How Did You Break the Limit? Are You Lying to Me?

Seeing this, the coachman hurriedly tightened the reins and slowed the horse. "Third Young Master, there's someone ahead!"

"Mm!" Tang San answered, looking up.

A boy in ragged clothes sat on a large rock beside the stream.

He looked seven or eight, about Tang San's age.

His hair was a tangled mess like a bird's nest, his face was filthy, and his coarse clothes had several holes. He looked almost like a beggar.

But he held a golden-brown, grease-dripping chop in his hand and tore into it, getting oil all over his mouth. A wooden skewer stood beside him, threaded with several pieces of roasted meat that gave off a tempting aroma.

Tang San's gaze rested on the boy for a moment, then shifted to the chop in his hand. His pupils narrowed.

They were deep in the forest. Where would a boy get a chop to eat?

Could he have killed a Spirit Beast?

Tang San had the coachman stop, climbed down, and walked toward the boy alone.

A moment later, Tang San reached him. His expression changed, and he froze.

The boy before him had no trace of Soul Power fluctuations.

What? He came here alone... without Soul Power?

Tang San was stunned.

Just then, he saw a faint black ring of light slowly revolving around the boy.

"Ah!? That's... that's..." Tang San stammered, wide-eyed with disbelief.

A black Spirit Ring.

A Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.

For an instant, Tang San's mind seemed to stop working.

He stared at the boy's black ring, unable to speak.

Then Tang San came to his senses and recalled the words of his teacher, Yu Xiaogang.

"The upper limit for a spirit master's first Spirit Ring is four hundred and twenty-three years."

"This is one of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul. It's an ironclad rule. No one can break it!"

"If someone forcibly absorbs a Spirit Ring beyond their limit, there's only one outcome: their body will burst, and they'll die!"

"Over the past ten thousand years, countless geniuses have tried to challenge that limit, but not one has succeeded."

"So four hundred and twenty-three years is the absolute upper limit for a first Spirit Ring!"

Tang San remembered how utterly certain Yu Xiaogang had looked when he said it.

Yet the boy before him, who was barely any older or younger than Tang San, had a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring revolving around him!

That was a Spirit Ring at the ten-thousand-year level!

More than twenty times the theoretical limit!

"That's impossible!"

Tang San blurted it out in shock.

He lost his composure entirely and stood rooted to the spot.

Tang San kept staring at the black ring around Lu Yuan, trying to find a reasonable explanation.

Did I see it wrong?

Am I dreaming?

Or is the light playing tricks on my eyes?

Tang San drew a deep breath. Purple light flickered in his pupils as he activated his Purple Demon Eyes again, sharpening his vision to its limit.

This time, he saw the color of the boy's Spirit Ring even more clearly.

It was black—deep, ink-dark black!

There was not a trace of any other color. It was the unmistakable mark of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!

And its color was rich and pure. It definitely had not just crossed the ten-thousand-year threshold.

It was the deep black of a Spirit Beast that had accumulated power over a long time.

At a conservative estimate, that Spirit Beast was at least twenty or thirty thousand years old!

"This... how is this possible? It can't be. It absolutely can't..."

Tang San's eyes went vacant again. His entire understanding of the world seemed to be collapsing as he muttered the words over and over.

He had studied spirit-master theory under Yu Xiaogang and had always believed firmly in the core principles verified by generations of spirit masters.

Yu Xiaogang had emphasized the age limits for absorbing Spirit Rings again and again.

It was an ironclad rule!

A line no one could cross!

Yet the boy in front of him sat casually on a rock, eating a roasted chop, with a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring around him.

Tang San was not dreaming. It was real.

To Tang San, the shock was like being told that the sun was square.

"What's going on? What's going on? Did Yu Xiaogang lie to me? No... why would he lie to me?"

Tang San began to doubt his teacher, muttering without pause.

Then he walked toward Lu Yuan.

He wanted to confirm it himself—to ask the boy about his Spirit Ring and how his very first one could be ten thousand years old.

Lu Yuan had been sitting on the rock since early morning, roasting chops from the Red-Mane Fanged Boar for breakfast.

He had noticed the stranger approaching, as well as the carriage and coachman in the distance.

Still chewing his chop, he glanced at Tang San.

The kid looked only six or seven. His clothes were not especially fine, but he carried himself with composure, and his eyes were sharp. He was nothing like an ordinary child.

Those eyes in particular held a faint purple glow, as though he were using some method to examine Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan appeared relaxed, but he remained quietly on guard.

After activating the Overload Mechanism last night and charging about, he had also discovered that the Cargo Box of his Martial Soul Truck had a built-in preservation function. No matter how long he left a Spirit Beast carcass inside, it would not spoil.

Lu Yuan was delighted. From now on, whenever he killed a Spirit Beast, he could enjoy its meat without worrying that it had gone bad.

Tang San stopped about five meters from Lu Yuan and stared at him. Only after several seconds did he force out the question through clenched teeth. "Why is your first Spirit Ring... ten thousand years old?"

Lu Yuan took a bite of roasted meat and gave a muffled "Mm" without even looking up. He could not be bothered to engage.

Tang San was no match for him, and neither was the coachman.

Besides, Tang San had been rude. He had not even introduced himself before demanding to know why Lu Yuan's first Spirit Ring was ten thousand years old.

Could he not see Lu Yuan was eating?

Had no one at home ever told him not to keep talking while someone was eating? A person could choke!!!

Lu Yuan could not be bothered with him, but he had answered out of courtesy.

Hearing Lu Yuan's "Mm," Tang San's pupils narrowed again, and his breath caught.

The boy had admitted it himself!

It really is a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!?

The Sleeve Arrow hidden in Tang San's right sleeve was a hair's breadth from firing.

He could not stand someone being stronger than him!

After a pause, he came to a conclusion.

There must be something wrong with the rules of this world.

"That's impossible," Tang San said in a low voice.

Tang San spoke rudely again.

Lu Yuan glanced at him, still chewing. "What did you say?"

Tang San took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He looked Lu Yuan straight in the eye and said carefully, one word at a time, "Your first Spirit Ring is a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. That violates the third of the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul. The maximum age a spirit master can withstand for a first Spirit Ring is four hundred and twenty-three years."

"Generations of spirit masters have verified that ironclad rule. No one has ever broken it."

"So how did you break it? Are you lying to me?"