I've Been Through So Many Hardships Along the Way!

After putting away his Human Emperor Banner, Jiang Li claimed the reward for taking on a disciple through his consciousness.

His Seventh Soul Ring had already reached a hundred thousand years, which meant his Eighth Soul Ring would be at least a hundred thousand years old as well.

"Tsk, tsk, with talent like mine, I wonder if my Eighth Soul Ring can set a new record."

As Jiang Li mused, a tiny, transparent orb of light appeared in his hand. It seemed to contain an endless supply of energy, swirling within.

Unlike the God-Given Soul Rings bestowed by the Sea God and the Angel God, those gods' gifts were tainted with their own divine power, giving them the corresponding sea-blue or golden hue.

When their inheritors absorbed the God-Given Soul Rings they bestowed, their Martial Souls would inevitably be affected by their auras to some extent.

Take that Evil Fire Phoenix, for example. His failure to inherit the Fire God's divine throne was certainly due in part to his own shortcomings.

But the Sea God Trial he had undergone before that had also affected him to a great degree.

Jiang Li's God-Given Soul Ring, however, came with none of those additional factors. After all, anything the system produced was bound to be top quality!

Then Jiang Li sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

He crushed the God-Given Soul Ring, and countless blue-gold mists of light instantly appeared around him.

Life energy of the same origin as the Blue Silver Emperor began to surge through the area, condensing and compressing... before orderly streams entered Jiang Li's body.

The amount of energy a Soul Master could absorb from a God-Given Soul Ring depended greatly on their capacity. Thus, the instant the energy within the ring entered Jiang Li's body, it began forming a black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.

Soon, the black Soul Ring beside Jiang Li began to transform. As the blue-gold energy continued entering his body, the edges of the ring began to take on the faint outline of a hundred-thousand-year ring.

Yet this was not Jiang Li's limit!

As time slowly passed...

Jiang Li felt the energy around him pouring in without end, as though it could never be exhausted.

He drew upon this power without restraint, absorbing it until his body's capacity had been pushed to its absolute limit.

Only when he reached that threshold did he have no choice but to stop, ending the absorption with some regret.

The next moment, the Soul Ring fully took shape.

A hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring engraved with three golden stripes slowly appeared, hovering steadily beneath his feet and shining in harmony with the seven rings already within its inner circle. Its presence was astonishing!

Purple, purple, purple, black, black, black, red, red!

As the surrounding phenomena faded, Jiang Li slowly opened his eyes.

He had finally obtained his Eighth Soul Ring. It was a full three hundred thousand years old!

"I've been through so many hardships along the way!"

"Ke ke ke ke ke—"

Since he had absorbed a God-Given Soul Ring, Jiang Li's Soul Power hadn't risen as quickly as expected. Once the threshold of level 80 was broken, the Soul Power he had gained from absorbing the Immortal Herbs and two Dragon King-level Soul Bones—yet hadn't been able to display before—surged out all at once.

His Soul Power climbed to level 86 before stopping. He had not reached the threshold of level 90 as he'd hoped.

Still, Jiang Li was quite satisfied.

With two divine dragon souls at his side, he dared to take on even an ordinary Super Douluo.

Then, without hesitation, he claimed the reward that increased the age of all his Soul Rings by a thousand years.

As that energy flowed into him, Jiang Li's Soul Rings changed from three purple, three black, and two red to two purple, four black, and two red.

It was an improvement, but not a major one. For Jiang Li now, such a slight increase in Soul Ring age was a mere cup of water against a burning cartload of firewood when it came to raising his Soul Power.

Meanwhile, during the time Jiang Li spent absorbing his Soul Ring, Tang San had more or less mastered the transformations of his Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul under the Blue Silver King's guidance.

He could summon the basic Blue Silver Entanglement with a simple lift of his hand.

Moreover, after sensing the aura Jiang Li had released when he broke through, his Soul Power had also increased by one level, reaching the threshold of level 22.

Well... this was what they called breaking through first and bringing the next person along for the ride!

At that moment, he was controlling the Blue Silver Emperor in his hand, stretching it out to wrap around the trees ahead. Yet for some reason, Tang San felt a persistent sense of familiarity with this Blue Silver Entanglement, a move somewhat like a Self-Created Soul Skill.

Strange. Where is this feeling coming from?

Looks like I'll have to ask Master about it later.

Tang San decided to set the question aside for now and continued focusing on practicing the other transformations of Blue Silver Grass.

But it wasn't long before he sensed an incredibly familiar aura rapidly approaching him.

"This feeling..."

"Could it be Master?"

Tang San was extremely excited. He wanted to share his progress over the past few days with his Master right away!

Before long, Jiang Li's figure slowly emerged from deep within the Blue Silver Forest.

"Master!"

Tang San cried out excitedly and rushed toward Jiang Li with his little legs pumping.

Seeing his obedient disciple looking so eager for praise, Jiang Li could hardly bear to look.

The way he looked now was worlds apart from God King Tang.

Could this be what the teachers in my past life meant by a sense of contrast?

Jiang Li hurriedly shook his head, casting all those strange thoughts from his mind. A person should at least... shouldn't have such weird thoughts.

"Xiao San, you're a proud Soul Grandmaster now. You need to act with a little more composure!"

Hearing his Master say this, Tang San shyly rubbed the top of his head. He'd just been so eager to share the joy of his increased strength with his Master.

Then he raised the question on his mind, hoping Jiang Li would give him an answer.

Hearing this, Jiang Li was utterly speechless.

That damned sense of familiarity! He couldn't exactly tell his precious disciple that even after becoming the lofty God King Tang, that pure and noble man always opened every battle with Blue Silver Entanglement, could he?

"Xiao San, perhaps you find this move so familiar because your Martial Soul evolved into the Blue Silver Emperor."

Tang San heard his Master out and felt that it made sense, so he stopped dwelling on the matter.

The master and disciple then went to where the Blue Silver King was. They had it summon nearly all the Blue Silver Kings in the Blue Silver Forest, leaving behind only one of around thirty thousand years old in case humans or Soul Beasts came to raid their home while they were away.