Sunset Forest!

Li Jingzhe brushed off his robes, feeling the immense power surging within his body... and his expression shifted violently!

"Damn it..."

He had been so eager to finish off his opponent that he hadn't paid much attention, feeling only that he was terrifyingly strong. Now that the dust had settled, he suddenly realized something was wrong!

His skin was as red as a boiled shrimp, his stomach felt like it was burning with fire, white steam was venting from his pores, his heart was pounding like a war drum, and his meridians were swollen to the point of agony, throbbing with a dull pain!

It was then that he recalled the rules of this world: for a cultivator to advance, they must obtain a soul ring. Even if one could continue to cultivate before obtaining one, there were limits.

He had suddenly increased his cultivation by sixty years without having obtained a soul ring, causing his soul power to skyrocket to level eighty. If not for the Muscle and Tendon Classic and Dragon-Elephant Prajna Technique holding the line, he would have exploded and died long ago!

Cold sweat beaded on Li Jingzhe's forehead.

"The only way now is to either release all this medicinal power at once, or... forcibly refine, condense, and compress it!"

Release it?

Absolutely impossible!

There was no way he was spitting out something he had already swallowed.

Refine it?

With the Muscle and Tendon Classic and Dragon-Elephant Prajna Technique, he might suffer a bit, but it shouldn't be a major problem!

In a flash of inspiration, Li Jingzhe made his decision. He sat cross-legged immediately, firing up the Muscle and Tendon Classic to full capacity and overclocking the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Technique!

One major cycle...

Three major cycles...

Ten major cycles...

The sun set and the moon rose, day turned to night; he had no idea how much time had passed!

Hoo—

Li Jingzhe exhaled a breath of heat so intense it caused the air in front of him to distort, and the burning red hue on his skin faded away like a receding tide.

"Level fifty-nine and a half..."

Li Jingzhe muttered, his eyes filled with lingering fear.

This was the absolute limit of what the first level of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Technique combined with the Muscle and Tendon Classic could compress and refine. The swelling pain in his meridians had dissipated, replaced by a sensation of abnormal congestion. His soul power remained liquid, but within that liquid were packed dense, solid particles.

He tried several times to condense the soul power into crystals, but... it was simply impossible. Every time he reached the most critical step, he fell short. He figured it must be related to the world's rule that a cultivator must obtain a soul ring to advance.

Of course, refining the medicinal power hadn't been without its benefits.

If his meridians had previously been as thin as the walls of a champagne flute, they were now cast in copper and forged in iron. It was precisely because of these tough meridians that he could firmly lock in the soul power—which was infinitely close to crystallization—preventing it from collapsing or rioting!

He clenched his fist, and bang, the sonic boom of air being squeezed from his palm was louder than a firecracker. His bones were solid, his muscles tough; his strength was now at least ten times what it had been before!

Li Jingzhe tried to stand up, but with a creak, a sound like rusted parts grinding together emanated from his bones and muscles, setting his teeth on edge.

Every movement he made carried the heavy, mountainous pressure of a titan, yet his soul power was difficult to circulate, as if his entire body were bound by shackles.

"I must go obtain a soul ring immediately, otherwise, if I get another cultivation refund or something... I'll definitely explode!"

As Li Jingzhe thought this, suddenly... Ugh!

A foul stench invaded his nostrils!

Li Jingzhe almost vomited. He instinctively looked down... only to see that he was clean, without a trace of filth on him.

It wasn't a marrow-cleansing purge; the corpse of the Soul Emperor beside him had started to rot.

"Pah... ugh..."

He hurriedly circulated his soul power to seal his sense of smell and used a tree branch to poke through the corpse. He remembered this guy had a storage Soul Tool.

Sure enough, he soon found a ring on the man's finger. He pulled it over with his soul power, washed it with a surge of energy to erase the imprint, and swept his consciousness inside... Not bad!

Li Jingzhe raised an eyebrow. The internal space of this storage Soul Tool was actually about twenty cubic meters... dry rations, water—wait, there's water?

