Afterward, with the two men standing guard, Gui Yuan began absorbing the Raging Blood Iron Birch's Soul Ring.
As for the Soul Ring of the roughly five-thousand-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, neither of them planned to let Gui Yuan absorb it.
Although they did not know the bear's name or origins, their battle with it showed that it excelled in attack and defense, followed by speed.
If the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum Martial Soul absorbed this Soul Ring, it would most likely gain an attack-boosting Soul Ring.
For Gui Yuan, an attack-boosting Soul Skill was clearly inferior to the all-attribute-boosting Soul Skill the Raging Blood Iron Birch could yield.
More importantly, the Raging Blood Iron Birch offered a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, while this bear's Soul Ring was only a thousand-year one.
For a Food System Soul Master, a suitable Soul Ring mattered more than the rarity of a Soul Beast's bloodline.
After all, no matter how rare a Soul Beast was, the Soul Ring it yielded could not bring about a qualitative leap in the Soul Skills a Food System Soul Master could produce.
For example, with attack-boosting Soul Skills from rings of the same age, if an ordinary Soul Ring could provide a fifty-percent boost, could a Soul Ring from a Soul Beast with a rare bloodline provide a hundred-percent boost?
For Battle Soul Masters, a particularly compatible Soul Ring might have such an effect, but that was impossible for support-type Soul Masters.
The bear's Soul Ring was actually quite suitable for Gui Yuan's second Martial Soul, too.
Since Gui Yuan's second Martial Soul was his "soul," Gui Mei's Soul Ring configuration showed that it could accommodate melee attack Soul Skills.
Thus, there was no problem at all with focusing on the mind, supplemented by attack and control.
After all, focusing entirely on the mind would be too one-dimensional, and there were not that many varieties of mental-type Soul Beasts for him to hunt.
The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's Soul Ring was highly likely to grant an extremely powerful offensive Soul Skill.
However, Gui Yuan was not currently focusing on his second Martial Soul. In their view, absorbing it now would be a bit of a loss.
Later, the first Soul Ring for Gui Yuan's second Martial Soul would start at fifty thousand years at the very least.
There would be no comparison at all then.
Thus, obtaining an external right palm bone like this was already an immense stroke of luck.
"Ah." Gui Mei sighed. "It really is a shame about this bear's Soul Ring. Hopefully, we can still find one when Xiao Yuan starts cultivating his second Martial Soul."
Yue Guan nodded as well. "Yes. Fortunately, this bear hadn't reached ten thousand years of cultivation. Otherwise, its strength would have been at least at the hundred-thousand-year level."
"As far as I recall, the only ones I can think of with such powerful strength and bloodline are the Titan Giant Apes."
"But this bear's attack power seemed even greater than a Titan Giant Ape's. How terrifying."
Gui Mei nodded as well.
If this bear could rival a hundred-thousand-year beast with ten thousand years of cultivation, how could hunting one with fifty thousand years of cultivation in the future possibly be easy?
By Gui Mei's estimate, they would need to deploy at least three Titled Douluos above Level 95 to stand a chance.
Moreover, two of those would have to be the two of them, using their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, while the other Titled Douluo would need a Soul Skill that ignored defense.
And the same candidate had actually come to both their minds.
Pope Bibi Dong!
Bibi Dong's second Martial Soul had a Soul Skill that could break even that Soft Bone Rabbit's Invincible Golden Body, let alone this bear's defense.
As Gui Yuan absorbed the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, he could distinctly feel the pressure it placed on his body.
Compared with the pressure he had felt while absorbing his second Soul Ring, it was the difference between heaven and earth.
Of course, thanks to his Indestructible Vajra Body and Ice and Fire Body Tempering, his current physique could withstand it.
The main issue was whether he could withstand the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring's Soul Shock.
Inside Gui Yuan's mental space.
As Gui Yuan looked at the figure before him, condensed from the Raging Blood Iron Birch's resentment, it would have been a lie to say he was not nervous.
After all, this was his first time experiencing this.
However, with a divine artifact protecting him, he was not very afraid either.
"Come on!" Gui Yuan said. "Let's see whether I kill you or you kill me!"
The Raging Blood Iron Birch's resentment felt insulted.
In its perception, the human Soul Master before it clearly had very weak Spiritual Power, probably not even enough to withstand a single blow from it.
Without wasting words, it swung its branches fiercely.
Pitch-black Spiritual Power transformed into a whipping shadow, lashing toward Gui Yuan with a piercing shriek.
The whipping shadow moved extremely fast, leaving trails of afterimages in the mental space.
Gui Yuan did not dodge, and the whipping shadow slammed squarely into his mental body.
Yet something strange happened. The instant the whipping shadow touched the surface of his mental body, Gui Yuan was completely unharmed!
The Raging Blood Iron Birch's resentment visibly froze for a moment.
Gui Yuan smiled. Sure enough, this Soul Shock was useless against him.
The Darkin Bow's "Mental Protection" effect had perfectly blocked the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring's soul impact.
With a thought from Gui Yuan, the Darkin Bow appeared in his hand.
The Darkin Bow was not physical at this moment. Like Gui Yuan in his current state, it was a "mental body."
He gripped the bow, feeling that familiar Darkin Power flowing through his fingertips.
Gui Yuan thought to himself that, since he could summon the Darkin Bow, dealing with the Raging Blood Iron Birch's resentment would be much easier.
He drew the bowstring, gathering Spiritual Power and condensing it into a pitch-black spiritual arrow.
Whoosh!
The arrow shot through the air, striking the Raging Blood Iron Birch's resentment with precision.
The Raging Blood Iron Birch did not even have time to dodge.
With just one arrow, nearly half its soul body dissipated. Its trunk trembled violently, and its blood markings flashed wildly.
However, Gui Yuan's mental body also became nearly half transparent.
Clearly, using the Darkin Bow in soul-body form consumed far more than using it with Soul Power, and its power had also diminished considerably.
But Gui Yuan did not care about that. This was far better than wearing it down over time.
Normally, with the Darkin Bow's "Mental Protection," he only needed to wait out the resentful spirit before him.
Once enough time passed and the power of resentment in its remnant soul dissipated, he would have successfully absorbed the ring.
For other Soul Kings, absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring did not mean they had to kill the resentful spirit inside it to complete the process.
If that were truly the case, support-type Soul Masters without any offensive abilities might as well forget about absorbing them.
A day passed.
Gui Yuan finally finished absorbing the Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei stood guard beside him. Seeing Gui Yuan's presence gradually stabilize, both let out a breath of relief.
"Looks like he succeeded," Gui Mei said calmly.
Soon, Gui Yuan's Soul Rings disappeared into his body. He slowly opened his eyes and let out a deep breath.
"First Dad, Second Dad, I did it." Looking at their concerned gazes, he smiled. "How long has it been?"