Choice and the First Soul Ring

"Great Strength Ape."

Ning Buhui turned those three words over in his mind twice, chewing on them. He remembered clearly seeing the name on the standard Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda configuration list Bibi Dong had given him: Great Strength Ape, 2,200 years old, a strength-type Soul Beast whose main effect was to boost a target's strength. For an orthodox Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Master, whose fixed Soul Skills depended only on a Soul Beast's age, choosing it for the first ring was as safe a choice as could be.

But what was safe for others was not necessarily safe for him.

He barely hesitated before turning to Bibi Dong and lowering his voice. "Teacher, I want the Netherlight Butterfly."

Zhou Qing froze for a moment and shot Ning Buhui a quick glance. Wu Tie's cold face turned slightly as well. The beast's roars on the other side of the sinkhole had stopped, leaving only the mist slowly churning through the woods, as though the Great Strength Ape had caught their scent and was hesitating over whether to approach.

Bibi Dong paid them no mind and asked only Ning Buhui, "Have you thought it through?"

"I have," he said. "The Great Strength Ape is suitable, but it suits the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's fixed path. My pagoda is a Mutated Martial Soul and can't be judged by conventional standards. It's also a dual-attribute Martial Soul, so the Netherlight Butterfly, with both light and darkness attributes, is a better match than the single-attribute Great Strength Ape. I trust my own judgment more."

His voice was quiet, but every word seemed to punch a hole in the stone beneath them.

Bibi Dong said nothing. Two breaths later, she gave a faint laugh, devoid of warmth, as though she had merely let out a breath through her nose. Ning Buhui knew it meant she approved of and affirmed his choice. "Then hurry. Drive that monkey away first, then hunt the Nether Butterfly."

Zhou Qing and Wu Tie obeyed, flashing toward the source of the roars. Ning Buhui saw the Soul Rings behind both men light up at once: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black. Soul Saints!

Ning Buhui watched without blinking. He was still a greenhorn fresh out of the gate, and this was his first time seeing experts at the Soul Saint level fight.

Zhou Qing's Martial Soul was a short saber, its blade seemingly forged from refined heavy silver and cold iron, gleaming with a cold, matte silver sheen. Its edge was as thin as a cicada's wing yet incomparably hard. Soul Power surged over the blade as Zhou Qing slashed twice, sending two cutting gusts into the woods. Wu Tie's Martial Soul was a brown bear, whose phantom overlaid his body. Close behind Zhou Qing, he slammed a fist into the ground, sending a shock wave skimming over the soil like an earth dragon darting wildly beneath the grass roots. A great swath of mist was torn apart, and an angry ape's cry rang out from the woods, followed by heavy footsteps heading in the opposite direction.

"Done." Zhou Qing darted back in a few strides, without a bead of sweat on his forehead.

Bibi Dong nodded and looked back at the cliff face. The Netherlight Butterflies had been startled; a few spread their wings but did not take flight, settling back where they were. Ning Buhui breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tell me where the one you've picked is," Bibi Dong said.

Ning Buhui pointed high up the cliff. "There, diagonally above the third crevice from the left. Its wings are closed, and there's a hint of dark cyan on its gray shell. Judging by its appearance, it's around 2,000 years old."

Bibi Dong followed his finger with her gaze. A moment later, she moved.

Like a gust of wind sweeping over the rocks, she moved, and Ning Buhui saw her Soul Rings light up: yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black, red! A Titled Douluo! The last was clearly a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. She raised her hand and, without much preparation, made a very light stroke with its edge. Her Third Soul Skill activated: Spider Web Restraint. A thread of dim light, fine as a hair, shot from her hand so fast that he blinked. The swarm of Netherlight Butterflies reacted as though stung, more than a dozen opening their wings and flying far away in an instant. Bibi Dong had no intention of attacking them. The dim light gradually expanded into a great web that firmly bound the Nether Butterfly he had chosen. Its wings beat furiously, but it could not break free of the web's restraint, and its strength gradually ebbed.

Ning Buhui almost rushed over on instinct, but Zhou Qing grabbed him by the back of his collar. "Wait. Don't rush."

He stopped and looked at the Nether Butterfly. Sure enough, though it had stopped struggling, it still had the strength for a final counterattack. A desperate strike from a Soul Beast around 2,000 years old was not something a greenhorn who was not even a Soul Master could withstand.

