Animal Soul Beasts and Plant Soul Beasts in Symbiosis

Crack!

The Spirit Rhyme Turtle bit through the Great White Carp's head, producing the sound of breaking bones.

However, after this Great White Carp died, no Soul Ring emerged. Clearly, it had not become a Soul Beast and was merely an ordinary Great White Carp. Compared to the one Zhou Qing and Tang San had eaten earlier, this one was only nearly twenty centimeters long.

Yet the Spirit Rhyme Turtle was over two meters long!

"Among the books on Soul Beasts that I had someone buy, there was information on Spirit Rhyme Turtles. They are a turtle-type Soul Beast with a fairly large population, and their age is recorded according to the patterns on their shells."

Pointing at the two dark-green markings that circled the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's shell, Zhou Qing said to Tang San, "This one has two rings, which proves its cultivation is between two hundred and three hundred years, though definitely not three hundred years."

"However, people generally do not choose Hundred-Year Spirit Rhyme Turtles as Soul Rings. Even Soul Masters whose Martial Souls are turtles rarely choose this type of Soul Beast."

Tang San was puzzled. "Why? Could it be that Spirit Rhyme Turtles cannot provide Soul Masters with Soul Skills?"

Considering that most of this world's Soul Masters obtained their skills from Soul Beasts, if a Soul Beast's Soul Ring could not provide a Soul Master with a Soul Skill, naturally no one would value it.

"What are you thinking? Other than certain exceptionally special Martial Souls or exceptionally special Soul Beasts, a Soul Master's Martial Soul can gain a Soul Skill after absorbing a Soul Beast's Soul Ring," Zhou Qing said with absolute certainty. "The reason Hundred-Year Spirit Rhyme Turtles are unpopular among Soul Masters is that the Soul Skill they can provide is rather useless. It is called: Sleep."

Sleep?

Tang San was speechless. Could that even be called a Soul Skill? As long as one did not have insomnia, any normal person could do it, right?

Zhou Qing continued, "It is said that after using the Sleep Soul Skill, a Soul Master can instantly fall asleep, and this Soul Skill can only affect oneself."

Tang San scratched his head, even more speechless.

Tang San also knew about the classifications of Soul Masters: assault, agility, control, defense, healing, support, food. After learning of the Soul Master Tournament from the books in Zhou Qing's home, he understood that these categories had been established for competitions similar to martial arts conventions.

This Sleep skill could be classified under the Support System, but it could not help teammates fight, nor could it help oneself become stronger. It could only help one sleep better—

What was the point?!

If it could help others sleep, this skill would actually be quite good. Perhaps it could let contestants wake up refreshed the next day.

"However, I suspect that the reason this Soul Skill can only affect oneself is because it can be used to increase one's Spiritual Power," Zhou Qing continued. "Sleeping may seem simple, but it is actually very useful. Based on my observations of the people in the village, I discovered a pattern. If they sleep well, they are full of energy the next day. If they sleep poorly, they are listless the next day."

"Spiritual Power was a term I found in books related to Soul Master cultivation. They said that only Soul Douluo above Level 80 can perceive the existence of Spiritual Power, while only Titled Douluo at Level 90 can begin to work out simple methods of cultivating it."

"Though I do not know whether that is true, I do not think Spiritual Power is something one can only possess after becoming a Soul Douluo. It is merely that we cannot perceive it while we are weak."

Hearing this, Tang San was utterly astonished!

Naturally, Tang San understood the importance of Spiritual Power. In fact, Purple Demon Eye was a method of cultivating Spiritual Power, and when combined with the Mysterious Heaven Skill, the two complemented each other perfectly!

Moreover, even weaker internal martial arts experts needed to use Spiritual Power, because controlling Internal Energy as it circulated through the body itself required one's will.

Yet he had never expected that Zhou Qing, who was only four years old, could infer the importance of Spiritual Power from mere fragments of text in books.

From this perspective, it was not impossible that the Soul Ring Soul Skill of a Hundred-Year Spirit Rhyme Turtle could enhance one's Spiritual Power through sleep. But then why were Spirit Rhyme Turtles not the preferred choice of Soul Masters?

Tang San recalled the books on Soul Masters in Zhou Qing's home, as well as the crude meridian diagram in the "Spirit Hall Elementary Meditation Technique," and immediately understood.

In this world, Soul Masters could only clearly sense the effect of Spiritual Power on the circulation of Soul Power at the Soul Douluo level, and only formally began cultivating it at the Titled Douluo stage. This easily led people to form the notion that "Spiritual Power can only be cultivated by Titled Douluo."

Furthermore, the effect of a Hundred-Year Spirit Rhyme Turtle's Soul Skill in increasing Spiritual Power might not be particularly obvious. And Soul Masters who obtained a Spirit Rhyme Turtle Soul Ring could not possibly use it on themselves every night before bed. Without using it on themselves consistently over the years, they naturally could not effectively improve their Spiritual Power.

Tang San had also heard of sleep-related cultivation methods in his previous life. Wudang had one called "Sleeping Dragon Slumber," created by Zhang Sanfeng. It could refine Internal Energy and strengthen the mind while one slept.

Was that not precisely the effect of the Soul Skill provided by a Spirit Rhyme Turtle?

It was simply that the Soul Masters of this world focused on combat. Even support abilities existed to support combat, so they never considered that support could be applied in other areas.

For example: supporting the cultivation of Spiritual Power!

Of course!

What Tang San thought more highly of was Zhou Qing. This child, only four years old, could see the essential function of "sleep," something this world—and even Tang San himself—had nearly overlooked.

He was truly remarkable!

"When Spirit Rhyme Turtles reach a thousand years, more Soul Masters hunt them for Soul Rings. It is not only turtle-type Soul Masters; some Plant Soul Beast Soul Masters also choose them as their third or fourth Soul Rings," Zhou Qing continued.

"Do thousand-year Spirit Rhyme Turtles provide Soul Skills with stronger effects, ones that can noticeably increase Spiritual Power?" Tang San blurted out, but immediately rejected the idea.

If a thousand-year Spirit Rhyme Turtle's Soul Skill had such a powerful effect, then there was no reason for the widespread belief that "Spiritual Power can only be cultivated by Titled Douluo" to have formed, right?

"No."

Zhou Qing shook his head. Looking at the two-hundred-year Spirit Rhyme Turtle, which was tearing off small pieces of Great White Carp flesh and chewing them slowly, he pointed at the aquatic grass on its back.

"When a Spirit Rhyme Turtle reaches a thousand years, the process of reaching ten thousand years is actually an extremely painful one—"

"When its cultivation reaches a thousand years, the top of its shell cracks open. The Spirit Rhyme Turtle seeks out plant seeds and places them in the opening at the top, then spends ten thousand years nurturing their growth until they completely fuse with its shell, flesh, and blood."

"As a result, once a Spirit Rhyme Turtle reaches the ten-thousand-year level, it no longer needs to worry about food. It only needs to drink water and occasionally eat soil from special environments, and it can live forever. So long as the sun in the sky still exists, the plant on its back can continuously provide the Spirit Rhyme Turtle with energy for movement."

"This is a symbiotic relationship! And the plant growing on the back of a thousand-year Spirit Rhyme Turtle will gradually transform into a Soul Beast, with cultivation equal to that of the Spirit Rhyme Turtle..."