Obtaining the First Soul Ring

The bowstring twanged, and a streak of light shot directly toward the unsuspecting Black Panther.

The Black Panther was still enjoying its prey, completely oblivious to the actions of the two little bugs nearby.

It was precisely this indifference that provided Du Hao and Zhu Zhuqing with an excellent window for their aim.

A stationary target was far easier to hit than a moving one.

The result was as expected:

Critical Headshot!

"It hit!"

Seeing the Black Panther collapse and a spirit ring emerge, Zhu Zhuqing exclaimed in surprise.

Judging by the color of the spirit ring, it was exactly between 700 and 800 years old. It was perfect—a fitting first ring for her.

"Alright, go ahead and absorb the spirit ring." Du Hao took the Zhuge Crossbow and said to Zhu Zhuqing with a smile.

"Mm, thank you, little master." Zhu Zhuqing quickly turned her head and gave him a light peck on the cheek. Before he could react, she immediately ran toward the spirit ring.

"Heh, pulling a stunt like that..." He reached up to touch the spot where he had been ambushed, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Upon reaching the spirit ring, Zhu Zhuqing sat cross-legged on the ground and began the absorption process.

As for why she didn't look back?

Apologies, but the young lady was doing this for the first time; she was inevitably shy. It was better to finish absorbing the ring first.

"Running so fast, I see she knows how to be shy now. Looks like I should be the proactive one next time..." Muttering to himself, Du Hao held the Zhuge Crossbow and stood guard by her side.

As the spirit ring slowly settled around Zhu Zhuqing's body, the absorption process began.

Du Hao kept a vigilant watch, his hand holding the Zhuge Crossbow slightly lowered, ensuring he could react instantly at the first sign of trouble.

A breeze rustled the leaves in the forest, creating a soft, whispering sound.

A long time passed, and no other spirit beasts appeared to disturb them; everything went smoothly.

Thinking about it, that made sense. The Black Panther had clearly been the overlord of this area. It was unlikely other powerful spirit beasts were nearby, or the panther wouldn't have been so well-fed and sleek.

"Well, well. How long have I been gone, and you two have already hunted a spirit beast on your own?"

Following the source of the voice, a figure descended from above—it was Flender.

He held an Emerald Garlic in his hand, his gaze landing on Zhu Zhuqing as she absorbed her ring.

"You two have quite the nerve, daring to kill a six- or seven-hundred-year-old spirit beast?" Two little spirit scholars who hadn't even obtained their first spirit rings yet, and their courage was this bloated.

If he told anyone, they probably wouldn't believe it.

Fortunately, looking at the scene, it seemed no accidents had occurred...

Even so, Flender walked over and gave the dog-headed boy a firm pat on the head.

"Next time you run into such danger, call for me, you hear? You don't even have spirit rings, yet you run into something like this. Are you truly not afraid of death? What were you thinking?"

Despite his words, Flender was quite satisfied with the pair. After all, to possess such courage and composure at such a young age meant they were destined for greatness.

He would definitely have to recruit them into his academy!

"Yes, yes, yes, next time for sure..."

Situations like this couldn't be replicated every time. It was only because the Black Panther had looked down on them that they could calculate the kill so easily.

Had it been anything more cunning, the two of them would have been screaming for Flender to save them long ago.

After all, life was precious, and their own lives were even more so...

"Alright, enough with the glib talk." Flender tossed the Emerald Garlic, which was wrapped in spirit power, onto the ground. "This is a six-hundred-year-old Emerald Garlic. See if you're satisfied."

"Satisfied? Of course I'm satisfied!" What else could Du Hao say at this point?

I'd go through fire and water for you, Principal.

"Then hurry up and absorb it. Thinking about how smoothly this went, it looks like we won't have to camp in the wild." Flender walked to the side to stand guard for him.

He leaned against a tree and began to rest.

Du Hao didn't hesitate. He raised the Zhuge Crossbow and fired at the core of the Emerald Garlic, scoring a perfect bullseye at point-blank range!

A yellow ring of light slowly appeared on the spot.

"What a beautiful color." If he added his own spirit ring's age, it would turn into a lovely purple later, right?

A thousand-year purple ring for his first one—just thinking about it made him excited.

Du Hao didn't delay any longer. Suppressing his excitement, he summoned his Scallion Spirit. With a single thought, the spirit ring on the ground settled onto his spirit.

At that very moment, Du Hao felt a massive surge of spirit power flood into his body, as if it were about to burst him apart.

However, he had thoroughly studied Spirit Power Control: From 'Introductory' to 'Buried'.

The book contained many ways to channel spirit power, and within moments, the violent energy was smoothed out and flowing steadily.

With the obstruction of the spirit power gone, the process of refining the spirit ring became much smoother.

Not far away, Flender sat by a tree and clicked his tongue in wonder at the sight.

He had originally thought the data Grandmaster updated was somewhat exaggerated, but he never expected it to be true.

Had the upper limit for a first spirit ring really become this outrageous?

If he had possessed this spirit ring configuration back in the day, he might have already reached the Spirit Douluo realm by now.

He sighed deeply in his heart, unable to help but recall the glorious days of his youth spent traveling across the continent.

The absorption process lasted for two hours, and it wasn't until the sky began to darken that Du Hao's expression finally showed a change.

Just as Du Hao was filled with joy and prepared to open his eyes, a system choice suddenly popped up before him.

"Option One [White]: Be normal and don't cause any trouble.

Reward: Increase spirit ring age by 100 years."

"Option Two [Pitch Black]:

Phase One: Add 550 years to the first spirit ring and give the two people outside a surprise.

Reward: Special spirit skill: Garlic Scallion!

Description: Fuses the properties of scallions and garlic; the intensity of the scent is 300%, and the mental stimulation is 100%.

Phase Two: Without opening your eyes, swing your hand forcefully at a spot one foot in front of you.

A light swing, reward: Spirit power +0.5 levels.

A forceful swing, reward: Spirit power +1 level.

A critical hit, reward: Spirit power +2 levels."

After briefly glancing at the two choices provided by the system, he directly passed on the first one.

His first spirit ring was already a millennium-level ring. Even if he added another 100 years, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

His gaze fell directly onto the second option, and he finished reading it quickly.

Why does this time feel like there's nothing sinister about it? Could it be... the system has developed a conscience?

Under normal circumstances, the system's choices were contrasted between black and white, with white representing positive events and black representing malicious ones.

But in this current situation, the black option didn't seem to have any major issues. The only potential problem was that after increasing the spirit ring, it would reveal a purple color and be discovered by Flender.

That didn't seem like such a big deal, though.

After all, he was going to Shrek eventually, and the matter of his first spirit ring would be discovered sooner or later.

So, it had to be the second option.

After thinking for a long time, Du Hao decided that practice was the best way to verify the truth. He increased his first spirit ring's age to 1100 years, bringing his current spirit power to level 13.

If he could add another 2 levels, he would reach level 15 directly, which would save him a massive amount of time.

Du Hao made up his mind and took a deep breath.

He set aside the self-created spirit skill in his mind for the moment and decided to complete the second task first.

Outside, Zhu Zhuqing, who had been keeping an eye on him, curiously leaned in closer the moment she saw Du Hao's spirit ring turn purple.

At that exact moment, she happened to be bending over... her chest was less than a foot away from Du Hao.

And at that very moment, the oblivious Du Hao reached out his hand and used his full strength!

"SLAP!!!!!!"