After a day on the road.
Ji Hongchen finally reached his destination before nightfall. After presenting his Soul Hunting Permit, he entered the Soul Hunting Forest without any trouble.
Over the past year and a half, he had also taken whale rubber, but only pieces a few decades old that cost a few gold soul coins each. As for century-old whale rubber, he could not afford it.
Even a hero could be brought low by a single penny.
Once this soul hunt was over, he would have to consider how to make money. After all, the nourishing food and whale rubber he would need later would cost quite a bit.
"This Soul Hunting Forest isn't very big, and it doesn't have any rare soul beasts, but all I need is something that can lay a foundation for me."
Most of the soul beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest were only decades or centuries old. Even if a thousand-year soul beast occasionally appeared, it would not be older than three thousand years.
As for soul beasts with powerful bloodlines.
There was no chance of finding them in the Soul Hunting Forest. Those Soul Masters did not have the ability to capture them, either. A Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, for example, could rival a soul beast tens of thousands of years old when it was only a thousand years old. They could neither capture nor defeat one.
Generally, anyone who wanted a truly top-tier soul ring.
Still had to visit a large soul beast forest like the Sunset Forest or the Star Dou Great Forest, where soul beasts were plentiful and the dangers were greater.
"My physical condition is only a little better than an ordinary level-ten Soul Scholar's right now. The age limit for the soul ring I can handle is probably just over five hundred years, no more than six hundred."
His physical condition was decent.
With a year and a half of uninterrupted sword practice, his body was strong, but without the nourishment of whale rubber, his improvement was still limited.
Still, absorbing a soul ring over four hundred years old should not be much of a problem. After all, he had laid a solid foundation early on. Once he became a god later, he could simply raise its age.
He had no one to back him up, after all.
If he failed while absorbing a ring beyond his limit and died outright, forget becoming a god-he would not even get to become a Soul Master.
A difference of one or two hundred years.
That improvement was insignificant, nowhere near worth gambling his life over. The reward was completely out of proportion to the risk.
Compound Bow in hand.
Ji Hongchen noticed the bamboo grove ahead. It was a grove of lone bamboo, but all of it was ten-year solitary bamboo, unsuitable for a soul ring.
Besides, although lone bamboo was tough, it lacked offensive power.
It was utterly useless to Ji Hongchen. Only a brain-dead, buzz-cut idiot like Yu Xiaogang would like it for the sake of his own patchwork theories.
After walking for a while.
Ji Hongchen stopped. His perception was keen, and he soon noticed a distinctive trace of soul power nearby. It belonged to a soul beast at least a hundred years old.
The corners of his mouth lifted.
He approached and discovered a hundred-year saber-toothed tiger crouched beside a stream, drinking. It had no idea that someone nearby had already set his sights on it.
After examining the saber-toothed tiger's size and comparing its fangs, Ji Hongchen shook his head in disappointment.
A hundred-year saber-toothed tiger was still not good enough.
Had it been over three hundred years old, he would have struck without hesitation.
After all, saber-toothed tigers were fairly good soul beasts.
What a pity. Its age was too low.
He memorized the location first, planning to look for other targets. If he could not find one, he would choose this hundred-year saber-toothed tiger for his first soul ring.
After walking for a while.
Perhaps his luck was simply too good, but after only a few steps, Ji Hongchen spotted another soul beast in the distance, feeding on its prey.
"A Ghostblade Mantis!"
Ji Hongchen's eyes lit up. Judging by the Ghostblade Mantis's bladed forelimbs, it should have been over four hundred years old, just right for his first soul ring.
"I choose you! Ghostblade Mantis."
Seeing that the Ghostblade Mantis was still enjoying its prey, Ji Hongchen silently raised his Compound Bow, took aim, drew it fully, and loosed an arrow.
At this distance.
The Ghostblade Mantis had no time to react. The arrow pierced its head, and its entire body twitched a few times before collapsing motionless to the ground.
Success!
Watching the dazzling yellow soul ring slowly rise, Ji Hongchen let out a breath of relief. His heart pounded with excitement.
The first tempering was finally about to begin.
Ji Hongchen took a deep breath, ran straight over to the soul ring, and scattered Beast-Repelling Powder. Then he climbed a tree and sprinkled pungent medicinal powder around him before finally feeling secure enough to begin absorbing the soul ring.
Guided by his soul power.
The yellow soul ring slowly floated above Ji Hongchen's head. A surge of vigorous soul power poured into his body, flowed through his meridians, and finally joined his sword intent in repeatedly scouring and tempering his Iron Block Martial Soul.
"Condense!"
Ji Hongchen gave a low shout. The sword intent within him scoured the iron block again and again as soul power continually poured in, until a piece was completely severed from the Iron Block Martial Soul and fused into the Sword Embryo.
At the same time.
A faint glow gradually appeared on the Sword Embryo's surface. Its existing cracks closed, and the fluctuations in the blade finally settled. Polished by sword intent, the blade gradually became complete, faintly radiating a keen edge.
Ji Hongchen's expression grew increasingly solemn.
His body continuously released sword qi, turning itself into a sword. Sword qi crisscrossed around him, while even more surged within, constantly traveling through his body and tempering it. Every inch of flesh, every bone, every cell underwent an unexpected transformation.
Time slipped by.
Before he knew it, three days had passed.
Ji Hongchen sat cross-legged in place like a statue. Sword qi shrouded everything around him, mercilessly shredding anything that approached.
"First Sword, complete!"
Ji Hongchen opened his eyes, and an invisible flash of sword light flickered past. His appearance had also changed dramatically. With sword-like brows and star-bright eyes, he had become even more handsome, and now possessed an air that inspired awe.
He stood up.
A longsword appeared in his hand. Its slender blade gleamed with cold light and felt icy to the touch, carrying a faint blue-green hue. Its overall coloring evoked an azure sky, white clouds, and an ink-wash landscape.
"My First Sword shall be called Jinghong!"
He murmured to himself as he stroked the blade.
At that moment, the sword seemed to answer him, letting out a soft chime.
For that instant, he felt as though he had become one with the sword.
"My soul power has risen to level twelve, too. Not bad."
Ji Hongchen smiled contentedly.
After all, in the original story, Tang San had cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Skill and possessed innate full soul power, yet he had only reached level twelve after absorbing the soul ring of a four-hundred-year Mandala Snake. Ji Hongchen had only spent a year and a half cultivating. This was already very good.
"First Soul Skill: Slash!"
Ji Hongchen slashed with his sword.
The Jinghong Sword unleashed a streak of sword qi that howled through the air.
Wherever the sword qi passed, plants were shredded and rocks split apart. With power like that, even an ordinary Soul Grandmaster would have to avoid its edge.
"This soul skill actually grants a 50% increase to all attributes and a 50% increase in penetration. If I use Jinghong, it also carries a Weakness Deepening effect."
Ji Hongchen was inwardly astonished.
The enemy's defense dropped by 50%, while all his attributes increased by 50%. With one falling and the other rising, did that not mean his strength had effectively doubled?
And there was also the Weakness Deepening effect.
It allowed his soul skill to keep striking weak points and inflict greater damage. In other words, the longer the battle lasted, the more obvious his opponent's weaknesses became.
Awesome. I really have switched on the cheats.
With Jinghong reforged.
Some information appeared in Ji Hongchen's mind.
Jinghong could be nurtured.
Later, he could improve Jinghong's quality by feeding it special materials. Perhaps he could eventually feed it into a Divine Artifact, or even a Super Divine Artifact.
No, wait.
I never switched them off in the first place!
Before you continue