First Spirit Ability: Path of Transformation

Late at night.

In a forest outside Nuoding City, Su Ming and Tang Hao appeared.

Looking at Su Ming behind him, neither flushed nor out of breath, Tang Hao could only feel that the so-called Trinity Gate was truly unfathomable.

Though he had greatly slowed his travel pace,

it was still not something a child without even a Spirit Ring should have been able to keep up with.

Yet Su Ming had done so with ease, and still had plenty to spare.

"There should be others from the Trinity Gate on Douluo Continent besides you, the sect master."

As they headed toward their destination, Tang Hao began probing Su Ming.

The kind of spirit beast Su Ming needed was exceedingly rare.

Without clues or sufficient luck, ordinary Spirit Masters would never be able to find its trail.

Yet in the remote Holy Soul Village, Su Ming had been able to clearly pinpoint the exact location of the spirit beast he needed.

It was hard for Tang Hao not to draw certain conclusions.

"Who knows? Perhaps I was simply born knowing." Su Ming chose not to answer directly.

It was better for both the Trinity Gate and himself to retain enough mystery.

"We're here. It's right here." Before long, Tang Hao stopped before the entrance of a blocked cave.

With a single palm strike, he shattered the massive boulder sealing the entrance and walked inside.

Su Ming followed.

After taking a few steps, illuminated by the moonlight from outside the cave,

he saw a spirit beast tied up tightly, gravely injured and unconscious.

The beast was roughly the size of a cow, and the scales covering its body were extremely peculiar.

Each scale resembled a tiny mirror.

When it stood still, its body could reflect the images of its surroundings.

That was right. It was the exceedingly rare Mirror Image Beast.

In the original work, Mirror Image Beasts could only be found in the Icebound Forest at the northern end of the Heaven Dou Empire.

The Icebound Forest was a coniferous forest best suited for growth in frigid regions.

Its environment was harsh, its temperatures low, and human traces scarce.

Only Spirit Masters with ice-attributed martial souls would choose to go there to hunt Spirit Masters.

Su Ming had chosen this Mirror Image Beast for his first Spirit Ring.

He was in the southwest, while the Icebound Forest was in the far north.

To save time, Su Ming used Votive Power to locate a Mirror Image Beast of suitable age and at a suitable distance.

In the original work, Oscar's sixth ring had come from a twenty-thousand-year Mirror Image Beast.

The spirit ability the Mirror Image Beast gave Oscar was likewise absurdly powerful.

Mirror Image Sausage.

Its effect was replication. It was made using a drop of blood from a Spirit Master.

Anyone who consumed it could wield spirit abilities at seventy percent of the blood provider's power for three minutes.

If the user's Soul Power rank was lower than that of the blood provider, they could only replicate spirit abilities corresponding to their own rank.

Though producing this kind of Mirror Image Sausage consumed an enormous amount of power, its effect was also incredibly overpowered.

Under certain circumstances, it could directly turn a Food-type Spirit Master into an exceptionally useful Battle Spirit Master.

The effect of the Spirit Ring provided by the Mirror Image Beast was simply too well suited to Su Ming's early-stage cultivation plan for his martial soul.

As for condensing Spirit Rings with Votive Power, that would be nothing but a waste in the early stages. There was no need for it!

After exposing Tang Hao, who had been hiding in the shadows that day, Su Ming had spoken with him at length.

It had greatly shaken Tang Hao, and he had also reached several agreements and deals with Su Ming.

Bringing this Mirror Image Beast here was one of the many requests Su Ming had made.

Though Tang Hao was puzzled by how Su Ming knew the location of a Mirror Image Beast so clearly,

after teaching Tang San the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, he had set out for the Mirror Image Beast's location.

And sure enough, it took less than two days.

Tang Hao completed the task perfectly and brought the Mirror Image Beast here.

"Worthy of the Clear Sky Douluo.

If it were anyone else, they absolutely wouldn't have been able to act as swiftly and cleanly as you."

As Su Ming examined the Mirror Image Beast before him, compliments kept spilling from his mouth.

Saying a few nice things did not cost anything, after all.

His relationship with Tang Hao could now be described as one of cooperation.

While helping Little San grow stronger, Tang Hao would also handle certain matters for Su Ming.

Tang Hao might have old injuries, but his strength was beyond question.

He made a fine top-tier enforcer.

"No time to waste. I'm going to absorb the Spirit Ring now. Uncle Hao, please stand guard for me."

With that, pure white Qi surfaced over Su Ming's right palm as he prepared to deliver a fatal strike to the Mirror Image Beast before him.

Seeing Su Ming act so decisively, Tang Hao could not help asking again, "This Mirror Image Beast is at least eight hundred years old."

"Are you really confident?"

On Douluo Continent, there were countless cases of Spirit Masters absorbing Spirit Rings beyond their limit and ultimately exploding to death.

That was precisely why Tang Hao kept confirming it again and again.

Nothing could go wrong with Su Ming.

This concerned his son Little San's future, as well as whether he could take revenge on Spirit Hall in the future!

"Don't worry. If there had been a suitable one, I would have gone for a thousand-year Spirit Ring as my first ring."

Su Ming waved his hand carelessly, signaling Tang Hao to relax.

As for the issue of age, he could easily raise it later while taking God's Examinations.

There was no need to waste Votive Power forcibly increasing it now.

Besides, his plan for his first ring had never been some powerful offensive method.

It was more of a conceptual type.

Regardless of its age, the final effect and function would be the same.

Hearing the confidence in Su Ming's voice, Tang Hao stopped trying to persuade him and stood guard at ease nearby.

Su Ming had already begun.

After killing the Mirror Image Beast with one palm strike, a bright yellow Spirit Ring emerged from its corpse.

Sitting cross-legged, Su Ming focused his attention on his martial soul.

The hundred-year Spirit Ring began to be drawn toward Su Ming and rose above his head.

Not even the slightest consequence of absorbing a Spirit Ring beyond its age limit appeared on Su Ming.

The absorption process ended peacefully, without any unexpected complications.

Just as I expected. Choosing the Mirror Image Beast as my first ring was absolutely the right plan.

As he rose to his feet, Su Ming sensed his first spirit ability.

"Uncle Hao, do you want to see my first spirit ability?" Su Ming asked Tang Hao excitedly.

"What do you need me to do?"

Su Ming did not beat around the bush and said directly, "It's simple. Just manifest your Clear Sky Hammer martial soul!"

Though puzzled, Tang Hao still did as asked.

A black hammer appeared in his hand.

Every Clear Sky Hammer had a somewhat different appearance.

Tang Hao's hammer had a handle about half a foot long, while its head was cylindrical. It looked like a scaled-down forging hammer.

The instant Su Ming sensed the aura of the Clear Sky Hammer, he activated his first spirit ability.

The Spirit Ring lit up.

Pure white Qi surfaced in Su Ming's right palm before swiftly rising.

The white Qi intertwined, beginning to take on a form Tang Hao knew all too well.