Chapter 14: Breakthrough

...

"No, no, no."

Zeng Yi shook his head, rejecting the proposal of his Martial Spirit Ronin Sword.

No way, no way, no way. He knew very well the consequences of absorbing a thousand-year soul ring. The violent power would cause his body to explode within minutes.

But the Ronin Sword trembled and made sounds, as if it was trying to convey something to Zeng Yi.

"You say it's fine, don't worry! Of course, it's fine for you. I'm the one suffering!" Zeng Yi angrily cursed. He really didn't know how unlucky he was to have a Martial Spirit like this. A Martial Spirit that couldn't behave properly at such a young age, this was unacceptable!

"I will find you a better one, please stop misbehaving, alright?" Zeng Yi persuaded his Martial Spirit like soothing a child. Ugh, why is my Martial Spirit like this? Why can't it be normal?

But the Ronin Sword didn't listen, it continued to tremble and make noise.

"You say this soul ring is important to you? It must be obtained." Feeling the intention of his Martial Spirit, Zeng Yi said.

"You are risking my life!" Zeng Yi sighed helplessly. How did he end up with such a Martial Spirit?

"You can help me? No problem! Nothing bad will happen!" The Ronin Sword conveyed another message to Zeng Yi, making him secretly excited.

Did Zeng Yi not want this soul ring? Of course he did. Which Spirit Master wouldn't want their first soul ring to be a thousand years old, or even ten thousand years old? But it had to be achievable!

Realizing that his Martial Spirit could help him, Zeng Yi couldn't help but have some thoughts. He realized that his Martial Spirit was not ordinary. How many Martial Spirits could be so human-like? Maybe it really had the ability to help him.

"Are you telling the truth?" Zeng Yi asked again, and the Ronin Sword trembled slightly in his hand.

Seeing his Martial Spirit's response, Zeng Yi looked at the faint purple light halo floating around the body of the Blue Darkness Wolf. He hesitated, struggled, and considered whether to accept this proposal.

"Alright! I believe you won't harm me, let's do it!" After hesitating for a few minutes, Zeng Yi gritted his teeth and decided to trust his Martial Spirit and approach the soul ring.

At this moment, he had to take a risk. In this dangerous Douluo Continent, if he didn't even have this courage, how could he reach the peak? How could he cultivate to the hundredth level and become a god? He was not part of the main character group; those divine positions were already pre-determined. He had to rely on his own cultivation to become a god, and that was incredibly difficult.

If he wanted to become stronger, he had to endure the corresponding pain and torture. Even though the rewards might not be proportional, there would still be some. Even if it was just a little bit of reward, he had to seize it.

Approaching the soul ring, Zeng Yi began to prepare to absorb his first soul ring. He had learned the method of absorbing soul rings from the soul power training manual the system had given him. But now, he needed to be prepared, just in case.

Zeng Yi found some sticks and erected a wooden frame around the soul ring. He covered it with camouflage cloth and then lifted the cloth, diving in himself.

In this way, from the outside, Zeng Yi, the body of the Blue Darkness Wolf, and the soul ring all disappeared from their original positions.

There was no other choice. Zeng Yi was alone and had no one to guard him. If a soul beast suddenly appeared while he was fusing with the soul ring, it would be a big problem.

However, Zeng Yi didn't know that at the height of a kilometer above him, a figure was floating in the air, looking down.

"Hahaha~ This guy is really interesting. Haha, it's so funny. What a move, haha~" The figure burst into laughter.

This figure was the same girl who had saved the injured Zeng Yi. 

She saw Zeng Yi's movements below and burst into laughter, holding her stomach.

After a while, she stopped laughing and took out a packet of potato chips from the void. She tore open the packaging, put her hand inside, and took out some chips, gently biting them and making a crisp sound.

She knew that Zeng Yi would definitely absorb this soul ring, and she was a little worried, so she came to take a look. It was dangerous for a Spirit Master to absorb a soul ring without anyone guarding them, especially in the Sunset Forest, a dangerous place where soul beasts gathered.

"Alas, I'll be your bodyguard for the night! What a waste of my beauty sleep."

"But... this soul ring is not a piece of cake. Hehe~" The girl said, looking at the figure below.

...

Inside the camouflage cloth, Zeng Yi sat cross-legged on the ground, with the Ronin Sword lying on his knees. He took a deep breath and a faint blue light emanated from his right hand. That was his spiritual power. Zeng Yi stimulated his spiritual power and connected it to the soul ring of the Blue Darkness Wolf. The faint purple halo felt the attraction and flew towards Zeng Yi.

Looking at this faint purple halo, Zeng Yi could sense the immense energy contained within it. The pressure it emitted made his bones tremble slightly.

Guard your mind, concentrate on your Martial Spirit, merge!

Zeng Yi silently repeated in his mind and started absorbing. The halo instantly transformed into a bunch of pale purple photons and merged into Zeng Yi's body and the Ronin Sword.

In an instant, Zeng Yi felt a huge surge of scorching energy rushing into his body like a torrent. Suddenly, the energy swept through his whole body, burning his organs, as if he was immersed in molten lava. His body couldn't help but tremble violently.

So hot! So painful! He felt that his whole body was about to be torn apart and incinerated by this violent energy.

Zeng Yi's entire body turned reddish, and the veins under his skin protruded. He tightly closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and his body trembled in pain.

Right now, his consciousness was completely immersed in this painful and scorching ocean.

The Wind Sword Technique automatically activated, Zeng Yi's clothes fluttered, and a whirlwind rose around his body. Under the influence of the camouflage cloth, it swayed vigorously, causing the wooden frame to tremble. In no time, the camouflage cloth was blown away, and the wooden frame collapsed, while Zeng Yi's figure appeared outside. In this place affected by the whirlwind, dust was flying and dried branches and leaves were swirling, creating a small tornado around him.

In Zeng Yi's sea of consciousness, he saw a huge blue and shadowy wolf head roaring wildly. The sound waves were intense, and Zeng Yi's spiritual consciousness flickered weakly, like a candle in the wind that could be extinguished at any moment.

Hold on, guard your mind, absolutely cannot lose consciousness, or it's all over!

Zeng Yi also kept shouting internally, roaring, and venting his emotions.

Channeling the Wind Sword Technique and his own spiritual power together to guide this violent energy, making it flow with his will inside his body. Although this process was painful and uncomfortable, if he were to stop, he felt that he would explode. So, even though it was painful, he had to make this energy yield.

The Ronin Sword on Zeng Yi's knees also shimmered with light, extracting a portion of the energy from Zeng Yi's body and greedily absorbing it. On the black and red scabbard of the Ronin Sword, faint blue lines appeared, gradually extending and lengthening with time.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Zeng Yi seemed to hear the sound of a crisp crack. The violent and scorching energy dissipated and began to blend with his spiritual power, flowing rapidly through his meridians, starting the process of healing his body. It was like a gust of spring breeze blowing after a fierce fire, causing the seeds in the soil to germinate, breaking through the soil and embracing new life, bringing Zeng Yi a gentle and comfortable feeling.

He succeeded. The Wind Sword Technique and spiritual power began to merge, breaking through the bottleneck and entering the second stage. The spiritual power also broke through from the tenth level, starting to grow.

Eleventh level, twelfth level, his spiritual power instantly jumped two levels. The growth rate didn't stop and reached the twelfth level bottleneck, broke through, and entered the thirteenth level, continuing to grow until it reached the thirteenth level bottleneck.