First Spirit Ring

After returning to Spirit Academy, the two briefly said goodbye at a fork in the road and headed back to their respective residences.

Jiang Bai did not return to his dormitory right away. Instead, he went to the cafeteria to borrow a stove and heat the Whale Rubber.

Looking at the bowl of thick, scalding liquid before him, which gave off a strange fishy-sweet scent,

Jiang Bai took out a clay jar, carefully poured the Whale Rubber liquid into it, sealed the lid tightly, and stored it in his wristband.

Only after finishing all this did he return to his dormitory.

Yan and Xie Yue were both in the dormitory.

When they saw Jiang Bai return, they merely glanced at him without saying much.

Jiang Bai took a change of clothes and a towel, then entered the dormitory bathroom.

Once he was ready, Jiang Bai removed his clothes and sat in a bath barrel filled with cold water, unable to stop himself from shivering.

He took a deep breath, removed the clay jar that still retained some warmth from his wristband, opened it, and stared at the thick liquid inside. Without hesitation, he tipped back his head and gulped down the entire jar of scalding Whale Rubber liquid!

"Ugh—!!"

The instant the liquid entered his mouth, Jiang Bai's eyes widened sharply, and a pained groan escaped his throat!

It was nothing as simple as drinking hot soup!

An unbearable heat, accompanied by an indescribable fishy burning sensation, spread from his mouth and throat all the way down. Everywhere it passed, pain instantly tightened every muscle in his body, and his vision repeatedly darkened!

He clenched his teeth tightly and forced himself to swallow the final drop.

Very soon, an unimaginable torrent of heat exploded in his stomach!

The violent heat spread madly through his limbs, every meridian, every bone, and every inch of muscle!

His entire body was like something thrown into a furnace. His skin immediately turned bright red, while veins bulged viciously across its surface.

The cold water in the bath barrel even began to release wisps of white steam where it touched his body!

Who knew how long passed? Perhaps fifteen minutes, perhaps half an hour. The burning sensation inside him finally began to slowly subside.

Jiang Bai's tightly tensed body gradually relaxed. He panted heavily, like a dying fish returned to water.

The once-clear cold water in the bath barrel had now turned somewhat dark and murky, mixed with impurities and sweat forced out from his body.

A fierce burning sensation still lingered in his mouth and lungs, making every breath painfully scorching and leaving his voice hoarse.

After resting for quite a while longer, Jiang Bai finally gathered enough strength to shakily climb out of the bath barrel.

He first poured out the blackened water, then repeatedly rinsed his body with cold water. Only after the flush of red on his skin faded somewhat did he wrap himself in a large bath towel and walk unsteadily out of the bathroom.

Coming before the full-length mirror in the room, Jiang Bai carefully examined his reflection.

His skin still retained a faint blush, but otherwise he looked perfectly fine. In fact, it seemed to have a subtle, healthy luster rather than its previous slightly dry, yellowish appearance.

He reached out and touched his arms, chest, and abdomen. He could clearly feel that his muscles had become firmer and more elastic, their contours faintly more defined as well.

When he clenched his fist, a far more abundant sense of strength rose within him.

His strength, endurance, resilience, and the toughness of his meridians had all improved significantly.

With this, his first Spirit Ring should be at least five hundred years old!

A stronger body meant he could withstand the energy of a more powerful Spirit Ring!

He just did not know how he should explain it...

He shook his head and temporarily pushed aside that concern. The urgent matter was to sense the changes in his Soul Power.

The Whale Rubber should have stimulated some Soul Power as well.

He carefully sensed the accumulation of Soul Power in his dantian...

Sure enough!

The level-ten bottleneck that he had originally estimated would take over a month to reach was now clearly within his grasp!

That thin barrier preventing his Soul Power from continuing to grow stood right before him!

Now, he could absorb his first Spirit Ring at any time and become a true Soul Master!

Amid his delight, Jiang Bai suddenly noticed that the atmosphere in the dormitory was somewhat strange.

He turned to look at Yan and Xie Yue's beds.

At some point, the two had curled up beneath their blankets, wrapping themselves tightly and exposing only half their faces. They stared at him in terror, their bodies trembling slightly.

Especially when they saw his flushed face and blazing eyes turn toward them, both shuddered at once, pulled their blankets even higher, and clutched them tightly as though guarding against some monstrous beast.

Jiang Bai: "..."

On the afternoon two and a half days later, Jiang Bai headed for the back mountain as usual.

He did not go to his usual training spot. Instead, he slowed his pace along the road as though admiring the scenery.

Sure enough, not long afterward, that familiar golden figure appeared at the other end of the path.

"Hehe, Senior Sister!" Jiang Bai immediately put on a brilliant smile and hurried over, unconsciously rubbing his hands together as he looked at Qian Renxue with sparkling eyes.

"Um... about my first Spirit Ring... don't you think it's time to arrange it?"

