Lin Rui: First Soul Ring, Let's Absorb a 3000-Year One to Test the Waters!

The next day, Star Dou Forest.

Lin Rui followed behind Du Busi, gnawing on the leg meat of a spirit beast. This time, the team was led by this 98th-rank Super Douluo, who was also his teacher.

Du Busi stopped in his tracks, turned to look at Lin Rui, and asked, "Rui, have you decided what kind of thousand-year spirit ring you want for your first?"

"A three-thousand-year Diamond Bear," Lin Rui replied.

Yesterday, he had pored over a stack of spirit beast reference books and ultimately decided that a thousand-year spirit ring was the most appropriate choice, settling on the Diamond Bear.

Among thousand-year spirit beasts, this creature possessed absolute, maxed-out physical defense. Its physical toughness implied a terrifying level of vitality, and his own life-attribute physique was perfectly suited for such a ring.

As for why he didn't choose a life-attribute spirit beast for his first ring, he had searched for a long time yesterday, but the hundred-year options were truly too weak. The thousand-year ones were at least located deeper in the forest, and he wasn't ready for that yet; he needed to stabilize his physical strength with his first ring before anything else.

Du Busi, who had been about to nod, froze in place. His expression at that moment was identical to Old Lin's from the previous night. "Rui, did you say how many years?"

"Three thousand. Is there a problem?"

"No, are you trying to ascend to heaven?" Du Busi had assumed the kid would choose something between one thousand and fifteen hundred years at most. Who knew this brat would aim for three thousand the moment he opened his mouth? Did he really think his body was invincible?

Looking at Du Busi, who was staring at him in disbelief, Lin Rui realized his teacher likely didn't believe him. With a hint of helplessness, he said, "Teacher, you have to believe me!"

"Believe you my foot!"

"Then Teacher, how can I make you believe me?" Lin Rui understood that if he didn't convince Du Busi today, the man would never let him absorb a three-thousand-year spirit ring.

Hearing this, Du Busi looked at Lin Rui. Was this kid really determined to absorb a three-thousand-year ring?

"Rui, you must know that the limits of physical endurance are finite, and you are still too young. Take your teacher's advice—how about absorbing something between one thousand and fifteen hundred years?" Du Busi advised kindly.

Lin Rui heard this and immediately calculated how to dispel the man's concerns. His tone was earnest yet carried a touch of certainty: "Teacher, I understand what you are worried about. Rest assured, as long as I control the saturation to an appropriate level—not being greedy or reckless—my physical strength won't be too fragile. Surviving these three thousand years will be no problem at all."

His expression remained calm, though a subtle calculation flickered in the depths of his eyes. He added silently to himself: If something really goes wrong, I can just borrow some power from others; I won't be trapped at this step.

"How will you prove it?"

"I can start eating meat now. Once I reach a certain level of strength, I'll let you examine me. If I meet the requirements, Teacher, please let me absorb it?" Lin Rui wouldn't argue with Du Busi; he knew the teacher had his best interests at heart, so he would use practical results to win him over.

Du Busi looked at Lin Rui. He knew the boy understood his concern, but since Lin Rui wouldn't back down, he decided to use a characteristic of his own Body Martial Soul to express his determination to obtain that thousand-year ring.

After a long silence, he nodded. "Fine. I'd like to see just how special your life-attribute Body Martial Soul really is."

With that, Du Busi instantly caught a thousand-year spirit beast—a Mountain Wild Boar, a very common earth-attribute spirit beast—killed it, and began to roast it.

A moment later, he signaled that Lin Rui could start eating.

Lin Rui didn't waste words. He tore off a piece of the boar's leg and began to devour it. The speed was unimaginable; within minutes, the entire pig was gone.

Watching this, Du Busi couldn't help but twitch his mouth. This kid could really eat.

"Teacher, it's not enough. More." Lin Rui felt the life energy within him frantically absorbing the nutrients, but it wasn't enough yet.

Du Busi stood up immediately to hunt again. This time, he brought back two thousand-year spirit beasts and a hundred-year Soft Bone Rabbit, then roasted them as well.

A few minutes later, Lin Rui was finally satisfied.

Lying there with a bulging stomach, the life attribute within him began to frantically extract the energy from the food he had just consumed.

Du Busi sat and waited for him to finish the process. A while later, Lin Rui's distended belly vanished instantly. He reached out a hand. "Teacher, please examine me."

"Good." Du Busi didn't waste time. He reached out to check, feeling the physical strength in Lin Rui's body constantly shifting and strengthening. As a fellow user of a Body Martial Soul, he understood all too well that this was the body undergoing constant evolution.

He was shocked. Staring at his disciple, he realized that simple consumption could provide such constant feedback to the body. If he kept eating, could he trigger a full Body Martial Soul awakening?

Oh no, he thought, feeling tempted to let Rui try it.

Seeing Du Busi staring at him in shock, Lin Rui asked, "How is it, Teacher?"

Du Busi was pulled back to reality by Lin Rui's voice and nodded. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

At this moment, he was absolutely certain that his disciple could indeed absorb a three-thousand-year spirit ring for his first, though he still had to lay down the hard truths first.

"I'll say this upfront: if I feel you cannot handle the absorption, I will interrupt it immediately. Do you understand, Rui?"

"I understand, of course." Lin Rui nodded.

"Good." Du Busi nodded. "Then I shall go catch one for you now!"

If it were a hundred-year ring, Du Busi wouldn't bother catching it himself, leaving it to Lin Rui to kill. But this was a three-thousand-year ring, so he would catch it for the boy himself.

Lin Rui sat quietly and waited. He had discovered that as long as he kept eating, the life energy in his body remained highly active. His physical body seemed to have reached a limit; he suspected that only after absorbing his first spirit ring would his body truly break through.

Over at the Sun Moon Empire, Kong Deming went out in the middle of the night to the Evil Eye Forest and caught a thousand-year Evil Eye for Lin Fan to absorb.

Lin Fan looked at the two-thousand-year Evil Eye before him, killed it instantly with a Soul Tool dagger, and sat down to absorb it.

Kong Deming sat to the side, remaining vigilant; if Lin Fan showed any signs of danger, he would forcibly interrupt the process.

Half an hour passed, and Lin Fan slowly opened his eyes. Kong Deming walked over immediately. "Absorption complete?"

"Yes, Teacher." Lin Fan stood up, and a purple spirit ring rose slowly from beneath his feet, signifying his successful absorption of his first thousand-year spirit ring.

"Good! Very good!" Kong Deming was even more satisfied with Lin Fan, having completely decided that this boy would be his successor. "For your first spirit ring, what is your spirit skill?"

"It's a sort of interesting support-type skill, I suppose?" Lin Fan said slowly. "For example, like this: First Spirit Skill, Fate's Gift." An invisible thread of fate instantly tugged at the fate surrounding Kong Deming.

Kong Deming instantly sensed his physical body and mental power strengthening in that moment. Even his previously confusing research on Soul Tools suddenly became clear, and his five senses seemed to sharpen as well.

"This..." Kong Deming stared at Lin Fan in shock. The boy's spirit skill was heaven-defying. "Can you also strengthen yourself?"

"Yes, Teacher." Lin Fan felt his spirit power being consumed frantically and immediately deactivated the skill, applying it to himself instead.

Fate's Gift was truly useful for himself and other souls. His right eye instantly turned holy and snow-white, radiating an incredibly divine feeling in Kong Deming's eyes. At that moment, all fate around Lin Fan would lean toward him; he could briefly see the trajectory of a future fate and adjust it, though the stronger the target, the greater the spirit power consumption.

Simply put, the fate of the weak was entirely under his control.