The Thousand-Year First Ring That Surpassed the Theoretical Limit of Soul Masters

Deep within the Sunset Forest in a cleared patch of land, Ye Qing sat cross-legged.

A purple ball of light hovered in front of him.

That was the spirit ring left behind by a 1,500-year-old Ash Fire Fragrant Flower that Dugu Bo had just helped him hunt.

The purple light slowly rotated in the air, emitting a heart-palpitating wave of soul power.

Dugu Yan stood not far away, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes.

"Grandpa..."

There was an undisguised tremble in her voice. "Is he really going to be all right?"

Dugu Bo stood with his hands behind his back beside her, his emerald-green eyes fixed intently on Ye Qing, the expression on his face equally solemn.

"Old man isn't sure either."

He was silent for a few seconds before squeezing those words out from between his teeth.

Not sure.

A dignified Title Douluo actually uttered the two words "not sure" when facing the scene before him.

It was because Ye Qing was doing something that went against the ironclad laws of the soul master world.

According to the spirit ring limit theory of the soul master world, the limit age for a first spirit ring was 423 years.

This was an ironclad law summarized by countless generations of soul masters with their lives and blood.

Exceeding this limit meant the physical body of a soul master simply could not withstand the impact of the spirit ring.

Lightly, their meridians would shatter; heavily, they would drop dead on the spot.

Yet right now, what Ye Qing was absorbing was a purple spirit ring.

White represented a ten-year spirit ring.

Yellow represented a hundred-year spirit ring.

And purple represented a thousand-year spirit ring.

A 1,500-year-old spirit ring.

More than triple the theoretical limit of a first spirit ring.

"This kid really is insane."

Dugu Bo muttered to himself.

Scenes from two days ago involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

That day, Ye Qing had taken the initiative to say, "Senior, I want a thousand-year one for my first spirit ring."

At the time, Dugu Bo almost thought something was wrong with his ears.

"A thousand-year spirit ring?"

"Kid, do you know what the limit of a first spirit ring is?"

"I naturally know the limit theory."

Ye Qing's tone at the time had been calm. "But the premise of that theory is the physical fitness of ordinary soul masters."

"Senior, don't forget, I ate two Immortal Grade herbs that enhanced my physical fitness, and I used the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot to temper my physical body for a month."

"My physical strength is long since something ordinary soul masters can compare to."

Dugu Bo naturally knew how miraculous the immortal herbs Ye Qing had consumed were.

At the same time, he had also personally tested it and discovered that Ye Qing's physical fitness far exceeded that of ordinary people.

"How confident are you?" Dugu Bo asked in a deep voice.

"Eighty percent."

"Eighty percent?"

Dugu Bo stared at him for quite a while before finally letting out a sigh. "Kid, if you flip over and crash, Yanzi will hate me for the rest of her life."

"So for Yanzi's sake, I can't crash either."

These were Ye Qing's exact words back then.

And right now, Dugu Bo could only watch as this audacious kid absorbed this purple spirit ring.

"Grandpa, look!"

Dugu Yan suddenly cried out in alarm.

Dugu Bo raised his eyes to look, only to see that the purple spirit ring had already begun to slowly merge into Ye Qing's body.

The purple light spread along his meridians like strands of purple lightning darting about wildly inside his body.

A fine layer of sweat appeared on Ye Qing's face, making it obvious that he was enduring immense pain.

Yet his back remained straight as a board.

The higher the age of the spirit ring, the greater the difficulty of absorption, and the stronger the impact on the physical body.

The soul power impact of a thousand-year spirit ring was fatal to an ordinary level-10 soul master.

That majestic force was enough to tear meridians apart and grind bones to dust.

What Ye Qing was feeling at this moment was precisely such a violent force.

In his perception, his body felt as though it had been thrown into a volcano.

Scorching soul power surged wildly within his meridians.

Every single impact felt like the ferocity and unwillingness of a thousand-year-level soul beast.

Yet he remained as steady as a rock.

If it were the Ye Qing of a month ago, absorbing a thousand-year spirit ring would be no different from suicide.

However, after consuming the immortal herbs, his body had long since undergone a complete rebirth.

The tempering of alternating extreme cold and extreme heat had made his meridians several times tougher than those of ordinary soul masters.

The medicinal efficacy of the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum had elevated his physical body strength to a terrifying degree.

The power of the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo, meanwhile, had allowed his martial soul and body to achieve a perfect fit.

The superposition of these three major factors was the reason why he had the confidence to challenge a thousand-year spirit ring.

The effects of immortal herbs were far fiercer than whale rubber.

"Be... honest with me!"

Ye Qing let out a low roar in his heart.

The phantom of the Chaos Green Lotus emerged behind him.

The Chaos Green Flame poured out from his Dantian, directly enveloping that tyrannical force of soul power.

The soul power that had originally been struggling wildly instantly quieted down in front of the Chaos Green Flame, shivering like a mouse seeing a cat.

Ye Qing: "..."

No, wait, this Chaos Green Flame could even suppress the tyrannical energy of a spirit ring?

Still, putting aside whether one should say it or not, this feeling really felt fantastic.

Time ticked away second by second.

Dugu Yan stood at the edge of the clearing, the anxiety in her emerald-green eyes growing more and more intense.

