Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, Third Soul Ring?

"This was an unexpected delight." Jing Chen smiled. Life Gold was a rare supreme treasure; if he could obtain it, it might bring him unforeseen benefits.

Life Gold contained immense life energy, and that was what he valued most.

If this life energy could be used for healing, then both he and Yi Yi would have fewer reservations in future battles.

Take Yi Yi, for example. Over these three years, it could actually have hunted more Soul Beasts to increase its cultivation.

But injuries were inevitable in battle, and sometimes they were severe, which wasted some time.

Whenever Yi Yi was injured, Jing Chen would have it fully recover before sending it out to fight and devour Soul Beasts again.

Once, Yi Yi had spent a full three months recuperating before its wounds finally healed. During that time, it had not gone out to hunt a single Soul Beast.

That was only because Yi Yi's species was inherently powerful, with strong recovery abilities that allowed its injuries to heal quickly.

Had it been another species, injuries of that severity would likely have taken years, perhaps even decades, to recover from.

Yi Yi's recovery ability was already formidable. If it were supplemented with external treatment, the time needed for its wounds to heal would certainly be greatly reduced.

"If I really obtain it, I'll have to think carefully about how to use it," Jing Chen muttered.

Time passed bit by bit. Jing Chen did nothing else, merely watching Yi Yi devour the Golden Tortoise's energy and life force.

What occupied his thoughts also shifted from Life Gold to the Golden Tortoise's soul ring.

After two years of cultivation, his Soul Power had reached level thirty. Once he absorbed a soul ring, he would be able to break through to Soul Elder.

More than ten days ago, he had planned to head to the Far North to obtain a soul ring, but because he had needed to avoid powerful beasts, it had been delayed until now.

He was short one soul ring, and a soul ring was about to form before his eyes—a Hundred Thousand Year soul ring, at that.

If he could absorb it, he would successfully break through to Soul Elder.

The Golden Tortoise possessed both water and earth attributes, with water as its primary attribute and earth as its secondary one. Its water attribute matched his own.

Although its attribute was certainly not as strong as that of a purely water-attributed Soul Beast, its special auspicious-beast attribute and cultivation age could make up for that.

There was only one question before him now: could he absorb it?

To put that question more precisely, did this fantasy world follow the law of conservation of energy?

He asked because a soul ring was formed through a special fusion of a Soul Beast's cultivation and its origin imprint.

During that process, the Soul Beast's origin imprint was essential and irreplaceable, while its cultivation was not necessarily required.

That could be seen from the fact that even after Yi Yi absorbed all the energy within a Soul Beast, it could still produce a soul ring.

If the law of conservation of energy applied, then once the Soul Beast's cultivation had been absorbed, there should be no energy left to enter the soul ring.

Soul Masters had to pay attention to a Soul Beast's age when absorbing soul rings because they feared the energy would be too great, exceeding what their bodies could withstand and ultimately causing them to explode.

If there was no energy in the soul ring at all, then would its age still matter?

Jing Chen felt that it probably would not, but since he had never tested it, he could not be certain.

After all, this was a fantasy world. It did not care much for science, and it was perfectly normal for some things to defy common sense.

It was precisely because he was uncertain that he could not make up his mind—whether to take the risk and see if this world followed science.

Or to give up this soul ring and properly search for one that he could withstand.

The former carried enormous risk. If this world did not follow science and the soul ring still contained immense energy, then his fate would be death.

With his current physical strength, there was absolutely no way he could withstand the energy impact of a normal Hundred Thousand Year soul ring.

But if the law of conservation of energy truly applied, the benefits would be tremendous. He could do the same with his future soul rings.

He could have Yi Yi absorb all their energy, then absorb the energyless soul rings himself.

That way, even his first few soul rings could be Hundred Thousand Year level. Just thinking about it was wonderful.

Besides whether the law of conservation of energy applied, there was another issue he needed to consider.

That was how effective a soul ring formed solely from a Soul Beast's origin imprint would be. Could it achieve the same effect as a normal soul ring?

If not, he might waste a soul ring slot, and the consequences would be significant.

"Should I take the risk and gamble?" Jing Chen hesitated, unable to decide for the moment.

Time passed quickly within the Time and Space Divine Tower. More than six hours had passed since Yi Yi began devouring the Golden Tortoise's energy.

The Golden Tortoise had died after its energy and life force were completely devoured, and a blood-red soul ring floated out.

Just as Yi Yi had judged, this Golden Tortoise was indeed at the Hundred Thousand Year level. The color of its soul ring explained everything.

After devouring the Golden Tortoise, Yi Yi's cultivation age increased by more than three thousand years, bringing its total to over forty-six thousand years.

Now, Soul Beasts over fifty thousand years but under one hundred thousand years usually only brought it a few hundred years of cultivation growth.

Exactly how many hundred years depended on the devoured Soul Beast's age and species. The stronger the Soul Beast, the greater the improvement it brought.

For an ordinary Soul Beast of over fifty thousand years, the increase was generally a little over one hundred years.

But if it devoured a Soul Beast of over ninety thousand years, it could gain at least eight or nine hundred years of cultivation.

Devouring a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could also increase its cultivation by a thousand years or more, but that required devouring a Soul Beast with an exceptionally powerful bloodline.

The strongest Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Yi Yi had devoured so far was a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear that was over ninety-five thousand years old.

This was also the strongest Soul Beast Yi Yi had devoured so far. Even the Hundred-Thousand-Year Golden Tortoise and Hundred-Thousand-Year White Armored Earth Dragon had been inferior to it.

Of course, that inferiority referred to combat strength, not to the cultivation gained from devouring them.

After devouring this Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, Yi Yi's cultivation had increased by over two thousand years, nearly matching the gains from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

There was a fundamental difference between the energy of ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts and Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. The latter provided Yi Yi with far greater improvement.

Even the most ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was much more tempting to Yi Yi than a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear that was over ninety thousand years old.

Yi Yi looked at the blood-red soul ring, opened its mouth wide, and intended to devour it as well.

There was not much energy within the soul ring, but the Soul Beast's origin was still somewhat useful to it. There was no need to waste it.

"Yi Yi, don't devour that yet," Jing Chen stopped it as he walked over to Yi Yi's side.

Yi Yi gave Jing Chen a puzzled look. Without asking why, it nodded.

Its body began to shrink. It transformed into its miniature form, leapt onto Jing Chen's head, and lay there with a comfortable expression.

That pleasant feeling came from the Golden Tortoise it had just devoured. Having eaten its fill, it was naturally quite happy.

Today's second chapter. The new book has set sail—please bookmark it and vote with recommendation tickets.

That's all for today, just two chapters. See you tomorrow.