As a qualified materialist, Wang Chuan had been meticulous when selecting experimental materials and had not randomly captured Spirit Beasts.
Instead, he had targeted a single species and captured nine Spirit Beasts, one for each thousand-year interval, ranging from one thousand to nine thousand years old.
As for why he had not caught any ten-thousand-year ones, Wang Chuan felt there was no point.
After all, this was only Soul Shock from a remnant soul. There was no need to specifically seek out rare ten-thousand-year Spirit Beasts.
Moreover, the species Wang Chuan had chosen was the Soft Bone Rabbit.
This type of Spirit Beast naturally possessed a certain talent for spiritual power. Otherwise, Xiao Wu would not have possessed a spiritual soul skill like Charm.
So although the nine-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit Wang Chuan had caught was still only a thousand-year Spirit Beast, its soul strength should not have been inferior to that of a ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast overall.
It was like psychic Spirit Masters among humans—they were certainly more outstanding in this regard than the average Spirit Beast.
And the experiment went smoothly.
Wang Chuan first compressed the power of Roaring Dragon Rage to its minimum, then gradually increased its strength.
Once it could kill a thousand-year Spirit Beast, that became the standard, and he steadily raised the level from there.
As the saying went, once someone decided to test the sturdiness of a glass, that table was destined to shatter.
The fate of those Soft Bone Rabbits went without saying. In the end, Wang Chuan gratefully ensured nothing went to waste by turning them all into roast rabbit.
Mm, with extra chili. Otherwise, it lacked flavor.
Later, after testing their Haki against each other and confirming that Zhao Wuji's Haki had reached the Spirit King level, Wang Chuan used Roaring Dragon Rage to test Zhao Wuji's soul strength.
As expected, Zhao Wuji withstood a Roaring Dragon Rage powerful enough to kill a ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast. He was just a little dizzy.
Other than that, Zhao Wudi had no issues whatsoever.
Having achieved the results he expected, Wang Chuan headed with Zhao Wuji to the hunting ground they had chosen earlier.
Their target was the Crystal Bear.
Although its name made it sound similar to the Earth Crystal Bear from before, the difference in strength between the two was like heaven and earth.
If he had to describe it, the Earth Crystal Bear was merely at the bottom among top-tier Spirit Beasts.
The Crystal Bear, meanwhile, was qualified to contend for the mid or even upper ranks of top-tier Spirit Beasts.
The reason for such a vast difference was entirely because the Crystal Bear possessed a diluted bloodline of the supreme bear-type Spirit Beast, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
Thus, although their target had only ten thousand years of cultivation, Wang Chuan believed its combat power was enough to rival a Soul Saint.
That was because the Crystal Bear not only possessed astonishing strength, but also had the troublesome innate ability of Crystallization.
Once struck by its attacks, one's body would begin to crystallize. Only powerful Soul Power could resist it.
And that was merely resistance. Unless one possessed a Soul Power realm far beyond the opponent's, complete immunity was impossible.
Furthermore, if the same spot suffered a second injury, it would truly shatter like crystal.
Beyond that, the Crystal Bear had inherited some earth-element talents from the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. It had also mastered a portion of the Gravity Control and earth-element manipulation that the Earth Crystal Bear could use.
It could be said that this Spirit Beast was terrifyingly powerful based on its written profile alone. The old Zhao Wuji had not even been qualified to covet it.
But with Wang Chuan here now, the two of them had no fear of failing to hunt this Spirit Beast.
They only needed to avoid being hit. For Wang Chuan, that was no challenge at all.
So, facing the three-meter-tall Crystal Bear, whose body was covered in brownish-yellow fur and whose limbs and back were studded with large yellow crystals,
Wang Chuan immediately had Golden Scale let out a ten-thousand-year-level Roaring Dragon Rage at it, directly stunning the beast senseless.
Zhao Wuji then activated Vajra Transformation from his right arm bone, doubling his strength attribute.
Otherwise, it would likely have been difficult to kill this Spirit Beast renowned for its powerful body.
Finally, Zhao Wuji unleashed Explosive Flame Heavy Fist from his left arm bone.
Wrapped in blazing flames, his fist smashed heavily into the Crystal Bear's head, scorching its entire brain black.
And so, the once-dominant Crystal Bear was killed on the spot by the two of them like some stray by the roadside, contributing a ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring to Zhao Wuji.
Zhao Wuji was not as cautious as Wang Chuan. He did not even bother finding a cave to prevent outside interference.
Or perhaps he simply had absolute confidence in Wang Chuan's strength and believed no one in this area could interfere with him at such a time.
Thus, Zhao Wuji began refining the Spirit Ring right where he stood, like most Spirit Masters did.
Wang Chuan did not try to stop him. In this outer region, his strength truly held absolute dominance.
Yet after several hours had passed, Wang Chuan's brow furrowed.
This was not because anything had gone wrong with Zhao Wuji's refinement of the ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring.
On the contrary, Zhao Wuji's Spirit Ring refinement was already nearing its end.
He had not, like Tang San, consumed a pile of immortal herbs that enhanced both his spiritual power and physique,
only to still be tormented half to death by a mere ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring.
At that moment, the earth began to tremble.
Red light flickered in Wang Chuan's eyes.
Danger had triggered his Observation Haki!
"Spirit Beasts—many Spirit Beasts are coming this way!
This is a beast tide!"
Wang Chuan was utterly shocked as this thought flashed through his mind.
But he truly could not understand it. This place was close to the Mixed Zone, but it was still only the outskirts. What Beast King had launched a beast tide of this scale? What the hell was going on in the depths of Sunset Forest!?
But Wang Chuan soon had no time to keep thinking.
Because the beast tide was about to reach their location.
Wang Chuan was naturally unafraid of these Spirit Beasts and was fully confident he could carve a path out of Sunset Forest through the beast tide.
But Zhao Wuji behind him could not handle such an upheaval, even if he was about to finish refining his Spirit Ring.
If he were forcibly interrupted during this deep meditation process, it would damage his meridians and affect his future cultivation.
Determined not to allow even the slightest possibility of Zhao Wuji being affected, Wang Chuan's hands flashed. Sharp sword energy carved the ground beneath Zhao Wuji into a neat circle.
No-Sword Style: Circular Slash.
Then Wang Chuan used Life Return, causing his hair to rapidly grow and plunge into the ground beneath Zhao Wuji. He steadily dug Zhao Wuji out along with the surrounding earth.
Then, time to hit the road~
Wang Chuan raced toward the edge of Sunset Forest.
Yet throughout the journey, Zhao Wuji, perched atop his head, did not suffer the slightest jolt. Wang Chuan had even thoughtfully made him a windscreen, displaying just how terrifying his bodily control was.
But when Zhao Wuji woke up, he was dumbfounded.
"Fuck!"
After instinctively cursing, Zhao Wuji quickly recovered from his confusion. Recognizing Wang Chuan's handiwork, he looked down at Wang Chuan below and asked,
"Boss, what the hell are you doing?"
Wang Chuan could not be bothered to turn around and simply said, "Enough. Carrying you while running is tiring too. Get down."
Wang Chuan's hair then shook, directly slicing apart the clump of earth Zhao Wuji was sitting on.
Though treated so roughly, Zhao Wuji was not angry. After nimbly landing on his feet, he hurriedly followed Wang Chuan's pace.
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