The Target of the Third Spirit Ring: Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise

After leaving Clearwater Village, Lin Yan followed his grandmother to the Star Dou Great Forest.

Before heading to Shrek Academy, he first needed to obtain his third Spirit Ring.

Outside the Star Dou Great Forest, two carriages stopped before the warning sign. Lin Yan and Lin Yuhuan stepped down one after the other, then the grandmother and grandson headed deeper into the forest together.

"Lin Yan, you have your first and second spirit skills, as well as Thunderous Bagua, an innate offensive spirit skill that comes with your martial spirit. As far as offense goes, that is already enough for you at your current stage. What you lack now is a defensive spirit skill capable of protecting you."

"Our Tool Spirits generally possess stronger offensive power than Beast Spirits, but they also have a weakness: Tool Spirits do not enhance the body much. Our defenses are far inferior to those of assault-type Beast Spirit Soul Masters. To ensure our own safety, we must possess a defensive spirit skill in case of emergencies."

As she kept watch over their surroundings, Lin Yuhuan patiently explained the strengths and weaknesses of Tool Spirit Masters to Lin Yan.

"Grandma, do you want me to obtain a defensive spirit skill for my third Spirit Ring?" Lin Yan asked.

"Mm."

Lin Yuhuan nodded.

Lin Yan also felt that Lin Yuhuan's words made sense, so he did not object. He nodded and said, "Grandma, I'll listen to you."

After enduring several rounds of Soul Beast attacks, the grandmother and grandson passed through the outer region and arrived in the mixed region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

For an ordinary Soul Master, the ideal age for a third Spirit Ring was between sixteen hundred and seventeen hundred years.

However, Lin Yan's second Spirit Ring had already reached eleven hundred years, so his third Spirit Ring naturally could not be judged by ordinary standards.

Before leaving Nine Treasure City, Lin Yuhuan had taken Lin Yan to visit the healing-type Spirit Douluo who had examined his body before.

After a meticulous examination using his first spirit skill, the Spirit Douluo determined that, with Lin Yan's current physical strength, absorbing a four-thousand-year Spirit Ring would not pose the slightest problem.

A four-thousand-year Spirit Ring was already the ideal age for a Soul Master's fourth Spirit Ring!

The two began searching through the mixed region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Because of Lin Yan's extraordinary talent, Lin Yuhuan held extremely high standards for every one of his Spirit Rings. With a preference for quality over quantity, she would rather spend more time searching than settle for anything less than the best and most suitable Spirit Ring.

After their tireless efforts, three days later, they finally discovered a Soul Beast that satisfied Lin Yuhuan on a riverbank in the southern part of the mixed region.

It was a large turtle. Its pitch-black shell measured a full meter across. It lay comfortably in the soft mud along the riverbank, basking in the sun. Without careful observation, one might not even notice it and mistake it for a stone by the river.

"Grandma, what kind of Soul Beast is that?" Lin Yan asked as he examined it.

Though he was a transmigrator, he did not know everything.

As for Soul Beasts, he only knew famous ones such as the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear and the Titan Giant Ape. The species he knew did not even account for one percent of all Soul Beasts.

That was also why Lin Yuhuan wanted him to study at Shrek Academy.

As a Soul Master, one had to possess sufficient knowledge and understanding of Soul Beasts.

Otherwise, how could one find a Spirit Ring with suitable attributes and age?

Lin Yuhuan explained with delight, "This Soul Beast is called an Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise. It is extremely rare. Turtle-type Soul Beasts are already renowned for their astonishing defenses, and among turtle-type Soul Beasts, the Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise ranks among the very best in defensive power."

"Really?" Lin Yan asked in surprise.

It was hard to imagine that such an unremarkable creature possessed such terrifying defenses.

Lin Yuhuan nodded. "You can go test its defenses."

"Alright."

Lin Yan nodded eagerly. As he summoned his martial spirit, he cautiously approached it.

Seeing that it appeared to still be asleep and showed no reaction, he tentatively swung his mace at its shell.

Bang—

The shell shook violently.

Yet beneath the spike-like cones of the Black Demon Mace, the turtle shell remained completely unscathed, without even the faintest scratch. Instead, the terrifying recoil left Lin Yan's wrist slightly numb.

When the strike failed, Lin Yan quickly retreated.

At the same time, the pitch-black shell trembled again. Then, a large dark head poked out through the gap in the shell.

Clearly, Lin Yan's blow had failed to injure it, but it had awakened the creature.

"Such incredible defense!"

Lin Yan took a deep breath.

That blow had not been enhanced by any spirit skill, but he had used at least seventy percent of his strength. Combined with the power of his martial spirit, it could have seriously injured an ordinary Two-Ring Great Soul Master, yet it had failed to harm this creature in the slightest.

"I refuse to believe I can't move you at all!"

This time, Lin Yan directly circulated his spirit power and activated his first Spirit Ring skill, Thunder Awakening.

Rumble—

A deafening peal of thunder exploded as streaks of purple-black lightning, each as thick as a baby's wrist, burst from the Black Demon Mace.

The lightning crackled and flashed, its radiance flickering between bright and dim!

Compared with the lightning power that had erupted when Lin Yan first obtained this spirit skill, Thunder Awakening was visibly far more powerful now.

Before, the lightning had been as thick as a thumb. Now, it was as thick as a baby's wrist.

That was the strength of percentage-based enhancement spirit skills.

In theory, the stronger Lin Yan's cultivation and attributes became, the greater the boost provided by this spirit skill would be.

Lin Yan flashed forward, swinging out another strike bursting with destructive lightning.

Since the Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise had promptly withdrawn its head into its shell, his mace once again landed on its shell.

A dull impact rang out, and lightning immediately spread across the shell.

A force of recoil traveled through the Black Demon Mace in his hand, but Lin Yan had been prepared. He merely circulated spirit power through the meridians in his wrist and neutralized the recoil.

"Physical attacks are useless. I wonder whether lightning-attribute attacks enhanced by Thunder Awakening will work?"

Just as Lin Yan thought this, something unexpected happened.

Purple-black lightning spread over the turtle shell. At that moment, rippling black light suddenly bloomed across its surface, and the lightning energy crawling over the shell was actually reflected back, all of it surging toward the unprepared Lin Yan.

"What?!"

Lin Yan's expression changed drastically.

And perhaps it was merely an illusion, but the reflected lightning seemed considerably stronger than when he had unleashed it.

If that struck him, even if it did not kill him, it would strip him of a layer of skin.

At that critical moment, a figure flashed over at incredible speed and instantly pulled Lin Yan away, causing the reflected lightning to strike nothing but empty air.

"Grandma, what was that just now? How did the lightning power I unleashed get reflected back?" Having narrowly escaped danger, Lin Yan recalled the scene and asked in shock.

"That is the Earth-Spirit Black Tortoise's strongest innate skill, Reflective Light."

"Reflective Light?"

"Yes. Reflective Light can reflect all of an opponent's energy attacks. Moreover, its power is stronger than before it was reflected, increasing by roughly fifty percent."

Upon hearing Lin Yuhuan's explanation, Lin Yan stared in astonishment. "Reflect attacks? Doesn't that make this spirit skill invincible?"

Lin Yuhuan smiled and shook her head. "Of course not. Reflection has a limit as well. Once it exceeds that limit, Reflective Light will no longer be able to reflect the opponent's attribute attacks."