A Discussion by the Lake (Happy New Year, Everyone!)

After hearing Chen Feng's words, Da Ming gave him a deep look.

"You are indeed a special human being. The fact that you could consider this aspect shows that you are not just trying to use us."

"Because I know that if it's just about simple exploitation, it can't last long," Chen Feng said with a slight smile.

"That makes sense." Da Ming nodded in agreement.

So what do you plan to do?

"I actually already know some of the effects of the Ring Expansion Method on Soul Beast, but how should I put it? For the vast majority of Soul Beast, it doesn't mean much."

"Therefore, I want to further confirm whether there are any omissions in the effects of the Ring Expansion Method on Soul Beast," Chen Feng replied.

He had once received help from the Snow Empress and obtained the Fourth Soul Ring, Ice Heart, from Snow Empress using the Ring Expansion Method. The Snow Empress also told him about her gains from the Ring Expansion Method.

That is, one can sense a slight decrease in the difficulty of breaking through 700,000 years.

However, firstly, such gains are meaningless for most Soul Beast, because they already have great difficulty breaking through to 100,000 years old, let alone the difficulties that follow.

Secondly, as a being with 700,000 years of cultivation, the Snow Empress's position is too high. Things that ordinary Soul Beast care about may not be of concern to her, so she simply ignores them.

Just like the difficulty of breaking through the major barrier that she cared about, it was not something that ordinary Soul Beast could pursue.

Therefore, the information about the Ring Expansion Method given by Snow Empress is likely biased or inaccurate due to her high vantage point. Chen Feng needs to conduct more experiments to gather more information.

Da Ming understood Chen Feng's meaning. "Do you need me to help you find a suitable target?"

"It's still early. None of the three of us have reached our bottleneck yet, so we don't have the conditions to use the Ring Expansion Method. Even if we do reach our bottleneck, we don't have the ability to withstand high-age, Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, so the age of the target Soul Beast naturally can't be too high. In that case, communication will still be a problem," Chen Feng said, shaking his head.

For example, Wuxiang, although it has undergone the Ring Expansion Method and can be considered to speak, cannot provide any useful information. Firstly, its language function is very weak, and secondly, its wisdom has not grown to a sufficient level.

"Right, for barrier-free communication, the target Soul Beast needs to be able to speak, but such Soul Beast usually have a cultivation level close to or even exceeding 100,000 years. Er Ming still can't speak." Xiao Wu scratched her head, also feeling a bit embarrassed.

Not far from her, Er Ming sat quietly on the ground, looking inexplicably aggrieved.

"It's alright, we still have time, there's no need to rush," Tang San reassured him.

"That's true. We came here to accompany Xiao Wu; she brought something back." Chen Feng temporarily put the question aside.

To be honest, he wasn't completely without options. The Blue Silver King, who helped Tang San awaken his Bloodline, was a good target. He was around 80,000 years old, could speak, and was quite intelligent.

Furthermore, those who can absorb the Blue Silver King's Soul Ring possess relatively strong Life Force, meaning they have a greater capacity to withstand its effects. For example, Tang San might have been able to try it when he reached his fifth spirit ring.

Even if the attempt fails, it's acceptable for Tang San because his health bar is longer than others.

"What did Sister Xiao Wu bring back?" Da Ming asked curiously.

Xiao Wu's expression turned sorrowful as she took out a Soul Bone from the White Cloud Smoke. "This is what A Huan left behind. Now I know who those people were."

"What? Sister Xiao Wu, who exactly are they? Who killed Aunt Rou and A Huan back then?" Da Ming's face immediately turned furious.

Er Ming suddenly stood up, letting out an angry growl, and gently touched the Soul Bone in Xiao Wu's hand.

"It's Bibi Dong, the Pope of the Spirit Hall," Xiao Wu said sullenly.

"Damn it! From now on, anyone wearing the Spirit Hall uniform who enters here will be killed!" Da Ming said through gritted teeth.

"This is inappropriate; it's just a pointless act of venting anger," Chen Feng said.

"What did you say?!" Da Ming suddenly looked at Chen Feng.

Er Ming simply slammed a punch into Chen Feng's face, glaring at him angrily, as if to say, "If you don't give me an explanation, I'll give you one."

