased by about the same as last time, only one level. I'm still a ways from reaching level twenty-two," Shi Quan said, stretching his body. "My physical strength has improved quite a bit."

"As for the Martial Soul..." As he spoke, Shi Quan raised his hand and summoned his Martial Soul. A deep blue Blue Silver Grass appeared in his hand. In addition to its darker color, the Blue Silver Grass had grown larger and emitted a faint luster, making it look very tough.

Mald said in surprise, "Xiao Quan, your Blue Silver Grass doesn't seem to have hardened at all."

After pondering for a moment, Shi Quan said, "I think it's because the Blue Silver Grass itself is too fragile. Even with the resilience of the Black Jade Bamboo, coupled with the special life attribute of my Blue Silver Grass, which gives it a strong ability to adapt, it didn't harden."

Shi Quan was somewhat surprised by the current situation. The reason why the Blue Silver Grass did not harden was mainly due to the devouring attribute hidden within it. This attribute absorbed the strong tenacity attribute of the Black Jade Bamboo, allowing the Blue Silver Grass to almost perfectly absorb the Black Jade Bamboo's soul ring, resulting in a dramatic change in its resilience.

(End of this chapter)