Since Blaziken's evolution followed the rules of the Pokemon World, its Mega Evolution would certainly require a Blazikenite to assist it.
Ye Chen still had no idea how to obtain a Blazikenite, so he wanted to focus all his efforts on increasing his Soul Power and adding Soul Rings.
Thanks to the benefits of having battle experience feed back into him, he could rapidly increase his Soul Power simply by fighting continuously. As for adding Soul Rings...
He was now at Soul Power Level fifty-four and could continue adding a fourth and fifth Soul Ring to his Blaziken Martial Soul.
But his third Soul Ring had a lifespan of eight thousand years. Surely his fourth would need to be at least ten thousand years old?
After deliberating for a while, Ye Chen decided he didn't need to rush into absorbing his fourth and fifth Soul Rings.
According to the original story, absorbing a Soul Ring with a lifespan exceeding ten thousand years required exceptional physical strength and spiritual power to do so safely.
And if he wanted to absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as his fourth, he would have to risk Soul Shock.
So he absolutely couldn't be impatient. First, he had to make sure his physical strength and spiritual power were exceptional enough.
He wasn't worried about his physical strength. What concerned Ye Chen was his spiritual power.
According to the original story, Immortal Herbs that benefited the eyes and brain could also help improve spiritual power.
Over the past two years, he had read the Herb Transcript more than ten times. Ye Chen had long since made plans for taking Immortal Herbs.
Unfortunately, Dugu Bo had claimed all these chances to obtain Immortal Herbs. To get his hands on them, Ye Chen would inevitably have to deal with Dugu Bo. And if he angered this sinister, vicious Poison Douluo, he would surely die without a burial place.
So there was no need to rush after the Immortal Herbs. Without them to improve his spiritual power, there was no need to rush into advancing by absorbing his fourth Soul Ring, either.
Coming back to himself, Ye Chen had made up his mind. He would first grind for experience in the Sunset Forest. That way, fighting Soul Beasts would both increase his Soul Power Level and let him test Blaziken's current strength.
The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well was hidden in the Core Zone of the Sunset Forest.
He would enter the Core Zone only after making sure Blaziken was strong enough to contend with Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. If he couldn't find a way to befriend Dugu Bo, he would look for a chance to sneak into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and steal the Immortal Herbs.
"Come on, Blaziken. Let's find a few Soul Beasts to warm up against first." With that, Ye Chen ran toward the entrance to the Sunset Forest.
Blaziken followed close behind.
And so, the man and chicken began their life of grinding for experience in the Sunset Forest once more.
Time flew by, and a month slipped away in the blink of an eye.
Throughout that month, Ye Chen and Blaziken had roamed the Mixed Zone of the Sunset Forest, constantly seeking out Soul Beasts of different types and cultivation levels to fight.
Once, they encountered a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that had wandered from the Core Zone into the Mixed Zone to forage. It was a blue Poison Toad that could walk upright like a human, and it was incredibly powerful.
If they had encountered this Poison Toad Soul Beast back when Blaziken was still Combusken, they would surely have met their end.
Fortunately, after Combusken evolved into Blaziken, its strength had skyrocketed. It defeated the Poison Toad Soul Beast, with a cultivation of ten thousand years, with ease.
After dozens of battles fed experience back to him, Ye Chen's Soul Power finally rose from Level fifty-four to Level fifty-five.
Having confirmed that Blaziken could fight Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, Ye Chen decided to enter the Core Zone and seek out stronger opponents.
After wandering around the Core Zone for half a day, he was surprised to discover that not every Soul Beast living there had a cultivation of at least ten thousand years.
Some Soul Beasts had cultivations of only a few thousand years. However, their bloodlines were all powerful; they were either high-grade or top-grade Soul Beasts.
On the eleventh day of searching for Soul Beasts to fight in the Core Zone, Ye Chen ran into the same Braixen as before, the one with Psychic and Fire attributes.
That Soul Beast was so cautious that it practically vanished as soon as they encountered each other. He couldn't sense its presence at all, so it was far too difficult to use it for grinding levels.
Aside from Soul Beasts, quite a few Soul Master teams also appeared in the Core Zone.
These teams generally fell into two categories. Judging by their clothing, teams wearing matching uniforms were probably from a family, a sect, or a Soul Master Academy, sent to hunt Soul Beasts.
Teams whose members wore different clothes had probably been assembled temporarily, or were mercenary groups with extensive Soul Hunting experience.
When Ye Chen had gone to Heaven Dou City to sell the Soul Bone a month ago, he had tidied up his appearance.
Now he no longer looked like a wild man from the mountains. He looked more like a handsome sixteen-year-old with an exceptional air about him.
So when he ran into Soul Master teams, they didn't look down on him because of his clothes or appearance.
Some Soul Master teams asked why he was wandering around the Core Zone of the Sunset Forest alone.
Ye Chen replied that he didn't have enough money to hire people to hunt Soul Beasts for him, so he had no choice but to take the risk alone.
None of the teams doubted that answer. From one team, Ye Chen learned that the sudden influx of Soul Master teams into the Core Zone of the Sunset Forest was because the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament, held once every five years, was about to begin.
To achieve good results in the tournament, students from the various Soul Master Academies were trying to break through the Level thirty or forty bottlenecks and needed Soul Rings to advance.
As a result, Soul Beast habitats everywhere—not just the Sunset Forest—would see a large influx of Soul Masters.
With a Soul Ring Configuration of one yellow and two purple Soul Rings, but not enough strength to protect himself, Ye Chen didn't dare show his Soul Rings in front of others.
Since he kept running into Soul Master teams every few days, he simply headed deeper into the Core Zone, deliberately seeking out less populated places to find Soul Beasts to fight.
Continuing straight ahead, Ye Liang arrived in a dense, poisonous forest. Poison-type Soul Beasts often appeared here; the Poison Toad Soul Beast he had encountered earlier belonged to one of the local groups.
Besides the Poison Toads, this dense, poisonous forest was also home to scorpion-type Soul Beasts such as the Poison Scorpion King and Pink Lady, as well as spider- and snake-type Soul Beasts such as the Man Faced Demon Spider and the Datura Snake.
It was clear that this Poison Mist Forest was practically a breeding ground for Poison-type Soul Beasts.
For that reason, no one was willing to venture here unless they were a Poison-type Soul Master in need of a Poison-type Soul Ring.
There wasn't a trace of any Soul Master teams, nor even the slightest sign of another person. If he fought Soul Beasts here, he wouldn't have to worry about anyone discovering his Soul Ring Configuration.
Standing at the entrance to the Poison Mist Forest, Ye Chen suddenly felt dizzy. He immediately took a bottle of potion from his Tri-Color Bracelet and drank it. Only when the potion's detoxifying effect took hold did the dizziness fade.
After returning the potion bottle to his Tri-Color Bracelet, Ye Chen stared at the entrance to the Poison Mist Forest, fifty meters ahead. Its eerie, sinister air made him shudder, and he couldn't help thinking about turning back.
"Blaziken, can your flames counteract the poison here?" Ye Chen asked the Blaziken beside him.
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