Seven Treasures: First Is Strength

The Rock Crystal Beast let out a despairing howl as the remaining Adamant Crystals on its back suddenly lit up with all the strength it had left.

This was its ultimate lifesaving move.

A massive ball of energy condensed at the tip of a crystal, radiating dazzling light and terrifying fluctuations. In the next instant, it blasted toward the nearby Azure Wood Puppet!

This attack contained every last bit of the Rock Crystal Beast's remaining power.

Yet the Azure Wood Puppet neither dodged nor evaded. A palm-sized azure shield simply appeared before it.

The small shield expanded with the wind, instantly becoming a human-height Azure Wood Shield that firmly blocked the energy ball's path.

Boom!

The energy ball struck the Azure Wood Shield and erupted with a violent roar.

Light burst outward, shockwaves rolled through the air, and shattered stones were blasted in every direction.

But when the light faded, the Azure Wood Shield had not moved an inch. Not even a single crack had appeared on its surface.

Azure Wood Shield, a defensive spell capable of withstanding the full-force attack of an assault-type Soul Grandmaster.

The Rock Crystal Beast was already at the end of its rope. How could its dying strike possibly breach this line of defense?

The Rock Crystal Beast's final hope was shattered. The light in its orange-yellow vertical pupils quickly dimmed.

The Azure Wood Puppet followed up with another punch.

The Rock Crystal Beast's massive body swayed before it finally could no longer hold itself up. It crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Its limbs still twitched faintly, and weak whimpers escaped its mouth, but it had completely lost the ability to resist.

The Azure Wood Puppet stepped forward and confirmed that the Rock Crystal Beast was indeed on its last breath. Only then did it bend down, seize one of its forelimbs, and drag the enormous creature back to where Ning Chen was.

When the huge Rock Crystal Beast was dragged before him, Ning Chen looked at its battered body and its increasingly unfocused eyes, then slowly let out a breath.

However, Ning Chen did not immediately absorb the Soul Ring.

The commotion from the battle between the Azure Wood Puppet and the Rock Crystal Beast was one thing, but the explosions from the eight Thunderfire Thunderbolt Bombs had been far too loud and had already drawn some low-year Soul Beasts over.

This place was no longer safe, especially since there were other Soul Masters within the Soul Hunting Forest.

So Ning Chen had the Azure Wood Puppet carry the Rock Crystal Beast's body and find a quiet, secluded location.

With the Azure Wood Puppet standing guard at the side and protecting him, Ning Chen then used a single slash to finish off the Rock Crystal Beast completely.

He watched as a bright yellow Soul Ring slowly emerged above the Rock Crystal Beast's corpse.

Ning Chen took a deep breath, sat down cross-legged, and summoned his Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.

An exquisite seven-colored pagoda slowly spun in his palm. Its body shimmered with flowing light, each of its seven eaves a different color, radiating a gentle glow.

He closed his eyes, circulated his Soul Power, and began drawing the hovering yellow Soul Ring slowly toward himself.

The instant the Soul Ring touched the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, a vast, heavy energy surged into his body like floodwaters bursting through a dam!

Ning Chen had already prepared himself mentally.

A seven-hundred-year Soul Ring had long surpassed the theoretical absorption limit for a Soul Master who had only just broken through level ten.

He had even secretly made up his mind that the moment he found his body unable to withstand it, he would immediately summon the Azure Wood Puppet to interrupt the absorption process.

He would rather abandon this Soul Ring than risk his life.

Yet when that energy truly poured into his body, Ning Chen realized that he had been wrong.

At that moment, the Great Perfection Nine Yang Divine Skill displayed its true power.

Nine Yang True Qi began circulating on its own, like an experienced helmsman guiding the violent Soul Ring energy steadily through his meridians.

All eight of his extraordinary meridians had long since been opened. At that moment, they were like broad, unobstructed river channels, able to contain and absorb the surging energy no matter how turbulent it became.

The violence and impurities contained within the Soul Ring's energy were stripped away and purified layer by layer under the tempering of Nine Yang True Qi. Only the purest, gentlest source energy remained, flowing like trickling streams into the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.

After absorbing this energy, the exquisite pagoda's glow grew brighter and more solid, as though it were undergoing a transformation.

Ordinary Soul Masters often took half a day or even an entire night to absorb a Soul Ring.

Ning Chen had originally expected the process to take a long time as well, but the absorption efficiency of the Nine Yang Divine Skill far exceeded his expectations.

By the time the sky had fully darkened and the moon had just risen over the eastern ridgeline, Ning Chen slowly opened his eyes.

He lowered his head and looked at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in his palm. Its body was even more crystalline than before, and each of its seven eaves emitted a gentle glow.

He could clearly sense that a heavy, steady power had appeared within the pagoda. It was the power of the Rock Crystal Beast, now completely fused with him.

A deep bright-yellow Soul Ring slowly rose behind him, declaring that Ning Chen had transformed from a Soul Master into a one-ring Soul Master.

As expected, the Rock Crystal Beast's Soul Ring had granted him the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's classic strength-enhancing first Soul Skill.

And the strength increase had reached thirty-five percent!

One had to know that each additional Soul Ring attached to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul granted a different attribute enhancement. This enhancement was not fixed, but increased along with its owner's strength.

For ordinary Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Masters, the attribute increase was twenty percent at one ring, thirty percent at two rings, and so on.

In the original story, when Ning Rongrong was at the Soul Grandmaster realm, her strength and speed boosts were only thirty percent.

Yet because Ning Chen had absorbed the seven-hundred-year Rock Crystal Beast Soul Ring across ranks, his initial enhancement already exceeded the percentage boost Ning Rongrong possessed at two rings.

Furthermore, the inexhaustible nature of his Soul Power brought by the perfected Nine Yang Divine Skill meant that Ning Chen did not need to worry about endurance like other Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Masters.

With Ning Rongrong's talent and Soul Power reserves, at the Soul Grandmaster level, even enhancing a single person could only last for around the time it took an incense stick to burn. After that, her Soul Power would be depleted, and she would need to recover it before she could continue supporting others.

Even so, she was already unrivaled among Support-type Soul Masters, and even among Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Masters of the same rank.

But Ning Chen's Soul Power was practically inexhaustible.

In theory, Ning Chen could even keep the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's enhancement Soul Skill active indefinitely.

Of course, that was only in theory. In reality, Ning Chen still had to account for physical exhaustion and other factors.

But even that was terrifying enough.

Insufficient endurance was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's weakness, yet it had still earned the reputation of the continent's number one support Martial Soul.

Without the burden of endurance, calling Ning Chen's Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda the number one support Martial Soul on the Douluo Continent would not be an exaggeration!

And Ning Chen's gains went far beyond that.

Ning Chen's own Soul Power had also leaped to level fifteen!