I Want a Thousand-Year First Soul Ring!

The next day—

After meditating through the night and further stabilizing his Soul Power, Xue Mingqing rose early.

He had benefited greatly from Feng Qingyang's Hurricane Body Tempering the day before.

For one thing, his meridians now flowed freely, with no impurities left to block them. Both his innate talent and future cultivation speed had improved.

For another, his Soul Power, which had already been at the peak of level eight, had risen straight to level ten.

Now he was headed to the City Lord's Hall to ask Xue Ningxian to help him obtain a soul ring.

As Xue Ningxian's adopted son, he knew she would grant any reasonable request. Finding him a soul ring was hardly asking too much.

There was almost no chance she would refuse.

Sure enough, when she heard his request, Xue Ningxian raised an eyebrow from her seat as city lord.

"Finding you a soul ring won't be difficult. It's just..."

She looked at Xue Mingqing, who stood in the hall.

Her senses were keen enough to detect the Soul Power radiating from him. He had reached level ten.

Yet she felt no joy at his progress. Instead, her fine brows drew together.

Lowering her gaze, she said, "You do realize pills are only an external aid? Rely on them too much, and you'll damage your foundation."

Xue Mingqing blinked, momentarily stunned. Then he understood.

She thought he had taken the Ling Family's cultivation pills and forced his Soul Power up before he was ready.

Realizing this, he shook his head with a wry smile.

"Don't worry, Mother. I know my limits."

Xue Ningxian gave him a brief look, then nodded.

The boy had always known his own mind. She did not need to worry over him too much. One warning not to rely on pills was enough; any more would only sound like nagging.

She rose and spoke coolly.

"What soul beast do you want for your first soul ring, and how old should it be?"

Blizzard City had its own Soul Beast Enclosure behind the City Lord's Mansion. It supplied the first three rings for the city's young cultivators and talented commoners.

Most of its soul beasts were species commonly found in the Far North.

They ranged from ten-year and hundred-year beasts to beasts as old as five thousand years.

After considering it for a moment, Xue Mingqing answered calmly.

"I want a thousand-year Ice-Spine Hedgehog."

"All right. An Ice-Spine Hedgehog, one thousand—"

At the first part of his answer, Xue Ningxian had already been about to leave.

The rest stopped her dead.

She slowly turned her head and looked at him.

"Are you still half asleep, or did I hear you wrong...?"

"A thousand years? A thousand-year beast for your first soul ring? Are you serious?"

Under his mother's gaze, Xue Mingqing instinctively drew his neck in.

Even with two lifetimes behind him, and even though Xue Ningxian was not his birth mother, her death stare still made his scalp prickle.

He coughed twice and said quietly,

"That's right... one thousand years."

Seeing that he was set on challenging a thousand-year soul ring, Xue Ningxian narrowed her eyes.

A trace of disappointment showed in them.

Only yesterday, she had thought he had such promise. And now?

He had taken pills to reach level ten and let it go to his head. He even dared to demand a thousand-year first soul ring?

At this rate, he would want a ten-thousand-year beast for his third ring. Did that make any sense? None at all!

Convinced that pills were behind his newfound strength, Xue Ningxian folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. Her voice grew colder.

"The soul beast you want does exist, but—"

"I won't fight it for you. I can bring it here, but you'll have to face it and kill it yourself."

A thousand-year soul beast was roughly equivalent to a level twenty-nine human soul master. She did not believe he was capable of defeating one.

She meant to take him down a peg and show him that there was always someone stronger. Strength gained through pills was never truly his own.

Besides, with her watching, he would not be in the slightest danger even if he lost.

Xue Ningxian closed her eyes and waited for his reply.

And Xue Mingqing?

Her words did not intimidate him. Instead, fierce fighting spirit blazed in his dark eyes!

Since arriving on the Douluo Continent, he had never truly cut loose in a fight.

He longed for a full-blooded battle that would prove his strength.

Against the Evil Soul Master and Ling Gui, either the gap in level had made a real fight impossible, or his opponent had fallen before he could even get going.

It had left him frustrated, as though all his abilities had gone to waste.

But now there was a thousand-year Ice-Spine Hedgehog, roughly equal to a level twenty-nine human soul master. And he had Snow Transforms Into All Things, a Self-Created Soul Skill.

True, there was a nineteen-level gap between them, and he did not have a single soul ring. Even so, he thought he stood a chance!

Xue Mingqing cupped his hands and said earnestly,

"All right. Mother, please bring me the soul beast."

Xue Ningxian closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, then looked at him in silence.

She would not try to persuade him again. If he insisted on learning the hard way, she would let him.

She turned and walked quickly toward the soul beast enclosure behind the City Lord's Hall, which she oversaw herself.

As Xue Mingqing watched her go, Feng Qingyang's voice sounded in his mind.

"You've really made her angry this time, boy."

Feng Qingyang had not fallen asleep this time. He was simply too drained to act again for a month, though he could still speak to Xue Mingqing through their mental link.

Hearing him, Xue Mingqing shook his head with a wry smile. Of course he had noticed Xue Ningxian's mood.

But he had spent a month training his body. Hurricane Body Tempering had cleansed his meridians and purged his impurities.

His body was now more than strong enough to withstand a thousand-year soul ring. In fact, that was a conservative estimate.

A twelve-hundred-year ring might well be within his limits.

But could he tell her about Hurricane Body Tempering?

He could not. Feng Qingyang was his final trump card, and he could not reveal even a hint of his existence to anyone.

So he had chosen a compromise: an age he could handle that he hoped would not shock Xue Ningxian too badly.

But she had gotten angry anyway.

With a soft sigh, Xue Mingqing rubbed his hair.

"You never know how things will turn out..."

Feng Qingyang gave a quiet laugh.

"Don't worry. She's the one who'll be shocked soon enough. You can do this."

Xue Mingqing raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"You believe in me that much?"

"Hmph. I've poured a great deal of soul energy into training you, boy. If you can't manage a mere thousand-year first ring, you might as well bash your head against a block of tofu."

Xue Mingqing smiled.

"Of course. I can do it..."

Just then, light, rapid footsteps sounded in the distance.

At the sound, Feng Qingyang fell silent and withdrew into the depths of Xue Mingqing's mind.

Xue Mingqing wiped the playful look from his face.

The next instant—

A dark shape flew out from the far end of the corridor.

It landed lightly, exactly ten paces from Xue Mingqing.

It was a soul beast encased in sealing ice, and it was the one he wanted: an Ice-Spine Hedgehog.

It resembled an ordinary hedgehog, but its body was snow-blue, with ten sharp icy spines running down its back. Its considerable offensive power made it ideal for an assault-type soul master.

It was indeed an Ice-Spine Hedgehog just over a thousand years old.

Xue Mingqing gazed at it intently.

He had chosen it not for its offensive power, but for one exceptionally rare trait: armor piercing.

That was what he wanted from the Ice-Spine Hedgehog.

"Here's the thousand-year Ice-Spine Hedgehog you asked for. It's not too late to change your mind."

Xue Ningxian stepped out. At some point, she had moved between him and the beast.

Xue Mingqing shook his head without a word.

Snow Wind, his martial soul, appeared in his hand. Soul Power surged, and the octagonal shape instantly became a pure-white Snow Sword wreathed in Green Flowing Wind.

At the sight, Xue Ningxian closed her eyes for a moment.

She said nothing more and stepped aside.

She raised a hand and snapped her fingers.

At the crisp snap, cracks spread through the ice encasing the Ice-Spine Hedgehog.

Beneath it, a pair of crimson eyes slowly opened...