Tang Wutong wasn't coming with us on this trip as she was told by Yu Xiaogang to work on her meditation and continue her own studies while I was getting my Soul Ring.
And our group of Zhao Wuji, myself and Yu Xiaogang quickly made our way to the nearest forest that my targeted Spirit Beast was known to reside in but few days in a carriage.
"How are you feeling now Tian Long? Have you digested the rest of the elixer yet?" Yu Xiaogang asked with clear care as he watched me stretch as the rented carriage turned back and went back towards the nearby village to await our return.
"Yeah, I am fine, Grandmaster." I said with a sigh as I came out of the stretch.
Zhao Wuji gave a grunt and then said firmly. "Come on then. Finding one of those Sun Beetles in the thousand-year range is going to be a pain, so let's get going!"
We made our way into the forest and without much of a fuss, whenever a more stupid spirit beast came out of the forest. Zhao Wuji would just give it a dark look, and without even flexing his soul power.
The Spirit Beast would quickly retreat at the smallest amount of killing intent from him. Which meant that the elusive Sun Beetle we were actually hunting wouldn't be spooked from the trees we were trying to look through.
"Tian Long, just because you are stronger then these spirit beasts in the future. Even if they attack you, unless they are a true threat. You shoudn't kill them." Yu Xiangang spoke quietly as Zhao Wuji slapped a large gorilla-like spirit beast through a tree and making it and it's troop run away.
"Because it takes Spirit Beasts so long to cultivate to a reasonable level right?" I said quietly as I knew that far in the future, the Spirit Beasts would revolt against the humans once their 'king' had healed enough.
Though with this being Doulou Dalu 1 in the timeline, Di Tian and the rest of the strongest Spirit Beasts were going to be busy eating Tianmeng's essence if he had been caught at this point anyway.
Still, Yu Xiaogang nodded and explained. "Correct, although we gauge spirit rings by age to sort them. In reality, it's still a major accumulation of spiritual energy that reaches certain hard levels before the spirit ring and soul of the spirit beast evolve."
"Powerful spirit beasts with bloodlines that allow them to cultivate faster face major issues with procreation... Well, besides dragons and phoenixes, anyway. They get past their infertility issues by being sexually compatible with every kind of beast and living being in creation, especially in the dragon's case."
My face twitched as Yu Xiaogang coughed and said a bit sheepishly. "Ahem, in either case. The more common breeds of spirit beasts, on the other hand, also have the curse of having a much harder time accumulating soul energy."
My education was stopped as with a loud crashing noise Zhao Wuji roared with glee and then shot off the ground with a stomp as he shot into the tree above us that we were walking through.
"Zhao Wuji! You didn't need to-"
My teacher's complaint was silenced as Zhao Wuji's short king form slammed into the ground like an overly muscular midget meteor nailing himself into the ground.
"Bah! Calm down, Xiaogang, look at what I got!"
And within the man's scarred hands was a large beetle the size of a dog that was hissing and then I jumped back with Xiaogang as a stream of fire shot from the beetle's mouth that went forward for ten meters.
"Ah ah bad little beetle!" Zhao Wuji laughed, and a loud crunch rang out as his spirit rings, which showed how he was above rank 60 as a Spirit King. And the back shell of the large beetle broke, and blood splurted out on the ground.
"Come here and kill hi,m Tian Long." Zhao Wuji ordered quickly, and I knew it was time to go, especially with how he just stunned it via tearing up its inner organs.
I needed to land the killing blow after all for some reason, for me to be able to absorb the spirit beasts, spirit ring after all!
I stepped forward, and Zhao Wuji flicked the beetle's head with a finger to stun it and stop it from spitting any fire at me.
Allowing me to come around it, and with a crunch of its exoskeleton around its head. My hunting knife ended its life with Zhao Wuji gently laying it down as I pulled the knife out.
And there was a pause as I stared at the corpse of the Sun Beetle, and then an exhale left me as purple soul essence began floating up off the corpse and began forming a soul ring in the air.
A purple spirit ring. Which meant that the spirit beast clearly had over a thousand years of cultivation.
