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Jun'er took 3 hours to completely absorb the spirit ring. If Bibi Dong was here, she would sigh in relief. Every aspect of life is marked by growth and so does the spirit cultivation of a Spirit Master, too. In this world, the cultivation of spirit beast considered best for the fifth spirit ring is a black one. Now there have been many exceptions in past and present and there will be in the future, too. But Jun'er being able to absorb a 17000-year-old spirit ring without any form of external assistance save for the tofu that was already in her mouth had managed to verify Bibi Dong's training method as a harsh but successful one.
She only opened her eyes once her cultivation settled on rank 51, looking around and exhaling deeply once she found the corpse of the Devil Duke Wolf ravaged.
"No spirit bone?" She inquired, her voice slightly coarse at the moment due to the intense breakthrough. Jun'er really didn't understand why Liu Erlong feared Soul Shock this much. It wasn't that hard to bear, Jun'er experienced.
"None," Oscar shook his head. This was one of the greatest benefits they felt after joining Spirit Hall again. They didn't need to fear being attacked for Spirit Bones by their own teammates. Of course, Zhao Wuji and Feng Long weren't like that, but they had encountered plenty of rogue spirit masters to feel blessed about this fact. Not to mention that one of the members was filthy rich and it wasn't even the successor of the Spirit Hall.
"Well, I did get a good skill, so still lucky~!" Jun'er grinned, hugging Oscar happily as they stood up.
"Alright, I'm taking the corpse," Ja Sun remarked. He now had a great demand of spirit beast's corpse so he wouldn't let a darkness-attributed corpse go to waste either.
"Thank you," Jun'er nodded. Nodding, Ja Sun looked at Oscar, "Now we need to find a spirit ring that matches your need. Physical Restoration, Stamina Regeneration, and Amplified Physique. All three of your skills are based on physical attributes and because of your Martial Soul's innate qualities, it being food, the more you 'prepare' it, the better result we can get from the food despite the limitation of it being a lower-tier spirit ring.
For you, Spirit Ring's true value is the boost to your cultivation. So? Do you still want a physical attributed skill or some other properties?"
Being a food, Oscar's Martial Soul made sure that the speed of cultivation is slow. But Heaven's are fair. With every disadvantage comes advantages. Oscar could absorb any type of spirit ring. And since its food, if Oscar pushed more energy in almost every of his ability, the benefit received from the tofu will surpass the quality of the ring. In essence, at rank 40, the advantage of the physical restoration from Tofu of his first spirit ring wouldn't be the quality of rank 10 spirit master but rank 40 itself.
This was a worthy martial soul that anybody with the slightest of cleverness would be lucky to have and Oscar felt the same.
"I want to be the Grandfather who can provide support on any matter," Oscar exhaled, "Healing, Stamina Regeneration, and Stronger Physical Attacks, those are my current skills. I have six more spots left in spirit rings and the other six for spirit bones...
But when it comes to spirit bones, the abilities are always fixed and cannot be changed by martial soul's existence, unlike the Spirit Rings.
So I want to diversify."
Right now, either because of his own low cultivation or his group's greater strength, Oscar's usability in the group had been low. He wanted to change that.
"Let's start looking then," Ja Sun nodded.
The group didn't stay to rest. Jun'er was ready to fight after her breakthrough and she didn't mind informing the group of her spirit ability fully knowing that she still cannot be considered a wild card like Ja Sun who loves to surprise. Still, her ability was extremely well received.
[A/N: I have been creating a character sheet for the team so don't worry, I know what skills they have specifically and would update them on webnovel and this will allow me to reveal them as it is used instead of just explaining it here for wordcount and left until later before revealing again.]
Only Yuehua and Oscar now remained. Even with the sheer number of spirit beasts inside this behemoth spirit environment, Ja Sun was mentally prepared for more trips when it came to Yuehua. By now, he was almost sure that Clear Phoenix had two specific needs that she kept in mind while hunting.
The innate quality that she can sense somehow and the age. There was no other speculation. If only getting the second spirit ring is so hard then Yuehua can kiss her cultivation goodbye. However, if the specific age of the spirit ring is also factored in by the Clear Phoenix then things become clearer. After all, Yuehua's martial soul itself is the only one who can hunt for its own spirit rings.
