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Several months ago, Ye Wen's cultivation had already reached the peak of level 38. After a few more months of consolidation, he had finally broken through to level 40.
However, Ye Wen was not entirely satisfied with this progress.
Although his innate soul power was low, thanks to the cheat-like abilities of Nana's martial soul, his cultivation speed was no slower than someone with perfect innate soul power. Combined with the creation of the Xuan Yuan Technique, Ye Wen's cultivation speed had even surpassed Tang San's at one point.
After feeling the strength of his robust body, Ye Wen sighed.
"A miscalculation. I shouldn't have rushed into the Ice-Fire Body Forging so soon—it forced both of Nana's Ultimate attributes to awaken prematurely. This will significantly slow down my cultivation speed until level 70."
Nevertheless, Ye Wen knew he was being ungrateful. Ultimate attributes were something that billions of soul masters could only dream of. Even in the future timeline of Shrek Academy, there were only a handful of recorded soul masters with Ultimate attributes. Now, not only had Ye Wen undergone Ice-Fire Body Forging like Tang San, but he also possessed two Ultimate elements. If word of this got out, countless people would be green with envy.
At this moment, his cultivation speed was only slightly slower than Tang San's from the original timeline. Ye Wen quickly adjusted his mindset.
Moreover, he knew that his current slower cultivation speed was only temporary.
While conventional Ultimate-attribute soul masters experienced a sharp decline in cultivation speed after level 30, that was for ordinary soul masters. Ye Wen had already devised other "cheat methods" to overcome this bottleneck and restore his cultivation speed.
The pressing matter now was finding his fourth soul ring.
By this point, Xiao Wu and Bai Ling'er both had soul ring configurations of two yellow, one purple, and one black. Naturally, Ye Wen wasn't about to fall behind—he aimed to challenge a ten-thousand-year soul ring.
Of course, calling it a "challenge" was an understatement. Through Dugu Bo, Ye Wen had already confirmed his body's parameters. Absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring posed absolutely no problem for him, unlike Tang San, who—despite undergoing Ice-Fire Body Forging—still needed the assistance of the Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well to absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring.
Now, the question was choosing between ice and fire as his fourth elemental attribute.
Both ice and fire were immensely powerful offensive elements, making it difficult for Ye Wen to decide.
He sifted through the information stored in his mind. He realized that there were many potential Ultimate Ice spirit beasts to choose from, meaning he had a broader selection of high-year ice-attribute soul rings. After all, Ultimate Ice was essentially an extension of water-element energy, so whether he ventured to the far north or explored the seas, finding suitable spirit beasts would be relatively convenient.
After much deliberation, Ye Wen decided to focus on fire for his fourth soul ring.
But soon, he found himself stuck again.
Fire-attribute spirit beasts were rare to begin with, let alone high-quality ones.
The best fire-attribute spirit beasts were naturally those with dragon lineage, such as Liu Erlong's Red Dragon martial soul.
However, in this era, everyone understood the situation. While spirit beasts weren't as scarce as they would be tens of thousands of years later, dragon-lineage spirit beasts remained exceedingly rare.
Though Ye Wen had conducted prior research, the best fire-attribute spirit beast information he had was comparable to Chen Gang's martial soul—the Blazing Lion. Slightly inferior options included beasts like Qin Ming's Blazing Grey Wolf from Tian Dou Imperial Academy.
But neither of these possessed Ultimate fire attributes, and Ye Wen felt they simply weren't worthy of his fourth soul ring slot.
As his thoughts wandered, Ye Wen recalled two legendary dragon-lineage spirit beasts from the future: the Hellfire Dragon and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, both possessing Ultimate fire attributes. The thought made him envious.
But he quickly dismissed the idea. Setting aside the Three-Eyed Golden Lion—a destiny beast—even a single true-dragon Hellfire Dragon at the ten-thousand-year level could rival a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast. Such creatures were on par with the likes of the Titan Ape or even stronger. There was no way Ye Wen could handle such a formidable spirit beast.
Thinking it over, Ye Wen decided to settle for ice instead. Fire-attribute spirit beasts were just too hard to find, and delaying the choice until his fifth soul ring wouldn't be the end of the world.
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Just as Ye Wen was lost in thought, a voice suddenly came from outside the door.
"Xiao Wen, do you have a moment?"
It was Chen Gang's voice.
Ye Wen quickly composed himself and welcomed Chen Gang inside, asking curiously, "Grandpa Chen Gang, what brings you here?"
Chen Gang looked approvingly at his grandson-in-law and ruffled Ye Wen's hair. "What? Can't your grandpa visit you without a reason?"
"Of course not! I always welcome your visits, Grandpa. But I know you don't come unless you have something important to say. You're not the type to beat around the bush," Ye Wen said with a sheepish smile.
"You're too sharp for me to fool," Chen Gang chuckled, then sat down confidently and announced some good news.
"Didn't you ask me earlier to look for a high-quality fire-attribute spirit beast? You turned your nose up at my Blazing Lion, so I had my people keep an eye out for better options. Guess what?
Not long ago, someone spotted a mutated Twin-Headed Fire Phoenix in the Sunset Forest. To make sure it met your standards, I personally went to check it out.
Damn, that beast's flames are no weaker than mine!
I initially thought it was beyond your reach, but after consulting some spirit beast experts, we discovered it's only at the ten-thousand-year level. Yet, its combat strength rivals that of a Title Douluo like myself—an incredibly rare find. As soon as I confirmed the news, I rushed over to tell you. So, what do you think? Do you like this spirit beast?"
Ye Wen hadn't expected such good news when he was almost ready to give up. Hearing this, he nodded repeatedly.
"Thank you, Grandpa! I love this spirit beast!"
Although phoenixes in the Douluo Continent ranked below true dragons, they were still incredibly powerful spirit beasts. Among Ultimate attributes, regardless of the element, phoenixes held a place of honor.
However, just like the decline of dragon-lineage spirit beasts, phoenix spirit beasts were now exceedingly rare. Only occasionally did a spirit beast experience ancestral bloodline regression, giving rise to phoenix spirit beasts.
But suddenly, after a brief moment of excitement, Ye Wen frowned.
The good news had come so unexpectedly that he hadn't fully processed it during the night. Now, upon closer reflection—
"Grandpa, you mentioned it wasn't just a regular Fire Phoenix but a mutated Twin-Headed Fire Phoenix, right!?"
Chen Gang scratched his head, puzzled.
"Yes, it's a mutated Twin-Headed Fire Phoenix. Is there a problem?"
Ye Wen covered his face with one hand, sighing. "There is a problem—and it's a big one."
But then Ye Wen remembered—he wasn't the impoverished youth he once was. He was now a second-generation soul master backed by two Title Douluo factions!
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