First Spirit Ring, Golden Lion Battle Physique

The Dark Gold Direbear, suppressed by Golden Crocodile Douluo, saw Su He approaching slowly with a dagger in hand and knew its life was nearing its end. It let out an unwilling roar, its brown eyes fixed on Su He with bitter hatred.

Seeing its gaze, Su He sighed helplessly.

"Big fellow, rest easy on your way. If you have anyone to blame, blame your bad luck for running into me."

"Roar!" With its final roar, the Dark Gold Direbear that had lorded over the Century Soul Beast Habitat and feared not even ordinary Thousand-Year Soul Beasts completely lost its life force. A bright yellow spirit ring slowly emerged from its body.

Seeing this, Su He thanked Golden Crocodile Douluo, who was standing nearby ready to protect him, then sat cross-legged. With a thought, he drew the bright yellow spirit ring above his head!

As he began absorbing the spirit ring, Su He felt a powerful, violent surge of soul power continuously pouring from the ring above his head into his body, as though it intended to burst his meridians apart. It truly was a Seven-Hundred-Year Dark Gold Direbear spirit ring!

"You're already dead, so behave yourself!" Su He said fiercely. He then mobilized the Jedi Golden Lion Martial Soul within him with all his strength, suppressing the energy inside the spirit ring. "Just because the lion hasn't shown its might, do you take me for a sickly cat?"

The Dark Gold Direbear was indeed a high-ranking existence in the Soul Beast pyramid, second only to the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear. Yet the Jedi Golden Lion Martial Soul stood at the very peak of Beast Martial Souls, surpassing even the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon in quality. Naturally, this was an evenly matched Bear-Lion Struggle.

Within Su He's sea of consciousness, an enormous Dark Golden Giant Bear was battling a mighty Golden Lion! The giant bear was naturally the resentment left behind by the Dark Gold Direbear after its death. Its energy was exceptionally immense; an ordinary soul master would risk Death by Exploding Body the moment they came into contact with it.

But who was Su He? He had begun tempering his body at the age of three, and after consuming the Primordial Body Sculpting Pill, his physical condition far surpassed that of ordinary children his age, already approaching that of a typical Soul Elder. The soul power in his body flowed without end, and the Golden Lion began suppressing the giant bear.

"Roar!" Accompanied by a domineering lion's roar, the Jedi Golden Lion bit through the giant bear's throat in a single bite. The giant bear's "corpse" then turned to ash and dispersed within Su He's sea of consciousness.

The spirit ring began descending slowly. The most difficult part of Cross-Level Spirit Ring Absorption had already passed. What followed was a routine absorption process, and successfully attaching the spirit ring was now within reach.

"Roar!" About half an hour later, the spirit ring finally descended completely. The Jedi Golden Lion automatically possessed Su He, and its domineering roar intimidated the surrounding beasts. A bright yellow spirit ring slowly emerged around the Jedi Golden Lion.

"Ding. Mission complete. The host has received the rewards: Soul Power Level +1, Movement Technique: Explosive Step." The system's voice arrived right on time.

"Level 13."

Su He sensed his own Soul Power Level and thought excitedly, "The soul power brought by the spirit ring, combined with my own foundation, actually raised my soul power by a full two levels! Adding the system reward, I gained three Levels of Soul Power all at once!"

"Level 13?" Golden Crocodile Douluo seemed thoughtful. "Xiao He, do not become obsessed with levels in cultivation. Only by keeping your feet on the ground can you reach the pinnacle." Clearly, he feared that Su He would lose himself amid this tremendous increase in Soul Power Level.

"Teacher, I will remember that," Su He replied. His thoughts aligned with Golden Crocodile Douluo's. The path of cultivation was founded on steady progress, and one must never rush for quick success. If one pursued levels blindly while possessing an unstable foundation, they would only be at the bottom among those of the same level and might even be defeated by someone of a lower level.

Hearing this, Golden Crocodile Douluo once again sensed the circulation of soul power within Su He's body. Only after discovering that his Level 13 soul power was incomparably solid did he finally relax. "Show me your First Spirit Skill, Xiao He. Attack me!"

"Teacher, my First Spirit Skill is called Golden Lion Battle Physique. Its effect is to increase my attack by one hundred percent and my defense by eighty percent for ten minutes. It is a reinforcement-type spirit skill, and every time my soul power increases by ten levels, its duration will increase by one minute." As soon as he finished speaking, the yellow spirit ring lit up.

"First Spirit Skill, Golden Lion Battle Physique!" Once the enhancement was complete, Su He used the Explosive Step movement technique he had just acquired and threw a punch at Golden Crocodile Douluo with astonishing speed.

"Not bad. It combines offense and defense." Golden Crocodile Douluo praised, "As expected of the first Seven-Hundred-Year First Spirit Ring in Spirit Hall's history. Its effects are comparable to some Thousand-Year spirit skills." The two then skinned the bear and stored its meat in a Storage Soul Tool. They even discovered a shimmering left arm bone, though unfortunately, it was only seven hundred years old and was certainly of no use to Su He.

Still, a Seven-Hundred-Year Spirit Bone was worth at least several hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. For ordinary soul masters, it was an exceptionally precious item.

After taking stock of their gains, their first spirit ring hunt came to a perfect conclusion.

At this moment, within the Worship Hall.

Seeing Golden Crocodile Douluo return with Su He after hunting a spirit ring, Qian Renxue eagerly asked the two about his spirit skill. Naturally, Su He did not hide anything from her and told her directly.

Before that incident, Qian Renxue was still a lively, innocent little girl.

Sister Xue'er was one of the people Su He was closest to in this life, so naturally, he held nothing back from her.

After briefly reporting to his grandfather, Su He returned to cultivation. Every day, he refined soul power at his residence. In his spare time, he sought out Golden Crocodile Douluo for guidance on matters related to Martial Souls or "sparred" with Qian Renxue.

Thus, three months passed in the blink of an eye. Su He's soul power rose to Level 15, and at that time, an event that shook the continent occurred.

Spirit Hall's Pope Qian Xunji had been gravely wounded and left on the verge of death by Tang Hao, one of the Haotian Twin Stars, while hunting the Blue Silver Emperor. He had now returned to Spirit Hall to recover!

Spirit Hall immediately declared war on the Clear Sky Sect, while the Clear Sky Sect announced that Tang Hao had been expelled and that they would retreat into seclusion, never again entering the world!

"Is it finally coming?" Su He naturally knew how the plot of the Original Work would unfold, but there was nothing he could change now.

Although Mighty Lion Douluo and Golden Crocodile Douluo would protect Su He and allow him to grow safely, Su He could not demand that they obey his every word.

"What a headache. Forget it, I'll just let things take their course."

After all, he was nothing within Spirit Hall right now—merely a young master of the Worship Hall. He did not even have the authority to command the guard squads. The servants only obeyed him out of respect for the two Douluo.

"Strength is what truly matters in the end," Su He sighed.

The support behind him was indeed formidable, but if he wanted a voice within Spirit Hall, he still had to rely on his own strength and ability.

"I need to arrange the matter of the immortal herbs sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it'll be hard to explain where my Immortal Herb Gift Box came from... I'll deal with it when I obtain my Second Spirit Ring. I'll have to trouble Senior Dugu for now."