Sea Viper Variant, Blood Flood Dragon

As for the soul beast he intended to hunt, Ji Wuming had long since made his choice. Based on the traits currently displayed by the Blood Spear Martial Soul and its inherent fragility,

hunting a serpent-type soul beast was undoubtedly the best option. Sea Vipers were not only venomous but also possessed a certain degree of toughness. Naturally bloodthirsty, the baleful aura within them would far surpass that of most Sea Soul Beasts. They could perfectly compensate for the Blood Spear Martial Soul's weaknesses while strengthening its advantages.

As for powerful top-tier Sea Soul Beasts such as the Deep Sea Demon Whale Group and Evil Spirit Orcas, they were still top-tier choices, but they simply lacked the strength to hunt them!

After pondering for a moment, Director Lu frowned and said, "Sea Vipers? That is indeed a good choice. My Martial Soul happens to be a Sea Viper as well, so I can suppress them to some extent. Hunting one that is three or four hundred years old shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you, Director. Even if it is a little older, my current physical condition can withstand it," Ji Wuming replied.

"Alright, then we'll set out now. We'll try to find you a suitable Sea Viper before sunset."

After arranging some work, Director Lu immediately brought Ji Wuming to the shore, but he had to remind him,

"Little Ji, the older a soul beast is, the farther it tends to live from human territory. They fear humans, and humans fear them as well. Although Sea Vipers are widely distributed throughout the ocean, finding one over four hundred years old that is suitable for you will still be somewhat difficult."

"It's fine. Acquiring a suitable Soul Ring is difficult to begin with. If I don't even have this much patience, then I don't deserve to be a Soul Master."

Upon hearing this, Director Li felt greatly gratified by Ji Wuming. Children his age were generally impatient, especially when obtaining their first Soul Ring, yet Ji Wuming remained neither arrogant nor impatient. He already possessed some of the bearing of a Soul Grandmaster. His future achievements would certainly not be lacking.

Martial Soul Possession!

Unlike Land Soul Masters, whose Martial Souls possessed their bodies, Sea Soul Masters fought at sea by manifesting their beast souls externally in a special form.

At that moment, Director Lu stood atop a purple Sea Viper roughly eight meters long, floating on the surface of the water.

"Little Ji, come up. It's time for us to leave." Director Lu extended his left hand and pulled Ji Wuming onto the Sea Viper's back.

Along the way, Director Lu deliberately released the pressure of a Soul Grandmaster, deterring soul beasts below a hundred years old from approaching and allowing them to move faster.

Due to his own Martial Soul, Director Lu was exceptionally sensitive to Sea Vipers. Before long, he discovered the trail of one.

"Little Ji, your first Soul Ring has been found. There's a swimming Sea Viper ahead."

They accelerated toward it, but when they saw the Sea Viper over sixty meters away, it was only a little more than three meters long. Director Lu shook his head in disappointment.

"A Sea Viper grows one centimeter in length for every year it lives. This one is between three and three and a half meters long, so I estimate it to be around three hundred and fifty years old. Let's swim farther ahead. If we truly can't find one with a higher cultivation age, we'll choose this one."

"Alright, Director," Ji Wuming said softly.

However, in the very next moment, the relatively calm sea suddenly erupted into commotion. Countless weak Sea Soul Beasts scattered in panic as an unknown soul beast, completely blood-red and sporting short horns, leaped half a meter out of the water and clamped its jaws around the Sea Viper's vital point.

With a few swings of its head, the hard snake scales were bitten through. The Sea Viper was instantly torn into two pieces, and a crimson stain spread across the water's surface.

Director Lu's eyes were filled with astonishment when he witnessed this.

"Th-this is a Blood Dragon, an extremely rare Sea Viper variant. Judging by its length, its cultivation age is already close to six hundred and thirty years."

At those words, a golden glint flashed through Ji Wuming's eyes.

He had once read about this Sea Viper variant known as the Blood Dragon in the Sea Soul Beast Compendium. A Blood Dragon was actually one of the top-tier soul beasts formed when a Sea Viper devoured a certain number of its own kind, causing its body to mutate while acquiring a trace of dragon essence.

Across the continent, dragons had subconsciously come to be regarded as synonymous with powerful bloodlines. Even an ordinary soul beast, so long as it obtained a trace of dragon-type bloodline, could enter the ranks of top-tier soul beasts.

Serpents belonged to the dragon lineage and already possessed an extremely faint, dormant dragon bloodline. If they encountered an opportunity or devoured a soul beast containing dragon-type bloodline, they would certainly transform from snakes into flood dragons.

As for the Blood Dragon before them, it had merely been named so because most people lacked the concept of flood dragons. Its proper name should have been Blood Flood Dragon.

Watching the Blood Flood Dragon swim farther and farther away, Ji Wuming had no time to explain. He shouted urgently,

"Director, this Blood Dragon is very suitable as my first Soul Ring. Based on my current physical condition, I can absorb a Soul Ring of around six hundred and fifty years. Also, from what I know, Blood Dragons like collecting precious items. There is a good chance that its Cave contains a great deal of treasure."

Dragons were lustful, but they also had another trait: they loved collecting treasures. The Blood Flood Dragon was already evolving toward becoming a Blood Dragon, so it would surely have inherited some traits of the Dragon Race.

"Physical condition can actually be linked to the Soul Ring's cultivation age?"

After questioning this for a moment, Director Lu looked at Ji Wuming's height of about one and a half meters and his exceptionally strong physique. He was practically sturdier than Director Lu had been when he first became a Soul Grandmaster. This gave him some confidence in Ji Wuming's Cross-Level Absorption of a Soul Ring.

Moreover, if the latter half of Ji Wuming's words was true, then with his current strength, dealing with a soul beast two or three thousand years old would be no problem. Even if this six-hundred-and-thirty-year-old Blood Dragon was stronger, its true strength would only be at the level of a Thousand-Year Soul Beast. In that case, the Blood Dragon's Cave was indeed worth exploring.

"Alright, let's hurry and follow it."

Director Lu grabbed Ji Wuming and accelerated at full speed. To keep the Blood Dragon from discovering them, they deliberately maintained a safe distance behind it.

Two hours later, the Blood Flood Dragon swam onto a Small Island and rapidly slithered toward a Cave.

"Little Ji, although this Small Island is much safer than the ocean, it surely contains a large number of Sea Vipers. Watch your surroundings and stay close behind me."

"Director, I understand!" Ji Wuming immediately drew the Blood Spear from his back and followed behind Director Lu, advancing step by step.

After they passed through a hundred-meter stretch of forest, a Cave more than twenty meters high appeared before them. A light breeze carried a heavy stench of blood toward them, and the ground was littered with shed snake skins.

Just as Director Lu was preparing to enter directly, Ji Wuming glanced at the scorching sun overhead and immediately stopped him.

"Director, there are shed skins from different kinds of snakes on this island. The Blood Dragon has most likely become the king of serpents, and there must be many serpent-type soul beasts inside this Cave. If we force our way in, even a Soul Ancestor could easily be buried in this Cave if they were the slightest bit careless."