An Attempt to Condense Soul Rings, Another Journey to Notting City

Zhao Ming's thinking was clear: the essence of Soul Ring is actually an aggregation of energy. So theoretically speaking, as long as the energy between heaven and earth can be gathered, compressed, and solidified, it is possible to condense Soul Ring on its own without relying on Soul Beast.

Zhao Ming sat cross-legged in the center of the secret room, practicing the breathing technique of "Nine-Breath Qi Absorption".

Unlike before, this time he did not draw spiritual energy from heaven and earth into his body. Instead, he used his spiritual power as a guide to gather spiritual energy from all directions around his body, forming a constantly rotating vortex of spiritual energy.

Simply gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is not difficult; the difficulty lies in compressing it.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is an extremely violent energy. If it is compressed directly without being refined, it is like stuffing a ferocious beast into a cage. If the cage is slightly unstable, the beast will break out.

Zhao Ming carefully controlled his mental power, compressing the ball of spiritual energy little by little.

However, just as the ball of light was about to solidify, a burst of violent energy suddenly erupted from within it.

Zhao Ming felt a sudden white light before his eyes, followed by an immense force slamming into his chest, sending him flying.

"Boom!" A large, human-shaped hole was blasted through the wall of the secluded chamber, sending debris flying and dust billowing everywhere.

Zhao Ming tumbled several times in the air before barely managing to steady himself, and staggered several steps when he landed on the ground.

He glanced down at himself; his robes were ripped to shreds, his chest was charred black, and a small tuft of his hair was singed. He looked utterly disheveled.

Fortunately, the "Nine-Breath Qi Absorption" he cultivated not only enhanced his Soul Power but also tempered his physique and mental strength. Zhao Ming's defensive power far exceeded that of other Soul Master of the same level. Although the explosion looked frightening, he was not actually seriously injured.

"We can't simply gather and compress the energy of heaven and earth." Zhao Ming dusted himself off and muttered to himself, "The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is inherently violent; forcibly compressing it will only make it more unstable. We must find a way to keep the compressed spiritual energy stable."

The secret chamber had been blown to pieces and was obviously unusable. Zhao Ming simply left Pill Tower Academy and headed to Sunset Forest to conduct his experiments there, where he wouldn't have to worry about damaging buildings or harming innocent people.

Zhao Ming found a clearing deep in the forest. It was surrounded by towering ancient trees, and in the center was a grassy area about a hundred feet in diameter. The ground was flat and the view was open.

Over the next three months, Zhao Ming conducted various tests on this open space.

He tried using his own Soul Power to coordinate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and then compress it, controlling the compression result by the ratio of Soul Power injected. He tried every ratio, such as 1:10, 1:50, and 1:100, but without exception, they all exploded at the last moment.

Zhao Ming also tried to harmonize the spiritual energy using different attributes, such as fire, water, and earth. He even took some ice and fire spring water to use the dual attributes of ice and fire in the spring water to balance each other, but the results were not ideal.

The experiment involving both ice and fire attributes was the most dangerous. The two completely opposite attributes clashed violently when compressed to their extremes, resulting in an explosion that was more powerful than any before. Trees within a radius of several dozen feet were snapped in half, and Zhao Ming himself was covered in soot from the blast.

Over the course of three months, Zhao Ming had tried almost every method he could think of.

There were some successes. Through countless failures, he gradually developed a relatively stable compression technique that could compress the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to a state extremely close to that of Soul Ring.

His closest attempt at success was when he condensed a phantom white Soul Ring.

The Soul Ring hovered above his palm, its entire body a translucent milky white, slowly rotating and emitting faint energy fluctuations.

From its appearance, it looks almost exactly like a real Ten-Year Soul Ring, except that its color is more ethereal, as if it might dissipate at any moment.

Zhao Ming carefully maintained the stability of the Soul Ring, a surge of uncontrollable excitement welling up inside him. Three months of hard work had finally brought him a glimmer of hope for success.

Unfortunately, this Soul Ring didn't last long. Soon, countless fine cracks appeared on its surface, and then with a "bang," it turned into countless points of light and dissipated into the air.

Zhao Ming stood there, watching the dissipating specks of light, his brows furrowed.

He could sense that he was only one step away from success. The reason why the illusory Soul Ring collapsed was not because the compression technique was wrong, nor because the spiritual energy was not stable enough, but because it was missing some key element.

Something that can transform Soul Ring from an illusion into reality, from an energy aggregate into a true Soul Ring.

