Determining the First Spirit Ring

After returning home, Zhou Qing did not sort through his books and papers for once. Instead, he began cultivating the technique brought by his martial soul, the Blood Circulation System: the Innate Internal Scripture Chart.

His purpose was to cycle the Internal Energy cultivated through the Mysterious Heaven Skill and the Innate Soul Power that came with his martial soul awakening through the Three Passes and Nine Apertures as the main route, with the other Meridians serving as support, thereby refining them once over.

The Innate Internal Scripture Chart cultivated the three treasures of Essence, Qi, and Spirit simultaneously. Soul Power flowed through the upper, middle, and lower three dantians, then passed through the Weilu Pass, Jiaji Pass, and Yuzhen Pass, running through the Yin Aperture, Yang Aperture, and Central Palace Aperture. Connected by the Ren and Du Meridians, it then linked with the other Eight Extraordinary Meridians and the Twelve Primary Meridians, together forming the configuration of the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams.

Moreover, when Martial Soul Possession fused with his own blood circulation system, the beating of his heart, the contraction and dilation of his blood vessels, and the flow of his blood could actively aid Zhou Qing in cultivating the Innate Internal Scripture Chart. With every beat of his heart, Zhou Qing could even feel as if every cell in his body sensed the corresponding rhythm, trembling and resonating as they continuously regulated his entire body and enhanced his physical constitution.

Once he obtained Spirit Rings in the future, he would certainly be able to withstand rings of greater age.

Judging from the original work, when the protagonist group traveled to Sea God Island for training, Ning Rongrong was the first to receive the reward of increasing her Spirit Ring ages. The explanation at the time was that the higher a Spirit Ring's age, the less Soul Power it consumed when using Soul Skills.

This showed that while the Soul Skill itself did not change, increasing the Spirit Ring's age reduced the amount of Soul Power required to unleash a Soul Skill of the same power.

Perhaps this meant that, for the same Soul Skill, the patterns within a higher-age Spirit Ring utilized Soul Power more efficiently.

If a Spirit Ring were compared to an electric lamp that needed electricity, and a Soul Skill and its effects were compared to the light emitted by that lamp, while Soul Power was compared to electricity, then high-age Spirit Rings were incandescent bulbs, while low-age Spirit Rings resembled tungsten-filament lamps capable of producing only yellow light.

This was probably one of the main reasons Soul Masters pursued high-age Spirit Rings...

Another reason might be that the higher a Spirit Ring's age, the more energy it contained that could increase Soul Power, allowing Soul Masters to reduce the effort needed to raise their Soul Power Level somewhat.

And the Soul Skills brought by high-age Spirit Rings were also more powerful.

"Speaking of Soul Power Levels, this is something that has been bothering me. It feels like an instinctive perception, but after my martial soul awakened, that perception became increasingly clear. Once I obtain my First Spirit Ring, I'll probably be able to determine my exact Soul Power Level more and more clearly." Regarding this game-like set of rules, Zhou Qing suspected it was connected to the God Realm. Although a planet-like world such as Douluo Continent possessed fantastical elements, this sort of game-like level system was simply far too abrupt.

Based on how things were portrayed in the original work, after Tang San obtained his First Spirit Ring, he only knew that he had broken through Level 11, but his exact level still had to be tested at Spirit Hall and determined through a Crystal Ball. Yet after Level 20, or even Level 30, it seemed they could clearly sense every exact level they broke through, as though they could judge it themselves.

The other six Shrek monsters were the same.

Had Douluo Continent already formed a corresponding body of knowledge for independently judging Soul Power Levels?

How could that be possible!

The Soul Master World of Douluo Continent had not even finished establishing the foundational system for Soul Power cultivation! Its understanding of the human body was pitifully limited as well!

Therefore, this was a very strange phenomenon.

If Tang San, as a Transmigrator, could judge the level of his own cultivation, that was understandable. But what about the other six Shrek monsters?

Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ning Rongrong aside, they came from the imperial family and major sects. It was reasonable to assume they possessed corresponding methods.

But Oscar and Ma Hongjun were purely commoners.

Their teachers were completely different from their martial souls, and the nature of the Soul Power they cultivated was different as well. They could not possibly use the same method to judge it, could they?

Therefore, it could only be caused by this world's rules.

"Forget it. This is too far beyond me, and for now, these rules aren't really a flaw. They allow people to judge their cultivation progress relatively clearly." Zhou Qing decided to set the matter aside for the moment and reconsider it once he had learned more about martial souls and Soul Beasts.

What he needed to consider now was the choice of his First Spirit Ring.

Martial soul: Blood Circulation System.

