"Meow!"
Before Director Su could get the words out, Lu Yuan had already summoned Meowmeow, sat cross-legged, and drawn the Azure Vine's Thousand-Year Soul Ring onto Meowmeow.
It was already too late to stop him.
"Meow~" (Master, I'm scared, meow~)
Meowmeow possessed great intelligence and understood what the humans of the Douluo Continent said. Meowmeow knew that a Soul Master's first soul ring should be a yellow soul ring no older than four hundred years.
"Meowmeow, believe in yourself. We can definitely absorb this Thousand-Year Soul Ring!"
"Meow!" (Master, I believe in you! Meowmeow will give it everything, meow!)
Lu Yuan closed his eyes and recalled the seven years since he had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent. He had seen more dazzling sights here than in the twenty-odd years of his previous life.
Lu Yuan did not want to squander this unexpected chance at transmigration. If possible, he wanted to ascend to godhood and look upon the three thousand worlds again, to see whether they would be any different.
That was also why Lu Yuan had hunted desperately to supplement his nutrition and searched for whale rubber ever since he was four, and why he had been overjoyed when Old Tom found him some ten-thousand-year whale glue.
A thousand-year first soul ring-Lu Yuan was determined to have it!
His idea had not come out of thin air, either. Whale rubber strengthened the body and increased the age of the soul rings one could absorb, with especially potent effects on young Soul Masters with fewer than five rings.
From what Lu Yuan knew, a piece of ten-thousand-year whale glue should increase his soul ring absorption limit by three thousand years. Absorbing this thousand-year purple soul ring from the Azure Vine should therefore be as easy as taking something already in his grasp.
Director Su stayed close to Lu Yuan, watching him anxiously.
This foolish child! Why wouldn't he listen? Why did he have to risk absorbing that Thousand-Year Soul Ring?
Director Su had only occasionally heard of Soul Masters from certain families with powerful physiques barely managing to absorb five-hundred-year soul rings as their first rings. Even then, they had escaped death by a hair and suffered numerous lasting complications.
As for the other Soul Masters who had tried risking their lives to absorb rings beyond their limits, every one of them had paid for their arrogance with their young lives.
"Ah..." Director Su sighed.
"Lu Yuan, you're on your own now. You have to pull through!"
Director Su had witnessed Lu Yuan's diligent cultivation, his retaliation against Xiao Chenyu, and his rescue after defying Lord Xiao. He had watched him reach rank ten soul power and become a Quasi-Soul Master at such a young age. He did not want a commoner Soul Master with a potentially flourishing future to fall before his eyes, either.
Soon, a night had passed.
"Whew... finally rank twenty-one." Sisi let out a long breath and was the first to wake.
"Sisi, you're awake!"
Su Yuntao, ever the devoted lapdog, immediately hurried over. "Sisi, what's your second soul skill?"
"Charm!"
Sisi cast Su Yuntao a sultry glance, and his heart immediately soared.
"Sisi, you're using your soul skill on me. I think you're so beautiful."
"I am not! Huh... hasn't little Lu Yuan finished absorbing his soul ring yet? What?! Why is he absorbing a Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"
Only then did Sisi turn her gaze toward Lu Yuan and notice that something was amiss.
"Sisi, here's what happened..." Su Yuntao explained Lu Yuan's situation to her.
"Isn't that far too dangerous? Why would Lu Yuan risk certain death to absorb a purple soul ring as his first ring?"
"I don't know, either." Su Yuntao shook his head.
Director Su's expression grew increasingly grave. Only after Lu Yuan began absorbing the soul ring had he realized that the Azure Vine's ring was not purple tinged with yellow, as a ring that had just crossed the thousand-year threshold would have been.
That meant the Azure Vine was far older than a thousand years. Judging by Director Su's experience, it should have been over two thousand years old, making it an exceedingly rare plant soul beast even in the Soul Hunting Forest. To think their party had actually encountered one-he truly did not know whether it was a blessing or a curse.
Its age was four times that of the Rouge Fox soul ring Sisi had absorbed, almost matching the Man Faced Demon Spider that had become Tang San's third soul ring in the original timeline. Director Su could not help breaking into a cold sweat for Lu Yuan. His chances of survival were even slimmer now.
Fortunately, Lu Yuan was still absorbing the ring, and his body showed no signs of bursting apart. That allowed all three of them to breathe a little easier.
Another day and night passed. Su Yuntao and Sisi were bleary-eyed when the two-thousand-year Azure Vine soul ring suddenly settled into place around Meowmeow.
"Huh!"
Su Yuntao and Sisi's eyes widened, while Director Su, who had been watching Lu Yuan constantly, was the first to react.
"Lu Yuan... succeeded! His first soul ring really is a thousand-year ring?"
Director Su rubbed his eyes, wanting to make sure he had not seen wrong.
Suddenly, Lu Yuan's soul ring changed from purple to yellow, and its imposing aura fell from that of a two-thousand-year ring to one around four hundred years old.
"What's going on?"
Director Su looked at Su Yuntao and Sisi, asking whether he alone had seen what had just happened.
But Sisi and Su Yuntao shook their heads. They had also seen the soul ring beneath Meowmeow change from purple to yellow, its pressure dropping sharply.
Lu Yuan looked relaxed and let out a long breath.
"Lu Yuan? Lu Yuan!"
Seeing that Lu Yuan no longer seemed to be under the strain of absorbing the soul ring, Director Su tried to wake him.
"Aah..." Lu Yuan stretched lazily.
"Director Su, what is it?"
"Thank goodness you're all right!" Seeing that Lu Yuan was unharmed, Director Su and the other two breathed sighs of relief.
Sisi and Su Yuntao, in particular, had been wondering just a moment ago how they would explain this to Ma Xiunuo when they returned.
"Lu Yuan, why did you absorb the Azure Vine's Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"
"Huh? A thousand years? But it felt really easy to absorb."
That was true. With his physique after absorbing the ten-thousand-year whale glue, Lu Yuan could attach a soul ring over three thousand years old as his first ring. This two-thousand-year Azure Vine soul ring was actually a little underwhelming for him.
"As for why I absorbed the Azure Vine's soul ring... it was Meowmeow!"
Lu Yuan suddenly perked up and pointed at Meowmeow.
"Meow?" (Master, you!)
Meowmeow's tail went rigid, surprise written all over Meowmeow's face.
"When I accidentally cut the wrong Azure Vine stem earlier, Meowmeow suddenly sent me a very strong message, wanting me to absorb the Azure Vine's soul ring."
"I knew Meowmeow was my martial soul, so Meowmeow probably wouldn't hurt me."
Meowmeow planted both hands on Meowmeow's hips smugly and gave Lu Yuan a sidelong look.
"Meow~" (That's more like it, meow~)
"I never expected to actually succeed when I tried."
"Then why did your Thousand-Year Soul Ring turn into a hundred-year ring?"
Utterly baffled, Su Yuntao recalled the transformation of the soul ring beneath Meowmeow. Neither its color nor its aura had seemed fake.
"Well... I don't know, either." Lu Yuan shook his head obediently.
"Perhaps it took too long to absorb, or perhaps there was something wrong with the soul ring the Azure Vine produced. I have heard that when a soul ring is left exposed for too long, its age keeps decreasing as its energy drains away."
"Perhaps... that Azure Vine was already gravely wounded and on the verge of death, so the soul ring it produced dispersed more easily. That's possible, too." Director Su tried to explain the incident to them using what he knew.
"Maybe that's it." Sisi nodded in agreement.
Yet the corner of Lu Yuan's mouth curled upward. That was not the reason for the soul ring's transformation at all, because he himself was the one behind it.