First Soul Ring

The next day, Chrysanthemum Douluo sent the awakened Grand Master and Tang San off before officially taking Xia Tianling to search for a suitable soul beast.

"Little Tianling, have you decided which martial soul you'll add a soul ring to, and what path you'll take in the future?" As an old hand who had followed Bibi Dong for so long, he knew that someone with Twin Martial Souls needed to choose one as their primary martial soul first.

"Grandpa Chrysanthemum, I'm planning to make the Two-Piece Set my primary martial soul and follow the Assault System path."

During the past three months of cultivation, Xia Tianling had already mapped out his development path. The immense physical enhancement provided by his Second Martial Soul, the True Dragon, was nearly more than twice that of soul masters at the same level. It would be a waste not to pursue the Assault System.

Given the characteristics of his first martial soul, the Two-Piece Set, he could completely add a few body-strengthening skills in the early stages and fight as an Assault System soul master.

Once he began cultivating his Second Martial Soul in the mid-stage, he would certainly not lack offensive methods. The later soul rings of the Two-Piece Set could grant domain-type soul skills for control and other special effects. The two would complement each other perfectly.

"Oh? Have you already decided what kind of soul beasts you'll choose for your first two soul rings?"

"That's right. For my First Soul Ring, I plan to choose a Slime around nine hundred years old," Xia Tianling said without hesitation.

"A Slime? What skill could such a weak soul beast possibly provide?" Chrysanthemum Douluo frowned. In his impression, Slimes were extremely weak soul beasts with virtually no offensive capability.

He did not doubt whether Xia Tianling could absorb a nine-hundred-year soul ring. After all, his formidable physical constitution was plain for all to see. Combined with his Level Nineteen Innate Spirit Power, absorbing a soul ring beyond his level would not be a problem at all. More importantly, Slimes were not strong and had little intelligence. Even exceeding the limit by a hundred or two years would not cause any trouble.

"Grandpa Chrysanthemum, may I ask what a Slime's most important characteristic is?"

"Fusion with one another?"

"That's right, fusion! Slimes can combine two different individuals into one and become stronger. That is basically their only skill. After obtaining it, there's a good chance I'll be able to combine my Two-Piece Set martial soul into one and turn it into a stronger weapon! Besides, Slimes aren't very intelligent. With the physical strength provided by my Second Martial Soul, I can completely withstand a soul ring beyond the limit!"

Those three months of reading had not been for nothing. Spirit Hall's library recorded all kinds of strange soul beasts and ways to identify them. How could an organization that had existed for tens of thousands of years possibly lack such basic knowledge?

So, as for where Yu Xiaogang got his knowledge about soul rings and soul beasts... those who knew, knew. Those who did not could take their time guessing.

"Hiss... combining into one. That is rather interesting." Chrysanthemum Douluo suddenly understood. So even a weak soul beast like a Slime had such a use.

"Since you know what you're doing, let's go."

With that, Chrysanthemum Douluo led Xia Tianling around the Soul Hunting Forest. From time to time, he would capture a passing soul beast and give him an on-the-spot lesson about soul beasts.

This round of practical instruction benefited Xia Tianling greatly. As the ancients said, knowledge gained from books was always shallow; true understanding came only through personal practice. The knowledge he saw in books and what he experienced firsthand were entirely different.

As for why he had chosen a nine-hundred-year Slime? Naturally, it was because no Slime with a thousand years of cultivation existed. For such a weak soul beast, nine hundred years was already the limit—and that was only in a Soul Hunting Forest like this one, without top-tier soul beasts. In the Star Dou Forest, even finding a Hundred-Year Slime would be difficult.

It was just like ice silkworms—pathetically weak. Over tens of thousands of years, only Brother Sky Dream, who had fallen into an ice cavern and stumbled upon absurd luck, had become a Million-Year soul beast, something even the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King and Di Tian had failed to achieve.

For Xia Tianling, who could cultivate immortality, the age of a soul ring only needed to be roughly suitable, provided it matched him. Unless... it was a Hundred-Thousand-Year or even Million-Year one.

"Tianling, there's one over there."

With the perception of a Titled Douluo, Chrysanthemum Douluo soon found a Slime rolling around beside a large rock.

Xia Tianling hurried over.

