"By the way, my good son!"
"Have you got a preferred soul beast for your third Soul Ring? We can start preparing in advance!"
Liu Yuer knew that her son had always had ideas of his own since childhood. His little head was quite clever!
"As for my third Soul Ring, I do have an idea. I want to hunt a Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle!"
"As for its age, around five thousand years!"
Xia Mu's Martial Soul, the Light-Hiding Sword, was a sword Martial Soul possessing Ultimate Light, containing both light and metal attributes.
The first two Soul Rings had enhanced the Light-Hiding Sword's metal attribute, so the third Soul Ring should focus on its light attribute!
The Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle was a soul beast with both metal and light attributes, capable of strengthening the Light-Hiding Sword's Martial Soul Origin.
"A five-thousand-year Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle?"
There were countless soul beasts in the world, yet this was the first time Xia Feng and Liu Yuer had heard of a Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle.
"It is recorded in the Soul Beast Encyclopedia. The Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle resembles a scarab, possesses light and metal attributes, and moves like lightning, making it extremely difficult to catch!"
"However, it likes feeding on the sap of ten-thousand-year Iron Birch trees, so we need to prepare some things beforehand."
"This type of soul beast is extremely timid, and it is incredibly fast. Only a net can catch them!"
"And the net must be specially made. It needs to be woven from cold iron mixed with thousand-year Ice Silkworm Silk to restrain it effectively!"
Xia Mu recited the information effortlessly. He had not been idle these years; aside from cultivation, he had constantly been studying.
"So that's how it is!"
The couple nodded, indicating that they had learned something.
Within the Heaven Dou Empire, Sunset Forest.
"According to the intelligence we purchased, a Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle was spotted in the eastern part of Sunset Forest."
"The exact location is not far ahead."
As one of only two great primeval forests on Douluo Continent, Sunset Forest covered an enormous area.
Sunset Forest stretched across three provinces, with a total area exceeding two million square kilometers. It was roughly two thousand kilometers from east to west and fifteen hundred kilometers from north to south.
This place lay in the subtropics, where lush trees grew in abundance and everything exuded a primal atmosphere.
The three of them searched along the border, not daring to venture deep into Sunset Forest's interior for fear of encountering danger.
Many ten-thousand-year soul beasts inhabited the depths of Sunset Forest, including powerful beast kings that were ninety thousand years old!
Many thousand-year soul beasts lived in Sunset Forest's outer regions. As long as they did not enter the core area, Xia Feng and Liu Yuer's strength would be enough to keep them safe.
"We're here!"
"According to the intelligence we purchased, that Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle frequently appears in this area!"
"Insect-type soul beasts have relatively low intelligence. Before they grow into beast kings, Soul Masters have always mainly hunted insect-type soul beasts through baited traps!"
"However, this method does not work on beast kings over ten thousand years old. Their intelligence is comparable to that of ordinary people!"
After setting up the trap, Xia Mu hid nearby and waited quietly for the prey to take the bait. Even then, he did not forget to explain.
"Bzz, bzz!"
After waiting quietly for three days, on the morning of the third day, a giant insect clad in golden armor beat its wings and arrived near the trap, stopping there.
Boom!
The trap was triggered!
A huge net instantly fell over it!
The Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle had been about to beat its wings and fly away, but it was tightly ensnared by the specially made net.
No matter what methods the Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle used, it could not escape the net. Instead, it became more tightly entangled.
"This Holy Light Golden Armored Beetle is around sixty centimeters long and approximately six thousand years old. It's somewhat older than expected, but not by much."
"If I grit my teeth, I should be able to endure it!"
Xia Mu had consumed thousand-year Whale Rubber and practiced internal martial arts, giving him physical strength comparable to a four-ring Soul Ancestor!
If a Soul Master wanted to absorb a ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring, then their third Soul Ring had to be at least five thousand years old.
This had practically become an ironclad rule!
Soul Rings were a Soul Master's most powerful foundation, without exception. They concerned a Soul Master's future.
Liu Yuer and Xia Feng had lacked sufficient foundations, which was why they had no chance of obtaining a ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring in this lifetime.
Absorbing Soul Rings was also a gradual process!
If the age difference between Soul Rings was too great and one lacked a solid enough foundation to bear it, serious problems would arise instead.
"Sorry for the trouble!"
Xia Mu released his Martial Soul. Sword light flashed, life was extinguished, and a deep purple Soul Ring slowly rose.
Release the Martial Soul, draw in the Soul Ring!
Sit in meditation, regulate the breath, refine the Soul Power!
After the entire process, several hours slipped by. When Xia Mu opened his eyes, the sun was already leaning westward.
"Xia Mu, how are you feeling?"
Xia Feng and Liu Yuer hurried forward, their faces full of anxiety as they feared something had happened to their son.
"Very good!"
"I've never felt better!"
Xia Mu stood up. Having absorbed another Soul Ring, he had grown a little taller again.
The childishness on Xia Mu's face had now faded. Though his features were still quite youthful, he had already grown into a spirited young man.
Young and high-spirited, handsome with sword-like brows and starry eyes!
"My third soul skill is called Sword Dance. It can greatly increase my attack power by fifty percent in an instant, and it can also enhance subsequent soul skills."
"Just as I expected, the soul skills produced after hunting soul beasts are related to the Soul Master's own obsessions!"
"Is this an embodiment of the laws of heaven and earth?"
"Or is it the handiwork of the Divine Realm?"
Xia Mu raised his head toward the sky. The profession of Soul Master was inherently twisted, as if it had been designed by someone!
When Xia Mu came back to his senses, Liu Yuer had already taken out the Soul Power Testing Crystal and strode up to him.
"Good son!"
"Quick, test your Soul Power!"
Liu Yuer spoke softly.
"Bzzzz~"
The Soul Power Testing Crystal lit up, revealing his Soul Power Level.
"Level thirty-three?"
"Your Soul Power increased by another three levels?"
The two were somewhat shocked. They had both absorbed Soul Rings beyond their limits before, but Xia Mu's improvement was far greater than theirs.
"Attribute Stacking must have taken effect!"
"For every five levels of Soul Power I gain, I can obtain an extra level of Soul Power, while others have to cultivate painstakingly!"
"But I'm different!"
"By absorbing Soul Rings beyond my limit, I can rapidly increase my Soul Power during the early stages and shorten my cultivation time."
"Absorbing a Soul Ring beyond my limit gives me two levels of Soul Power, while Attribute Stacking lets me get two more levels for free. That greatly reduces my burden."
"Others need to painstakingly accumulate ten levels of Soul Power to advance, but I only need six levels!"
"One step ahead, every step ahead!"
"This is my first-mover advantage!"
"However, a Soul Master's daily cultivation only gets harder the further one progresses. Without a high-level meditation method, my cultivation speed will only grow slower in the future."
"Besides, I have an Ultimate Martial Soul!"
"Ultimate Martial Souls are notoriously slow in the middle stages."
"Looks like I need to plan not only for Peerless Immortal Herbs, but also for Little Scumbag's Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record!"
"The Mysterious Heaven Skill within it can be cultivated all the way to the God King realm. On Douluo, a technique like that is one of a kind!"
Xia Mu's Martial Soul was among the best, and his Soul Ring configuration far surpassed that of ordinary people. All he lacked was a top-tier cultivation technique.
However, Little Scumbag had not even been born yet, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill had yet to appear. Xia Mu had no way to make plans for it!
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