"Madam, I've made up my mind. I'll choose the thousand-year Slime for my second soul ring!"
With this thought, Xu Yang felt refreshed and smiled as he replied to Madam Ning.
"That's right! Young people should act on their thoughts without hesitation!" Madam Ning nodded with a smile. She had often felt that Xu Yang was too mature for his age, but now he seemed just right!
She gently patted Xu Yang's head and said, "Go find Haiyan! Let him take you to hunt for your soul ring. I can take care of Rongrong for the next few days!"
"Then I'll take my leave, Madam!"
Xu Yang stood up, bowed to Madam Ning, and then went out to find Ning Haiyan.
...
In the Sea of Sunflowers, Xu Yang returned once again. Not only this time but he would likely be back here again next time as well.
Xu Yang and Ning Haiyan stood on a branch, watching thousands of sunflowers absorbing the power of the sun as they cultivated. Occasionally, they could see some creatures moving slowly beneath the flowers, using the sunflowers' abilities to assist in their training.
After surveying the area several times, they still hadn't spotted any Slimes.
"Ning Uncle, what should we do?! Is it going to be like last time?" Xu Yang turned to ask.
"Hmm! It seems so. But if too many Slimes split apart, I won't be able to find the one with the core essence!" Ning Haiyan replied helplessly.
Slimes could continuously split, and the split individuals had identical auras to the original. Even Soul Saints found it difficult to distinguish them; only soul masters above the Title Douluo rank could directly identify their essence and locate the original Slime.
Additionally, due to splitting, judging a Slime's age by its size became ineffective; only by assessing soul power strength could one determine its actual age—and those capable of doing so were all Soul Saints or higher.
Ning Haiyan prepared briefly and then leaped into the air above the Sea of Sunflowers. His martial soul, the Flame Blade, instantly appeared in his hand as seven colored soul rings rose from beneath him. The aura unique to a Soul Saint erupted forth.
"Seventh Soul Skill: Flame True Body!"
For safety's sake, Ning Haiyan activated his martial soul true form. Suddenly, a massive phantom appeared behind him, wielding a gigantic flame blade about twenty meters long, with flames burning fiercely around him.
His momentum surged again as invisible soul power began to stir around him, sweeping outward from Ning Haiyan's center and causing the sunflowers to sway continuously.
The enormous Sunflower King in the center shrank back into the ground, preparing to flee at any moment.
Within the flower sea, many soul beasts utilizing the sunflowers for cultivation scattered under this overwhelming pressure. Among them were the variant Fire Light Slimes that Xu Yang needed and several Holy Light Beetles—quite a substantial number.
The Holy Light Beetles were easier to identify; their ages could be determined by their color depth and horn length. However, it was impossible to judge the age of dozens of Fire Light Variant Slimes; who could tell how many were original entities versus offspring?
While Xu Yang was contemplating strategies, Ning Haiyan had already taken action.
"Sixth Soul Skill: Blade Transformation Three Thousand!"
With a swing of his Flame Blade, three thousand fiery blade shadows appeared and accurately struck each Slime. Using gentle force, he sent them all flying toward Xu Yang's direction.
Once they landed, these Slimes began splitting wildly. However, before they could split too much, countless blade shadows fell from above again, pinning all these Slimes in place.
The landing points of these blade shadows were perfectly calculated; each strike merely injured the Slimes enough to incapacitate them without killing them. Moreover, each blade shadow burned with crimson flames that continued to blaze, preventing the Slimes from splitting further.
Following this, Ning Haiyan landed gracefully before Xu Yang amidst his seven soul rings. The explosive aura caused nearby soul beasts to flee even faster amid continuous rumbling sounds.
Ning Haiyan's eyes seemed ablaze with fire as he scanned around at the pinned Slimes. Suddenly swinging his Flame Blade again, he activated his sixth black soul ring. Except for one in front left and another behind right near Xu Yang—most of the blade shadows dissipated instantly.
In an instant, the remaining Slimes turned into streaks and fled in all directions—leaving behind trails of slime.
"Young Master, these two have identical auras; they should be from the same entity. Based on their soul power strength, they should be around sixteen hundred years old. The one beneath you is slightly smaller; it's about twelve hundred years old. You can decide which one you want to absorb," Ning Haiyan pointed out at three remaining Slimes.
"According to Grandpa Jian's test on my body strength yesterday, I should be able to absorb an eighteen-hundred-year-old soul beast now. So I'll let go of that twelve-hundred-year-old one and absorb that sixteen-hundred-year-old one."
Indeed! Now Xu Yang referred to Jian Bone Douluo as "Grandpa," indicating that their relationship had become much closer over time. As for his body strength—it was due to Bone Douluo's body tempering techniques combined with Xu Yang's continuously transforming solar power within him.
This type of solar power was extremely potent and aggressive—ideal for body tempering—especially with the miraculous effects of Eastern Purple Qi; thus allowing him to refine his body over more than a year into something beyond ordinary Soul Respect levels.
This body strength gave him confidence in absorbing a sixteen-hundred-year-old Slime.
Upon hearing this, Ning Haiyan released the Slime pinned before Xu Yang and let it escape while swinging his blade again so that two other Slimes came before Xu Yang.
Suddenly a Tang Dao appeared in Xu Yang's hand; with swift motions—'Swish!' 'Swish!'—he sliced both Slimes in half since he didn't know which was the original anyway; he decided to cut them both down.
After two strikes, a light purple soul ring emerged above the left one and began pulsating beautifully.
Following this, Xu Yang sat cross-legged on the ground and started guiding his consciousness toward the soul ring. As it enveloped his martial soul—the originally basketball-sized Sun Martial Soul instantly grew more than three times its size. The golden flames atop it became even more vigorous—growing from ten centimeters to twenty centimeters—with fiery serpents occasionally slithering across its surface.
As the soul ring entered his body—a massive surge of soul power began crashing against Xu Yang's organs with intense heat and dominance that made him feel quite uncomfortable.
"Indeed! This Fire Light dual-attribute variant Slime has incredibly domineering soul power! But compared to my solar power—it still falls short!"
Xu Yang realized immediately upon feeling this immense power within him that he was stable now; even though a thousand-year soul ring represented a qualitative change compared to hundred-year rings—it still hadn't reached its limits for him—not to mention that this power lacked roots or foundations; it posed no real threat at all.
(End of Chapter)