The First Spirit Ring—Golden-Crowned Poplar

The sky was just beginning to brighten.

In the distance, a faint, fish-belly white rose in the east.

Liu Yuan was sitting cross-legged on the roof, his eyes fixed intently on the east. He inhaled slowly through his nose and exhaled gently through his mouth, the breath continuous and subtle, forming a rhythmic cycle.

As a wisp of purple light slowly emerged, Liu Yuan focused his mind completely, staring fixedly as if to draw the purple light into his eyes.

It was not until the color of the morning sun washed it away and the purple light vanished...

That Liu Yuan finally closed his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

"Hoo—"

Like a ribbon of silk, it slowly dissipated.

After sitting quietly for a while, Liu Yuan opened his eyes again. The purple glint flickering within his pupils was the masterpiece of his cultivation of the Purple Demon Eye.

For nearly a year, He had poured most of his efforts into his cultivation.

He had not missed a single one of the Tang Sect's unique skills.

Furthermore, he had passed the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record on to his parents. Just as [Rule Five] dictated, Father Liu and his mother had no doubts whatsoever about the origin of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record and accepted it decisively.

"I wonder when the soul beast will arrive?"

After adjusting his state, Liu Yuan flipped down from the roof.

As early as two months ago, he had successfully broken through to level 10 and could obtain his first soul ring. In order to acquire a suitable soul ring, he had researched quite a few plant-type soul beasts.

In the end, he locked his target onto the Golden-Crowned Poplar.

Although this type of plant soul beast was not top-tier and was on the same level as the Demon Eye Magic Tree, it possessed a trait that ordinary plant soul beasts could not replace: its highly developed root system.

Relying on this, The Golden-Crowned Poplar became the only plant-type soul beast capable of surviving deep in the desert, something even Blue Silver Grass could not compare to.

However, when Liu Yuan informed Father Liu of this and asked him to take him into the desert to hunt for this first soul ring, Father Liu had flatly refused, stating bluntly that venturing deep into the desert was far too dangerous.

For this reason, he had a better idea.

That was to entrust a Soul Hunting Squad, And have them bring back a living Golden-Crowned Poplar.

After all, the Golden-Crowned Poplar was merely a plant-type soul beast and did not possess particularly strong offensive capabilities. Moreover, since he only needed a century-old soul beast, its intelligence and instincts were nearly non-existent at that stage.

If it weren't for the fact that the depths of the desert where it resided were so dangerous...

This soul beast might have gone extinct long ago.

Thus, Liu Yuan readily agreed to this proposal.

Now, all he had to do was wait.

Calculating the time, a round trip from Star Luo City to the desert would take a month and a half. Two months... it should be about time.

Following this, Liu Yuan moved his mind.

The panel for the Douluo Multiverse Order Platform opened.

He scanned the ten tasks updated for today, And then refreshed them again...

"Boring."

Liu Yuan sighed helplessly.

His strength was ultimately still too low, and he couldn't take on most of the tasks. Over the past year, the number of tasks he could accept could be counted on one hand, and the rewards obtained were not particularly impressive.

Fortunately, what gave him some comfort, Was that he had discovered how to better benefit himself.

That was that the timelines of many multiverses were set thousands, or even tens of thousands of years before the era of the Peerless Tang Sect.

In those eras, Many treasures had not yet had their true value discovered.

For example: Whale Rubber.

In their current era, Whale Rubber had become a treasure for strengthening the physical body, priceless and in high demand. But in those eras, Whale Rubber was merely an aphrodisiac; although expensive, it was still affordable.

Therefore, whenever he accepted tasks from those eras, as long as the reward was listed as "changeable," Liu Yuan would change it to Whale Rubber. After the publisher's consent, he would then accept the task.

In nearly a year, He had harvested four pieces of century-old Whale Rubber and one piece of millennium-old Whale Rubber.

As for ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber... it was considered an expensive item even in those eras, and the system deemed the task and the reward value to be unequal.

So, he had never obtained a single piece of that.

"Sigh—"

With a sigh, Liu Yuan closed the platform.

Just as he was preparing to return to his room, "Yuan'er."

Suddenly, Father Liu's voice came from outside the main gate.

As the mansion gates swung open, Father Liu walked in carrying a poplar tree on his shoulder.

Seeing the Golden-Crowned Poplar with its glowing golden canopy, Liu Yuan's eyes lit up instantly, "A Golden-Crowned Poplar of about seven hundred years!"

"That's right!"

Setting down the Golden-Crowned Poplar he had been carrying, Father Liu hurriedly beckoned to Liu Yuan, "Hurry up and absorb it. You've waited a full two months; you must have been getting impatient, kid." His tone carried a hint of teasing.

He knew that Liu Yuan had consumed both century-old and millennium-old Whale Rubber.

Therefore, absorbing a plant-type soul beast with a seven-hundred-year lifespan, which wasn't particularly aggressive, would pose no problem at all.

"It's alright, it's alright..."

Stepping forward to examine it, Liu Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

He tore off the cloth bag wrapped around the base of the Golden-Crowned Poplar, revealing the root system that the Soul Hunting Squad had encased in clods of earth.

After cleaning off the dirt with his hands, Liu Yuan didn't dawdle and immediately lit a fire.

Because the Golden-Crowned Poplar was a plant-type soul beast with tenacious vitality, ordinary methods could not kill it. Thus, the best way was to burn its roots away completely with fire.

"Boom—"

The torch fell, and the flames roared.

Before long, The root system of the Golden-Crowned Poplar was burned away entirely by the fire.

Under the spread of the flames, its canopy gradually lost its luster. As the golden crown withered completely, a deep yellow soul ring slowly emerged, rising into mid-air and releasing fluctuations of soul power.

"Hum—"

After extinguishing the remaining flames on the Golden-Crowned Poplar, Liu Yuan gazed at the soul ring, his heart inevitably heating up. Once he absorbed it, he would become a true soul master.

He sat cross-legged and guided it with his soul power; the deep yellow soul ring trembled slightly and hovered above Liu Yuan's head.

At this moment, "Sit cross-legged and keep your mind on your martial soul."

Father Liu's expression had turned solemn as he instructed in a deep voice, "Absorbing a soul ring is no small matter. No matter what happens, you must remain clear-headed."

"Yes."

Liu Yuan sank his consciousness.

With a flash of green light, the phantom of the Origin Willow swayed behind him.

As the soul ring above his head descended, the yellow light overflowing from it seemed to find a vent, rushing into Liu Yuan's meridians like a flood breaking through a dam.

Sensing this, Liu Yuan hurriedly circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill, and his gentle soul power immediately flowed through his limbs and bones.

However, during this process, As the Mysterious Heaven Skill circulated, the corpse of the Golden-Crowned Poplar, hidden by the shadow of the Origin Willow martial soul, began to emit a verdant green light.

Without Father Liu even noticing, the green light emanating from the corpse was absorbed one by one by the branches and leaves of the Origin Willow phantom, then slowly integrated into Liu Yuan's body.

This unexpected change caused Liu Yuan's body and mind to relax almost instinctively. It was as if he had consumed some kind of tonic; something was constantly nourishing his body during the process of absorbing the soul ring. Even the process of absorbing the soul ring itself became much easier.