Then, leaving aside the Soul Skill itself, the Soul Beast he chose had to possess abilities that could enhance or strengthen Qi and Blood and vitality.

Next, he had to consider the Innate Internal Scripture Chart technique.

Iron Ox Plowing for Gold.

This was the first line of the technique. Within the Internal Scripture Chart, it depicted an old farmer holding a whip and driving an ox to plow the land, with an image of a cauldron beneath his feet.

Plowing the land referred to circulating kidney qi; kindling the fire of the cauldron referred to cultivating the Lower Dantian.

Ordinary people had to put in bitter effort to cultivate.

But Zhou Qing was different. With his martial soul's assistance, all the meridians throughout his body were fully connected. The path of cultivation had already been opened; he only needed steady, patient effort to increase his Soul Power.

Looking again at that first line, why was an iron ox needed to plow the land?

Because an iron ox feared no whipping and was difficult to drive, implying that the process was difficult and required patience and innate understanding. But once the process of Refining Essence into Qi was completed, the cauldron would be raised, allowing it to emit radiant light—the four yin-yang Taiji symbols at the Lower Dantian in the Internal Scripture Chart.

That was also the single breath of True Essence. Daoists often spoke of lead and mercury, and the "lead" among them referred to this single breath of True Essence, not an actual metallic element.

Zhou Qing also believed that these four great Taiji yin-yang symbols represented the four great Innate True Essence breaths that existed at the beginning of the world's creation: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire.

"So, for my First Spirit Ring, the Soul Beast must possess abundant Qi and Blood. Secondly, it must have an earth... or rather, soil, rock, or similar attribute."

Zhou Qing had determined the type of Soul Beast he needed.

The Innate Internal Scripture Chart passed through the Three Passes and Nine Apertures, but Zhou Qing had no intention of making his nine Spirit Rings correspond to those nine apertures. That would be courting death!

Spirit Rings inherently carried the attributes of Soul Beasts, while the Three Passes and Nine Apertures of the human body could never correspond to them one by one. Even if they could, merely finding the Soul Beasts would probably take most of a lifetime.

Therefore, Zhou Qing believed that taking corresponding attributes from Soul Beasts and using them to condense the four great Innate True Essence breaths of Earth, Water, Wind, Fire would be enough to further accelerate his cultivation speed and strengthen his body. Then, with the Three Passes and Nine Apertures governing the circulation of Soul Power throughout his body, once he gathered the five elements and evolved the Eight Trigrams in the future, he might even be able to construct a true Inner Scenery World!

For now, however, he was limited by the rules of this world. Without a Spirit Ring, his cultivation could not progress any further. Although the Innate Internal Scripture Chart could still temper his body, he had too little Soul Power, so its efficiency was low.

Zhou Qing had also settled on the elemental attribute his First Spirit Ring needed: earth.

Earth was the mother of all things, so he needed to possess this element first.

After searching through the books on Soul Beasts currently available to him, Zhou Qing discovered that there were quite a few Soul Beasts that possessed abundant Qi and Blood, vitality, and an earth attribute. But after organizing them, he found three types that suited him best.

The first was the Ground Lizard. It possessed tenacious vitality; after its limbs or tail were severed, they could regrow after a period of time. Its body was covered in rock-like scales, and it could burrow through the earth.

The second was the Titan Giant Ape... Zhou Qing immediately crossed this one out. Although this super Soul Beast suited him extremely well, possessing tenacious vitality, abundant Qi and Blood, and command over the Power of the Earth, it was simply not something he could deal with. A hundred-year Titan Giant Ape could rival ordinary ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts. Including it among his First Spirit Ring choices would be no different from seeking death.

The only known Titan Giant Ape was the one in the Star Dou Great Forest. Perhaps a variant of the Titan Giant Ape existed in the Extreme North, but its attributes would certainly be far removed from earth.

Third, the Moo Spring Ox. Their herds were enormous, and they lived in grasslands and forests. So long as the environment was not too harsh, they could be found there.

It was universally acknowledged in the Soul Master World that bovine Soul Beasts possessed great strength and naturally abundant Qi and Blood.

Among bovine Soul Beasts, the Moo Spring Ox was one of the few species with an earth attribute. It was called "Moo Spring" because, when spring arrived, the Moo Spring Ox would "moo moo."

According to the records, Moo Spring Oxen mooed in spring not merely because, like other Soul Beasts and animals, they went into heat during the season. Even after their mating period ended, their calls would continue one after another, as though they were singing of spring's arrival.

Thus, the Soul Master who first discovered this phenomenon gave them the poetic name "Moo Spring"...