This Slime was pale white and translucent, with a diameter of roughly ninety centimeters. Its diameter increased by one centimeter every ten years, marking it as about nine hundred years old.

"Go on, Little Tianling. Slimes basically have no offensive ability. Even with nearly a thousand years of cultivation, it is nothing more than a larger punching bag. It's just right for you to get some practice," Chrysanthemum Douluo said, standing to the side with his arms folded.

"That was exactly what I was thinking." Xia Tianling smiled faintly. "True Dragon Possession!"

His Second Martial Soul appeared. Compared to the Two-Piece Set martial soul, which still had no soul rings at all, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, which could provide tremendous physical enhancement, was much more suitable for the current situation.

After using True Dragon Possession, Xia Tianling was covered in a layer of fine scales. A pair of small dragon horns grew from his head, while his hands were replaced by dragon claws, faint lightning coursing over them.

Slimes possessed extremely low intelligence and looked utterly foolish as a whole. If it had been another soul beast, it would have either fled long ago or prepared for battle in this situation. Yet that white Slime was still stupidly rolling around beside the rock.

The reason this creature could survive in the forest was probably because it tasted awful enough. Living by absorbing Free-floating Energy and residual energy from all kinds of corpses, it did not inspire any soul beast to eat it.

Uh... though it tasted bad, it was occasionally absorbed as a mobile experience pack.

Xia Tianling strode forward, concentrated Soul Power in the claws of his right hand, and fiercely slashed down at the Slime. Faint lightning coursed over the Slime's slightly translucent white body, making it seem to emit a dim glow from afar.

But it was completely useless. The five wounds torn into it healed almost the instant Xia Tianling pulled his claws away. Only its color seemed slightly more transparent than before.

This was a trait of Slimes. To kill one completely, one had to attack it continuously and slowly wear it down until all of its energy was exhausted and it turned transparent. At that point, its jelly-like body would harden into something like frozen rubber. Then, one could split it in half or smash it apart to kill it completely.

If it was cut into two while its energy was still abundant, it would divide into two separate individuals like an earthworm, and could even merge back into one.

It could be said that all of a Slime's abilities were useless, but they were incredibly infuriating and endlessly irritating.

Unless one possessed an immensely powerful Large-Scale skill capable of instantly reducing the entire Slime to ash, which would settle the matter once and for all.

But Xia Tianling did not, so he could only slowly wear it down. He chased after the round Slime, pounding it with left punches and right punches without stopping. The process was unbearably tedious.

What made it worse was that when its energy was plentiful, its body structure was extremely soft, like jelly. A solid punch felt like he had put all his strength into it only to miss completely, his arm passing straight through.

Not only was it uncomfortable, but it left a sticky layer all over his hands and arms. It was utterly disgusting.

But if he used too little strength, each punch barely depleted any energy. Watching that lump squirm about in front of him was infuriating.

Damn it, was this thing born purely to disgust people?

Xia Tianling looked helpless, but for the sake of the Fusion Skill, he endured.

After grinding away for a full half hour, he could no longer maintain True Dragon Possession while continuously circulating Soul Power to pound the thing. The fact that he had lasted this long was only because the quality of Soul Power refined by the Dao Scripture far surpassed that of soul masters at the same level.

Now, Xia Tianling summoned the Two-Piece Set, chopping with the axe in his left hand and smashing with the Hammer in his right, relying purely on physical strength to pound and hack away. Under such intense battering, the Slime had become extremely transparent, and its body was slowly hardening.

Bang!

At last, hard work paid off. Just as Xia Tianling was becoming so annoyed that he was considering asking Chrysanthemum Douluo for help, one swing of the Hammer shattered the transparent Slime, sending transparent fragments flying in every direction.

Xia Tianling mechanically swung at empty air once more before finally realizing what had happened.

Damn it, it had been almost an hour. This piece of trash was finally dead! With such tenacious Life Force and such disgusting skills, what soul beast would be deranged enough to kill this thing? Probably only Plant Soul Beasts had that kind of patience!

A deep yellow soul ring rose from the remaining lower half of the Slime's body.

Overjoyed, Xia Tianling hurriedly summoned his martial soul and sat cross-legged, placing the yellow soul ring around the crossed Hammer and Axe.

Chrysanthemum Douluo's timely reminder sounded from the side. "Tianling, focus your mind on your martial soul and hold firm to your true heart."