First Soul Ring (Please Follow and Vote Monthly)

Gazing at the dark cave halfway up the mountain, Gu Yi pondered for a moment before deciding not to enter immediately.

There was no need to think about it. The environment inside had to be pitch-black, so dark that one could not see their own hand.

Soul beasts like Blood Crystal Bats preferred dark environments and were accustomed to hiding by day and hunting at night.

If Gu Yi entered, his vision would be limited, greatly restraining his strength and putting him in considerable danger.

So Gu Yi chose to lie in wait outside the cave for the Blood Crystal Bats to fly out.

According to the records, Blood Crystal Bats lived by drinking blood and would fly out periodically to hunt.

Gu Yi only needed to wait patiently in the shadows.

Following the wilderness hunting techniques Grandpa Mu Hu had taught him, Gu Yi concealed himself amid dense trees. He smeared branch sap and scattered medicinal powder around himself and the surrounding area to mask his presence.

Gu Yi stared fixedly at the cave. The slightest movement would not escape his notice.

Time passed bit by bit, and soon night fell.

Rather than quieting down, the soul beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest became even more active than they were during the day.

Many predators excelled at hunting at night, and the Blood Crystal Bats Gu Yi was waiting for were among them.

During this time, quite a few soul beasts passed by Gu Yi's hiding place, but none discovered him.

Finally, after waiting nearly another two hours, Gu Yi heard bursts of whistling wind from within the dark cave on the mountainside.

Before long, several enormous blood-red bats flew out, silently heading toward the surrounding forest.

Gu Yi's spirits rose at the sight of the soul beasts. He hurriedly examined the cultivation ages of the bat soul beasts.

"One Blood Crystal Bat is around 2,400 years old, while the other five are around seven or eight hundred years old..."

Gu Yi's eyes flashed as he swiftly judged the six bats' cultivation ages from their sizes.

According to the records, a Blood Crystal Bat's wings grew ten centimeters longer for every hundred years of cultivation.

The largest one had a wingspan of a full 2.4 meters. Its massive size was terrifying.

If that blood-filled maw landed on a person, it could likely drain them dry in an instant.

"2,400 years... That is just within the range my physique can absorb!" After calculating it, Gu Yi immediately decided to absorb the soul ring of the largest Blood Crystal Bat.

Gu Yi had learned from books that Blood Crystal Bats fed on the blood of other soul beasts.

Even when they were full, they would continue drinking blood. They would not release their prey until every last drop had been drained, making them extraordinarily greedy.

The excess blood would be refined by the Blood Crystal Bats through a peculiar method, condensing the essence of the blood into a smooth blood crystal inside their bodies, somewhat similar to the beast cores of demonic beasts on the Nine Heavens Continent.

That was why they were called Blood Crystal Bats.

To them, the blood crystal was a hidden reserve of energy.

As long as they possessed a blood crystal, even if they went without drinking the blood of soul beasts or humans for a long time, they could survive until it was exhausted.

—But given the Blood Crystal Bats' greed, they could not suppress their instinct to drink blood and would usually hunt every few days.

Thus, they generally had no need to use this ability.

That was also why Blood Crystal Bats had flown out after Gu Yi had waited outside the cave for only half a day.

The blood crystal's true purpose was in battle.

Once a Blood Crystal Bat encountered a fierce battle and realized it could not defeat its opponent, it would frantically burn its blood crystal and activate its hidden reserve of energy, greatly increasing its speed and strength for a short time and unleashing power far beyond its cultivation.

What Gu Yi wanted was precisely this kind of enhancement-type soul skill, one that could burn blood and Soul Power for a brief burst of strength.

After all, his Blood Martial Soul lacked nothing but blood.

This kind of burst skill could play a crucial role in battle.

Used well, challenging opponents above one's level would not be a problem.

Even after Gu Yi grew stronger, this soul skill would still be useful.

Having confirmed his target, Gu Yi quietly took an iron bow from behind his back and patiently waited for the six Blood Crystal Bats to return from their hunt.

Against one 2,400-year soul beast and five 800-year soul beasts head-on, Gu Yi did not dare claim that he could keep all of them with absolute certainty.

After all, Blood Crystal Bats had wings and could simply fly away if they could not win.

That was where archery could work wonders.

A hunter's method in the wilderness was to strike by surprise. As long as he severely injured the largest one's wings and prevented it from taking flight—

Then this soul ring hunt would already be half successful!

Gu Yi waited another fifteen to thirty minutes.

