At the bottom of the sinkhole, there was complete silence.
Qin Chuan hovered above the sinkhole, his Six Paths Reincarnation Eye sweeping over the depths below.
The spatial storm just now had nearly devoured everything. Even the Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger's corpse had vanished into nothingness.
Could the Soul Ring have been swallowed by the spatial rift too? Qin Chuan's heart gave a thump.
If that had happened, all his effort would have been for nothing—and he would have nearly paid for it with his life.
Just as he was fretting over it, a strange glimmer appeared in the vision of his Samsara Eye, stubbornly flickering at the very bottom of the sinkhole.
The light was as deep as the night sky, as black as polished jade.
It was the Soul Ring!
Qin Chuan's heart leaped with joy. With a flicker of movement, he landed at the bottom of the sinkhole.
There, a pitch-black Soul Ring hovered quietly half a meter above the ground, countless stars seeming to swirl across its surface.
Its aura was more powerful than that of any Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring Qin Chuan had ever seen. Its restrained yet razor-sharp energy seemed ready at any moment to transform into peerless sword qi and tear through everything.
An 25,000-year Soul Ring really is different.
Qin Chuan reached out and gently touched the black Soul Ring.
A cold, sharp energy shot from his fingertip, jolting his spirits.
He could feel that the Soul Ring contained the Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger's purest source power: Gengjin energy and killing Sword Intent.
This was exactly the nourishment the Zhu Xian Sword needed most!
Qin Chuan didn't hesitate. He sat cross-legged and began to guide the powerful Soul Ring.
He took a deep breath and extended his spiritual power, wrapping it around the black Soul Ring like a tentacle.
"Hum!"
The Soul Ring shuddered violently. A spiritual assault filled with savagery, defiance, and boundless killing intent surged along Qin Chuan's spiritual power and slammed into his mind!
"Roar!"
The phantom of a golden tiger, vast enough to reach the heavens and stretch across the earth, howled inside his Sea of Consciousness, trying to tear the soul of this intruder to pieces.
This was the remnant will of the Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger!
Qin Chuan began absorbing the Soul Ring.
This Soul Ring belonged to the Zhu Xian Sword: a black Soul Ring of 25,000 years!
A Soul Master having a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as his first Soul Ring was unheard of in the history of Douluo Continent!
As the Soul Ring joined him, an immense, unimaginably pure energy surged through the Zhu Xian Sword and flooded into every part of Qin Chuan's body!
The energy was like a red-hot iron ball hurled into a freezing lake.
"Zzzzt!"
An unbearable agony erupted through Qin Chuan's body!
His skin flushed crimson, every vein bulging beneath it like a writhing horned dragon, while his bones groaned under the strain.
The energy of a 25,000-year Soul Ring was simply too vast and too violent for a Level 50 Soul Ancestor!
The razor-sharp Gengjin energy rampaged through his meridians, like countless tiny knives furiously carving into him.
Beads of sweat the size of beans poured from Qin Chuan's forehead, only to evaporate instantly in the scorching heat radiating from his body, turning into white mist.
His body trembled violently, his teeth clenched so hard they clattered.
Qin Chuan circulated his Soul Power, trying to guide and tame the violent energy.
But in the face of that immense torrent, his Soul Power was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. It was utterly useless.
Then, a cool and pure Heavenly Dao Power welled from his eyes and swiftly flowed through his entire body like a refreshing rain.
The moment the violent Gengjin energy touched the Heavenly Dao Power, it seemed to meet its natural nemesis and instantly grew docile.
The Heavenly Dao Power was like an exceptionally efficient purifier and converter.
It refined and purified the immense Soul Ring energy again and again, removing every impurity and trace of savagery until only the purest source power remained.
Then it slowly poured that power into Qin Chuan's Soul Power.
Qin Chuan's tense body finally began to relax.
The soul-rending agony quickly faded, replaced by a sense of ease unlike anything he had ever felt, as if he had been reborn.
He could clearly feel his Soul Power skyrocketing at rocket speed.
Level 51!
Level 52!
Level 53!
Level 55!
About twenty minutes later, after the last trace of Soul Ring energy had been completely absorbed, Qin Chuan slowly opened his eyes.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, a lingering trace of fear still in his eyes.
The Golden-Patterned Sword-Toothed Tiger's Soul Ring was even more violent than I imagined. It was definitely far stronger than an ordinary Soul Beast of the same level! Without the Samsara Eye, I really might have been done for.
Qin Chuan stood up and felt the surging sea of Soul Power within him. A smile crept onto his lips.
Level 55!
Just by absorbing this one Soul Ring, his Soul Power Level had shot straight from Level 50 to Level 55!
Five levels in one go!
If word got out, it would probably shatter even the worldview of Yu Xiaogang, the Grandmaster of theory.
With a thought, the Zhu Xian Sword, now bearing its black Soul Ring, appeared in his hand again.
He could feel that the sword was completely different from before.
In addition to the dragon-scale patterns already etched across its blade, a faint golden shimmer now flowed over it, and its sharp aura was several times stronger than before!
Let's try out the new Soul Skill. Qin Chuan gripped the sword and infused it with Soul Power.
The Zhu Xian Sword's first Soul Ring—the 25,000-year black Soul Ring—suddenly lit up!
Qin Chuan made no complicated movements. He simply swung the sword straight down at the open ground ahead.
Hum!
A solid-looking gray sword projection, fifty meters long, broke free of the Zhu Xian Sword's blade. Bearing a terrifying force that could tear through anything, it crashed down!
"Rumble!"
Amid the thunderous boom, a terrifying sword scar, fifty meters long and seemingly bottomless, was cleaved into the cliff on the far side of the sinkhole!
The cut was smooth as a mirror!
Qin Chuan's pupils contracted. Before he could recover from his shock, he casually swung another horizontal slash.
"Whoosh!"
Another fifty-meter-long gray sword projection swept across the ground like the Reaper's scythe.
Every jutting rock and broken tree root in its fan-shaped path was severed cleanly in an instant!
The cuts were just as smooth!
"Excellent!" Qin Chuan couldn't help exclaiming, his eyes brimming with delight.
He withdrew his Soul Power, and the Zhu Xian Sword in his hand vanished with it.
Soul Power turned into a sword projection, with an enormous range and... terrifying power! I'll call this move "Sword Intent."
This was his first truly offensive Soul Skill!
He was no longer the "sleep-inducing master" Yu Xiaogang had once planned for him to become.
Originally, Qin Chuan had planned to press on while the momentum was still with him and venture deeper into the forest to hunt a second Soul Ring for the Zhu Xian Sword.
But then he suddenly thought of something else—something more important.
Something that would make that hypocrite Tang San suffer more than death!
The waterfall behind Holy Soul Village.
The Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor, Ah Yin!
Right, the Six Paths Reincarnation Eye's upgrade methods lean toward things like that. Blue Silver Emperor, I'm coming!
At the thought, a cold curve lifted Qin Chuan's lips.
He checked his bearings, then flashed away, speeding toward the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.