Chen Xin swung out another arc of sword Qi, severely wounding a Soul Beast that had barely reached a thousand years.
Chen Ci stepped forward and, with practiced ease, drove the Passionate Sword into the Soul Beast's heart, killing it.
A pale purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring appeared above the Soul Beast's corpse.
Chen Xin and Ning Rongrong watched the Soul Ring, feeling a little nervous.
If Chen Ci could truly use this Soul Ring to determine that he could absorb Soul Rings over a thousand years old, this would undoubtedly be a revolutionary moment for the entire Soul Master World.
With the answer already in his heart, Chen Ci reached out and touched the Thousand-Year Soul Ring. He felt no discomfort at all.
He could even choose to absorb this Soul Ring because of the characteristics of his Passionate Sword Martial Soul, but the price would be gaining a Soul Skill that lacked any emotion-control ability.
Chen Ci withdrew his hand from the Soul Ring, looked at Chen Xin and Ning Rongrong, and said firmly:
"Teacher, Rongrong, I can absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Ring."
Chen Xin nodded and said:
"Then we'll start looking for a suitable Mental Attribute Soul Beast for you now. Mental Attribute Soul Beasts are rare, so finding one close to the upper age limit you can withstand won't be easy."
Chen Ci said nothing more, because he had long known this answer.
"Still, that won't stop us from continuing to test the upper age limit you can withstand."
The three continued moving through the Star Dou Great Forest, hunting Soul Beasts while searching for suitable ones for Ning Rongrong and Chen Ci.
Finally, after a fifteen-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Soul Beast fell, Chen Ci felt a trace of resistance when he went to test it.
Chen Ci withdrew his hand, looked at Chen Xin, and said:
"Teacher, the upper limit I can withstand for my first Soul Ring should be around fifteen hundred years.
"Any higher, and there'll be some risk."
Chen Xin nodded, but still said:
"A first Soul Ring over a thousand years old is already a dimensionality-reduction strike against the entire Soul Master World.
"There's no need to take risks to push that limit up by a negligible amount."
Hearing this, Ning Rongrong was a little stunned. Her cherry lips parted slightly as she said in disbelief:
"Ordinary Soul Masters can only reach a thousand years with their third Soul Ring, but Chen Ci's first Soul Ring will be a Thousand-Year Soul Ring. That puts him so far ahead.
"If I'd known, I would've worked hard at body tempering and absorbing whale rubber."
Hearing this, Chen Ci teased:
"If we had to wait for Rongrong to temper her body and absorb whale rubber, I'm afraid it would take several months before we could set out Soul Hunting."
A lovely blush immediately spread across Ning Rongrong's pretty face. She bared her teeth and waved her claws, looking just like an angry kitten:
"You only needed one month! How could I possibly need several months?
"At most..."
(If I only tempered my body without cultivating Soul Power, I'd do two hours of body tempering every day.)
(Every half hour, I'd eat some pastries, then rest for half an hour.)
Ning Rongrong counted on her fingers, then said with complete confidence:
"Three months at most!"
Chen Xin was a little surprised to hear this and said:
"Rongrong, would it really take only three months?
"How long would you temper your body each day during those three months?"
"Two hours!"
"During this time, Chen Ci spent fourteen hours every day tempering his body, and it still took him an entire month to absorb all the whale rubber.
"Would you really only need three months?"
The moment Ning Rongrong heard about fourteen hours of body tempering every day, her pretty face paled:
"Huh?"
(Fourteen hours every day, thirty days in a month-that's four hundred and twenty hours. It would take two hundred and ten days...)
At this thought, Ning Rongrong glanced at Chen Ci, who had been practicing his sword beside them all along.
(If I did it like Chen Ci, tempering my body at every moment, even two hundred and ten days probably wouldn't be enough?)
(That's too terrifying!)
The more Ning Rongrong thought about it, the more terrifying it became, so she simply stopped thinking:
"Actually, there's nothing wrong with a Hundred-Year Soul Ring. I'm only a support-type Soul Master anyway."
"Hahaha!"
Chen Xin burst out laughing, but that was indeed the truth.
For Ning Rongrong, who came from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and possessed the continent's number-one support-type Martial Soul, no one could surpass her in support.
A thousand-year first ring and a hundred-year first ring would merely have some numerical differences in their attribute boosts. It was no great matter.
Having confirmed that Chen Ci could withstand a first Soul Ring of fifteen hundred years, Chen Xin took flight on his sword again to speed up the search.
The process was dull and tedious, so Chen Ci summoned the Passionate Sword and continued practicing the Seven Kill Sword Technique.
Mental Attribute Soul Beasts truly were rare.
Even with a Titled Douluo's tremendous speed, it took an entire day to find a suitable thousand-year Soul Beast for Chen Ci.
Chen Xin slowed his sword flight and locked onto a Three-Eyed Demon Fox that was foraging.
He said to Chen Ci and Ning Rongrong:
"This is a fourteen-hundred-year-old Three-Eyed Demon Fox, a Mental Attribute Soul Beast. The vertical eye between its brows is the central hub of its spiritual power.
"Those eyes release an eerie purple light. Anyone caught in that light will have their mind thrown into disorder.
"If you meet its gaze directly, you'll fall into an illusion.
"You must be especially careful in the future."
As they landed, Chen Xin locked onto the Three-Eyed Demon Fox.
The instant he locked onto it, the Three-Eyed Demon Fox stopped eating, and a terrifying sense of danger descended upon its heart.
Its fur bristled all over, and the vertical eye between its brows slowly opened a crack, revealing a bewitching purple light.
However, Chen Xin gave the Three-Eyed Demon Fox no chance to counterattack.
A pure flash of sword light streaked past, directly blinding the Three-Eyed Demon Fox's vertical eye while also severing the tendons in all four of its limbs.
This was to prevent the Three-Eyed Demon Fox from killing Chen Ci with a dying counterattack when he went to finish it off.
Although the possibility of such a thing happening was almost nonexistent with a Titled Douluo like Chen Xin present, Chen Xin still did his best to prevent it.
Carrying the Passionate Sword, Chen Ci walked forward.
He was already very familiar with this process. Since entering the Star Dou Great Forest, he had killed dozens of Soul Beasts this way.
As the Passionate Sword pierced the Three-Eyed Demon Fox's heart.
The Three-Eyed Demon Fox's breathing grew fainter and fainter until it stopped, and a Thousand-Year Soul Ring appeared above its corpse.
At the sight of this Mental Attribute Soul Ring over fourteen hundred years old, a trace of longing arose in the Passionate Sword in Chen Ci's hand.
Chen Ci sat cross-legged on the ground and used his spiritual power to draw the Soul Ring toward the Passionate Sword.
During this process, Chen Ci could faintly hear the Three-Eyed Demon Fox's unwilling roar.
But that roar ultimately dissolved like a bubble, merging completely into the purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
At the same time, Chen Ci reached the final step of absorbing the Soul Ring.
The purple thousand-year Soul Ring finally attached itself to the Passionate Sword, bringing Chen Ci his first Soul Skill.
It was "Once," exactly the same as that of Amorous Douluo Zang Xin in The Legend of the Dragon King.
After absorbing the Thousand-Year Soul Ring, Chen Ci successfully broke through his Soul Power bottleneck, advancing from a Soul Scholar to a Soul Master.
Chen Xin and Ning Rongrong could hardly wait to ask:
"Chen Ci (Brother Chen Ci), what's your first Soul Skill?"