After chatting with Wu Xianyun for a while, Murong Huai returned to his room, opened the Spirit Beast Compendium, and began looking for a target for his second Spirit Ring.
His physique was now comparable to a Soul King's, so absorbing a Spirit Ring under ten thousand years shouldn't be a problem. However, he needed to choose based on the Spirit Beast's quality. A high-quality Spirit Beast definitely couldn't be too old; around four or five thousand years would be just right. For a lower-quality one, eight or nine thousand years would be fine.
His First Soul Ring could now enhance his attributes, and when it came to offense, the first three forms of the Angel Sword Technique were more than enough before reaching Soul Ancestor rank. So he planned to give his second Spirit Ring a defensive Soul Skill, preferably one with some offensive capability as well.
After all, the Immortal Lord Nine-Arrival Sword wasn't meant to focus solely on offense; it needed to develop in every direction. Take the Breaking Clan's Soul Breaking Spear in the original story, for example: it was purely offensive. Although powerful, trying to meet a far stronger attack head-on was clearly unwise.
With a single-target attack and no defense, all you could do when attacked was take the blow head-on. Offense might be the best defense, but if your opponent was too strong and you still tried to meet them head-on, you were practically asking to die.
Weapons like swords, spears, and sabers were clearly a step weaker than spiked clubs and hammers when it came to meeting an opponent of the same rank head-on.
As for offensive skills, he could always add more later.
"Defensive Spirit 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 out together to hunt a Spirit Ring for Murong Huai.
"Huai, you said you wanted your second Spirit Ring to give you a defensive Soul Skill, so we need a defensive Spirit Beast. When I was hunting my Seventh Soul Ring, I heard there were quite a few defensive Spirit Beasts in the southern woods. Let's go take a look there," Qian Xunji said after thinking it over.
"Sounds good." Murong Huai nodded.
The group set off for the southern woods. Tu Zhen led the way, driving off the many Spirit Beasts that attacked them along the way. They were all strong enough that they'd be fine as long as they didn't run into a Spirit Beast around eighty or ninety thousand years old.
After walking for about an hour, they reached the southern woods. Before long, they came across a Gold-Armor Lizard that was a little over a thousand years old. Its defense and offense were both decent, but it simply wasn't old enough. Tu Zhen sent it flying, and they continued onward.
Half an hour later, a furious roar rang through the woods.
"Roar—"
The group hurried over. They saw a golden, scale-armored dragon sprawled atop a Spirit Beast's corpse, tearing into it.
Its entire body was covered in heavy armor plates ranging from dark gold to bronze. Their surfaces gleamed with a cold metallic sheen, as if they'd been forged from ancient iron and dragon scales. The jagged edges of the plates were as sharp as blades, able to defend and slice into attackers alike.
A massive, bell-shaped plate sat upside down at the center of its back, like an ancient bronze bell. A pair of curved metal horns jutted from its head, and its eyes blazed like molten gold. Its mouth still held rows of serrated dragon teeth, and every breath carried a spray of metallic dust. Its limbs were short and sturdy, its claws like iron, and its tail ended in a retractable, sword-shaped blade that glinted with a chilling light.
"This is... a Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon. It's a Spirit Beast with extremely powerful defenses, and it belongs to a draconic subspecies. There are nearly seven patterns on the bell-shaped armor on its back, so it's probably a little over six thousand years old.
"With my physique, I can definitely absorb it. There shouldn't be any problem." Murong Huai quickly recognized the Spirit Beast. Draconic Spirit Beasts were among the most powerful races on the continent.
These days, there were probably fewer than five true-blooded dragons left on the continent, including the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, the Hell Demon Dragon King Zi JI, the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena, and others.
The Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon was also of very high quality. It was weaker than the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, but its quality was on par with the Dark Gold Bear and Dread Claw Bear, its lower-ranked kin. It was a rare find.
"Good. In that case, we'll take this Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon. Let's move," Qian Xunji said with a nod.
At Qian Xunji's words, Tu Zhen leaped forward and attacked, unleashing a Soul Skill against the Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon.
In fewer than five breaths, the Mystic Bell Sword-Armor Dragon was on its last legs, gravely wounded and near death. Seeing this, Murong Huai drew the Immortal Lord Nine-Arrival Sword and thrust it forward, piercing straight through the beast's neck.
The beast let out a wail. A deep purple Spirit Ring slowly took shape above its corpse. Murong Huai sat cross-legged on the ground and drew it toward himself, beginning to absorb it.
With experts like Qian Xunji accompanying them, this was possible. An ordinary Soul Master wouldn't dare venture into the southern woods so recklessly; they could only search a wide area at a slow pace. The group could narrow down their target to a specific region and quickly find a suitable Spirit Beast.
An hour later, golden energy rippled around Murong Huai. He had successfully absorbed the Spirit Ring. He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.
"Phew..."
Seeing that Murong Huai had absorbed it successfully, Qian Xunji stepped forward and asked,
"Huai, how did it go?"
Murong Huai explained, "Very well. My second Spirit Ring gave me a pretty good defensive Soul Skill.
"When I release it, a golden Sword Bell forms around me. Its defense is incredibly powerful. Given my current strength, unless my opponent is a Soul King with powerful offensive abilities, they won't be able to break through my defenses."
"Also, the Sword Bell's surface is made up of countless golden swords. When my opponent attacks, I can control the swords on the bell to counterattack. It has some offensive power, too.
"The Soul Skill is called Sword Condenses Golden Bell Fall, Spirit Platform Undying Light."
As he spoke, Murong Huai's Second Soul Ring pulsed. A massive golden bell descended and enveloped him, its surface covered in countless golden swords.
Seeing this, Qian Xunji raised his hand and conjured a sword. With a wave, he sent it flying into the bell. It struck the surface, but the bell didn't budge. Somewhat surprised, Qian Xunji coated his palm with Soul Power and struck the bell.
The immense force sent cracks spreading across the golden bell's surface. Two breaths later, it burst apart with a bang, shattering into fragments.
Qian Xunji nodded and said,
"Not bad. Your golden bell's defense is on par with a Soul King's. That's a very good Soul Skill."
Murong Huai nodded. He was very satisfied with the Soul Skill, too. It had superb defensive power while still offering some offensive capability.
"Good. Now that you've obtained your Spirit Ring, let's leave Star Dou Great Forest."
Everyone nodded and headed toward the edge of Star Dou Great Forest.
On the way, Murong Huai asked curiously,
"Um, Senior Brother, I heard Spirit Hall will be carrying out a major mission before long. Are we going to attack some faction?"
At that, Qian Xunji didn't hide it from him. After all, Murong Huai was Spirit Hall's Holy Son. Still, he glanced at Tu Zhen and Ju Qinglan. Understanding his meaning, the two moved ten meters away.
"You're Spirit Hall's Holy Son, so I won't hide it from you. Five months from now, Spirit Hall will lead an army overseas to attack Sea God Island, far beyond the East Sea."
"What? Attack Sea God..." Murong Huai was utterly astonished. Only then did he recall that the original story seemed to mention Spirit Hall attacking Sea God Island several years earlier, only to be driven back with heavy losses. Could this be that very campaign?
Going by the timeline, Sea God Island's High Priest probably wasn't Bo Saixi yet. The Seven Sacred Pillars were likely much stronger than the later generation, too.
After all, even the strongest of the Seven Sacred Pillars back then had only been around level ninety-five. They were nowhere near strong enough to pose much of a threat to Spirit Hall. It looked like this would be a fierce battle.
Before you continue