A ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring

[At sixteen, your accumulated Soul Power reached rank forty-six.]

[The wind in the Ancestral Land carried the sweet freshness of vegetation over the treetops. Sunlight like scattered gold filtered through layer upon layer of Blue Silver Grass leaves, casting shifting patches of light on the ground.]

[You leaned against one of Ah Yin's slanting branches, holding a blade of Blue Silver Grass traced with golden patterns. Your fingertips unconsciously circled its tip, your thoughts wandering.]

[Ever since Ah Yin kissed your cheek that day, she had never manifested her spiritual form again.]

[Her true body stretched out as usual, however. The golden patterns on her leaves grew ever more lustrous and translucent, shimmering with a gentle glow beneath the sun.]

[Her vines often quietly wound around your wrist or the corner of your clothes, their touch light and soft, never disturbing your daily cultivation.]

[Sometimes, while you slept soundly, a blade of grass would quietly reach over and gently nuzzle your cheek. It carried the slight coolness and softness unique to plants, with a little more unconcealable affection than before.]

[This body had, after all, reached the age when love first began to bud.]

[Late at night, all was quiet.]

[You lay on the wicker chair in the tree house, gazing through the curtain of grass leaves and vines at the starlight spilling outside the window. The spiritual apparition Ah Yin had manifested involuntarily surfaced in your mind-]

[A delicate, graceful face, blue hair cascading like a waterfall, a slender, supple figure, and a blue dress trailing along the ground. Whenever she drew near, she carried the crisp, subtle fragrance unique to plants.]

[You tossed and turned, unable to sleep.]

[And so, late one night beneath a sky full of starlight, as though guided by some unseen impulse, you took out paper and a pen and secretly began writing a book-the "Blue Silver Emperor Usage Guide, Version 2.0."]

[Compared with the first edition's "cursed" contents, full of swallowing, refining, and fusing Martial Souls, this edition was much more "respectable."]

[You worked out in detail the structure of the Blue Silver Emperor's human meridians after transformation and her preferred Soul Power circulation patterns. You even boldly envisioned the complete process of unleashing a "Martial Soul Fusion Skill" between the Blue Silver Emperor and the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul under deep resonance.]

[Even as you secretly scorned your own ulterior intentions, you could not help the corners of your lips curling upward, quietly looking forward to the day Ah Yin truly transformed into a human.]

[Anticipation aside, you never slackened in your cultivation in the slightest.]

[Judging by the age progression of your first three Soul Rings, your fourth Soul Ring would have to push beyond ten thousand years.]

[Absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, however, was somewhat different-]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts had already begun developing intelligence, and their spiritual power far exceeded that of younger Soul Beasts. After death, their remnant souls and resentment would gather within their Soul Rings.]

[Once a Soul Master drew in and absorbed the ring, that resentment would turn into a violent spiritual assault, piercing straight into their sea of consciousness. If they could not withstand it, the lesser consequence was damage to their consciousness, reducing them to a witless state; the worse was the collapse of their consciousness, with their body perishing and their path ending.]

[Under normal circumstances, a Soul Master needed to cultivate to rank fifty, tempering their spiritual power through years upon years of meditation, before they could be confident of withstanding this assault head-on.]

[But you were different.]

[You possessed the "Zhou Tian Star Dou Art," drawing down stellar power day and night to temper your Sea of Consciousness. Your soul had long since become as stable as a deep pool. Moreover, while creating the "Breath Concealment Technique" some time ago, you had dissected Soul Beast origins and worked out Soul Power circuits every day. By a twist of fate, that excessive mental exertion had instead greatly strengthened your spiritual power, taking it far beyond the level of an ordinary Soul King.]

[If you absorbed the Soul Ring beneath the stars, you could also draw upon stellar power to protect your sea of consciousness and stabilize your soul, resisting the assault of resentment to the greatest extent possible.]

[As for the Soul Beast for your fourth Soul Ring, you had long since made your calculations.]

