Lifebound Soul Ring Upgrade

Beneath the Blue Silver Emperor Tree, Tang Feng and Ah Yin sat facing each other. At times, they sat in silence; at others, they talked and laughed.

Tang Feng told her about his past, and Ah Yin listened attentively.

Tang Feng said nothing about Tang Hao or Tang San. He only told her how he had grown up eating meals provided by families throughout the village, then how, through a chance encounter and the mysterious pull of his bloodline, he had found Ah Yin, and what had happened afterward.

Ah Yin, for her part, understood without asking whether Tang Feng had a father or anything of the sort.

If he did, yet that father had let such a sensible and filial child as Xiao Feng live such a hard life from an early age, little better than an orphan's, then he was certainly unfit to be a father. Ah Yin felt there was no need to get to know him and would simply consider herself to have been blind.

In more than seven years, he had not come to see her once. He probably was not someone who knew how to cherish her, either.

If there was no father, so much the better. She would consider Xiao Feng a child bestowed upon her by the heavens.

Added to that was the wonderful feeling of enjoying Xiao Feng's company from the bottom of her heart. Ah Yin felt that, whether she had died or not, from now on she would devote herself wholeheartedly to Xiao Feng, stay by his side, and always keep a home for him.

"Xiao Feng, you've suffered all these years."

Ah Yin laid Tang Feng down so his head could rest on her lap.

She gently stroked Tang Feng's cheek, enjoying the peaceful, serene moment.

Although Tang Feng's head rested only on a pillow made from the Blue Silver Emperor's branches, he could still feel the softness and warmth unique to a lap pillow.

Gradually, Tang Feng closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He lay on his side, facing Ah Yin, his head resting on her lap.

Looking at the sleeping Tang Feng, Ah Yin smiled faintly and whispered:

"Sleep, my Xiao Feng."

After an unknown length of time, Tang Feng woke and rubbed his sleepy eyes. His head was still resting on her lap, and Ah Yin was still beside him.

He had not been dreaming. Ah Yin really had come back to life, though only her consciousness had been revived.

"Xiao Feng, you're awake."

Ah Yin's gentle voice sounded above him. Tang Feng nodded slightly and murmured an acknowledgment, not particularly eager to get up from her lap.

Ah Yin rubbed Tang Feng's cheek and said dotingly:

"Now that you're awake, get up."

"I still need to upgrade your Soul Ring."

Oh, right!

Only then did Tang Feng remember that Ah Yin seemed to have said she would upgrade his Soul Ring.

His Lifebound First Soul Ring.

Because Tang Feng's Second Soul Ring was Xiao Wu's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, its age was too high. As a result, unless Tang Feng truly possessed the strength to absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, he could not upgrade his Lifebound First Soul Ring.

Of course, once Tang Feng possessed the strength to absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, his First Soul Ring would also upgrade directly to the hundred-thousand-year level.

Ah Yin said this would be simple.

If it can't break through from within, then I'll break through from the outside!

As the Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin could have the Blue Silver Grass within a radius of several kilometers help Tang Feng achieve a breakthrough with his Soul Ring.

Tang Feng got up and waited for Ah Yin to act.

Ah Yin symbolically brushed the nonexistent dust from her skirt and looked at Tang Feng.

"Xiao Feng, summon your Martial Soul and carefully sense the changes in the Blue Silver Grass around you."

The God Tree Martial Soul was summoned, along with three Soul Rings: one yellow, one red, and one black. Ah Yin was not angry when she saw Tang Feng's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.

Because she had already been angry about it.

Although Tang Feng had explained that a Human-Shaped Soul Beast had sacrificed herself willingly, Ah Yin had still given him a few light smacks in anger.

Fortunately, after Tang Feng's painstaking efforts to talk her around, Ah Yin had reluctantly come to terms with it.

Those were the rules of this world. If Soul Masters wanted to grow stronger, they had to hunt Soul Beasts. The two were born on opposing sides.

There was no way to achieve the so-called harmony of humans and Soul Beasts as one family.

Unless someone could ascend to the very pinnacle and rewrite the rules of this world.

As for so-called good Soul Beasts and evil Soul Beasts, that was even more of a load of bull.

What was good? What was evil?

If a creature was born a gray wolf and could only eat meat and other Soul Beasts, did that make it evil?

Tang Feng would not define which Soul Beasts were evil and which were good.

All he could do was avoid killing Soul Beasts indiscriminately as much as possible.

That was all.

With Ah Yin's guidance—or rather, without even needing her guidance—doing this was as easy as turning over his hand with Tang Feng's current spiritual power.

Through his spiritual power, Tang Feng had already established contact with the Blue Silver Grass within a radius of several kilometers.

He could sense emotions akin to reverence and worship coming from the Blue Silver Grass.

Under the lead of Ah Yin, the Blue Silver Emperor, the stems and leaves of the Blue Silver Grass all began to emit wisps of golden light.

The same happened to Tang Feng. Golden patterns flowed across his skin, turning him into a little golden figure.

"Go!"

Ah Yin thrust both hands forward, and hundreds of millions of golden motes converged on Tang Feng from every direction.

Looking at Tang Feng, who had become a golden sphere of light, Ah Yin nodded in satisfaction. This time, it should be about enough.

Ah Yin let out a breath of turbid air, and her luminous figure flashed back to the branch where Tang Feng had first seen her.

Inside the golden sphere, Tang Feng's First Soul Ring continuously absorbed the golden motes that enveloped him completely.

Three hours later, Tang Feng's figure gradually appeared.

The Soul Rings around him were no longer yellow, red, and black, but black, red, and black. (Tang Feng had kept the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring aura of his Third Soul Ring, Ah Yin, concealed all along.)

Tang Feng sensed it briefly. His Lifebound Soul Ring was approximately fifty thousand years old.

That was already the maximum age of a Soul Ring he could currently absorb through normal means.

As the Soul Ring's age increased, Tang Feng's First Soul Skill also changed.

First Soul Skill: Sage Mode!

Unlike the Hundred-Year Soul Skill, the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill's Sage Mode no longer produced black striped eyeshadow around his eyes. Only his golden pupils showed that he had entered Sage Mode.

Besides that, the greatest change—and the one that delighted Tang Feng most—was the improvement to the Soul Skill.

After using his First Soul Skill, Tang Feng felt that his overall strength had increased by roughly threefold compared to when he had not used it.

With that threefold increase, Tang Feng was bursting with confidence.

He felt he was now capable of using Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence on a scale great enough to cover the entire Medicinal Garden at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Although that move would most likely exhaust Tang Feng's current Soul Power, it did not mean he would lose his ability to fight, because what Tang Feng cultivated was Chakra-Based Soul Power.

For ordinary Soul Masters—not ordinary people—Soul Power was the foundation of physical strength. No Soul Power meant no physical strength. Once their Soul Power was exhausted, their physical strength would be gone as well, and they would immediately lose the ability to fight.

But it was the reverse for Tang Feng. His physical strength was the foundation of his Soul Power. Even if the Soul Power in his body ran out, he would still have physical strength to draw on, not to mention that he could convert his physical strength into Soul Power.

Detailed Guide to Chakra Extraction and Training (adapted) was simply terrifying.