Chapter 8: Among Life
After waiting for about ten minutes to confirm there were no soul beasts lying in ambush, Ye Wen turned to Ah Yin.
"Could you lend me a hand, Ah Yin?"
Ah Yin nodded and summoned her martial spirit. Her first soul ring glowed, and with a technique mirroring Tang San's first spirit ability, Binding, she controlled her Blue Silver Grass to form vines that stretched out dozens of meters, lifting the fallen Qingnang Beast into the air and gently pulling it toward them. Thoughtfully, she wrapped its head to prevent blood from spilling and attracting bloodthirsty soul beasts.
Ye Wen couldn't help but marvel at the strength of a top tier martial spirit. With such a wide control range, any ordinary Soul Master approaching Ah Yin would be subdued before they even got close.
Still, he couldn't resist inwardly criticizing, Yu Xiaogang's theories were totally misguided. If Tang San had focused on absorbing plant type soul beasts to enhance his Blue Silver Grass, wouldn't it have been far better than pursuing the so called "limit soul ring" Mandala Snake?
The Mandala Snake's poison only came in handy briefly, disappearing from use almost immediately afterward. Tang San's fighting core was never his martial spirits but his "self created" techniques and the skills he borrowed from the Mysterious Heaven Record. He even abandoned the Clear Sky Hammer later in favor of the Sea God's Trident. It was baffling. Two top martial spirits wasted as mere props.
If I had a Blue Silver Emperor martial spirit, it'd be easy to develop a unique whip technique. Imagine supersonic strikes just try dodging that! Even gods would bear a mark or two from its lashes.
As Ah Yin brought over the Qingnang Beast, Ye Wen examined its four sectioned horn, each segment precisely equal in length, indicating its 400 year cultivation age perfectly aligned with Yu Xiaogang's so called "423 year limit" for soul ring absorption.
Feeling fortunate, Ye Wen prepared to begin absorbing the soul ring, but Ah Yin looked at him with concern.
"Big Brother, are you sure you want to absorb the soul ring from this weak Qingnang Beast? I can't imagine it would grant you a useful ability. You told me that a first soul skill is essential for a Soul Master's future path. Shouldn't we look for something stronger?"
Ye Wen paused. If anyone else had asked him this, he wouldn't have bothered answering. But for his sister...
"Ah Yin," he began, "even though the Qingnang Beast appears to be a weak creature whose only skill is regurgitating to escape, I don't see it that way.
"Every soul beast species that has survived until now must have something special. My martial spirit isn't suited to aggressive development, so I'm focusing on other aspects. From my research, the Qingnang Beast's regurgitation ability is more than what it appears. It eats regular Blue Silver Grass but can spit it out with a scent that confuses other soul beasts.
"This ability isn't due to some hallucinogen. Rather, the regurgitated Blue Silver Grass seems to radiate life force, drawing other beasts' attention to it. Strictly speaking, it's a sort of 'pseudo spiritual herb.' This indicates that the Qingnang Beast's stomach has a life enhancing quality, and that's exactly what I need.
"My martial spirit, the Containment Cloth, has a storage function for non living things, but there are storage type soul guide devices that can hold living creatures. So, I'm hoping this first soul ring will help me unlock that same ability."
"Now I understand! Big Brother, you really know so much. Hurry up and absorb it. I'm looking forward to seeing your martial spirit evolve!"
Without further ado, Ye Wen summoned his martial spirit: an enormous black cloth stretched over a square meter, which he held in his hand, guiding the yellow soul ring hovering over the Qingnang Beast. The soul ring descended, wrapping around his martial spirit, and he felt a surge of heat flood from his martial spirit into his body.
Every cell in his body felt alive, as if something foreign were merging with him.
"So this is the sensation of absorbing a soul ring… This energy is similar to soul power but has an unfamiliar quality I can't fully analyze yet.
"The mechanics of absorbing a soul ring are clear. The energy within the ring flows into my body, yet it's not something I can control; it's self directing. If my body can withstand it, it'll merge with me. If not, I'll die from the energy overload.
"It's like stretching a rubber band; as long as it's within a threshold, the band won't snap. But if the force exceeds that threshold, the body collapses. If we ignore the spirit shock factor of ten thousand year soul rings, a body's physical strength alone could theoretically handle a nine thousand year soul ring within the first four rings.
"Before coming here, I'd assessed my strength at 600 pounds and my sprint speed at 100 meters in five seconds, but those aren't perfect measures. Testing with a Soul Douluo level fighter applying pressure could help develop a clearer theory on soul ring absorption.
"For now, this 400 year ring feels easily manageable. I'd have to increase the energy by half again before it'd become painful. By current estimates, I could probably handle a 600 year ring without trouble, which is a bit of a waste here.
"But most Soul Masters don't rely on physical strength alone for soul ring absorption. My inability to channel my soul power into this process may just be a sign of the soul ring's lower age."
After a while, Ye Wen slowly opened his eyes.
"First soul skill: Among Life. This changes my martial spirit's space attribute, allowing it to store living creatures. However, if the space experiences an attack, it'll automatically expel any living creatures inside. And if the force is beyond a certain threshold, it'll collapse the space and leave me gravely injured. I'll need to use this skill carefully.
"The skill binds to my martial spirit's innate properties, consuming five percent of my soul power daily to maintain it. I can adjust the size of the storage space to reduce soul power consumption, and the capacity has also expanded to three cubic meters," he concluded with satisfaction.
(Author's Note: Since Ye Wen aims to be a theoretical master, let's clarify a fuzzy concept from the original story. Here, I assume a ten year soul beast equates to a body's physical strength limit of ten pounds. Since physical attributes are hard to quantify precisely, we'll stick with a cautious approach to avoid injuries. For a hundred thousand year soul ring, one would need a strength of a hundred thousand pounds, comparable to the Seagod Trident's 108,000 pound weight. Although it sounds extreme, remember, this is a fantasy world no matter how absurd, it still makes some sense!)
(End of Chapter)
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