If his enemies excelled at long-range attacks, he could wear them down with Fire Spin and Ember. His Second Soul Skill, Flash Fire, restored the stamina and Soul Power he expended. After exchanging blows for several rounds, his speed would reach its peak with the aid of Speed Boost. Then he could close in at top speed and knock his opponent down with a single strike.
By fighting Soul Beasts of different kinds and cultivation levels, Ye Chen had gained a much better understanding of each species' habits and fighting styles. In this way, he had accumulated plenty of knowledge about Soul Beasts through practical experience.
What he gained most, however, was Soul Power.
Every time Combusken defeated a thousand-year Soul Beast, Ye Chen received a generous boost from the battle experience it fed back to him.
As a result, in just half a year, his Soul Power had risen from level thirty-four to level thirty-eight.
Over the next two months, his level thirty-eight Soul Power rose to the level forty bottleneck.
Ye Chen had thought that, as before, he would need to obtain a Soul Ring to break through the level restriction. To his surprise, after reaching the level forty bottleneck, he could still accumulate Soul Power through battle experience feedback even without advancing by acquiring a Soul Ring.
After another two months, his Soul Power had climbed from level forty to level forty-two.
During that time, Combusken had learned a Flying-type Skill on its own called Bounce.
Using its outstanding leaping ability, it could spring high into the air and then plunge down from above, dealing a heavy blow to its enemies.
In its Speed Boost state, Combusken could already walk on air by rapidly stomping against it.
When it absorbed the Blazing Sun Eagle Soul Ring, the energy of the ring had transformed it, granting it the ability to stay aloft much like a soaring falcon. This made its air-walking technique especially impressive.
Now that it had also learned the Flying-type Skill Bounce, it was like a tiger with wings. Its ability to stay aloft and its air-walking technique had both improved even further.
With Ye Chen's coaching, Combusken used Bounce as a foundation and practiced staying aloft and stomping again and again. In the end, it learned a Skill that let it walk on air without the help of Speed Boost. It was called Air Walk.
Just as its name suggested, Air Walk was a technique for walking freely through the air.
Combusken could use Air Walk to run through the sky for a short time. Combined with its superb ability to stay aloft and leap, it could even fly through the air briefly.
While suspended in the air, it could also use Bounce to dive down and unleash a devastating kick on its opponent.
After learning Air Walk, Combusken's overall strength had clearly risen to a new level.
When it first settled in the Outer Zone of Sunset Forest, it could defeat Soul Beasts with at most four thousand years of cultivation.
Now, a year later, even a Soul Beast with six thousand years of cultivation couldn't keep it at bay when it fought at full strength.
Another year passed. Ye Chen was now nine years old. Since he had been living in Sunset Forest, he often ate nourishing Soul Beast meat, and his Soul Power nourished him far more than it did other children his age. His body had developed at a remarkable pace, and at nine, he looked more like a thirteen-year-old boy.
That year, aside from the changes in his age and appearance, Ye Chen's Soul Power had also risen from level forty-two to the level fifty bottleneck.
The level restriction had stopped the battle experience feedback, so he needed to advance by obtaining his Third Soul Ring before he could continue accumulating Soul Power that way.
Two years earlier, Ye Chen had already decided that he wanted his Third Soul Ring to grant him a transformation-type Soul Skill that could increase the light and heat energy around him.
Unfortunately, he had scoured the Outer Zone of Sunset Forest several times over the past two years without finding a suitable Soul Beast.
In the end, Ye Chen decided that his first choice for a Third Soul Ring would be a Fire-type dinosaur Soul Beast called the Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon.
According to Yu Xiaogang, the absorption limit for a Third Soul Ring was one thousand seven hundred and sixty years.
But two years ago, Ye Chen had already proven that claim wrong by absorbing a thousand-year Second Soul Ring beyond his level.
This time, he wanted to absorb a nine-thousand-year Third Soul Ring.
That left him facing two problems.
First, although absorbing a thousand-year Soul Ring didn't require mental strength, was his body strong enough to safely absorb the Soul Ring of a nine-thousand-year Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon?
Second, were he and Combusken strong enough to hunt a Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon with nine thousand years of cultivation?
According to a book about Soul Beasts, the Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon was the cream of the crop among Fire-type Soul Beasts, with a top-tier Soul Beast bloodline.
Top-tier Soul Beasts could generally fight opponents above their level. This meant that a Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon with nine thousand years of cultivation might already be as strong as an ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Hunting one alone would be extremely difficult and dangerous.
After weighing his options, Ye Chen decided to strengthen his body first and only then consider whether to hunt a Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon with nine thousand years of cultivation.
After all, hunting Soul Beasts depended on luck. He couldn't simply decide to encounter one with a particular number of years of cultivation.
There were three ways to strengthen his body at present.
The first was to train his body through various forms of high-intensity exercise.
The second was to give his Body Martial Soul a Soul Ring. Once the Soul Ring transformed his body, his physical strength would naturally improve.
The third was to earn money and buy Whale Rubber, then eat plenty of it to strengthen his body.
The first method was too slow, and the second was unwise. In the end, Ye Chen chose the third: earning money to buy Whale Rubber.
As for how to earn money, he could gamble at the Great Soul Arena in Heaven Dou City, just as he had two years earlier.
However, betting a little at a time would take too long.
And if he placed large bets, there was no telling whether the Great Soul Arena would actually pay up. What's more, if he kept winning, he might draw the attention of the arena's bookmakers and provoke them into targeting him.
After thinking it over, Ye Chen decided to make money by selling a Soul Bone.
The story of where that Soul Bone came from began two years earlier.
During the two years he had lived in Sunset Forest, Ye Chen needed to secure three meals a day without killing Soul Beasts indiscriminately. So he found a lizard Soul Beast with an exceptionally strong regenerative ability.
The lizard Soul Beast had two thousand years of cultivation. Its regenerative ability was mainly concentrated in its tail: no matter how many times its tail was cut off, a new one would grow back within days.
Its tail meat was tender and tasted like oxtail. It was delicious.
Every few days, Ye Chen would find the lizard Soul Beast, cut off its tail, and use it to prepare his meals.
After enduring a year of the pain of having its tail cut off, the lizard Soul Beast decided to fight to the death. Ye Chen killed it without mercy, and it dropped a thousand-year right leg bone.
Thanks to his knowledge of the original story, Ye Chen knew that if he worked hard, he would one day obtain a hundred-thousand-year right leg bone. So he didn't absorb the thousand-year right leg bone dropped by the lizard Soul Beast.
Carrying that Soul Bone around all the time made him feel as if he were carrying a treasure that would bring disaster.
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