Chapter 17: The Thousand Year Ice Silkworm, Part II
The monotony of his search for a spirit beast reminded Ye Wen of the Douluo Dalu comic series he had first read, and he couldn't help but smirk as he recalled Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's hypocrisy. Yu had told Tang San not to kill spirit beasts indiscriminately to "preserve resources for future generations." Yet, during their first trip to the forest, Yu had wiped out dozens of wolf spirit beasts to "teach Tang San" about the laws of the jungle a blatant double standard. When it came to Tang San himself, it was even more absurd. By the later books, every beast he killed was somehow "evil," as if to justify his actions. Spirit beasts don't have moral alignments; they simply live by the rules of survival. Trying to impose human laws on them would be like a Qing Dynasty official attempting to enforce Ming laws ridiculous and out of place.
"Heh," Ye Wen chuckled to himself.
Just then, he discovered a snow covered hollow and struck it open with his ice pick, revealing an ice white silkworm about one meter long sleeping within. Disturbed by the sudden light, the silkworm stirred awake, sensing Ye Wen's presence as an intruder. On its back, two of the silkworm's typical white blue markings had already turned silvery, and a third was beginning to transform. By Ye Wen's estimation, this Ice Silkworm was around 1,200 years old, slightly more advanced than his original target. With his strength now reaching 1,300 jin (about 650 kg), absorbing a spirit ring from this silkworm was well within his capacity.
Satisfied with his analysis, Ye Wen drew his bow and fired.
The arrow struck with lethal precision. "Thousand year Ice Silkworm done for!" With no suspense whatsoever, the 1,200 year old Ice Silkworm was dead.
Ye Wen marveled at the cultivation rules that seemed to favor humans so heavily. If this were the novels of his past life, a beast that had lived for 1,200 years would have earned a fearsome title like "great demon" but here? An easy target.
Taking extra caution, he covered the entrance to the hollow with snow to avoid attracting attention and entered the burrow to face the purple, thousand year spirit ring slowly floating above the silkworm's corpse. Inhaling deeply to steel his nerves, Ye Wen reminded himself that, though his calculations indicated he should be able to absorb this ring, the thought of trying something so ambitious still made him tense.
After a moment's hesitation, he steadied himself, drawing confidence from his knowledge of the source material. Then, guiding the purple spirit ring toward his martial spirit, he began absorbing its power.
As with his first spirit ring, a sensation spread from his cells, stretching and reshaping his body with a mixture of ache and intensity. Ye Wen frowned at the discomfort, but it remained tolerable. Gradually, his soul power began to circulate on its own, working in tandem with the ring's energy to ease the pressure on his body a hint at why traditional soul masters could absorb spirit rings without extensive physical training. It seemed their soul power helped mediate the ring's energy, functioning as a sort of buffer. He filed the observation away, pleased to find his theories gaining evidence in practice.
Bit by bit, he refined the energy, feeling his physical strength advance by leaps and bounds 1,500 jin, then 1,800, then 2,000 jin. The improvement began to slow as he neared 2,500 jin, but Ye Wen was satisfied with the progress. At last, after several hours of focused effort, he successfully absorbed the thousand year ring, achieving what would shock most of the world: a second ring at the thousand year level.
"Just as I calculated," he murmured to himself. "I can feel a slight capacity for more. I might even handle a higher year ring, but the benefit wouldn't be worth the risk. So, it looks like my research on 'Physical Power and Spirit Ring Absorption' holds up after all."
Ye Wen analyzed his findings carefully. The role of soul power in the absorption process seemed to vary with one's martial spirit quality and the type of martial spirit itself. But as his own development leaned heavily on physical strengthening, soul power alone couldn't keep up. It was an auxiliary, secondary to the durability he built in his body, which now dictated how much he could absorb.
Not only had his physical strength grown, but his perception seemed to sharpen as well. The faintest movements in the frozen air were suddenly perceptible, an unexpected side effect of the Ice Silkworm's mental power. Ye Wen marveled at his new second spirit skill, "Simulation," which allowed him to create training environments that replicated real world conditions a perfect match for his needs.
The skill even granted him the ability to alter his spirit rings' appearance. Now he could obscure the thousand year spirit ring, displaying only yellow rings to casual observers. "The perfect disguise skill," he thought, smiling. No one but a high level spirit master or Title Douluo with mental powers could see through it.
Satisfied with the results, Ye Wen summoned Napu, his cloth martial spirit, now featuring two yellow rings in perfect mimicry. "Absolutely flawless," he noted. "Anyone watching will assume I'm following the conventional spirit master path."
Then he decided to check his spirit power, curious about how much it had risen after a year spent capped at level 20.
"Level 29? How can this be?" he exclaimed in surprise. A six level jump seemed improbably high, even considering the boost from an over absorbed spirit ring. In Douluo Dalu, even Tang San hadn't gained so much from the thousand year Man Faced Demon Spider.
Puzzled, Ye Wen glanced back at the Ice Silkworm's body. He noticed a small object hidden beneath it. Moving the corpse aside, he discovered a piece of jade like blue and white ice.
"What is this?" Picking it up, he felt an intense chill radiate from it. A realization dawned on him.
"This is… ten thousand year ice essence!" Ye Wen recognized the material instantly. The item's rarity was impressive, akin to the many fantasy treasures found across realms, yet in Douluo Dalu II, this material played a crucial role for both spirit beasts and spirit masters. From the Ten Thousand Year Ice Marrow that the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm had consumed to the Ten Thousand Year Cold Jade Essence Bed used by the Sect HaoTian, these materials were invaluable for accelerating cultivation without negative effects.
The jade in his hand contained a hairline fracture, likely from some past event. The space inside appeared hollow, possibly indicating it had once held Ten Thousand Year Ice Marrow. The fissure might have released a concentrated essence that his body had absorbed during the ring fusion, fueling his surprising leap to level 29. Given the freezing cold around him, he'd simply overlooked the unusual sensation, especially while intensely focused on the absorption process.
"Destiny must favor me!" he whispered with excitement. Glancing up at the thin ceiling of ice overhead, he thought better of shouting.
Now that he was only one level away from 30, Ye Wen felt a new plan taking shape. He decided to remain in the ice plains, hoping to reach level 30 and obtain his third spirit ring here.
The target? Another Ice Silkworm. His testing with Napu had revealed he could summon multiple cloths simultaneously, but precise control was still beyond him. A third ring would ideally enhance his mental acuity, making a mental power spirit beast like the Ice Silkworm an ideal choice. After all, when it came to mental power, nothing was as easy to hunt as an Ice Silkworm.
(End of Chapter)
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