This realization made Ja Sun move around through the outer rings of each section of the forest so that Clear Phoenix can come in contact with the weaker Spirit Beasts.
Hours went past quickly. Most Spirit beasts that the group did come across were not accepted by Clear Phoenix. Meanwhile, a few others who showed strange abilities were simply noted down. After entering the group, Oscar's standards had clearly grown. With the thought of the competition taking place in a few weeks, Oscar wanted to have a substantial ability that can be used to gain an advantage regardless.
"Well, we can try our luck in Disorienting Ghost Canyon," Ja Sun offered. He had turned Bright Goddess Butterfly a 10000-year-old Spirit Soul there itself. Maybe Xie Xan can find his fortune there, too.
---
"Great," Tang Hao smiled widely as sweat-soaked and exhausted, Dai Mu opened her eyes. There was the corpse of a giant blue-furred cat on the ground and the giant gash on its hind limb glimmered with light.
"Congratulations, you're quite lucky," Tang Hao smiled, tearing the limb from the corpse as easily as breathing and revealing its bone shining from within. Dai Mu's eyes widened.
A Spirit Bone.
And from a spirit beast whose Spirit Ring she had absorbed. This was good for her, too good, in fact.
Once she took her time to absorb the right leg spirit bone, the two rested and then took their leave to walk towards the known center of the forest.
"You're rank 51 Spirit King now and quite young, too. Although, at your age... I think was already a rank 57 Spirit King," Tang Hao chuckled, "So you've got more cultivation to do."
Pouting, Dai Mu couldn't help but scold slightly, "Cultivation, cultivation, cultivation. When we first met at my parent's palace, you weren't this much of a freak."
"You're right," the man smiled sincerely, "But then I had the fortune of meeting freaks blessed with luck and the ruthlessness to wring their potential dry. I cannot measure to an odd 20-year-old Spirit Emperor or Spirit Kings," At this words, the image of Ah Yin and Ja Sun flashed across the duo's mind as Tang Hao continued, "But I am fortunate to be in their generation and to be older than them. That is my advantage, that and my unreasonable strength. I'm Rank 80, and I want to be a Titled Douluo before anyone from my generation."
"I want to make use of the advantage I have to reach one step closer to the peak."
As Tang Hao spoke, he recalled how his elder brother would have higher cultivation and greater strength than him and would defeat him every day. Young and naive as he was, Tang Hao would shout— You're only older. When I'm your age, I will be stronger—
But young Tang Xiao would only laugh— You're talented than me. But I will always be older. I will try and keep my advantage and your talent will only speak for itself when you surpass me without ever reaching the same age as me.
Tang Hao did do that. But in this journey, Tang Hao also understood the underlying meaning of Tang Xiao's words.
Being older is also an advantage. Thus, anything can be an advantage if you look at things with an open mind.
"Man... I really want to try and get a crimson ring as my last spirit ring," Tang Hao mumbled with a sigh. It was one of the greatest known treasures of the Spirit Master's World— a 100000-year-old Spirit Ring.
---
Liu Erlong in particular had some great memories about the Disorienting Ghost Canyon. It took the group three hours of constant and quick traveling to reach this location and it surprised Oscar, Jun'er, and Yuehua greatly that previously everyone survived here for months as a part of training. Compared to this, only Extreme North would match its intensity in training.
Ja Sun, too, was pleasantly surprised. This location seemed like a nest of quick breed and growth of the ghost and phantom-type spirit beasts. The outer section of the valley was once again full of 'life' and with the added advantage of his Life-Death Spirit Cauldron and high mental energy, Ja Sun had no problem trying and reap a few lives. After all, there won't be any blood left most of the time and the Spirit Beat of this kind who did leave corpses were rare and in return, useful for Ja Sun to collect.
And this place, due to its nature, was useful to Oscar.
For his fourth spirit ring, he had come to know a few options. There was the 7000-year-old Berserk Viper that would most likely give some form of stimulating ability. Then Ja Sun was trying to persuade Oscar to absorb the 6000-year-old Humping Baboon since its ability would most likely bring 'stimulation' to another part of the body. Oscar didn't accept it no matter how... glorious Ja Sun made it sound.