He quickly injected soul power to retrieve the waterskin, tossed the ring into the water, and used his soul power to simulate high-frequency vibrations to clean it. Only after doing all that did he use his soul power to wrap the ring, take it out, put it on his middle finger, and scan it with his consciousness again.

There were actually six Gold Card items, two Black Card items, and a scattering of Gold Soul Coin currency... One Gold Card was worth one million Gold Soul Coin, and one Black Card was worth one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coin, totaling over 6.2 million Gold Soul Coin.

"Heh... this old guy probably thought it wouldn't be difficult to deal with a Soul Master under level fifteen, so he brought his entire fortune with him."

With this windfall, not counting the balance in the System Mall, he now had over 41 million Gold Soul Coin in his possession.

Li Jingzhe continued his consciousness scan.

Powder to repel snakes, insects, rats, and ants... feces of high-level soul beasts... rope... beast traps... a finely crafted short blade... potent anesthetic... a complete, pitch-black beast bone over a meter long... five scrolls... What the hell is a "Platinum Supreme VIP Card for Heaven and Earth"?

Li Jingzhe was speechless, but he quickly took out the scrolls and spread them open, his eyes lighting up instantly.

One was a Soul Beast Illustrated Guide, and the other four were maps: Star Dou Great Forest... Icebound Forest... Far North... Sunset Forest... Each map was marked with information on soul beasts, their corresponding locations, and more.

He scanned them roughly: three-thousand-year Diamond Tiger... five-thousand-year Ghost Leopard... nine-thousand-year Golden Feather Eagle... fifty-thousand-year Mirror Shadow Beast?

Are these all rare soul beasts?

"Holy crap..."

Li Jingzhe's spirits lifted. He had struck gold!

If a Spirit Master wants to obtain a corresponding spirit ring, the first thing they must do is collect information on the corresponding spirit beasts, rather than diving headlong into a spirit beast forest like the Shrek crowd and leaving it to fate!

The value of these few maps alone is no less than those Gold Soul Coins, and perhaps even exceeds them.

It's just that...

The map of the Star Dou Great Forest is incomplete; it should only be a map of a certain area within it. Furthermore, one of the markings on the Sunset Forest map is a bit strange. Looking at the shape, it feels like I've seen it somewhere before.

Li Jingzhe frowned slightly... where had he seen it?

Suddenly, as if struck by a flash of inspiration, he whipped his head around to look at the building he had punched through behind him... Damn it, no wonder this marking looked so familiar; it was almost identical to the exterior of this building!

"So... am I currently in the Sunset Forest?"

Li Jingzhe realized the situation, and a cold sweat broke out instantly.

Judging by the degree of decomposition of the corpses, he must have been cultivating here for several days;

And according to the map, this location is situated exactly at the boundary between the activity zones of ten-thousand-year spirit beasts and thousand-year spirit beasts!

Hiss...

Li Jingzhe gasped, took a few steps back, and threw a punch. The resulting shockwave instantly tore the already rotting corpses on the ground to shreds!

"You really deserved to die!"

But on second thought, Li Jingzhe understood why it had been so peaceful these past few days... Since someone dared to build a foothold in a spirit beast forest, there must be measures to prevent harassment from spirit beasts, such as scattering the dung of high-level spirit beasts around the perimeter.

Hoo—

Li Jingzhe exhaled a breath of foul air from his chest and flipped through the spirit beast illustrated guide... Hm?

A sharp light burst into his eyes. Just by the fact that it mentioned secrets that ordinary Spirit Masters couldn't access, such as the Titan Giant Ape, the Sky Azure Bull Python, and the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, it was easy to see that this spirit beast guide was a genuine, top-tier, high-end item.

It even marked the characteristics and habits of every type of spirit beast, and for some, it even noted their weaknesses and how to hunt or capture them!

"With both maps and an illustrated guide, this guy's side job was probably the leader of some soul-hunting group... The Prince's Mansion really does have many talented and extraordinary people..."

Li Jingzhe sighed with emotion, quickly stowed the scrolls away, and kept only the map of the Sunset Forest.

Since he was already in the Sunset Forest and had both the map and the guide in hand, he might as well solve the problem of his spirit ring all at once!