The Blood Crystal Bats that had gone out hunting flew back toward the dark cave, each clutching a soul beast in its claws.

"They're here!" Gu Yi's eyes lit up.

He held his breath and focused all his attention on the largest thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat. Raising his iron bow, he nocked an arrow and slowly drew the bowstring back into a full moon.

Whoosh!!

When the thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat and the five hundred-year Blood Crystal Bats flew within three hundred paces of Gu Yi, an arrow instantly shot out from the dense trees, moving so fast that it left streaks of afterimages in the air.

Before the arrow carrying a force of a thousand jin, the thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat's flesh was as fragile as tofu. Its left wing was pierced straight through, exploding into a bloody hole the size of a watermelon.

A hundred-year bat soul beast behind it happened to be unlucky enough to be in the arrow's flight path. Its head and upper body exploded with a bang, leaving only its lower half, claws, and captured prey to fall to the ground.

A gleaming yellow hundred-year soul ring floated up from its corpse.

Screech!

The thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat let out a shrill cry. Invisible sound waves spread outward, stirring up a wave of green foliage, while its body plummeted uncontrollably.

Yet before it could hit the ground, another arrow followed close behind, piercing its other wing.

Yellow-rank mid-grade martial skill, Consecutive Meteor Arrows!!

Gu Yi had trained in this martial skill for three months and used enlightenment two or three times, already grasping some of the mysteries of this archery martial skill.

This was still his first time using it in actual combat, and the results appeared outstanding.

Seeing that both wings of the thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat had been heavily damaged and that it could no longer fly, Gu Yi let out a breath of relief.

This made things secure.

However, to prevent complications and avoid drawing other thousand-year soul beasts over, Gu Yi quickly put away his iron bow, leaped down from the tree with his spear in hand, and strode toward where the thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat had fallen.

The distance of three hundred paces vanished in an instant. Through the dense leaves, Gu Yi could already see the thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat struggling on the ground, trying to make its way back to the cave.

As for the other four hundred-year soul beasts, they circled above it, continuously making sharp cries, seemingly communicating with one another while also using echolocation to determine their surroundings.

It was precisely because of this that they discovered Gu Yi.

Facing the hundred-year bats diving at him, Gu Yi's expression did not change. His spear thrust straight out, swept, flicked, and deflected as he used all kinds of Basic Spear Arts to easily block the Blood Crystal Bats' sharp claws and fangs.

Seeing Gu Yi's ferocity, the heavily injured thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat immediately had a faint red glow emerge across its body. It spread its claws and ignored its injuries as it joined the battle.

Gu Yi recognized at once that it had burned the blood crystal within its body.

Third form of the Charge Spear Technique, Sweeping Through Thousands!

Gu Yi's gaze sharpened as he circulated the Iron Blood Malice Art. Wisps of Blood Malice Qi immediately radiated from his body and even spread onto his spear.

—On the way here, Gu Yi had killed several soul beasts. This was the first time he had killed living beings with cultivation, allowing him to absorb some Blood Malice Qi and gain a deeper understanding of Iron Blood Malice.

This cultivation art came from the military. It emphasized slaughter on the battlefield, cultivating through killing and forging formidable Blood Malice Qi.

Gu Yi had gained a great deal from this trip to the Star Dou Great Forest.

Gu Yi continuously unleashed the Charge Spear Technique: Charge Through Formations, Pulling the Firewood from Under the Cauldron, Turning Horse Shoots the Sun, Traverse the World... One spear technique after another unfolded in his hands.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

After fighting for several minutes, Gu Yi finally found an opening. His spear danced out five spear flowers, each stabbing toward one of the five soul beasts, every strike carrying Gu Yi's two-thousand-jin force.

Even after burning their blood crystals, the four 800-year Blood Crystal Bats could not block Gu Yi's spear. Their heads were pierced through, killing them instantly and leaving behind four gleaming yellow hundred-year soul rings.

Only the thousand-year bat reacted in time. It shifted its head by an inch and narrowly avoided the fatal strike.

But that was all. Gu Yi's spear paused for only a second before sweeping downward, pinning it firmly to the ground.

As Gu Yi delivered the final thrust, the thousand-year Blood Crystal Bat died with resentment in its heart. A richly purple thousand-year soul ring slowly emerged.

"Whew, it's finally over..."

Gu Yi looked at the thousand-year soul ring and broke into a brilliant smile. "Next, I'll absorb this soul ring."