Thousand-Year Soul Ring (Quality: Excellent)

Lor Diarra gripped his hair tightly, pacing back and forth, muttering to himself, completely lost in his own academic storm.

"Lord Lor Diarra?" Chen Li said softly at the opportune moment.

"You go back first! Immediately! Now!" Lor Diarra said without looking up, merely waving his hand impatiently, his entire attention immersed in his notebook.

He was frantically writing down every detail he had observed just now, sketching out various hypotheses and subsequent experimental plans. "I need time to analyze this data! I'll find you once I have results! Someone, escort him back!"

Soon, a butler waiting outside entered and respectfully led Chen Li away from the high-level Soul Beast area.

Back in his own room, Chen Li locked the door.

All the disappointment and fatigue on Chen Li's face vanished instantly, replaced by eyes as sharp as a falcon's and a slightly accelerated heartbeat.

He strode to his bedside, sat down cross-legged, took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and completed all his mental preparations before unhesitatingly sinking his consciousness into the system space.

Inside the space, the reserve of Soul Rings had been updated:

Two Thousand-year Soul Rings shimmering with purple light, and eight neatly arranged Yellow Hundred Year Soul Rings.

"Eight Hundred Year ones, as the final nourishment, should be enough," Chen Li murmured inwardly, a hint of determination flashing in his eyes. He mentally communicated with the dormant black hole within his body, the power of the Gulp Gulp Fruit.

As his Soul Power guided it, the core Thousand-year Soul Ring, originally of [Normal] quality, was the first to be taken out, suspended before him. Immediately after, the eight Hundred Year Soul Rings flew out one by one, circling the purple Soul Ring.

"Gulp Gulp Fruit, activate!"

Behind Chen Li, the dark phantom reappeared.

This time, it resembled a true black hole, generating a powerful suction.

The eight Yellow Soul Rings, like birds returning to their nests, plunged one after another into the profound darkness.

Then, the purple Soul Ring was also slowly drawn in and submerged within it.

This time, Chen Li clearly felt that profound changes far beyond anything before were occurring within the Gulp Gulp Fruit.

Vast amounts of essence from the Hundred Year Soul Rings were rapidly stripped away and refined, transforming into streams of pure energy. Like a hundred rivers converging into the sea, they poured madly into the Thousand-year Soul Ring serving as the core.

The Thousand-year Soul Ring, like parched land receiving timely rain, greedily absorbed this essence. Its internal structure began to undergo a fundamental optimization and sublimation. The purple light grew deeper, purer, even exuding a hint of indescribable majesty.

His Soul Power was rapidly depleting, but Chen Li gritted his teeth and persevered. He didn't know how long it took; perhaps only a moment, perhaps an eternity.

[Ding!]

A crisp system notification sounded in his mind like heavenly music.

The phantom of the Gulp Gulp Fruit slowly subsided, and with a flash of faint light, a brand-new Soul Ring was expelled, quietly hovering before Chen Li.

This Soul Ring was still purple, but its purple was no longer the somewhat thin, pale violet from before. Instead, it was a deep, heavy, dark purple that contained a radiant glow!

It was as if a miniature thundercloud had been condensed within it, slowly swirling, and one could feel the immense and pure lightning power contained within just by looking at it!

The system information clearly displayed:

[Thousand-year Soul Ring (Quality: Excellent)]

Success! The quality had been elevated from [Normal] to [Excellent]!

Chen Li took a deep, slow breath, trying to suppress the surging excitement in his chest. The path validation was successful, the raw material conversion was successful, and now, only the final, most crucial, and most dangerous step remained: absorption!

The problem lay starkly before him: would the Rumble-Rumble Fruit recognize this [Excellent] quality Thousand-year Soul Ring?

And this was a Thousand-year Soul Ring.

According to the widely accepted Soul Ring age theory proposed by Master Yu Xiaogang, the absorption limit for the first Soul Ring was approximately 423 years.

Exceeding this age, the immense energy contained within the Soul Ring and the soul shock formed by the beast's remnant will were enough to burst the meridians of a Level 10 Soul Master and shatter their spirit.

"Theory is theory, but I am me..." Chen Li's eyes flickered intensely. Reason told him the risk was immense, but the flame of unwillingness to be mediocre, the desire for power, the pent-up frustration from countless failures, and his unwavering belief in this unique path ultimately converged into a near-mad resolve!

"There's no other choice! If I don't take this gamble, am I supposed to grovel at someone else's feet?!"

"Risk? Opportunity always comes with risk!"

"Absorb!!!"

The last trace of hesitation in Chen Li's eyes vanished completely, replaced by a desperate and determined madness. He no longer hesitated, controlling the Thousand-year Soul Ring, which radiated a dark purple glow and had an [Excellent] quality, and slowly moving it towards the top of his head.

As the Soul Ring descended, purple light completely engulfed him.

The moment the purple Soul Ring touched his body, Chen Li felt every inch of his flesh and blood, every meridian, being forcibly stretched and torn by an extremely violent torrent of lightning!

This was no longer the gentle rejection he had felt during previous attempts; it was a destructive impact formed by the colossal energy of a Thousand-year Soul Beast combined with its unyielding remnant will!

His bones seemed to groan under the unbearable load, the blood vessels beneath his skin bulged, as if they would burst the next second.

However, unlike ever before, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit within him, which had always been proud and indifferent, disdainful of inferior food, reacted proactively for the first time!

It did not resist. Instead, like a Taotie smelling a delicacy, it began to greedily suckle and convert the incoming violent energy!

Streams of pure lightning power were stripped away and integrated into the origin of his Martial Soul, allowing Chen Li to clearly feel his power rapidly increasing and his control and understanding of lightning deepening frantically.

But this process of absorption and strengthening was accompanied by even more intense pain! The energy of the high-quality Thousand-year Soul Ring was too vast, too pure; the speed of absorption and conversion lagged far behind the speed at which it poured in!

Excess energy and the ferocious intent remaining from the Thunderclap Eagle rampaged within his body, wreaking havoc.

"Ugh!" A muffled groan of pain escaped Chen Li's clenched teeth, veins bulged on his forehead, and cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes before evaporating under the rampant lightning on his skin.

If it weren't for his continuous training during this period, and the fact that he had used the faint lightning power to temper his body subtly after obtaining the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, laying a foundation far superior to his peers, he would have already shattered his meridians and become a cripple from the first wave of impact.

I can't fall! Absolutely not! The intense pain almost drowned his consciousness, but the stubborn refusal to yield, the unwillingness to be defeated, deep within his soul, acted like an anchor, holding him firmly