But Chen Feng's expression remained unchanged. He ignored Er Ming's threats and simply looked at Da Ming, saying, "True Vengeance is to eliminate the culprit, find the root of the problem and destroy it, and prevent similar incidents from happening again. Your approach neither harms the ringleader nor avoids exacerbating the conflict. Am I wrong to say that this is just a meaningless act of venting anger?"

Er Ming clenched his fists, his eyes reddening, but in the end he didn't move, only looking at Da Ming.

Da Ming was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "In your opinion, we should target that Spirit Hall Pope, but what if she stops coming here?"

Chen Feng shook his head. "You should be considering how to deal with her when she comes here again, or sends someone here, because as far as I know, Bibi Dong's cultivation is close to the human limit, and she has many powerful subordinates."

Da Ming's brows furrowed immediately.

Chen Feng continued, "As a Soul Master organization, the Spirit Hall has an almost unlimited demand for Soul Ring and Soul Bone. Your existence means two Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Ring and Soul Bone to those Soul Master who use the traditional Hunting Ring Method."

"Therefore, it's inevitable that the Spirit Hall will attack you again. You shouldn't have acted rashly before then. If you indiscriminately slaughter the Spirit Hall's Soul Master as you suggested, the result will only be alerting them. Either do nothing, or strike a fatal blow. I believe you, as a snake, understand this."

Da Ming paused for a moment, then said, "What you're describing is the attack method of a venomous snake, while I am a python. However, I understand what you mean, and I will make preparations accordingly."

Chen Feng nodded. "Also, I have a technique related to dragons that Dragon Blood Spirit Master has already successfully tried, but I don't know if it will work on Dragon-type Soul Beast."

"You say."

"I call this technique Bloodline Refinement Technique, or Blood Rage..."

At that moment, Chen Feng explained the general idea of "Blood Rage" and also shared the insights he had learned from the Grandmaster about the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's understanding of "Blood Rage".

As he listened to Chen Feng's story, Da Ming's expression changed several times, and his eyes gradually brightened.

"Interesting, this idea is very interesting."

Da Ming closed its lantern-like eyes, and neither the three humans nor the ape disturbed it. After a while, when Da Ming opened its eyes again, they had transformed into golden dragon pupils.

Not only that, its body also swelled slightly, pale golden patterns appeared on its scales, and ominous bluish-black lightning appeared around its body.

However, these strange phenomena quickly disappeared. Da Ming took a couple of heavy breaths and said in a low voice, "This is a desperate, overdrawn technique. Thank you, Chen Feng, you've given me a very useful trump card."

"You're welcome. I hope you'll heed my advice and not indiscriminately kill humans who enter the Star Dou Great Forest."

"Chen Feng said."

Da Ming nodded his big head. "Don't worry, I will ignore the humans entering the Star Dou Great Forest as before, and I won't blindly escalate the conflict between humans and Soul Beast. The only enemy I have is that Pope Bibi Dong. However, if the Spirit Hall really sends people to attack us, I won't be merciful."

"Of course, there's no reason not to resist when a knife is at your throat." Chen Feng smiled.

He always believed in repaying injustice with justice.

Da Ming looked at Chen Feng with increasing satisfaction. He felt that this human was very much to his liking, so he asked, "I can do you a favor as a reward for telling me about the Blood Rage Technique."

"No need—oh, I think I do need your help with something." Chen Feng suddenly remembered something.

"You say."

Chen Feng: "It's like this, I've developed a technique for creating Soul Bone, but there's a slight problem with this technique. One Soul Beast can't create two Soul Bone in a row. My initial guess is that the Soul Beast loses something in the process."

"But since the Soul Beast that cooperated with my experiment were not very old, I don't know exactly what they lost. Could you cooperate with me to conduct another study and figure this out?"

Both Da Ming and Er Ming were stunned by these words.

Da Ming asked incredulously, "What did you say you've figured out?"

"Soul Bone Manufacturing Technique," Chen Feng replied.

"It's true, I saw it with my own eyes," Xiao Wu said from the side.

"I thought I thought highly of you, but I never expected this—" Da Ming murmured, then agreed to Chen Feng's request without hesitation.