She bit her lower lip, her fingernails almost sinking into her palms.

She could not make a sound; she could not disturb Ye Qing.

Yet her heart beat as if it were about to explode.

What if he couldn't hold on?

What if his meridians ruptured?

What if he—

"Yanzi."

Dugu Bo's voice suddenly rang in her ear, carrying a trace of rare gentleness.

"Don't worry. Judging by the situation, this kid should be able to withstand it."

Dugu Yan turned to look at her grandfather.

She discovered that although her grandfather was speaking comforting words on the surface, those emerald-green eyes of his were likewise exceptionally solemn.

"Grandpa, if..."

"There are no ifs."

Dugu Bo interrupted her, his tone decisive and unyielding.

"This kid is extremely shrewd. Since he dares to challenge a thousand-year spirit ring, he definitely has a grasp on it."

"When have you ever seen him do something he wasn't sure of?"

Dugu Yan thought to herself that ever since they met, this slick-tongued pretty boy, full of crafty ideas, might be improper with his words.

Yet every single thing he promised her, he had accomplished.

Suddenly, the soul power fluctuations in the clearing trembled violently!

"Hum!"

That purple spirit ring shook intensely.

Then, at a speed visible to the naked eye, it shrank, solidified, and finally completely merged into Ye Qing's body.

The Chaos Green Lotus martial soul automatically manifested.

A strange change occurred.

The Chaos Green Lotus, which originally had nine petals, began to tremble gently, slowly growing new petals at the edges of its petals.

Layer after layer.

Petal by petal.

Until the newly born nine petals fully bloomed.

The Chaos Green Lotus transformed from nine petals into eighteen petals!

Immediately following.

A purple spirit ring rose from beneath Ye Qing's feet, revolving slowly as it encircled his body.

Dugu Bo's pupils abruptly constricted.

"It succeeded!"

"This kid... actually really succeeded!"

And the scene that followed made him stare even more widely.

The aura on Ye Qing's body began to climb frantically!

Like a long-accumulated flood finally breaking through a dam, his soul power level soared at a jaw-dropping speed.

Level 11, level 12... level 15... level 18, level 19, level 20!

Ye Qing slowly opened his eyes.

Bright light shot from his black eyes, and the corners of his mouth hooked into a spirited arc.

A soul master!

He had finally become a soul master!

And not an ordinary soul master, but the first soul master in the history of the Douluo Continent to start with a thousand-year spirit ring!

"Hahaha!"

Ye Qing laughed up to the sky, his laughter echoing across the skies of the Sunset Forest and startling a flock of birds into flight.

Dugu Yan froze for a second, then lunged forward, throwing her arms around Ye Qing's neck.

"You bastard!"

Her voice was a mix of crying and laughing, her eye sockets as red as a rabbit's.

"Do you know you scared me to death? I thought you were going to be blown to pieces by the spirit ring!"

"Blown to pieces?"

Ye Qing raised an eyebrow, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Yanzi, in your eyes, am I that unreliable?"

"When have you ever been reliable!"

Dugu Yan cast a sidelong glance at him, swiftly wiping the corners of her eyes to resume her usual cold and arrogant expression.

Seeing this in his eyes, the smile at the corner of Ye Qing's mouth deepened.

Tsk, her words disagree with her true feelings, yet her body is honest.

"Kid."

Dugu Bo's voice came from behind, carrying a suppressed, shocked calmness.

"You really succeeded?"

Ye Qing cupped his fists in salute. "Thanks to Senior for protecting the law."

Dugu Bo did not reply, instead walking a circle around him.

Those emerald-green eyes looked Ye Qing up and down, as if he were examining a rare, unprecedented exhibit.

"Kid."

Dugu Bo took a deep breath, a trace of complexity in his tone that even he hadn't noticed. "Do you know what you just did?"

"Absorbed a first spirit ring?"

"No."

Dugu Bo shook his head, a flash of fanatical light crossing his emerald-green eyes.

"You have created the history of the Douluo Continent."

"From ancient times until now, not a single soul master's first spirit ring has been purple, let alone over a thousand years."

"After today, the theories in the soul master world regarding spirit ring limits will have to be rewritten because of you."

Ye Qing blinked.

Created history?

Coming from Dugu Bo's mouth, this evaluation carried no small weight.

However, he didn't quite see it that way.

God's spokespersons like Qian Daoliu and Bo Saixi all started their spirit rings at the ten-thousand-year level.

As for Bibi Dong, who possessed Twin Martial Souls, the spirit rings of her second martial soul also started at the ten-thousand-year level.

To a normal soul master's perspective, his thousand-year first spirit ring was indeed exaggerated.

Yet in the eyes of these people, it was nothing much.

"You flatter me, Senior."

Ye Qing showed rare modesty for once.

"All of this is thanks to the immortal herbs in Senior's medicine garden."

"Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum and Ink Jade Divine Bamboo enhanced my physical constitution, while Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot tempered my meridians."

"Without these immortal herbs, I could never have endured the shock of a Thousand-Year Spirit Ring."

Dugu Bo was speechless.

Immortal herbs.

Immortal herbs again!

He suddenly felt that failing to use those herbs while guarding them for decades probably made him the most wasteful person in history.