Conditions for Absorbing the Second Soul Ring

Somewhere in the dense forest, a drop of blood squirmed twice. A body began to form from the bones outward, followed by flesh and skin, and finally clothes.

Hui Ye had come back to life again. Even his Soul Tool Ring and Soul Bones were as good as new.

After Bei Bei had killed him before, he had only been able to revive within one minute. After some research, he found that he could extend that window by injecting enough Soul Power into a portion of his remains.

A drop of blood, for example, was a good choice. It was small, yet it could hold a large amount of Soul Power to sustain its existence.

Using thirty percent of his Soul Power could extend the time to about ten minutes.

He put the Soul Tool Rings he had obtained from Lu Tian and Lu Feng on the fingers of his left hand. Counting the one Zhou Yi had given him, he had three in all.

He raised his hand in front of him and turned it back and forth. The three rings gleamed with a metallic sheen.

Hui Ye took a deep sniff and smiled in delight.

"Ah, the smell of money. It smells so good!"

Without lingering any longer, Hui Ye raced toward the Star Dou Great Forest...

Seven days later.

Hui Ye emerged from a hidden cave somewhere on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

After taking three Mystic Water Pills, his Soul Power Level had reached level 20. All he needed now was a Soul Ring.

There were restrictions on his Second Soul Ring as well.

It had to be formed by fusing Soul Rings of five different attributes: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

The total age of the Soul Rings for each attribute had to reach 5,000 years. As with absorbing his First Soul Ring, their ages could be added together.

The five attributes came to a total of 25,000 years, a major undertaking for Hui Ye.

Of the five, water-attribute Soul Beasts were the easiest to find. He only needed to find a lake, and the Soul Beasts in it would almost all be water-attribute.

As Hui Ye searched for a lake, he casually hunted Blue Silver Grass along the way.

Blue Silver Grass had a powerful life attribute, but it was also wood-attribute by nature. Ten-year Blue Silver Grass was especially easy to obtain.

For Soul Rings produced by low-age Blue Silver Grass, Hui Ye did not even need to sit cross-legged to absorb them. With a wave of his hand, they automatically entered his body and fused into the vacant slot for his Second Soul Ring.

After half a day, Hui Ye found a lake, having piled up 1,500 years for the wood attribute.

Hui Ye stripped off his clothes and plunged in like a fish into the sea. Dog paddling, breaststroke, backstroke, prolonged diving—he was proficient in them all and swam to his heart's content.

After enjoying himself for half an hour, Hui Ye finally dove deep to the bottom of the lake and opened his eyes to survey his surroundings.

Schools of little fish and shrimp scattered in every direction.

Two turtles were stacked on top of each other at the bottom of the sea. He casually pulled them apart as a gesture of friendship.

He pressed on.

Three minutes passed, and the oxygen in his body ran low. Rather than surface for air, Hui Ye self-destructed on the spot to reset his body's condition.

Boom!

A column of water erupted from the calm lake, and blood stained a patch of its surface red.

The Soul Beasts in the lake fled in alarm at first. Then a strong, bloody scent washed over them, carrying traces of Soul Power fluctuations.

Schools of sharp-toothed fish Soul Beasts swarmed toward the bloody water.

The lake's surface churned with spray, revealing glistening fish scales.

Boom!

Another explosion rang out in the lake. The fish Soul Beasts shattered at the sound, and more than a hundred white Soul Rings rose above the water.

Once the ripples had calmed a little, a head emerged from the lake. Hui Ye beckoned to the hundred or so Soul Rings and drew them all into his body.

The water attribute's total age rose to about 500 years.

By rights, more than a hundred white Soul Rings should have added up to over a thousand years. But their ages were too low, so they had to be compressed and refined before they could undergo a qualitative change.

Hui Ye dove beneath the water again and repeated the trick.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The entire lake shook without cease. Even some Soul Beasts several hundred years old failed to escape, either blown to death on the spot or knocked unconscious by the shock.