But what exactly is it?

Zhao Ming fell into deep thought.

"It can't be the Soul Power or soul of Soul Beast, can it?" he muttered to himself, a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

Soul Ring are what Soul Beast leave behind after they die; this is common knowledge known to everyone on the Douluo Continent.

If self-condensed Soul Ring truly require the Soul Power or soul of Soul Beast as material, then his research over the past three months has been completely misguided, because his goal was precisely to break free from dependence on Soul Beast.

But how will you know if it's right or wrong if you don't try?

To verify this hypothesis, Zhao Ming simply went and captured a ten- Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

He searched the forest for most of the day and finally located a ten-thousand-year-old Gale Demon Wolf.

Zhao Ming subdued the Gale Demon Wolf without much effort. He broke the wolf's limbs and then began a new round of attempts.

This time, following the method he had previously figured out, he first gathered and compressed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to form a phantom white Soul Ring prototype.

Then, he unleashed his third Soul Skill, Netherworld Soul Lock.

In addition to its locking effect, this Soul Skill can also extract Soul Power from the target to enhance all of its own attributes.

Zhao Ming focused his Netherworld Soul Lock on the Gale Demon Wolf. His Soul Power surged out of the chains like a burst dam, and Zhao Ming guided it into the illusory Soul Ring prototype.

After absorbing the Soul Power of the Gale Demon Wolf, the nascent Soul Ring suddenly deepened in color, changing from a translucent milky white to a turbid grayish white.

A violent energy surged and churned within the Soul Ring, as if it might explode at any moment.

Zhao Ming's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly increased the suppression of his mental power in an attempt to stabilize the Soul Ring.

However, the violent energy grew increasingly intense, and the cracks on the surface of the Soul Ring multiplied until finally. "Boom!"

A deafening roar erupted, more powerful than any previous explosion.

Zhao Ming felt an irresistible force crashing into him, sending him flying. He slammed into a large tree dozens of feet away, creating a huge dent in the trunk. He felt a sweet taste in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The Gale Demon Wolf fared even worse; it was struck head-on by the shockwave of the explosion, rolling on the ground more than a dozen times before coming to a stop, its entire body covered in blood, and it was on the verge of death.

Zhao Ming leaned against the tree trunk, took out a few healing pills from his Storage Soul Tool, put them in his mouth, and circulated his Soul Power to neutralize the medicinal effects and calm the surging blood and qi in his body.

His chest was burning with pain, and it seemed like he had broken one or two ribs. However, this level of injury was nothing to him; with the help of medicinal pills, he would recover quickly.

"It seems the problem isn't the Soul Power of the Soul Beast!"

After the Soul Beast's Soul Power was injected into the nascent Soul Ring, it not only failed to stabilize the Soul Ring, but instead exacerbated the violent nature of the energy.

This shows that the Soul Power of Soul Beast and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth are inherently in conflict, and forcibly fusing them will only backfire.

After a day of rest, Zhao Ming's injuries had fully healed. He was not discouraged and continued to try.

Soul Ring are what Soul Beast leave behind after they die, and they inevitably contain fragments of the Soul Beast's soul.

If this is precisely the missing part of the self-formed Soul Ring, then as long as the soul fragments of the Soul Beast are integrated into the Soul Ring prototype, the Soul Ring should be able to be fully formed.

Zhao Ming once again gathered the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, condensing a phantom white Soul Ring prototype.

Then, he walked up to the dying Gale Demon Wolf and decisively ended its life.

With lightning speed, Zhao Ming unleashed his full mental power, at the Titled Douluo level, capturing all the soul fragments that were about to dissipate and then guiding them to merge into the nascent Soul Ring.

A strange thing happened: the moment those soul fragments merged into the nascent Soul Ring, the originally illusory Soul Ring suddenly became solid.

The translucent milky white quickly transformed into pure white, and the outline of the Soul Ring became clear and stable, without any further tremors or cracks.

A familiar energy fluctuation emanated from the Soul Ring; it was the unique fluctuation of a true Soul Ring.

The Soul Ring have taken shape.

Zhao Ming could clearly sense a subtle connection between himself and this Soul Ring.

He could bring this Soul Ring into his body at any time, making it his Seventh Soul Ring, if he so desired.

Moreover, he could sense that as long as he continuously guided the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the Soul Ring, the age of the Soul Ring would continue to increase.

