Leaving Seclusion

If absorbing the Third Soul Ring still could not evolve the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Eight Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, then they could only place their hopes on the Fourth Soul Ring.

Over the past two years, aside from taking turns dispatching the two Titled Douluo, Sword and Bone, to hunt Soul Beasts, Ning Fengzhi had also sent people to search for the gem-type Soul Beasts Ning Rongrong would need in the future.

Apart from the eight-hundred-year Emerald Bird Ning Rongrong had already absorbed and the two-thousand-five-hundred-year Ruby Sun Flower she was about to absorb, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had also captured alive a White Jade Mystic Turtle over seven thousand years old, to serve as Ning Rongrong's Fourth Soul Ring and provide a Defense Amplification soul skill.

As for the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts needed from the fifth ring onward, capturing them alive was not difficult for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

However, once a Soul Beast's cultivation surpassed ten thousand years, its intelligence increased greatly. Coupled with the proud nature of most Soul Beasts, keeping them in captivity was extremely difficult.

Therefore, Ning Fengzhi merely had people record the territories frequented by suitable target Soul Beasts. When needed in the future, they could simply hunt them in those areas.

Diamond, jade, ruby, and white jade—these were the gemstones represented by the four Soul Beasts.

The Soul Rings produced by these Soul Beast types would respectively provide the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda with Attribute Amplification in strength, agility, soul power, and defense.

If, when the time came, Ning Rongrong absorbed the White Jade Mystic Turtle's Soul Ring and still failed to completely solidify the phantom image of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's eighth level, then even if it meant her fifth soul skill would not be Attack Amplification, Ning Fengzhi would definitely find a gem-type Soul Beast Soul Ring representing glazed glass for his daughter to absorb.

Though glazed glass was considered a precious gem, it was fragile.

Therefore, gem-type Soul Beasts representing glazed glass did not suit the six amplifications required by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's first six soul skills: strength, agility, soul power, defense, attack, and attributes.

However, the attributes of this type of Soul Beast were exceptionally compatible with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, making it the best choice for the Seventh Soul Ring's Martial Soul Avatar.

It was simply because Soul Rings from gem-type Soul Beasts representing glazed glass were exceedingly rare, and the Seventh Soul Ring's age could not be lower than thirty thousand years in any case.

Thus, none of the past sect masters of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had ever been fortunate enough to absorb such a Soul Beast for their Martial Soul Avatar.

Not long ago, however, while searching for suitable targets, Bone Douluo had encountered a Glazed Gem Spirit Beast more than forty thousand years old.

Bone Douluo understood that this Soul Beast was exceptionally suitable as Ning Rongrong's Seventh Soul Ring. Moreover, its cultivation had not exceeded fifty thousand years, so he had not attacked it and merely noted its range of activity.

When Ning Fengzhi obtained that sixty-thousand-year Mirror Shadow Beast skull Soul Bone, he had also learned this news from Bone Douluo.

This left Ning Fengzhi overjoyed.

Sunset Forest contained an Agate Unicorn more than fifteen thousand years old. It represented the gemstone agate and could provide an Attack Amplification soul skill.

Star Dou Great Forest contained an Azure Water Clam more than thirty-two thousand years old. It represented the gemstone pearl and could provide an Attribute Amplification soul skill.

And in the Extreme North, there was that Glazed Snow Crystal Deer more than forty-seven thousand years old. It represented the gemstone glazed glass and could serve as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's Martial Soul Avatar.

With this, all the Soul Beasts required for his daughter's first seven Soul Rings had been found.

Just as Ning Fengzhi was considering targets for his daughter's eighth and ninth Soul Rings, Ning Rongrong had finished absorbing the Soul Bone and awakened.

In mid-March, the Grain Rain arrived.

Early that morning, a light rain pattered through the Manor, while a thin mist hung in the air.

It was now the final month of spring. In just over half a month, summer would begin.