[Your first Soul Skill, "Life Enhancement," had raised the toughness and growth speed of Blue Silver Grass to quite impressive levels;]

[Your second Soul Skill, "Essence Devouring Absorption," gave you extraordinary staying power, allowing you to sustain yourself through battle and keep going without end;]

[Your third Soul Skill, "Myriad Forms Mimicry," gave Blue Silver Grass the ability to take countless forms. Blades, spears, shields, armor, wings, and ropes could all be mimicked, truly giving you the confidence to fight head-on.]

[The three Soul Skills complemented one another, combining offense and defense into an already quite complete combat system.]

[But most plant-type Soul Masters were born with three obvious weaknesses-ice, fire, and lightning.]

[As for ice and fire, you had tempered your body at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in your early years, long since forging extremely strong elemental resistance. Ordinary flames and bitter cold could not harm you in the slightest.]

[Lightning alone remained a genuine, fatal vulnerability-]

[Plant-type Martial Souls naturally conducted electricity. Once lightning struck, the current would instantly spread throughout the body along the vines. At best, it would scorch the meridians; at worst, it would briefly rob the Soul Master of control over their Martial Soul.]

[In actual combat, the slightest carelessness could plunge you beyond all redemption.]

[Therefore, your fourth Soul Ring would ideally provide lightning resistance.]

[In your memory, the Thunderclap Infernal Prison Vine was the most suitable choice.]

[According to legend, this Soul Beast originated from the fallen "Thunder God," a First-Level God of the Divine Realm, and harbored the ability to revive the Thunder God's bloodline.]

[It grew in places where lightning struck frequently and cultivated by absorbing natural heavenly lightning. It was a top-tier Soul Beast through and through, with an extremely high compatibility with the origin of Blue Silver Grass.]

[However, this Soul Beast was simply too rare, and you did not know its exact whereabouts.]

[You asked Ah Yin about the whereabouts of the Thunderclap Infernal Prison Vine.]

[Only when you brought up serious matters did Ah Yin finally manifest her spiritual form.]

[The blue-dressed apparition appeared beside you. She lowered her eyes slightly, her gaze somewhat evasive, a faint blush still lingering on the tips of her ears as she dared not meet your eyes.]

["The Thunderclap Infernal Prison Vine..." Ah Yin pondered for a moment, her tone slightly apologetic. "I've never heard of this Soul Beast. But I do know a few places on the continent where lightning gathers year-round."]

["It's just that most of those places are far too dangerous. Even Blue Silver Grass struggles to take root and survive there."]

[You nodded slightly at her words, not too disappointed.]

[Once this Soul Beast cultivated to a certain level, it could stir the heavens, control lightning, and form a thunder pool around itself. The thunder pool would continuously expand as it grew stronger, devouring every living thing nearby, earning it the title of "the true foremost destroyer of the plant world."]

[Its whereabouts were difficult to trace in the first place, and even if you were lucky enough to find it, its age might not be suitable.]

[You raised your eyes to her and asked softly, "Then, Ah Yin, do you have any suggestions for my fourth Soul Ring?"]

[Ah Yin recommended the Dark Thunder Scale Armor Dragon.]

[You knew something about this Soul Beast. It was a lesser dragon Soul Beast belonging to the Ground Dragon genus, with boundless strength and astonishing defenses. Dark black scales covered its body, and a massive hammer-shaped tail capable of drawing and controlling lightning trailed behind it. It possessed extremely strong lightning resistance and physical defenses.]

[Absorbing its Soul Ring would indeed offer a very high chance of obtaining considerable lightning resistance.]

[But you still hesitated somewhat. "Wouldn't... a plant Soul Ring be a little better, more compatible with Blue Silver Grass?"]

[Ah Yin considered for a moment before explaining gently, "In most cases, a plant Soul Ring is indeed more compatible with Blue Silver Grass."]

["But you are a Soul Master, not purely a plant Soul Beast. After the supplementation of your first three rings and the tempering of two immortal herbs, your Martial Soul Origin has already risen to a very high level. There's no need to remain fixated on stacking its innate attributes."]

["Beast Soul Rings, on the other hand, can strengthen your flesh, sinews, and bones more directly, improving your physique and making up for your shortcomings in fierce, head-on combat."]