The water attribute's progress quickly climbed to 3,000 years.

All that commotion had cost Hui Ye quite a bit. With only twenty percent of his Soul Power left, he planned to go ashore and recover before continuing.

But Hui Ye's actions had been too conspicuous, and a thousand-year water python had set its sights on him.

Oblivious, Hui Ye swam toward the shore. The water python crept up from below and swallowed him whole.

"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!"

After he was swallowed, the muscles in the python's belly contracted, squeezing Hui Ye into a ball. He was startled at first, but quickly realized where he was.

Honestly, he could not understand what Monkey Bro enjoyed about it. It was sour and stank inside, with a smell to rival a septic tank. But... maybe that was just what Monkey Bro liked.

"Damn, I let my guard down. But this suits me just fine."

Bang!

The water python's belly exploded.

It thrashed wildly across the lake. Within minutes, it floated on the surface, and a purple Soul Ring rose from its body.

Hui Ye crawled ashore and sat cross-legged, making the most of his time to recover his Soul Power.

Once his Soul Power had recovered to seventy percent, Hui Ye circulated it and drew the purple Soul Ring into his body.

It took him twenty minutes to absorb the Soul Ring completely, bringing the water attribute to about 4,000 years.

Hui Ye jumped back into the lake and carried on for a while longer. Only when the sky began to darken did he return to shore.

With that, the water attribute reached 5,000 years.

The Second Soul Ring's exterior was a pale gray and divided into five sections. One section was filled with blue, representing the water attribute.

Another section was about a third full of green, representing the wood attribute.

The rest was blank.

"Not bad. The progress is decent." Hui Ye nodded to himself, very satisfied with the day's haul.

He circulated his Soul Power and felt for changes in his body.

The result was that his physique had grown stronger, and his Soul Power capacity had doubled.

Although he had not fully obtained his Second Soul Ring, he could still feel that his Soul Power had risen to approximately level 21.

Rubbing his empty stomach, Hui Ye glanced at the many Soul Beast corpses in the lake.

He jumped into the lake and picked through them, then dragged a fish Soul Beast with relatively tender flesh ashore, cleaned it, and set it over a fire to roast.

During the days he had spent selling fish with Huo Yuhao, he had picked things up through constant exposure, and his cooking had improved as well.

He took a packet of secret grilled-fish seasoning from his Soul Tool Ring.

Well~

It was actually Huo Yuhao's. Hui Ye had only borrowed it for a bit.

Sprinkle it on~

He sprinkled it evenly over the fish along his elbow, and the fragrance spread in every direction.

Hui Ye's appetite stirred, and he could not wait to take a bite.

The skin was crisp, while the flesh inside was soft and tender, clinging to his teeth. It had a texture like jelly.

In less than five minutes, Hui Ye had polished off half the grilled fish.

Staring at the remaining half, Hui Ye fell into deep thought...

To avoid waste, he made a reasonable decision.

Bang!

Hui Ye found a corner and self-destructed, clearing the food from his stomach. Then he happily polished off the remaining half of the grilled fish.

"Nice!"

Hui Ye let out a satisfied belch, climbed onto a branch of a towering tree, and lay down. Patting his round belly, he gradually drifted off to sleep...

"Alas!"

A long sigh rang out.

Electrolux could not help lamenting.

Day after day, he was either self-destructing or on his way to self-destruct.

Who fought like that? It was too absurd.

It was like an old man needing peace and quiet to tend to his health, only for a brat to set off firecrackers at his door every day. Who could stand that?

"Honestly, that damn child doesn't understand how to consider an old man's feelings at all."

Fortunately, Hui Ye had only detonated his physical body; his soul had not exploded along with it. Otherwise, Electrolux would have been exposed on the spot again and found himself in another awkward situation.

The thought of Hui Ye's simple and brutal Soul Skill gave Electrolux a terrible headache.

When would these days ever end?

Deep within Hui Ye's soul, the golden-gray sphere silently shrank a little, as though covering its ears.