Yan Hongchen's Thoughts: Secluded Cultivation

Yi Hongchen said to Yan Hongchen, "You're next, Little Yan. Since you don't have any soul rings yet, your mother and I can't exactly spar with you."

"But regarding the paths for your two martial souls, your father will still be able to guide you in the future on the assault-type path of the heart martial soul. As for the Phantom Water Spirit Toad, though, I may not be able to help much."

He truly had no solution when it came to support. This was the first time a support-type martial soul had appeared in the Hongchen Family, making it difficult to gauge. Yi Hongchen felt somewhat frustrated about it.

Liu Yueming said, "Does Little Yan have any thoughts about his martial souls? You can tell us. I've done some research into both spiritual and water attributes."

Yan Hongchen had become somewhat independent since he was a little over three years old. Whether it was reading and writing, physical training, or daily life, he had always had his own ideas.

In Liu Yueming's view, Yan Hongchen must have already considered some possible paths. All she could do now was offer him some help. As for what soul skills he would gain after absorbing his soul rings, they would have to wait and see.

Yan Hongchen voiced his thoughts. "Before obtaining a ten-thousand-year soul ring, I want to acquire some more functional soul skills that aren't too constrained by soul ring age."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yueming and Yi Hongchen recalled the core principles behind the first four soul skills they had used. Just as Yan Hongchen had said, they had not expected him to have already summarized them so clearly.

"It would be great if I could find a dual-attribute soul ring compatible with both spiritual power and water, but such soul rings are far too difficult to find. I've only seen a few kinds, so I can only settle for the next best thing."

According to Yan Hongchen's memories, soul beasts like that were exceedingly rare. There likely were not even nine types in total, even if one included water-attribute variants, ice attributes, and wood attributes.

Ice was a variation of water and could be considered an attribute of the same form. Wood was an extension of water; among the five elements, water generated wood, while wood restrained water, so their compatibility was not low either.

After considering it all, ice silkworms, Illusory Serpents, merfolk, certain special Evil Eye Tyrants, and the King of Ten Thousand Demons could all meet the requirements.

Although Yan Hongchen's martial soul was compatible with Tianmeng Ice Silkworm, their destination this time was the Extreme North Icefield, not the Star Dou Great Forest.

Moreover, Yan Hongchen did not want to provoke Tianmeng Ice Silkworm. That fellow was a hot potato. He did not have the ability to seize that opportunity, and he feared drawing the attention of people and gods he should not provoke.

Yan Hongchen stated his final choice. "If I give up on dual attributes, then I want my first soul ring to focus on enhancement. Whether it enhances spiritual power or uses the water attribute to enhance some other effect, both would be very practical. Mom, do you have any ideas?"

After listening, Liu Yueming frankly shared her thoughts. "There's a special soul beast in the Extreme North that I used for my first soul ring, called the Snow Spirit Butterfly. The soul skill it gave me is called 'Snow Blindness.' As long as someone looks directly into my eyes, it can briefly block their vision and interrupt their soul skill. You can consider whether you want it."

Seeing Yan Hongchen look a little lost, Yi Hongchen rubbed his head. "There's nothing in this world where you can have the best of both worlds. Your mother's and my martial souls are the same—we mostly chose soul rings by alternating attributes. This time, your mother mainly wants to find some ice-attribute soul beasts with higher bloodline grades. I have my eye on soul beasts with powerful bodies, like Titan Snow Demons. As for you, Little Yan, if you haven't made up your mind yet, you can have your brother and sister help look. After all, your mother and I need to enter seclusion to cultivate and make our formal breakthrough."

The three children understood perfectly about Yi Hongchen and Liu Yueming entering seclusion to break through.

Xiao Hongchen promised, "Don't worry. I'll take good care of my sister and brother. You can break through without concern."

Yi Hongchen and Liu Yueming were not worried. Although Jing Hongchen was busy, he could still take care of the three of them, so long as they could take care of themselves as well.

The two then headed to the Hongchen Family's mimicry cultivation chamber and began their closed-door cultivation with the prepared resources.

Over the following period, Yan Hongchen dragged Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen headfirst into the study of the ducal residence.

Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen knew full well how much Yan Hongchen valued—and worried over—his soul rings, so they accompanied him without complaint as they buried themselves in the sea of books.

In the afternoon, sunlight streamed through the windows, softened yet bright after being filtered. The long table by the window was covered in thick illustrated guides piled like mountains, along with notes and spread-out hand-drawn charts.

"There really are very few recorded soul beasts possessing both spiritual and water attributes." Meng Hongchen's fair fingertip tapped a line of ancient text as she murmured softly.

Meng Hongchen raised her head, her brows slightly furrowed. "The records for several types aren't very clear. Most of it is just hearsay..."

Xiao Hongchen leaned back against his chair, casually flipping through an illustrated guide of soul beasts from the Star Dou Great Forest. Hearing her, he raised his eyes.

"Little brother, if you temporarily set aside the dual-attribute requirement and choose just one, your options would broaden considerably. Didn't you already have something in mind? You just don't want to give it up, do you?"

Yan Hongchen nodded. Xiao Hongchen's words made sense. The reason he wanted to find a dual-attribute soul beast was that he hoped to cultivate both attributes at once. He had a feeling that if he obtained the soul ring of such a soul beast, he would gain something unexpectedly valuable.

However, the Sun Moon Empire's foundational research on soul beasts—especially its records concerning rare attributes and mutated individuals—was far less systematic and thorough than that of the historically longstanding Douluo Three Kingdoms.

Most of the Sun Moon Empire's efforts had gone into soul tool technology. The books in his home were already extensive, and they had even been selected as key excerpts from the academy, but they still had their limitations.

After silently reading for a long while longer, Yan Hongchen closed the last volume in his hands. He let out a soft breath, rubbed his slightly sore eyes, and looked out at the darkening sky.

"We've gone through most of the guides and notes we could find. Brother, Sister, let's clean up and head back."

Xiao Hongchen had long been unable to sit still. He immediately stood up and briskly stacked the scattered books before him. "We should have done that ages ago. All these convoluted words and diagrams have made my eyes swell. I'm so sleepy..."

Xiao Hongchen then picked up a stack of heavy tomes and walked over to the nearby bookshelf, returning them one by one. His movements were quick but orderly.

Meng Hongchen carefully gathered the papers scattered across the table, which contained the names of various soul beasts, their traits, and summaries of possible soul skills. She bound them into a booklet and handed it to Yan Hongchen.

"Little brother, keep these ideas and clues. If you have new considerations in the future, or find new information, you can add it in."

Yan Hongchen accepted the booklet and stored it in the soul storage tool he carried with him. He said sincerely, "Thank you, Brother and Sister, for spending so many days looking through all this with me."

Xiao Hongchen turned back from the bookshelf and waved dismissively. "We're family. Why say such things? Grandfather mentioned that we'll be setting out to hunt soul rings within the next few days, so you two should pay more attention."

"It's only a soul ring. You're overthinking it and getting too anxious. Relax. Don't forget that we can use soul tools to make up for our own shortcomings."

Yan Hongchen thought that made sense. He had become a little too fixated on the path of a soul master. He was talented with soul tools as well, and letting the two complement each other was the best approach.