Still, Ja Sun took the corpse of this particular beast, openly claiming that he would make a great Essence Tool or some other treasure from this beast.
There was also an 8500-year-old Glaring Crow with an exotic stun ability that made Oscar feel a little greedy for its ability but he felt that trying to aim for an attack-type ability for his food-type martial soul might backfire.
And this made Oscar extremely happy when he finally came across the phantom-type spirit beasts. For him, these were game-changers, and knowing full well not to chew more than he can digest, Oscar chose a 9000-year-old Phaseless Hermit Specter for his fourth spirit ring.
But with the environment of Disorienting Ghost Canyon being perilous, everyone had to keep the spirit beasts at bay, which finally made Liu Erlong happier. She could use her fire without caring of destruction since she had the 'reason' to protect her teammate and with constant flashes of flame, she could even assist the team who couldn't see clearly. Yuehua and Clear Phoenix stayed within the group while Liu Erlong simply vented for an hour to come until she ruined the surroundings and scared off the weaker portions of the spirit beasts.
Oscar's breakthrough lasted for two hours, his body shuddering but with the lack of soul shock, the auxiliary support type spirit master did not require any external support. And as Ja Sun had stated, for Oscar, even more important than the spirit abilities were the boost from each spirit ring. That's why his demand was simple but harder to meet.
Special skills and greater cultivation of spirit ring.
He chose the 9000-year-old spirit beast because it would not only be above his current capacity that would rouse his potential and advance his cultivation but would also provide a greater improvement to the support he can provide.
With Oscar's spirit rank settling at Rank 43, the group slowly left the canyon. Not only did Oscar breakthrough successfully, but Ja Sun took the chance to increase the cultivation of his spirit souls by 1300 years, too.
However, unknown to the group, Ja Sun and Ah Yin had their own goals and had already set up a great 'plot' device for themselves. After all, the two knew that any being who gets lucky without witnesses will have it harder time explaining the situation. This happened when Ja Sun formed his second spirit core— Yin-Yang War Physique— accidentally and had no way to explain the situation. Thus he simply did not answer anything about it.
Qian Daoliu seemed disinterested in questioning him, too, which fell in line with his teachings and methods. Ja Sun wouldn't be the first one to gain something extremely fortuitous and he certainly wouldn't be the last one.
And just like that, as they walked out of the Disorienting Ghost Canyon, Ah Yin 'conveniently' stated that something was 'calling' out to her. It was poppycock, but she had used this excuse previously while forming her sixth spirit ring and it was well-received. Fully knowing that anything inciting Ah Yin's attention would be a good thing for her, the group was led by her where they found the 7th Grade Black Jade Divine Bamboo.
This was planted by Ja Sun before entering the Ghost Canyon. And this would become Ah Yin's fortune. She wasn't planning to absorb this now. After all, Ah Yin had been nurturing the Blue Silver Emperor's Core inside of her ever since the last bit of it was left from her breakthrough in the Balak City.
Ah Yin simply wanted to 'legally' hold this treasure while silently cultivate to rank 70 before using this. The group themselves didn't know much about Immortal Herbs but they knew that these are treasures since Bibi Dong made quick breakthroughs using such a resource and Ah Yin only skimmed through the explanation stating that this was good for plant-type martial souls.
The day was almost ending and the group had achieved almost everything they had set out to do.
There was only one reason why Ja Sun took a leave this long in the first place: None of them wanted to share the burdens of their other three teammates and wanted to have some fun. Hit a tavern or two: Drink and laugh.
"Eh?"
Tang Yuehua gasped, her eyes flickering with joy and surprise as Clear Phoenix suddenly took off while mentally beckoning her spirit master to follow.
"Whoo! Everything cleared up in one day! Party for six days!" Jun'er cheered, knowing that Clear Phoenix taking off with such excitement only meant one thing.
Even Ja Sun was slightly surprised but the group followed the Clear Phoenix until it caught a small viper by the talons and shredded it right there and then.
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