Ning Buhui waited patiently as the spider venom ate away at the Nether Butterfly. At some point, Bibi Dong had moved into the shallow water at the bottom of the sinkhole. She held one palm raised, and a ball of gentle Soul Power supported the butterfly's body in midair. Two points of silver-blue light on its wings flickered alternately. For the first time, Ning Buhui got a clear look at the Nether Butterfly up close.

Its wingspan was about a foot and a half. Its wings were gray-black, covered in fine, densely packed light patterns; the left wing was paler, the right darker. Each bore a ring-shaped golden eyespot, with a white star at its center that trembled faintly as the butterfly struggled. The spider venom had already eaten away most of its life. One wing could no longer move, while the other still fluttered futilely.

"Go," Bibi Dong said.

Ning Buhui ran over through the shallows, splashing water onto his trouser legs. He crouched and drew the hunting knife he had prepared from his leg wrap. The knife was short and thin-bladed, but his grip on it was rock steady.

This was his first time hunting and killing a Soul Beast.

He did not think much about it. He aimed the tip at the softest part of the butterfly's body and stabbed down hard.

The butterfly's wings snapped open, then slowly closed. The silver-blue light on them faded bit by bit, until only a tiny speck of white light flickered at its abdomen, like a candle's last struggle before the wind snuffed it out.

Then a pale purple ring of light rose from the butterfly's body.

The ring was about half a foot wide and purple throughout. It floated two feet above the corpse, slowly rotating. Its light was not dazzling, but it radiated the Soul Beast's violent presence, dyeing the surrounding water pale purple. This was the mark of a Thousand-Year Soul Ring. Ning Buhui watched it, his breathing unconsciously slowing. A Soul Ring more than 2,000 years old would also be his first.

"Sit cross-legged, use your Soul Power to draw the Soul Ring to you, then absorb it." Bibi Dong's voice came down from above.

He sat as instructed, slipped the hunting knife back into his leg wrap, closed his eyes, and held out his right hand. He released the Nine Hell Soul-Suppressing Pagoda, then let Soul Power flow slowly from his palm, drawing the Soul Ring toward him.

The Soul Ring floated over his head, then abruptly contracted to the size of a bracelet and settled around his Martial Soul.

In an instant, a violent torrent of energy surged through his Martial Soul and into his meridians. First, a thread of coolness slipped into his palm; then it was as though a freezing spring had poured through his meridians and flooded his whole body. Ning Buhui gritted his teeth. He knew this was because the Netherlight Butterfly's energy was yin-cold, mixed with light-attribute energy. Like fire wrapped in ice, it was both cold and scalding wherever it passed. His body had been strengthened by both Whale Rubber and the pagoda, making his meridians much wider and tougher than those of his peers, yet it was still hard to bear. His bones creaked faintly as energy scoured his meridians, and agony racked his body. Beads of sweat appeared at his temples, and he trembled slightly.

With his eyes closed, Ning Buhui slowly used his own Soul Power to tame and assimilate that force. The ring's light flickered over him, a purple glow lingering around his body. Suddenly, a fierce, savage will rushed toward his mind. Clearly, the Nether Butterfly's lingering will had launched a mental assault on him. But the attack had only just reached his sea of consciousness when an invisible ripple released by the Soul Suppressing Pagoda's phantom, which guarded his soul, scattered it. His sea of consciousness was calm and undisturbed, as though nothing had happened.

A quarter of an hour later, the purple light faded completely, and a purple Soul Ring floated quietly around Ning Buhui. His Soul Power rose at the same time, shooting straight to level 15, all thanks to the 2,026-year-old Soul Ring. Yes, after completing the absorption, Ning Buhui had learned the ring's exact age, and all the information about its attached Soul Skill had naturally appeared in his mind.

Ning Buhui slowly breathed out a turbid breath and pushed himself up from the ground. The shallow water rippled beneath his feet, reflecting the gray-white sky overhead and the purple ring around him.

"Did it work?" Zhou Qing asked quietly.

Ning Buhui nodded and turned to Bibi Dong. He noticed that even Zhou Qing and Wu Tie were still holding their breath. Clearly, none of them had ever seen a six-year-old forcibly absorb a 2,000-year-old ring and succeed.

Bibi Dong studied him for a moment, clearly very satisfied, pleased both that he had successfully absorbed his First Soul Ring and that Whale Rubber really worked. She asked nothing else, saying only, "Try it. Let's see what your First Soul Skill is."