I took a deep breath and then I thought. 'Its do or die time now.'
My soul energy latched onto the gently floating spirit ring, and then I pulled it towards me, with the spirit ring floating into my chest, and in an instan,t I gasped as I felt the powerful soul energy of the Solar Beetle attacking my body and soul from the inside.
But the time I had spent polishing my spirit energy. The elixer's and especially the whale gel I had taken. Meant that both my soul and body were up to the task of dealing with the strain of this thousand-year spirit ring!
Still... It was painful. The most painful thing I had ever gone through, as it felt especially painful at the soul level, as the purple spirit rings' soul energy bashed my soul as I was wearing it down into being merged with my own soul.
Then, after a long while, the pain, at least at the soul level, faded as I merged the spirit ring into my martial spirit the Draconic Cauldron.
I exhaled with relief as I felt my sore body still singing at me that I pushed it too far as that Solar Beetle was definetly a good bit over a thousand years of cultivation.
But it was worth it.
Over the next hour soft popping noises rang out as the excess soul energy quickly enhanced my body as not only did I have a significant amount of extra soul energy from cultivating and the elixers. But the feedback from the spirit ring itself was strong.
Allowing me to rise up four levels quickly over that hour as I adjusted myself.
After a heavy exhale of relief as I opened my eyes, a purple spirit ring formed behind me. And looking up at it. I couldn't help but grin as I now had a solid lead on the rest of the generation, obviously!
Tang Wutong? She still only had a yellow spirit ring for her first. Even the real super genius in Qian Renxue, who awoke her Martial Spirit at an innate level of 20, still had two yellow spirit rings for her first two!
Having a purple spirit ring for my first one wouldn't only mean that I had a stronger first ability. But the more potent soul energy from the ring would also enhance my body more, and allow me to cultivate faster, inherently as well!
"Well, shit... He didn't explode." Zhao Wuji said rather numbly as even though he clearly thought I was going to survive at least. He obviously didn't think I would succeed without my body breaking down and leaking blood everywhere.
My teacher coughed at the short kings rather ill ill-spoken words with him sending a deadpan look before he took a deep breath and said proudly. "See! Look at my Xiao Long's talent! Imagine the glory he will bring to Shrek Academy in a few years as well!"
Zhao Wuji actually gave Yu Xiaogang a look before he said in confusion, "Wait, you plan to bring him to Shrek. I thought you would sell him off to your clan or something."
Yu Xiaogang's face darkened at the mention of the clan he had been kicked out of. But he just took a deep breath and said firmly as he patted my shoulder. "Heh, what Lightning Dragon Clan. When my Xiao Long and Xiao Wutong grow into unrivaled Title Doulou, will they matter at all!?"
Then my teacher cleared his throat and said. "Sorry, we got distracted Xiao Tian. So show us your spirit rings ability!"
I nodded as I inherently could feel the instinctive method of using the ability within the spirit ring and I held up a hand to summon my martial soul that floated above my head.
And from the dragon heads on the cauldron came a stream of strong yang-infused flames that glowed gold, that I felt I could keep up for a good amount of time.
Perfect for using the flames and my soul energy as the fuel for making real pills and elixers!
Then, with a mental push I made the four streams of fire shoot out further to test it and I found out that the gold flames could stream outwards from the cauldron for ten meters before the cost of soul energy grew too much.
"Hmm, a solid offensive and even defensive method. What's the name of your skill?" Yu Xiaogang asked with a heavily satisfied smile.
Even as I was curious to see if I could like... Sit on my cauldron and make it spin to make a fire tornado. I answered quickly with a grin. "It's named Solar Flame Stream. Heh, I hope Tang Wutong doesn't get too jealous now."
And I could see in the corner of my eye. As my teacher frowned at the thought before he sighed helplessly and said. "Nothing can be done... She already has her first Soul Ring. Having a purple for her second one will still put her well ahead of her peers of course."
Left unsaid was how both Tang Wutong and I had Dual Martial Spirits.
So with a shrug, I said. "Well, then, I guess it's time to head back. I need to cultivate on the carriage ride back as I can feel some excess soul energy that needs to still settle."