Clearly, it wanted to witness this incredible Soul Bone Manufacturing Technique.

With the permission of the Da Ming, Chen Feng began to set up the experimental site with Tang San.

"Will we still use that bead with the Lightning Yuan Stone pattern as the receiving material?" Tang San asked.

"Let's use that one. We don't have anything more suitable. Besides, the lightning that Entanglement around Da Ming just now shows that it has this ability," Chen Feng replied.

They currently possess two types of Soul Bone carriers with different attributes: lightning and fire. The Lightning Attribute circuit is definitely a better fit for the Sky Azure Bull Python.

Under the curious gazes of Da Ming Er Ming, the experimental site was quickly set up. After Chen Feng explained the process, the Soul Bone manufacturing experiment began.

Soon, Da Ming completed the process of mixing his own energy with the energy of the Lightning Yuan Stone, and then injected it into the Star Soul Mithril Sphere.

Instantly, the Metal Ball flashed with cyan lightning, mixed with ripples of cyan energy.

As the lightning on the Star Soul Mithril sphere gradually shone, Da Ming's expression also became increasingly solemn.

Chen Feng noticed this and his heart sank slightly.

After a while, the lightning and ripples on the Star Soul Mithril sphere dissipated one after another, and a Soul Bone as lustrous as blood-red jade appeared in front of the three people and two beasts.

"It's actually true—" The Sky Azure Bull Python looked surprised.

Er Ming also looked like he had learned something new.

Chen Feng glanced at the Soul Bone and recognized it as a Left Arm Bone, so he stopped paying attention to it and focused his attention on Da Ming.

"Da Ming, you didn't look well just now. Is something wrong?"

Da Ming snapped out of his daze and said, "There are indeed some problems. You just said you weren't clear about what part of the Soul Beast the Soul Bone Manufacturing Technique consumes. I can give you the answer now: it's its essence."

"Origin?"

"That's right. When I mixed the energy of the Lightning Yuan Stone with my own energy and injected it into that Metal Ball, I could feel a portion of my primordial energy entering it as well."

"I could have forcibly taken back this portion of the source, but I was worried that it would affect the success or failure of the experiment. Also, considering this is a gift to you, I didn't do that and even added some more."

Chen Feng sighed and said, "Thank you, Da Ming. Could you tell me how much primordial energy you lost, how long it will take to recover, and what kind of impact this will have on you?"

"I lost a small portion, it's hard to quantify. It would probably take about a thousand years to recover. As for the impact—mainly my ability to control my own Soul Power has decreased. Things that I could do easily before are now more difficult," Da Ming replied.

"Over a thousand years... Da Ming, your sacrifice is quite great," Chen Feng sighed softly.

"Actually, it's acceptable. It's just a matter of sleeping on it. The main thing is that if you're going to give a gift, you can't give a defective one," Da Ming laughed.

Chen Feng shook his head helplessly. He hadn't expected Da Ming to choose this path. "Da Ming, you are a 100,000-year-old Soul Beast, and you actively increased the cost during the experiment, resulting in a recovery time of over a thousand years. So, if Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast were to create Soul Bone normally, the time should be correspondingly shorter."

Da Ming: "That should be the case, but I estimate it won't be much shorter, because although they expend less essence than I do, they are not as powerful as I am, so their recovery ability is naturally weaker."

"If we consider the past thousand years, then it's not surprising that Soul Bone are still considered rare. But at least it's much better than before. It seems that the Soul Bone Manufacturing Technique has value in being disseminated," Chen Feng said after thinking for a moment.

"I'm afraid that once the Soul Bone Manufacturing Technique spreads, some people will choose to raise Soul Beast in captivity," Tang San interjected.

"Yes, I think so too," Xiao Wu agreed.

"This is where order comes in," Chen Feng said with a smile. "Moreover, everything in the world boils down to profit. If the Da Ming can invest more of its essence in the creation of Soul Bone, then other Soul Beast can choose to invest less of their essence. As a result, the quality of the Soul Bone produced by captive breeding will naturally be much lower."

"Given the inherent disadvantages on the one hand, and the severe crackdown measures on the other, we should be able to control this situation in general."

"Of course, this matter needs careful consideration, and perhaps certain entry requirements should be set."