At Zhu Zhuqing's words.
Ning Rongrong's eyes shone.
She had already been very curious about the effects of whale rubber.
Now that she heard it could also nourish her skin, she grew even more excited. Looking toward Lu Ning, she hurried to catch up with the two ahead.
"Lu Ning!"
"Give..."
Before she could finish.
Lu Ning's hand had already covered her soft pink lips.
He kept his voice extremely low.
"Don't speak!"
Flender glanced back at the two of them and spoke as well.
"We're here."
"A Profound Sword Demon Turtle, eighteen thousand years old. Its age falls a little short, but it's a soul beast very well suited to sword-type martial souls. What do you think?"
Ning Rongrong followed Flender's gaze.
Beneath a tree ahead lay a turtle-type soul beast several meters long, with a broken sword embedded in its back, living in symbiosis with its shell. The markings on the broken sword gave a rough indication of its age. Though it was a turtle-type soul beast, its shell was as thin as a cicada's wing; that broken sword was its true means of attack.
"This soul beast... isn't really suitable for Lu Ning, is it?"
"Although it's highly likely to yield an offensive soul skill, there's also a small chance of getting a camouflage or deception skill, right?"
Ning Rongrong spoke, but Flender did not answer.
Instead, he looked at Lu Ning.
"No soul beast can be said to yield a fixed type of soul skill."
"This Profound Sword Demon Turtle is already a relatively suitable soul beast for you."
"The only shortcoming is that it would be perfect if it were a few thousand years older."
Flender inadvertently sighed as he spoke.
That gap of a few thousand years might not be very noticeable now.
But in the future, there was no telling.
Lu Ning's growth was exponential!
"I wouldn't call it a shortcoming."
"This one will do."
Looking at the Profound Sword Demon Turtle, Lu Ning came up with a new idea. There was not the slightest hint of regret in his eyes.
Flender glanced at Lu Ning, nodded lightly, and swiftly flew toward the Profound Sword Demon Turtle.
Lu Ning followed close behind.
Master and disciple worked together.
In an instant.
A black soul ring emerged from the Profound Sword Demon Turtle's body.
Flender raised his hand, and his powerful soul power swiftly dismembered the Profound Sword Demon Turtle.
"What a pity."
"No soul bone dropped."
Lu Ning ignored him. If soul bones dropped that easily, how could they be so precious?
With a turn of his hand, he took out his piece of ten-thousand-year whale glue.
"Teacher, sorry for the trouble, but please soften this piece of whale rubber for me."
Flender gave Lu Ning an odd look, then sized up the two girls behind them, who had yet to catch up.
He leaned close to Lu Ning's ear. "You're in that much of a hurry?"
"Can't you absorb the soul ring before eating it?"
Lu Ning shook his head.
Seeing this, Flender asked no more.
He was different from teachers like Yu Xiaogang, who relied on theory to impose control.
He preferred to trust his students' decisions.
That was also one of the reasons he could give up Shrek Academy for his students and willingly endure humiliation at Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Soul power spread, and black flames scorched the Profound Sword Demon Turtle's body.
The piece of ten-thousand-year whale glue was suspended in midair.
It gradually softened.
Watching the whale rubber turn almost liquid, Lu Ning raised his hand to take it and swallowed the entire piece in one gulp. Then he sat cross-legged on the spot and began using his soul power to draw the black soul ring, which had yet to dissipate, to his side.
When Flender saw Lu Ning begin drawing the soul ring over, he stopped watching.
Instead, he turned his back.
He began keeping watch over the surrounding area for him.
Yet Lu Ning sat cross-legged without absorbing the Profound Sword Demon Turtle's soul ring, merely holding it with his soul power to keep it from dissipating on its own.
He opened the system inventory.
He selected the god-bestowed soul ring.
[Please select a martial soul.] [Current selection: Azure Lotus Sword.] [Please select a soul skill type.] [Current selection: offensive soul skill.]
The god-bestowed martial soul began converging within Lu Ning's body. Compared with a soul ring containing a soul beast's lingering resentment, the power of this god-bestowed soul ring was gentler and did not deliberately temper Lu Ning's body.
Instead, it probed the limits of his body, nurturing the most suitable age.
Time quietly slipped by.
Flender felt something was strange as he watched the soul ring being held there.
But he did not ask further.
"Is it over?"
Ning Rongrong exclaimed.
Without Lu Ning holding it, the black soul ring naturally dissipated.
An inky-black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring also emerged around Lu Ning.
[Absorption of this god-bestowed soul ring is complete.] [Age: forty-eight thousand years.] [Fourth Soul Skill: One Sword Freezes Fourteen Provinces.] [Effect: concentrates all remaining soul power and mental power into a final strike. Can be stacked with the "Qi" option. Sword energy like frost, its might overshadows the mortal world.]
Lu Ning slowly opened his eyes.
The age of this god-bestowed soul ring was something Lu Ning had never anticipated.
Lu Ning had estimated his soul ring limit to be between twenty and thirty thousand years.
Absorbing anything over thirty thousand years would already have involved danger.
Yet the age granted by the god-bestowed soul ring had reached forty-eight thousand years, a figure nearly matching the Seventh Soul Ring absorbed by an ordinary soul master.
"...It should be the enhancement from five Thousand-Year Soul Rings and one Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, plus the effects of taking whale rubber all these years."
"It's been too long since I went all out."
"I can't even gauge how strong I am anymore."
Lu Ning muttered.
Flender strode up.
"How was it?"
"What soul skill did you get?!"
Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong also looked at Lu Ning curiously.
Lu Ning stood up with a smile.
"Teacher."
"Want to spar?"
"Think of it as testing my Fourth Soul Skill."
Flender clicked his tongue, staring at his disciple in disbelief.
Even if the gap between a Soul Ancestor and a Soul Saint could not be called the gulf between heaven and earth.
It was still almost impossible for a Soul Ancestor to injure a Soul Saint.
Even if Lu Ning was no ordinary Soul Ancestor, he, Flender, was no mere seat-filling Soul Saint from the outside world either!
"You brat, you've been waiting a long time for this day, haven't you?"
"Come on, then."
"Do you want me to use my Martial Soul Avatar?"
Lu Ning smiled. "A Soul Saint fighting a Soul Ancestor-if you have the nerve to use your Martial Soul Avatar, I don't mind."
Flender rolled his eyes at Lu Ning.
"Why wouldn't I have the nerve?"
"Let's go!"
"We'll head to the outskirts. Your teacher will risk his life to oblige a gentleman."
The outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Compared with the Inner Area, the soul beasts here were younger. Ten-thousand-year soul beasts almost never appeared, and even thousand-year soul beasts were extremely rare. Most were hundred-year soul beasts and ten-year soul beasts.
It was also the place most frequented by soul masters with one or two rings.
"How do you want to test it?"
Flender looked at Lu Ning before him.
Lu Ning held up one finger.
"One move will do."
"So we don't damage our bond as master and disciple."
Flender tutted. "To hell with our bond as master and disciple. Since when were you brat that considerate?"
"I bet your Fourth Soul Skill can only be used once, right?"
"As if I don't know you."
"Come on, then. Let me see what sort of ten-thousand-year soul skill has given you such confidence."
Before you continue