Collective Soul Hunt, Part Two

Collective Soul Hunt, Part Two

The Thousand Jin Ant King, which had been wandering about carefreely, had yet to react before it felt its body go numb.

A trace of confusion flashed through the Thousand Jin Ant King's six eyes before they gradually dimmed. A black soul ring slowly began to condense.

The ten sharp swords forged from refined iron had already twisted out of shape.

Ye Wen walked over from afar. Looking around, he saw that the Thousand Jin Ant King had been dismembered into dozens of pieces. Green blood covered the ground, giving off waves of foul stench.

Since people in this world were not particularly interested in insect-type Soul Beasts, insect Soul Beast corpses were worth very little. Not to mention that it had been torn apart like this. Ye Wen had no intention of collecting it. He grabbed the Thousand Jin Ant King's head and left the area.

After running to the outskirts of the Great Star Dou Forest and finding a secluded, hidden spot, Ye Wen looked at the black soul ring that had followed the Thousand Jin Ant King's head. He took a deep breath and suppressed his excitement. Obtaining a Thousand-Year Soul Ring and obtaining a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring were on entirely different levels.

Soul Masters with Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings could already receive noble titles in the two great empires, though the prerequisite was that they had to serve the royal family.

To be safe, Ye Wen scattered some Soul Beast-repelling powder around the area.

Ye Wen glanced at the black soul ring again. An ordinary hundred- or thousand-year soul ring would have dissipated long ago after so much time, but this one was still floating steadily.

"Come on!"

Ye Wen shouted in a deep voice, summoning Nabu and drawing the black soul ring toward himself.

Unlike the pressure brought by Thousand-Year Soul Rings in the past, the pressure of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring was even greater. However, Ye Wen's physical condition was also far beyond that of an ordinary Soul Master.

That familiar special energy poured into his body. In no time, he had completely adapted to it, and his mind suddenly cleared.

This was the first time Ye Wen had clearly sensed the existence of a spiritual world.

Six emotionless eyes appeared. The Thousand Jin Ant King Ye Wen had slain now appeared in this spiritual space in the form of a remnant soul.

If he blocked its attack, he would live. If he could not, he would die and vanish.

"Hmph! Come on, then. Who's afraid of who? I could kill you when you were alive. Now that you're on my turf, what can a wisp of your remnant soul do to me?"

Ye Wen spoke coldly with disdain. By now, he had completely mastered himself in this spiritual state.

He was just as powerful, just as solid. He was on a completely different level from the illusory remnant soul of the Thousand Jin Ant King before him. Though he could not use Soul Skills, neither could the Thousand Jin Ant King.

The Thousand Jin Ant King launched the first attack, lunging at Ye Wen to bite him. Ye Wen did not indulge it either, directly lashing out with a whip kick.

It was unexpectedly fragile. The Thousand Jin Ant King's remnant soul was blasted apart by a single kick, turning into fragments of spiritual energy that merged into Ye Wen's spiritual world.

Ye Wen felt his spiritual world being nourished, further strengthened and expanded.

No wonder that in this era without Spiritual Power cultivation, powerful Soul Masters could absorb soul rings carrying the resentment of Soul Beasts. With every soul ring absorption, the residual soul energy within the ring would passively nourish the Soul Master, becoming a stepping stone toward the next realm.

Slowly opening his eyes, Ye Wen exhaled a breath of stale air. Fighting purely with his spiritual power after losing all Soul Skills truly was dangerous. If he had not been steady and had such a solid foundation, he might really have fallen for it.

No wonder those Soul Kings without the optimal soul ring configuration did not dare absorb Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings as their fifth soul rings. Spiritual battles were far more dangerous than mere physical combat. Without a method of spiritual cultivation, they lacked the necessary foundation. Forcing themselves to absorb a fifth Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring was no different from courting death.

Ye Wen then began examining his Fifth Soul Skill.

"Fifth Soul Skill: Barrier of Emptiness.

It transforms the Martial Soul into a spatial barrier, blocking enemy attacks. Its defensive strength can be controlled according to the user's Soul Power.

At its current maximum strength, it should be able to block a single strike from an ordinary Soul Emperor.

This Soul Skill can also be released in various ways. Placing it directly in midair lets it serve as a foothold, granting aerial combat capability during this stage when I still can't fly. Paired with the Self-Created Soul Skill—Creation of Gravity—it's simply perfect. Isn't this the junior version of God's Rod?

And this time, Nabu's space has directly expanded to one hundred cubic meters. Not bad, not bad~

Huh?"

Ye Wen suddenly sensed a strange feeling coming from the Nabu Martial Soul. Instinctively, he released his Second Soul Skill, Between Mimicry.

"This is!" Ye Wen's eyes widened. He was stunned by his current perception.

What had originally been a Soul Skill that merely imitated surrounding objects now allowed him to understand the fundamental properties of things. If he carefully observed a particular area, he could even detect molecular movement within it. He was practically a humanoid molecular scanner.

"Is this really that absurd? Is this the enhancement a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring gives me?"

Ye Wen fell silent for a moment. Though the sudden mutation of his Second Soul Skill had caught him off guard, he was even more delighted. As he considered this Soul Skill's future direction, his eyes suddenly lit up. He took out a ginseng root from his Martial Soul Space, placed it within the range of Between Mimicry, and began observing it carefully with his Spiritual Power.

The ginseng's internal structure appeared before Ye Wen in every minute detail. He then copied the structure of the ginseng.

Next, Ye Wen simulated a human body within Between Mimicry and controlled it to consume the ginseng.

The simulated body's skin uncontrollably began to flush red, and finally, blood slowly dripped from its nose.

"A divine skill! This Second Soul Skill has mutated into a true divine skill! With this thing, no herb will ever have any secrets from me when it comes to the human body!!!" Ye Wen said excitedly.

In the field of medicine, it was not enough to make medicine based on theory. The most troublesome part was all sorts of clinical verification.

In his Previous Life, the ability medical students wanted most was probably the Crystal Belly of Shennong, the Earth Emperor among the Three Emperors. As long as one consumed an herb, one could clearly distinguish its toxicity and medicinal properties.

This mutated Between Mimicry was now like the Crystal Belly. Ye Wen did not even need to consume the substance himself. He only needed to copy the parameters of the material to simulate it directly, without having to worry about the poisoning problem that Shennong had faced.

Moreover, this Martial Soul was not limited to medicine. It could also perform simulations in other fields. It was practically a Martial Soul version of a quantum computer.

Although Ye Wen was excited, he had not forgotten why he had come to the Great Star Dou Forest. After simply tidying up the scene, Ye Wen headed back toward Bite City.

Seeing their teacher become a Soul King, all seven disciples felt honored as well and offered their congratulations.