Returning to Star Dou, Second Spirit Ring

After chatting with Wu Xianyun for a while, Murong Huai returned to his room and opened the soul beast catalog to search for a target for his second soul ring.

His physique was now comparable to a Soul Ancestor, so a sub-ten-thousand-year ring should pose no problem. However, depending on the quality of the soul beast, he couldn't aim for too high an age if the quality was top-tier; four or five thousand years would be appropriate. If the quality was lower, eight or nine thousand years would be fine.

His first soul ring already enhanced his attributes, and in terms of offense, the first three forms of the Angel Sword Technique were more than enough against anyone below a Soul Ancestor. Therefore, he intended for his second soul ring to provide a defensive soul skill, ideally one that also incorporated some offensive capabilities.

After all, the Immortal Lord Nine-Arrival Sword was not a path of pure offense; it required comprehensive development. Like the Soul-Breaking Spear of the Breaking Clan in the original work, pure offense was powerful, but it was clearly unwise to engage in a head-on collision when facing an attack that was too strong.

For single-target attacks, lacking defense meant one could only take the hit head-on. While offense is the best defense, if the enemy is too strong, going head-to-head is nothing but suicide.

Weapons like swords, spears, and blades were a notch weaker than maces or hammers when clashing head-on at the same rank.

As for additional offensive skills, it wouldn't be too late to add them later.

"Defensive soul beasts: Scale-Armor Giant Lizard, Heavy-Armor Xuanwu..."

Two days later, Star Dou Great Forest.

Murong Huai, Qian Xunji, Tu Zhen, and Ju Qinglan set off together to hunt for Murong Huai's soul ring.

"Little Huai, you mentioned wanting a defensive soul skill for your second ring. That means we need a defensive soul beast. When I was obtaining my seventh ring, I learned that quite a few defensive soul beasts had appeared in the southern mountain forests. Let's head over there and take a look," Qian Xunji said after some thought.

"Sounds good," Murong Huai nodded.

The group set off toward the southern forests. Tu Zhen led the way, clearing the path. They encountered several aggressive soul beasts along the way, all of which were repelled by Tu Zhen. With the strength of their group, as long as they didn't encounter a beast around eighty or ninety thousand years old, there would be no issues.

After traveling for about an hour, they reached the southern forest and quickly encountered a Gold-Armor Lizard over a thousand years old. Its defense and offense were not weak, but its age was too low. Tu Zhen swatted it away, and they continued forward.

Half an hour later, a roar echoed through the forest.

"Roar—"

Seeing this, the group hurried forward to find a golden-scaled dragon feasting on the carcass of a soul beast.

Its entire body was covered in thick, dark-gold to bronze-colored armor plates, their surfaces shimmering with a cold, metallic luster as if forged from a fusion of ancient refined iron and dragon scales. The edges of the plates were serrated like sharp sword blades, capable of both defense and cutting attacks.

In the center of its back was a large, inverted bell-shaped armor piece resembling an ancient bronze bell. A pair of curved metal horns sat atop its head, its eyes burned like molten gold, and its mouth retained serrated dragon teeth. When it breathed, metallic dust escaped. It was short and stocky, its claws were like iron, and it possessed a retractable, sword-shaped tail that emitted a biting, cold light.

"This is... a Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon, a soul beast with extremely powerful defense. It belongs to the sub-dragon species. There are seven distinct lines appearing on the bell-shaped armor on its back, meaning it has an age of nearly six thousand years. With my current physique, I can fully absorb it without any issues." Murong Huai quickly recognized the beast. Sub-dragon soul beasts were powerful races on the continent.

Currently, the number of dragons with pure bloodlines on the continent could likely be counted on one hand, including the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, the Hell Demon Dragon King Zi Ji, and the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena... and so on.

The quality of this Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon was also very high. Although weaker than a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, it was comparable to its lower-tier kin, the Dark Gold Bear and the Terrorclaw Bear. It was a rare find.

"Good. In that case, we'll take this Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon. Do it," Qian Xunji said after hearing this.

Upon hearing Qian Xunji's command, Tu Zhen leaped forward and launched an attack, unleashing his soul skills against the Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon.

In less than five breaths, the Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon was left gasping, critically wounded and on the verge of death. Seeing this, Murong Huai drew his Immortal Lord Nine-Arrival Sword and thrust it forward, piercing the beast's neck.

The beast let out a final wail, and a deep purple soul ring slowly condensed above its corpse. Murong Huai sat cross-legged on the ground and began to guide the ring for absorption.

It was only because they had experts like Qian Xunji that they could do this; an ordinary soul master would never dare to rashly enter the southern forest and would have to search slowly over a large area. They, however, could pinpoint their target within a specific range and quickly find a suitable soul beast.

An hour later, golden energy rippled across Murong Huai's body. The absorption was a success. Murong Huai slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

"Hoo~"

Seeing Murong Huai succeed, Qian Xunji stepped forward and asked, "Little Huai, how is it?"

Murong Huai explained, "It's excellent. The second soul ring comes with a decent defensive soul skill. After releasing the skill, a golden sword-bell forms around me. The defense is incredibly formidable. With my current strength, unless the opponent is a Soul Ancestor with powerful offensive capabilities, they won't be able to break my defense."

"Furthermore, the surface of the sword-bell is composed of individual golden longswords. When the opponent attacks, I can control the swords on the bell to counterattack, providing a certain level of offensive power as well. The soul skill is called—Sword Condenses Golden Bell Fall, Spirit Platform Undying Light."

As he spoke, his second soul ring pulsed, and a large golden bell descended, encasing Murong Huai. The surface of the bell was covered in dense, golden sharp swords.

Seeing this, Qian Xunji raised his hand to condense a longsword and flicked his wrist, sending it flying to strike the bell. The bell didn't budge. Qian Xunji was slightly surprised, then infused his palm with soul power and struck the bell with a palm blast.

The powerful energy caused cracks to appear on the surface of the golden bell. Two breaths later, with a loud bang, the bell shattered into fragments.

Qian Xunji nodded and said, "Not bad. The defense of your golden bell is comparable to a Soul Ancestor. A very good soul skill."

Murong Huai nodded, feeling very satisfied with the soul skill; it offered exceptional defense while also possessing some offensive capability.

"Good. Since you've obtained your soul ring, let's leave the Star Dou Great Forest."

The group nodded and headed toward the exit of the Star Dou Great Forest.

On the way, Murong Huai asked curiously, "Senior Brother, I heard that Martial Soul Hall will be carrying out a major mission in a while. Are we going to attack some faction?"

Qian Xunji didn't hide it from him, as he was the Holy Son of Martial Soul Hall. However, he glanced at Tu Zhen and the other, who understood and moved ten meters away.

"Since you are the Holy Son of Martial Soul Hall, I won't hide it from you. Five months from now, our Martial Soul Hall will lead a great army to set sail overseas to attack Sea God Island, located far beyond the East Sea."

"What? Attack Sea God..." Murong Huai was incredibly shocked. He suddenly remembered that the original work seemed to mention that Martial Soul Hall had attacked Sea God Island years ago, only to return in defeat with heavy losses. Could this be that very expedition?

Based on the timeline, the current High Priest of Sea God Island shouldn't be Bo Saixi yet, and the strength of the Seven Sacred Pillars of Sea God Island was likely far beyond those he knew later.

After all, the strongest of the Seven Sacred Pillars at that time were only around level 95, which was not enough to pose a major threat to Martial Soul Hall. It seemed this would be a brutal battle.