Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon, Third Soul Ring

If the enemy excels at long-range attacks, he would use Fire Spin and Ember to wear them down, utilizing the second soul skill Flash Fire to recover exhausted stamina and soul power. After trading blows for several rounds, his speed attribute would be boosted to its limit by the Speed Boost Ability, at which point he would close in with extreme speed to knock the enemy out in a single strike.

Through battling various types of soul beasts with different cultivation levels, Ye Chen gained a deeper understanding of their habits and combat styles, allowing him to accumulate a wealth of soul beast knowledge through practical experience.

Furthermore, his greatest gain was the increase in his soul power.

Every time Combusken defeated a thousand-year soul beast, Ye Chen received a generous feedback of combat experience.

Because of this, in just half a year, his soul power had risen from level 34 to level 38.

In the following two months, his level 38 soul power climbed to the level 40 bottleneck.

Ye Chen thought he would be like before, needing to obtain a soul ring to break the level restriction, but unexpectedly, after reaching the level 40 bottleneck, he could still accumulate soul power through combat experience feedback even without advancing with a soul ring.

Two months later, his soul power had accumulated from level 40 to level 42.

During this period, Combusken self-taught a flying-type skill called "Bounce."

This skill allows it to jump high into the air using its outstanding jumping power, then descend from the sky to deal heavy damage to the enemy.

In its high-speed state, Combusken could already tread on air by stepping on it at a high frequency.

When it absorbed the Blazing Sun Eagle soul ring, the transformation of the soul ring energy granted Combusken a gliding ability similar to a falcon, making its air-treading technique particularly exceptional.

Now that it had learned the flying-type skill Bounce, it was like adding wings to a tiger, further enhancing its hovering ability and air-treading technique.

Under Ye Chen's guidance, Combusken used Bounce as a foundation, and through constant practice of hovering and treading, it eventually mastered a skill that allowed it to tread on air without the need for a high-speed state, named: Air Walk.

As the name suggests, Air Walk is a footwork technique for moving freely in the air.

Combusken can use Air Walk to achieve short bursts of running in the air, and combined with its excellent hovering and jumping abilities, it can even achieve brief periods of flight.

While in the air, it can use the Bounce skill to descend from above, unleashing kicks to heavily damage its opponent.

It can be said that after learning Air Walk, Combusken's overall strength reached a new level.

When it first lived in seclusion in the Outer Zone of the Sunset Forest, it could at most defeat soul beasts with four thousand years of cultivation.

Now, a year later, if it went all out, it would not be at a disadvantage even when facing a soul beast with six thousand years of cultivation.

Another year passed, and Ye Chen was now nine years old. Because he lived in seclusion in the Sunset Forest and frequently ate highly nourishing soul beast meat, coupled with more soul power nourishment than his peers, his physical development was very rapid; at nine years old, he looked more like a thirteen-year-old teenager.

During this year, in addition to changes in age and appearance, Ye Chen's soul power had also increased from its original level 42 to the level 50 bottleneck.

Restricted by the level bottleneck, the combat experience feedback became ineffective, and he needed to obtain a third soul ring to advance before he could continue to accumulate soul power through combat experience feedback.

Two years ago, Ye Chen had already planned that he wanted a third soul ring that could provide a transformation-type soul skill capable of increasing surrounding light and heat energy.

Regrettably, he had already scoured the Outer Zone of the Sunset Forest several times over the past two years but had not found a soul beast that met his requirements.

In the end, Ye Chen decided to target a fire-attribute dinosaur soul beast called the Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon as his primary choice for the third soul ring.

According to Yu Xiaogang, the absorption limit for a third soul ring was 1,760 years.

But two years ago, when he absorbed a thousand-year second soul ring beyond his limit, it had already been proven that this theory was wrong.

So this time, Ye Chen wanted to absorb a nine-thousand-year third soul ring beyond his limit.

Consequently, he now faced two problems.

The first problem was that although absorbing a thousand-year soul ring did not require mental power, could his physical constitution safely absorb a nine-thousand-year Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon soul ring?

The second problem was, with his and Combusken's current strength, could they hunt a nine-thousand-year Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon?

From a soul beast book, he learned that the Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon was a top-tier fire-type soul beast with a superior soul beast bloodline.

Top-tier soul beasts could generally fight above their level. This meant that a nine-thousand-year Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon likely already possessed the strength of an ordinary ten-thousand-year soul beast. Trying to hunt it alone would be extremely difficult and risky.

After weighing his options, Ye Chen decided to first improve his physical constitution before considering whether to hunt the nine-thousand-year Sword-Horned Fire-Explosive Dragon.

After all, hunting soul beasts relied on luck; one could not simply find a soul beast of a specific cultivation age just by wanting to.

Currently, there were three ways to improve his physical constitution.

The first method was through various high-intensity physical exercises.

The second method was to attach a soul ring to his Body Martial Soul; as long as the Body Martial Soul was transformed by a soul ring, his physical constitution would naturally improve.

The third method was to earn money to buy Whale Rubber. By consuming large amounts of Whale Rubber, he could improve his physical constitution.

The first method was too inefficient, the second was unwise, so Ye Chen ultimately chose the third method: earning money to buy Whale Rubber.

As for how to make money, he could go to the Great Soul Arena in Heaven Dou City to gamble, just like he did two years ago.

However, if he gambled with small amounts, it would take a massive amount of time.

And once he gambled with large sums, not to mention whether the Great Soul Arena would be willing to pay, winning frequently might attract the attention of the arena's bookmakers.

After much thought, Ye Chen decided to exchange money by selling a soul bone.

As for where this soul bone came from, it all started two years ago.

During his two years of seclusion in the Sunset Forest, to satisfy his daily food needs while ensuring he did not indiscriminately kill soul beasts, Ye Chen found a lizard soul beast with extremely strong regenerative abilities.

The lizard soul beast had two thousand years of cultivation, and its regenerative ability was mainly reflected in its tail; no matter how many times the tail was severed, it would grow back within a few days.

The meat of the lizard soul beast's tail was tender and tasted like oxtail, making it very delicious.

This led Ye Chen to find the lizard soul beast every few days to sever its tail for his daily meals.

After a year of continuous torture from the pain of having its tail severed, the lizard soul beast decided to fight to the death, only to be ruthlessly killed by Ye Chen, which resulted in the drop of a thousand-year right leg bone.

With the advantage of his foresight regarding the original story, Ye Chen knew that as long as he was willing to work hard, he would eventually obtain a hundred-thousand-year right leg bone, so he did not absorb the thousand-year right leg bone dropped by the lizard soul beast.

Keeping this soul bone on his person at all times would only make him feel like he was harboring a treasure that invited trouble.