"Ring Detonation"

"Still, Nan Li adapted well to her Third Soul Skill. At first, you seemed rather disappointed that it was a defensive soul skill, but over this period, you've managed to figure out some other tricks."

"Of course. It's a seventeen-thousand-year soul ring, after all." Nan Li glanced at the Third Elder, leaning against the tree and swinging one leg.

"Mm, not bad." The Third Elder nodded, though it somehow sounded familiar.

"What?! That's the age of Dan Hong's fourth soul ring!"

The birds that had just settled back onto the tree were startled into flight again. Dan Hong and Nan Li covered their ears in tacit understanding beforehand.

Rustling sounds came from the low shrubs.

A gray rabbit poked its head out from behind the grass, cautiously surveying its surroundings. After confirming there was no danger, it hopped out.

Nan Li and Dan Hong, resting on a tree branch, exchanged a glance. "Catch it!" Nan Li said quietly.

Who knew the Grey-haired Rabbit's ears would twitch? The moment the two rose together, the rabbit had already darted off in one direction.

Seeing this, Nan Li and Dan Hong instantly completed their Martial Soul Possession and chased after it, one in front and one behind.

The Third Elder watched their retreating figures with amusement, shook his head, and leisurely followed behind them.

The rabbit ran to a riverbank. Seeing no powerful Soul Beasts nearby, it stuck out its tongue and began drinking.

Nan Li and Dan Hong flew through the air. When they saw the rabbit stop moving, Nan Li reached down and pulled up the Golden Feather strapped to her calf. After pouring Soul Power into it, red-and-white flames ignited along the Golden Feather.

Swoosh—

The gray rabbit's fur stood on end as it immediately sprang up from the ground.

But the Golden Feather came swift and fast. The rabbit's leap sent it straight into the incoming Golden Feather, and it ascended to heaven on the spot.

Nan Li lifted the rabbit by its ears and sighed. "This rabbit is so cute."

Dan Hong took out several seasonings from the human world, raised them, and asked, "Spicy?"

Nan Li immediately nodded. "Yes! Add more cumin too!"

The Third Elder arrived late. The moment he landed, he saw Dan Hong roasting the rabbit and Nan Li sitting off to the side waiting. Helplessly, he asked, "What are you two doing this time?"

Dan Hong released her soul rings and used her First Soul Skill to control the fire. Hearing this, she asked, "Want some?"

The Third Elder paused for a moment before saying, "Yes!"

There was no reason not to eat it when it was free.

Bored from waiting, Nan Li casually leaned back.

Smack!

Nan Li raised her hand and saw a red blade of grass beneath her arm. It had leaves but no stem, and orange-red liquid could be seen flowing through the veins of its leaves. "This is... Flame Leaf?"

Blue Silver Grass could be found everywhere on Douluo Continent, but Sun Island was rich in fire energy and unsuitable for Blue Silver Grass to grow. Instead, Flame Leaf was the most common plant there.

Ordinary people would be burned if they carelessly touched Flame Leaf, but Nan Li's Life-Bound Flame could protect her from external flames, and fire-attributed Soul Power itself possessed immunity to fire.

Thus, Nan Li had not noticed the Flame Leaf beneath her just now.

Yet now, the plant's leaves lay limply against the ground, while a white soul ring slowly condensed above it.

"..." Nan Li silently apologized.

She reached out and drew the soul ring over with Soul Power, unable to help thinking: If a soul ring was not absorbed, it would dissipate on its own within two hours. But soul rings were condensed from a Soul Beast's Soul Power. Other than acquiring them when advancing, if one encountered them normally, could they only be wasted?

With a light snap of her fingers, flames red on the outside and white within danced onto her fingertips. Nan Li wrapped the soul ring in her Life-Bound Flame and burned it.

Boom! Unable to withstand Nan Li's flames, the soul ring shook a few times within the fire before exploding.

Fortunately, it was only a Decade Soul Ring, so the explosion did not harm Nan Li.

But the Third Elder's hand paused, and the fish he had just caught jumped back into the river. "Nan Li! You little—"

Nan Li shot him a glare, and the Third Elder silently shut his mouth.

"What are you shouting for? I'm your elder. Is that any way to yell at an elder?"

The Third Elder and Dan Hong had both chosen Humanoid Form shortly after reaching a hundred thousand years of cultivation, while Nan Li had already lived for nearly two hundred thousand years before taking Humanoid Form. Calling herself their elder was no exaggeration.

It was just that Nan Li looked rather young now, so the Third Elder always truly treated her like a child.

Dan Hong, however, smiled. "Then call me big sister again."

Nan Li stared at her in disbelief.

"Didn't you call me that several times back at Nuoding Academy? Call me once more so I can hear it." Dan Hong was referring to the explosion at Nuoding Academy.

"Th-that was..." Nan Li was a little flustered. She looked around, but there was no one who could help her.

"It was an emergency," Jiang E Li reminded her.

"It was an emergency!" Nan Li said irritably. "You have no respect for your elders!"

After saying that, Nan Li focused and sensed the Soul Power around her. She discovered that after a soul ring exploded, the Soul Power within it rapidly scattered back into heaven and earth, making it difficult to capture. But what if she directly refined it with flames and absorbed the Soul Power?

Nan Li walked toward the Third Elder. A bamboo skewer pierced through the fish's body, and several white soul rings could be seen scattered around it.

Boom, boom, boom!

The Soul Ring exploded. Under the blazing heat, the entire fish was first turned into dried fish, then blown to pieces.

Third Elder was so furious that his beard bristled and his eyes bulged, but he could hardly say anything to his "elders."

Dan Hong spent all year refining medicinal ingredients. After watching Nan Li's approach for a while, she guessed, "Are you trying to extract the Soul Power within the Soul Ring?"

Nan Li nodded.

"Normally, flames burn more fiercely when exposed to air, but your flames are extremely unusual. The white flames at their core are far hotter than the outer flames. Directly wrapping it in fire may not be appropriate..."

As she spoke, Dan Hong separated a wisp of flame and wrapped it around a white Soul Ring, slowly refining it with her First Soul Skill, "Weave Fire."

Nan Li watched Dan Hong's movements without blinking. The Soul Ring's color gradually lightened and faded, its Soul Power drawn into Dan Hong's palm. But after only a moment, the Soul Ring trembled up and down. After shuddering a few times within the flames, it still exploded.

The two of them thoroughly wrecked the fish with Soul Rings that Third Elder had caught, yet still failed in the end.

But Nan Li and Dan Hong seemed as though they had discovered a new continent, extending their demonic claws toward the Flame Leaf plants in the nearby grass.

Nan Li could discern the exact cultivation of any being whose Soul Power cultivation was lower than her own. With this innate ability, she could see at a glance the cultivation of every scattered Flame Leaf plant in the grass.

A few months later, in a meadow filled with Flame Leaf plants.

Nan Li sat cross-legged, a yellow Soul Ring burning in the space between her outstretched hands.

Crack, crack—

The Soul Ring split into several pieces within the flames, yet it neither exploded nor dissipated into the world. Countless sparks ignited across it. As though corroded, holes of varying sizes appeared on its surface.

As the holes grew larger and larger, all the Soul Power within the Soul Ring was swallowed by the flames and absorbed into Nan Li's body.

Nan Li opened her eyes and exchanged a look with Dan Hong. Neither of them was particularly joyful.

Grey-haired Rabbit: You praise them for being cute before eating them. You two are really so noble!