There Was Hope of Mastering "Roar of the Sun"!

Evil Demon Forest, outer region.

As the second-largest Soul Beast forest on the Douluo Continent, the distribution of Soul Beasts in the Evil Demon Forest was much like that in the Star Dou Great Forest.

The weaker ones were in the outer region, while the strong ones were in the core. Of course, sometimes powerful Soul Beasts might also wander into the outer region and wreak havoc on the ecosystem.

Under Kong Deming's lead, Xu Tianming had needed less than two quarters of an hour to reach their destination after setting out from the Ming Capital.

Unlike the relatively mild atmosphere of the Star Dou Great Forest, the Evil Demon Forest was dominated by black-gray coniferous trees. The environment was cold and oppressive year-round, and most of the Soul Beasts living there had rather violent tempers.

Xu Tianming and Kong Deming had barely appeared in the forest when a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, having caught their scent, recklessly charged over to meet its death.

With a casual slap, Kong Deming smashed it into a puddle of flesh, then took a Soul Tool that could conceal their presence from his Storage Soul Tool.

The Soul Beasts in the outer region posed no threat to him, but avoiding a bit of trouble was always a good thing.

After careful consideration, Xu Tianming ultimately decided to focus on cultivating the Sun Martial Soul first.

Although the Silver Moon Martial Soul might be just as powerful as the Sun Martial Soul, that was only a possibility. To be on the safe side, focusing on the Sun Martial Soul, which possessed Mavuika's power, was the more reliable choice for now.

Thus, their first hunting target was a fire-type Soul Beast that was over a hundred years old but under a thousand.

After all, according to the time-honored theory of the Soul Master World, a hundred-year Soul Ring was already the limit for a Soul Master's First Soul Ring, while only the Second Soul Ring offered the possibility of challenging a thousand-year one.

Xu Tianming had only recently regained his memories, and before he had any firsthand experience with Soul Rings, he chose to follow Kong Deming's guidance for the time being. After all, Kong Deming was his maternal uncle. As the saying went, a mother's brother held great weight; absent any special circumstances, there was no reason for him to harm Xu Tianming.

"Tianming, I'll leave the Soul Beast with its last breath. Then you'll just need to finish it off, and the Soul Ring will appear."

When Xu Tianming nodded, Kong Deming took several weapons suited to his current level from his Storage Soul Tool and let him pick one.

Looking at the daggers, short swords, and flintlock guns in his uncle's hand, Xu Tianming pondered briefly, then shook his head.

"Uncle, I don't think any of these weapons suit me... Do you have a bigger sword?"

"You want to use a greatsword?" Kong Deming asked, slightly surprised, but still took out a Level Four Soul Tool greatsword.

Xu Tianming's Soul Power wasn't enough to wield it perfectly, but there was no help for it. This was already the lowest-level greatsword in Kong Deming's storage pouch.

"This sword is called Judgment. It's a recent creation by my student, Xuan Ziwen. Try it and see if you can wield it."

Kong Deming smiled as he handed Judgment to Xu Tianming.

The instant he took the greatsword, its weight settled heavily into his hands. If Xu Tianming hadn't been prepared, he might have lost his balance from the sheer weight.

"Whoa, this sword's pretty good. I just don't know if it can withstand my flames."

Hearing Mavuika's voice, Xu Tianming was a little surprised.

"You can sense this greatsword?"

"Mm. I tried merging my spiritual power with your palm just now, and then I could feel the greatsword."

Hearing Mavuika say that, Xu Tianming suddenly had a strange idea.

"So, if I let go of control over my body, could you control it to some extent?"

"In theory, it should be possible. But why are you asking?"

Mavuika's answer left Xu Tianming hesitating for only a second before he went on.

"I'll let go of control over my left hand now. Try to see if you can control it. If it really works, you can teach me that move hands-on!"

"Sure. That sounds pretty interesting. Let's try it!"

Both of them were the sort who acted quickly. With Mavuika's agreement, Xu Tianming immediately tried to relinquish control of his left hand.

A moment later, a wave of searing power suddenly surged into his left hand. Then he realized that it really was moving on its own, without any control from him.

"It really works!"

To be honest, he had been coveting Mavuika's ultimate move, Sun-Shattering Strike, for a long time. Now that he knew he might one day be able to unleash it against an enemy in actual combat, there was no way he wasn't excited!

"Unfortunately, I haven't recovered much of my power yet. Even if you don't resist, I can't control your body for long. By my rough estimate, if I took full control of your body, my current strength wouldn't be enough to make you unleash even one complete Sun-Shattering Strike against an enemy."

Mavuika poured a bucket of cold water on him, but it did nothing to dampen Xu Tianming's burning enthusiasm.

"It's fine. We'll be stronger soon!"

Because just as Xu Tianming said this, a Blazing Fire Pig with flame patterns covering its body and crimson eyes had appeared in his and Kong Deming's field of vision.

"This Blazing Fire Pig is around seven hundred years old. Though it's technically beyond the limit for a normal Soul Master's First Soul Ring, Tianming, your Innate Level 20 Soul Power is a once-in-a-thousand-years gift. You may be able to break through the limits of ordinary people."

Hearing Kong Deming's words, Xu Tianming nodded.

"All right. Sorry for the trouble, Uncle. I'll give it a try."

At that, Kong Deming flicked a finger. A concentrated burst of Soul Power shot out, and the Blazing Fire Pig, which had been lively just a moment earlier, let out a pained wail before toppling onto its back. If not for the slight twitching of its limbs, it would have looked no different from a corpse.

Seeing this, Xu Tianming stepped forward with his sword and delivered the final blow cleanly, leaving the Blazing Fire Pig utterly unable to struggle.

A moment later, a deep yellow Soul Ring spiraled out of the Blazing Fire Pig's corpse. At the same time, Mavuika and Columbina, inside Xu Tianming's Mental Sea of Consciousness, voiced their respective thoughts.

"So this is a Soul Ring from this world?"

"What a peculiar power system."

As far as Xu Tianming knew, as long as a Soul Ring wasn't ten thousand years old, the number of years a Soul Master could absorb depended entirely on the strength of their Martial Soul and constitution.

That was because absorbing a Soul Ring of ten thousand years or more caused Soul Shock. If a Soul Master's spiritual power wasn't strong enough, they would be killed outright by it.

Soul Rings under ten thousand years, on the other hand, caused no such shock.

So, in theory, as long as a Soul Master's body and Martial Soul were strong enough, they could even choose a nine-thousand-year Soul Ring as their First Soul Ring...

Of course, that was only in theory.

After sensing the seven-hundred-year Soul Ring up close, Xu Tianming turned and shook his head at Kong Deming.

"Uncle, this Soul Ring is a little weak. My intuition tells me that I might be able to challenge a thousand-year Soul Ring for my First Soul Ring."