When Dan Shi touched the Soul Beast's body, it didn't feel a thing.
But the next second, the Soul Beast began to tremble all over. It couldn't even let out a scream before it dropped straight to the ground.
A white Spirit Ring rose from the Soul Beast's body.
"Just as I thought, Dan Shi! A hit means certain death!"
Qin Qi stepped forward to inspect it. The Soul Beast's face was twisted in agony. Though it hadn't screamed, the marks on its body showed just how much pain it had been in.
Qin Qi looked at the white Spirit Ring floating before him. He didn't absorb it, but turned and left.
Now that Dan Shi had proven effective, hunting a Hundred-Year Soul Beast was a certainty.
Over the following hours, Qin Qi searched for signs of Hundred-Year Soul Beasts, but didn't find any.
In the blink of an eye, evening had come. The teacher leading the group took everyone out of the Soul Hunting Forest.
They stayed at a nearby inn, preparing to resume their hunt the following morning.
Qin Qi lay in his room, thinking through his next steps.
"I can only condense one Dan Shi a day, but one is enough to kill with a single strike."
"The important thing now is finding a target. What kind of Martial Soul should I choose?"
Qin Qi fell into deep thought. The Martial Soul Dan Shi was so unusual that he couldn't even tell what type of Martial Soul it was.
"As for offense, Dan Shi ignores defenses. As for concealment, Dan Shi has no color, shape, or smell."
"As for power, a hit from Dan Shi means certain death. It seems like any Spirit Ring could work."
Qin Qi felt that Dan Shi didn't need any additional effects. It was already well-rounded in every way.
"Forget it. I'll think about it tomorrow, when I go back to the Soul Hunting Forest. I'll absorb the Spirit Ring of whichever Hundred-Year Soul Beast I come across."
After making a plan for the next day, Qin Qi entered the Study Space and began to study.
The next morning, Qin Qi and the others entered the Soul Hunting Forest again. Not long after they went in, he quietly slipped away.
With Transparent World enhancing his senses, his powers of observation had reached their peak, as had his ability to conceal his presence.
"Sticking with the teacher would certainly be safer, but I won't find any good Soul Beasts out here."
The previous night, Qin Qi had learned how to conceal his movements from Tang Jiaren. Now he put that knowledge to use.
With the talent granted by Transparent World, he could pass right by a Soul Beast without being noticed.
"Not bad. As long as I don't go out of my way to get in their faces, it'll be very hard for these Soul Beasts to spot me."
Qin Qi began searching his surroundings, doing his best to identify the Soul Beasts based on what he'd learned at the academy.
"This one should be ten years old, and so should that one. The Soul Hunting Forest really is safe, but it's nothing compared to the Star Dou Great Forest."
Qin Qi searched around. Most of the Soul Beasts he saw were ten-year-old ones; he couldn't find any that were a hundred years old.
The Soul Hunting Forest was divided into levels. The higher the forest's level, the older the Soul Beasts found there. This particular Soul Hunting Forest was a beginner-level one.
That meant its Soul Beasts were generally low-level. There were basically no Hundred-Year Soul Beasts on the outskirts, so Qin Qi had no choice but to head farther in.
After some time, Qin Qi reached the inner area. He searched around and found a Soul Beast.
"A Datura Snake. Judging by its length, it's at least a Hundred-Year Soul Beast."
Qin Qi looked at the Datura Snake coiled around a tree. It was about five meters long.
Datura Snakes grew one meter every hundred years, so this one was probably around five hundred years old.
"Five hundred years... Can I handle it?"
Qin Qi thought it over and didn't make a rash decision. He still knew too little about Spirit Rings.
He decided to keep searching the surrounding area, to see if he could find something else.
After spending half a day searching, Qin Qi still came back. He hadn't found anything suitable.
"Phew. This one, then."
"It carries its own poison, has decent defenses, and moves fast. No matter how I look at it, it's a good fit."
Qin Qi looked at the Datura Snake. Though he didn't think much of Grandmaster, Grandmaster had been right about one thing.
In this low-level Soul Hunting Forest, the Datura Snake was already a very good Soul Beast.
Qin Qi used Transparent World to conceal his presence completely, then stood ten meters away and condensed Dan Shi.
"Go!"
Qin Qi sent Dan Shi flying. Invisible and odorless, it drifted slowly toward the Datura Snake.
The moment it touched the dark green scales, it passed right through them. Dan Shi's ability to ignore defenses had come into play!
The Datura Snake still didn't react. It hadn't noticed that it had been attacked at all.
But once Dan Shi had entered its body completely, its power erupted in an instant. A burst of agony struck in the blink of an eye!
"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!"
The Datura Snake fell from the tree, hissing in agony as it thrashed wildly on the ground.
The surrounding trees and flowers were crushed beneath it. After struggling for a while, it fell silent.
A yellow Spirit Ring rose from its body.
"Done."
Qin Qi emerged from his hiding place and walked over to the Datura Snake's corpse.
"A hit from the Tang Sect's Dan Shi means certain death."
Qin Qi looked at the Datura Snake. A five-hundred-year-old Soul Beast had combat strength roughly equivalent to a Soul Grandmaster of level twenty or higher.
Yet it had died without any means of fighting back against Dan Shi. As Qin Qi marveled at Dan Shi's power,
he also marveled at how easy it was to take a life.
"This is the Datura Snake's territory. Ordinary Soul Beasts won't come here lightly, so now's a good time to absorb the Spirit Ring!"
Qin Qi had already scouted the area. Because of the Datura Snake, there were no other Soul Beasts nearby.
He sat down and began drawing the Spirit Ring toward him, pulling it over and starting to absorb it.
Normally, a Spirit Ring was supposed to envelop the Martial Soul, but this time it wrapped around Qin Qi's entire body.
"So hot! There's so much!"
Qin Qi felt a vast amount of Soul Power, hot as molten lava, surging into his body.
He immediately used the power of Transparent World to control his body and absorb this energy.
At the same time, the Five Treasures Body Protection Method began to circulate. He sat cross-legged and entered a meditative state.
"Hm, this... doesn't seem very difficult."
In his Transparent World state, Qin Qi could clearly see the Soul Power flowing into his body.
He could even control it, carefully reducing the impact of the energy to a minimum.
Then, as the Five Treasures Body Protection Method circulated, it protected his body while slowly absorbing the Soul Power.
Qi coursed through his whole body, round after round. As his Macrocosmic Orbit continued to cycle, Qin Qi's Soul Power steadily increased.
His physical strength increased as well.
"My Qi seems to have changed a little."
Through Inner Observation, Qin Qi realized that his Qi—or rather, his Soul Power—had changed.
At first, his Qi had been ordinary and without any particular nature. But after absorbing the Datura Snake's Spirit Ring, his Soul Power had begun to turn dark green.
Qi Poison began to emerge around him. No, it wasn't Qi Poison. It was ordinary Qi, but it naturally carried poison!