Old Butler Yu Yuan had entered seclusion at the end of last autumn and the beginning of winter. By now, nearly half a year had passed.

That day, a large door deep within the Manor burst open, and an elderly man in black robes with a ruddy complexion stepped out.

The black-robed elder rarely revealed such joy. Feeling the vast and majestic soul power within his body, like a boundless ocean, he sighed with emotion:

"After half a year, this old man has finally relied on the remaining medicinal power of the Immortal Grade Medicinal Herb in my body to break through the threshold of level ninety."

"Only those with Innate Full Soul Power can disregard the bottleneck between level eighty-nine and level ninety."

"For those below Innate Full Soul Power, breaking through this bottleneck is as difficult as ascending to heaven!"

"With this old man's Innate Soul Power of eight and a half levels, without the Immortal Grade Medicinal Herb bestowed by the young master, the chance of breaking through this bottleneck by my own efforts would not have exceeded thirty percent."

In the current era, most people's understanding and development of the Soul Master cultivation system remained limited to meditation, Soul Rings, Soul Bones, and Self-Created Soul Skills.

Their development of external aids such as medicinal herbs and secret formulas was extremely limited.

Therefore, in the conventional understanding of most Soul Masters, absorbing Soul Bones to improve one's aptitude and thereby increase the chances of breaking through the level-ninety bottleneck was the best—and only—method.

As for Immortal Grade Medicinal Herbs and God Assessments, not only did very few people know of them, but even those who did could do little with that knowledge.

Immortal Grade Medicinal Herbs were rarely seen in the world, appearing perhaps once in centuries or even millennia.

God Assessments were even more of a double-edged sword. If an assessor failed their assessment, death was their only outcome, and the threshold for becoming an assessor was extremely high.

Then there were Soul Bones.

To increase the chances of advancing from level eighty-nine to level ninety, a Soul Bone had to be at least ten thousand years old. The higher its age and quality, the greater the help it provided in breaking through the level-ninety bottleneck.

This was why Soul Bones were so precious.

It was not merely because they could provide additional soul skills, but because absorbing a Soul Bone could improve one's aptitude, allowing its absorber to hope for cultivation at a higher realm.

Now that he had broken through to level ninety, the worry in Old Butler's heart no longer existed.

As the Heavenly Dou Hereditary Duke, the Lin Family naturally possessed Soul Bones passed down through generations. There were three in total:

a Right Arm Bone around twelve thousand years old, a skull Soul Bone around fourteen thousand years old, and a Torso Bone around fifteen thousand years old.

These three soul bones, combined with the top-tier Plant System Martial Soul, the Dragon Soul Vine, which granted at least five levels of Innate Soul Power, allowed every generation of the Lin Family's Dukes to cultivate to the realm of Soul Douluo.

Originally, all three soul bones had been absorbed by Lin Rong's grandfather.

After the old Duke passed away, Lin Rong's father had not yet had the chance to absorb them before he was buried in a beast tide, forever losing that opportunity.

Now, those three soul bones were within the Azure Dragon Vine around Lin Rong's wrist.

Lin Rong had been raised by the Old Butler since childhood, so the Old Butler knew that his young master was proud and ambitious, and looked down on the three soul bones passed down through the family.

For that reason, the Old Butler worried that if he failed to break through the level-ninety bottleneck in the future, his young master would have him absorb those three Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones to overcome it.

Leaving aside how many years these three soul bones had been passed down within the Lin Family, they had once been absorbed by the old master.

In the Old Butler's heart, those three soul bones were a part of the old master. Naturally, he was unwilling to absorb them.

Even though he knew that after absorbing those three Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones, his chances of breaking through the level-ninety bottleneck would increase by roughly thirty percent.

But this was a matter of principle. The Old Butler knew he could never do it.

A bit of trivia: before Burmese jade was introduced to China, "jadeite," one of the Four Famous Jades, referred to kingfisher feathers.