Qian Renxue stopped walking. Her purple eyes swept over him, and a trace of surprise flashed through them. "You broke through? So quickly?"

How long had it been? This guy had already gone from level nine to level ten?

But when she thought of Jiang Bai's practically self-torturing training schedule and his nearly obsessive drive to become stronger, it somehow seemed... a little reasonable?

She carefully sensed Jiang Bai's aura. It was indeed much more solid and robust than before, and his Soul Power fluctuations had reached the critical point of level ten.

"Fine. Follow me."

Qian Renxue did not ask further questions. She simply turned and headed toward her villa.

Delighted, Jiang Bai quickly followed.

When they arrived before that exquisite detached villa again, Qian Renxue did not bring Jiang Bai inside. Instead, she summoned a servant to deliver orders.

Before long, accompanied by the orderly clatter of hooves and rolling wheels, a group of knights clad in silver light armor arrived before the villa with several caged carriages.

Each cage was half-covered with black cloth.

"Uncover them," Qian Renxue ordered.

The knights tore away the black cloth, revealing the soul beasts inside.

In the first cage was a fire dragon.

Its entire body was covered in dark-red scales, with a small protrusion atop its head and a mouth full of sharp fangs.

But it was currently listless. A sizable wound marred its abdomen, dark-red blood slowly seeping from it. Its eyes were vicious, and only half its dragon tail remained.

In the second cage lay a Giant Rock Rhino, panting heavily, with several wounds on its body as well.

A Lightning Eagle was confined within the third cage.

The fourth cage held a Golden Saber-Toothed Tiger.

The four soul beasts were of different types and each had its own strengths, but without exception, they were all high-quality four-hundred-year soul beasts!

Jiang Bai was shaken as his gaze slowly swept over the four soul beasts.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda's soul skills were fixed. Theoretically, it had no particular requirements for the type of soul beast, so long as the age was suitable and the attributes did not conflict.

However, dragon-type soul beasts, even if they were merely subdragon species, generally provided greater physical enhancement and feedback to Soul Masters than other soul beasts of the same level.

What was more, this one appeared to be a pure-blooded subdragon!

But why did this fire dragon only have half a tail?

After a moment of thought, Jiang Bai pointed at the first cage. "I'll take this fire dragon."

Qian Renxue nodded and signaled to the knight captain.

The knights immediately took the other three cages away, leaving only the cage containing the fire dragon.

Qian Renxue then took a gleaming cold steel longsword from her storage Soul Tool and handed it to Jiang Bai.

"Kill it, then guide the Spirit Ring inside the villa and absorb it. It's quiet inside, and no one will disturb you."

She pointed toward the villa's entrance.

"Thank you, Senior Sister!"

Jiang Bai solemnly accepted the longsword. It felt heavy in his hand, and its blade gleamed coldly.

He walked up to the cage and looked at the fire dragon within, which was on the verge of death yet still glared at him with vicious eyes.

He felt no unnecessary pity. In this world, Soul Masters and soul beasts had always been hunters and prey.

Jiang Bai took a deep breath, aimed above the Earth Fire Dragon's heart, and viciously drove the longsword in!

"Splurt!"

The longsword pierced its body. The fire dragon convulsed violently, letting out a low, agonized hiss. The vicious light in its eyes rapidly dimmed before finally extinguishing completely.

A bright, deep-yellow Spirit Ring radiating a scorching aura slowly emerged from the fire dragon's corpse, hovering in midair as it slowly rotated.

A nearly imperceptible trace of something unusual flashed through Jiang Bai's eyes.

He then began guiding the deep-yellow Spirit Ring with his thoughts.

The Spirit Ring obediently drifted toward him, following his steps into the villa.

Once inside, Jiang Bai sat cross-legged on the soft carpet and began absorbing the Spirit Ring.

Qian Renxue looked at the bright Spirit Ring inside and frowned slightly. She felt that something was wrong, but could not tell what it was.

Was it an illusion? Or a problem with the lighting?

Qian Renxue was puzzled.

Qian Renxue suppressed her lingering doubts and asked the two knights left behind to deal with the fire dragon's corpse, "Are you certain that these soul beasts are all around four hundred years old?"

One knight immediately bowed and answered firmly, "Reporting to Young Master, the accompanying steward personally appraised this batch of soul beasts and confirmed that all of them are around four hundred years old."

Hearing this, Qian Renxue nodded and thought no more about it.

Perhaps it was merely the lighting or angle that had made her see wrongly.

She waved a hand. "Clean up the corpse."

"Yes!"

Inside Jiang Bai's spiritual sea.

The fire dragon's soul stared with eyes as wide as bells.

It looked in disbelief at the enormous Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda glowing with blue light before it.

(@[]@!!)

Then, the first level of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda suddenly erupted with dazzling light.

An immensely powerful suction force drew it inside.