Jing Chen looked at the blood-red Soul Ring. Gritting his teeth, he decided to take the risk.
Although this Golden Tortoise had been killed by Yi Yi, he could still absorb its Soul Ring.
Generally speaking, Soul Rings produced by Soul Beasts not killed by Soul Masters were considered ownerless and could be absorbed by other Soul Masters.
In fact, even Soul Rings from Soul Beasts killed by Soul Masters could be turned ownerless through special Soul Tools.
Just like Xuan Ziwen in the original work, after the beast tide occurred, he collected Soul Rings, erased the Soul Master aura from them, and sold them as ownerless Soul Rings.
Soul Power circulated within Jing Chen's body, and a chill began to seep from him. The phantom of the Qilin Martial Soul appeared behind him.
The rhythmic hum of Soul Rings sounded as one yellow and one purple Soul Ring rose from beneath his feet.
Jing Chen sat down cross-legged. Having made his decision, he no longer hesitated and directly beckoned to the red Soul Ring, guiding it toward himself.
As the red Soul Ring approached, Jing Chen grew nervous. His heart was unsettled, and he prepared for the worst.
The red Soul Ring came above his head. Red energy drifted from the ring and entered his body.
Jing Chen had already prepared himself for the impact of that energy, but the actual situation differed greatly from what he had imagined.
The absorption of the Soul Ring had indeed begun, yet no powerful energy entered his body.
What entered now was only the Soul Beast's Origin Source energy. Unlike ordinary energy, it was not destructive.
"It really works." After a moment of stunned disbelief, Jing Chen revealed a delighted expression. His guess had been correct.
After Yi Yi drained the Soul Beast's energy, the Soul Ring it produced no longer contained energy.
This Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring now contained only a pure Soul Beast Origin Source imprint, without any energy beyond his ability to withstand.
That meant he could absorb this Soul Ring without any risk of his body exploding.
Upon learning that his gamble had paid off, Jing Chen let out a long breath and relaxed considerably.
I'll be able to absorb Soul Rings this way in the future, without needing to consider their age.
The success of this attempt brought him enormous benefits. In the future, he could obtain Soul Rings as powerful as possible.
Because the Soul Ring contained only Origin Source energy, Jing Chen found it exceptionally easy to absorb, without the slightest discomfort.
Absorbing this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's Soul Ring was even easier than absorbing his first two Soul Rings.
Still, easy as it was, it took rather a long time. The Origin Source energy transformed very slowly.
This was, after all, Origin Source energy at the Hundred Thousand Year level. With Jing Chen's current cultivation, refining it could not possibly be fast.
In the blink of an eye, five days passed, and Jing Chen's absorption of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring reached its final stage.
The Soul Ring completely entered his body, marking the end of the absorption process. He had successfully absorbed the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
After absorbing it, no particularly powerful energy fluctuations erupted from Jing Chen's body. Everything was relatively calm.
Jing Chen slowly opened his eyes. Five days of absorption had left him looking exhausted, with weariness and bewilderment in his eyes.
"My Soul Power only increased by one level, barely reaching Rank 31?" Jing Chen carefully sensed his own Soul Power and found that he had not felt wrongly.
He took out the newly purchased Soul Power testing crystal again. It could measure Soul Power Levels below Rank 90.
He poured Soul Power into it, and it quickly displayed his Soul Power Level: Rank 31.
Seeing that number, Jing Chen froze. Absorbing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring had only barely raised him by one level?
Not only had his Soul Power risen by merely one level, but his physical strength had not changed much compared to before he absorbed the Soul Ring.
Logically, after absorbing a Soul Ring and breaking through to Soul Elder, his physical strength should have increased greatly. Yet in reality, there had been little change.
This was far too abnormal, making him feel as if he had absorbed a fake Soul Ring.
Jing Chen did not panic. Instead, he lowered his head in thought, trying hard to determine the reason.
During this process, he also released his Martial Soul. Three Soul Rings appeared in sequence, with the red Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring on the outermost edge.
Looking at that Soul Ring, Jing Chen knew that he had successfully absorbed it.
The red Soul Ring before his eyes and his Rank 31 Soul Power both proved it. But why had his physical strength increased so little?
"Could it be because there was no energy in the Soul Ring, so it didn't temper my body with energy?"
Jing Chen muttered as he compared the sensations from his first two Soul Ring absorptions with this one.
He discovered that the greatest difference was that he had not endured an energy impact this time.
This certainly had its advantages, allowing him to absorb the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring smoothly, but it also meant he had not undergone energy tempering.
When absorbing a Soul Ring, the energy's tempering of the body was the key to improving physical strength.
Now that he had skipped this step, it was only natural that his physical strength had not received the tempering and improvement it should have.
"That should be the reason." The more Jing Chen thought about it, the more convinced he became. Otherwise, there was no way to explain it.
His Soul Power had barely risen by one level because the Soul Ring did not contain vast amounts of energy either.
Without energy entering his body, how could his Soul Power possibly increase by several levels?
The one level he had gained was most likely because, after absorbing a Soul Ring and breaking through a bottleneck, one's Soul Power was bound to increase by a level and enter the next stage.
Otherwise, he even suspected that after absorbing this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, his Soul Power might not have risen by even one level.
"Is this what they mean by gaining something while losing something?" Jing Chen looked at the blood-red Soul Ring and shook his head with a smile.
He had obtained a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring and gained two sufficiently powerful Soul Skills, but he had also lost several levels of Soul Power and improvements to his physical attributes.
Whether that meant he had profited or lost out, he could not say. He simply did not regret this attempt.
The current situation was already better than he had expected, so there was no need to ask for too much.
As for whether he should continue using this method to absorb Soul Rings in the future, he truly needed to think it over carefully and weigh the gains against the losses.
Having sorted it out, Jing Chen no longer dwelled on the matter and looked ahead.
What lay before him was not the Golden Tortoise's corpse, but a Spirit Bone emitting a brilliant golden glow and an irregularly shaped piece of emerald-green metal.
Seeing these two items, Jing Chen's heart heated up. He immediately got to his feet, but his legs, numb from sitting too long, nearly caused him to lose his balance.
Jing Chen endured the tingling sensation and slowly moved forward, his gaze fixed on the two items.
Once close, he picked up the Spirit Bone first. It was rather large and had a distinctive shape.
Jing Chen held the Spirit Bone in both hands and examined it from top to bottom, revealing a surprised expression.
This Spirit Bone was neither a limb bone nor a skull or Torso Bone. It was shaped like a turtle shell.
It was a complete miniature version of the Golden Tortoise's shell, curved in shape, with many protrusions across its surface and dark golden patterns between them.
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