But Zhao Ming was not happy. He looked at the pure white Soul Ring in his hand, then at the corpse of the Gale Demon Wolf on the ground, his brows furrowed.

What's the difference between obtaining Soul Ring this way and directly killing a Soul Ring Soul Beast? Both require the Soul Beast's life.

He spent three months experimenting, exploding countless times, and breaking several bones, only to conclude that self-forming Soul Ring was indeed feasible, but only if he first killed a Soul Beast and used its soul fragments as the catalyst for the Soul Ring's formation.

What's this? Is it like taking off your pants to fart?

Zhao Ming shook his head with a wry smile and casually dispersed the Soul Ring.

However, although this success did not achieve his ultimate goal, it confirmed two things for him.

First, the condensation of Soul Ring requires two steps: one is to gather and compress the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to form the prototype of the Soul Ring; the other is to inject fragments of the Soul Beast's soul to transform the Soul Ring from a prototype into a finished product.

The Soul Skill of Soul Ring are related to the soul fragments of the Soul Beast into which they are injected. The soul fragments of the Gale Demon Wolf will most likely grant the Soul Ring a wind-attribute or speed-type Soul Skill.

Secondly, and most importantly, the soul fragments of Soul Beast are an indispensable "catalyst" for the formation of Soul Ring.

Without it, the nascent Soul Ring cannot be stabilized and will inevitably collapse in the end.

The problem Zhao Ming needs to solve now is: how to form Soul Ring and generate Soul Skill without injecting Soul Beast fragments.

Or, to put it another way, is it possible to find something that can replace the soul fragments of Soul Beast and achieve the same catalytic effect?

Zhao Ming does not have an answer to this question at the moment.

Just as Zhao Ming was confused, a Soul Master from the Pill Tower found him.

He was a young Soul Master from a collateral branch of the Ye Clan, about twenty years old, with a cultivation level at the Soul Elder level.

"Young Master Zhao!" the young man said breathlessly, "Ye Qing sent word that Tang San has reached level 30, and tomorrow Yu Xiaogang will take him to Suotuo City to find someone to help him hunt for his Third Soul Ring."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ming's eyes lit up.

Tang San is level 30!

Based on previous experience, Xiao Wu would typically break through to the next level within a week of Tang San's breakthrough.

If we could witness Xiao Wu condensing her Third Soul Ring, we might be able to find a way to replace the soul fragments of Soul Beast!

"Is the message confirmed?" Zhao Ming pressed.

"Absolutely true. Ye Qing confirmed it himself. Tang San just broke through to level 30 today, and Yu Xiaogang has already asked the academy for leave. They'll set off first thing tomorrow morning."

Zhao Ming nodded, quickly calculating the time in his mind.

Tang San will depart for Suotuo City tomorrow, while Xiao Wu will remain in Notting City and will break through to the next level within a week at most. In other words, he must arrive in Notting City before Xiao Wu's breakthrough.

Time is of the essence, and there is no time to lose.

Without further hesitation, Zhao Ming's Second Soul Ring flashed, and his figure transformed into a streak of light, rushing towards Notting City at full speed.

The trees of the Sunset Forest rushed past him, the wind whistling in his ears.

Throughout the journey, he kept replaying the experimental process of the past three months in his mind.

He had mastered the steps of gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, compressing it, and condensing the prototype of the Soul Ring.

The only thing holding him back now is the final step: how to stabilize the nascent Soul Ring and transform it from illusion into reality.

Soul fragments of Soul Beast could do this, but Zhao Ming didn't want to use them.

What he was looking for was an alternative, a way to form Soul Ring without killing Soul Beast.

Xiao Wu, this silly rabbit who transformed from Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit, may hold the key to solving this problem through her method of condensing her Soul Ring.

When Transformed Soul Beast condenses its Soul Ring, it does not need to hunt other Soul Beast, nor does it need any soul fragments.

After Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast transformation, the essence of their previous life's cultivation is still retained within their body. This essence will automatically transform into Soul Ring when they break through to a higher realm.

If we can figure out this "automatic conversion" mechanism, we might be able to deduce a method to condense Soul Ring without needing soul fragments.

Of course, all of this is just Zhao Ming's speculation. Whether it will work or not can only be determined after he sees Xiao Wu condense her Soul Ring.

"Xiao Wu, you silly rabbit, don't make me come all this way for nothing!" Zhao Ming thought to himself as he hurried on his way.

If Xiao Wu doesn't find anything, Zhao Ming will have to hunt Soul Beast himself.