Ning Buhui raised his hand, and the pagoda's silhouette formed in his palm, a purple Soul Ring encircling it. He casually recited, "Nine Hell Soul-Suppressing, Butterfly Dance Flowing Radiance."

The white fish circling the pagoda flicked its tail, and a white butterfly appeared. It fluttered through the air, then landed on Ning Buhui's shoulder and vanished.

Ning Buhui closed his eyes and took a moment to feel the effects. All his attributes had increased by 25%, his Soul Power recovery speed had increased by 25%, and the interval between Soul Skill uses had shortened by 20%.

His Nine Hell Soul-Suppressing Pagoda was both similar to and different from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. The similarity was that its support abilities centered on percentage boosts, making them far stronger than those of ordinary support Martial Souls at the same level. In its basic state, each additional Soul Ring raised the boost to the corresponding attribute by a further increment. The boosts also worked reliably on Soul Masters of every rank, giving even Titled Douluo a clear increase in combat power, something ordinary support Martial Souls could not do. Moreover, Soul Ring quality did not affect the strength of the boost, only reducing Soul Power consumption. Higher-age Soul Rings would not increase the percentage boost, but they allowed the same boost to consume less Soul Power and last longer.

Unfortunately, it also shared the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's weakness. All its Soul Skills consumed exactly the same amount of Soul Power. The Soul Skill consumption of ordinary Martial Souls increased with Soul Ring level-a Seventh Soul Skill consumed far more than a First Soul Skill-but each of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's Soul Skills consumed exactly the same amount of Soul Power per second while active.

That meant activating two Soul Skills at once doubled the consumption of one; activating all seven made it seven times as much. If he activated every skill at full power without regard for the target, even Ning Fengzhi at level 79 would have his Soul Power completely drained in seconds, leaving him unable to sustain himself in battle. That was why the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had developed Heart Separation Control.

Ning Buhui had long been prepared for this and was not overly worried. He possessed a mental cultivation method more complete than Heart Separation Control; once he mastered it, this weakness would effectively cease to exist.

Unlike the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, whose boost increased by 10% with each additional Soul Ring, the Nine Hell Soul-Suppressing Pagoda's boost increased by only 5%, perhaps because it had mutated to gain control abilities. Its control abilities also improved, however. The most important difference was that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's Soul Skills were fixed, while his Nine Hell Soul-Suppressing Pagoda could gain different corresponding abilities from different Soul Beasts. That made it more flexible and gave him plenty of room to choose.

Ning Buhui explained the boosts and limitations he had perceived to Bibi Dong.

Even the usually composed Bibi Dong was surprised by the boosts his First Soul Skill provided. She had not expected it to boost all attributes, restore Soul Power as well, and even shorten the interval between Soul Skill uses. In battle, that last effect was actually more useful than the boost.

Bibi Dong's expression softened. "Good, very good. Losing you is a tremendous loss for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, but Spirit Hall will devote all its efforts to nurturing you."

Ning Buhui hurried to win her favor. "Thank you, Teacher. I certainly won't let your nurturing go to waste."

Bibi Dong turned and began walking slowly back. "Now that this is settled, let's prepare to return."

"Yes," Zhou Qing and Wu Tie answered.

Ning Buhui also put himself in order and followed. What he was really thinking about was how to explain the other skill from his First Soul Ring to Bibi Dong in private. That was right! His First Soul Ring had actually given him two skills: the support-boosting Soul Skill released by the yang fish, Yang · Butterfly Dance Flowing Radiance, and the sealing and control Soul Skill released by the yin fish, Yin · Butterfly Suppresses Nether Spring!

Yin · Butterfly Suppresses Nether Spring: The yin fish releases a pitch-black butterfly phantom that attaches itself to an enemy target. The next time the target uses a Soul Skill, its Soul Power consumption increases by 25% and its power decreases by 10%. The butterfly phantom lasts 30 seconds. If the target is attacked three times during that period, the phantom detonates early, causing 0.5 seconds of Soul Power disorder, during which the target cannot mobilize Soul Power.

That 0.5 seconds was not to be underestimated. In battle, even 0.5 seconds could play a crucial role.

For now, it was still inconvenient to reveal the peculiarities of his Martial Soul to anyone besides his teacher. He would wait until they returned and explain it to her in private.

Ning Buhui leaned back in the carriage on the way home, resting with his eyes closed. He was very satisfied with this Soul Beast hunt.