After returning home, Wang Chen immediately entered his cultivation chamber, locked the door, and began his seclusion.
He held the purified Devourer Spirit Dagger in his palm. The once sinister aura was completely gone—what remained was a crystal-clear, jade-green blade. The dagger no longer carried malice; instead, it felt warm to the touch, brimming with vitality.
Looking at it now, Wang Chen knew this was no longer just the Devourer Spirit Dagger—it was Soul-Gold. His heart surged with excitement.
Soul-Gold was undoubtedly one of the most supreme treasures of the continent. By any classification, it belonged to the divine tier.
It benefited both the body and spiritual power. The Silver Dragon King had once used it to heal her wounds. Electrolux relied on it to stabilize his divine consciousness, preventing its dissipation.
Even for a god-level being, Soul-Gold was a priceless treasure.
For ordinary spirit masters, absorbing it would mean a complete rebirth—like a caterpillar transforming into a Rayquaza, gaining the potential to reach godhood.
In the original timeline, Huo Yuhao had obtained a piece of Soul-Gold, but Electrolux consumed most of its power to mend his divine sense. Even so, the leftover "soup" greatly benefited Huo Yuhao: his physique strengthened, his talent improved, his recovery speed soared, and even his Spiritual Sea expanded. His spiritual power grew three times faster than before.
That alone proved how terrifying Soul-Gold truly was.
The difference was that Wang Chen had no one to share this treasure with. This entire piece belonged to him alone.
But he also knew that absorbing Soul-Gold wasn't something to be done recklessly.
The original owner of the Devourer Spirit Dagger, a Titled Douluo-level evil spirit master, hadn't known how to refine Soul-Gold. Instead, he injected his malice and curses into it, forging the dagger—wasting its true value.
Another example was the hundred-thousand-year-old Golden Tortoise of Star Dou Forest. It had once snuck into the Lake of Life, bitten off a chunk of Soul-Gold, and swallowed it. Instead of gaining strength, it had its life force drained until it perished, leaving behind only a spirit.
The reason was simple: the vitality contained within Soul-Gold was too overwhelmingly dense.
Even a piece the size of this dagger had taken Star Dou Forest over 200,000 years to condense.
Such concentrated life energy was like salt—small amounts nourished, but too much would dehydrate and kill.
Good things, if misused, became poison.
Wang Chen, as someone who had read the original work, naturally knew the right method.
He pressed the Soul-Gold to his forehead, at his brow. With the guidance of his spiritual power, the Soul-Gold pulsed faintly.
In an instant, a torrent of vigorous life energy poured into Wang Chen's body through his brow.
His entire body glowed green; even his Spiritual Sea was dyed in emerald hues.
A wave of unprecedented comfort spread through him. His brain, organs, skin, muscles, bones, marrow—every cell, every pore—was nourished by that overwhelming vitality.
Like parched land receiving sweet spring rain, Wang Chen's body greedily absorbed it.
His body began to transform.
His skin became smoother and tougher, his muscles stronger, his meridians more elastic, able to channel far more spirit power.
His organs grew resilient, his bones denser, his blood more vigorous.
Before absorbing Soul-Gold, Wang Chen could handle about a 2,000-year spirit ring. Now, he could withstand at least a 5,000-year one.
Such improvement was terrifying—his physique doubled in strength in mere moments.
Compared to this, all the restorative pills he had consumed in the past were worthless—like comparing a dragon to an ant, the moon to fireflies.
And this was only the beginning.
The vitality scoured his body, forcing foul black impurities from his pores—accumulated toxins and defects that hindered talent and cultivation speed.
As they were purged, Wang Chen's potential soared. If measured, he had already surpassed the innate rank-9 bottleneck, rivaling geniuses born with full innate spirit power.
His cultivation level didn't rise, but his foundation was reforged.
It was as if he had been reborn, pure and pristine like a newborn, brimming with vitality.
Wang Chen felt weightless, breathing more smoothly, his entire being filled with boundless vigor.
It was blissful, like ascending to heaven itself.
The vitality also washed through his Spiritual Sea, expanding it, purifying it, and condensing his mental power further.
This was metamorphosis—body and spirit, both undergoing a complete rebirth.
Time passed quickly. After a quarter of an hour, just as Wang Chen was immersed in the bliss, the broken Black Book deep in his soul suddenly trembled.
He jolted awake, hurriedly removing the Soul-Gold from his brow.
Breathing deeply, he muttered,
"Too close… If not for the Black Book's warning, I might have drowned in it. Over-absorption would only harm me—or even kill me."
He sighed. "Still too weak… If I were at Limit Douluo level, I could fully harness this treasure, maybe even elevate my physique to godhood itself."
Looking down at the Soul-Gold, he realized it hadn't diminished at all. What he absorbed was barely a drop in the ocean.
After all, this dagger-sized piece equaled 200,000 years of condensation in Star Dou Forest. A hundred of him wouldn't be enough to exhaust it.
Knowing his limits, Wang Chen decided not to touch it again for months. He had to digest what he'd absorbed first—or end up like that Golden Tortoise.
Resisting greed, he carefully sealed the Soul-Gold inside a soul tool that blocked energy, then stored it away.
Only then did he bathe away the expelled impurities, sit cross-legged, and begin examining his changes.
His body was vastly stronger—absorbing a 5,000-year spirit ring was no problem now.
He had another idea too: once his mental power reached Spirit Sage level, and he could use the Black Book's crystal imprint to further simulate the Ring-Tempering Secret Technique, he might be able to devise a method to replace his spirit rings.
If successful, he could one day swap all his weaker rings—hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of years old—for 100,000-year-old ones. His cultivation speed would skyrocket.
Aside from his physique, his spiritual power had also risen to the Soul King level.
But more importantly, his talent and growth potential had leapt forward.
Clenching his fists, Wang Chen felt confident that with his new aptitude, breaking through to Titled Douluo would be a matter of time, free of bottlenecks.
And with so much Soul-Gold left, his future progress was guaranteed.
Compared to ordinary spirit masters trudging step by step, he was now riding a bullet train, a cheat-like existence.
It was hard to even imagine how powerful he would be by the time of Xu Tiannan's assassination years later.
Wang Chen resolved:
"Today, I'll adapt to my new body and spirit, and carefully refine the life energy, sealing it in my dantian with spirit power to avoid exposure.
Tomorrow, I'll head with the family elders to the spirit beast habitat, hunt a beast, absorb my third ring, and become a true Spirit Elder."
Having made his plan, he immediately began cultivating.
The next morning, after breakfast, he announced to his family that he had reached rank 30.
His father and mother were overjoyed, hugging each other tightly.
Father and Mother Wang (proudly): Our son's getting stronger and stronger—soon we'll enjoy a life of peace and prosperity.
The clan quickly dispatched two Spirit Sage elders to escort Wang Chen to the Jingyang Mountains to hunt a spirit beast.
The Jingyang Mountains lay in the north-central region of the Sun Moon Empire, about a thousand miles from Mingdu—the closest large spirit beast habitat to the capital.
If Star Dou Forest was undoubtedly number one, Jingyang ranked easily in the top five.
Its mineral-rich terrain bred many metal-element spirit beasts—strong, aggressive, and producing excellent spirit rings.
Even Xiao Hongchen had acquired several of his rings there.
That morning, under the bright sun, a handsome youth was carried by two elders in their fifties and sixties toward the mountains.
Since Wang Chen's cultivation was too low to use flight soul tools for long, he was directly carried by one of the Spirit Sages—Elder Wang Yuan, the same elder who had presided over the family competition.
Wang Yuan asked, "Chen'er, what type of beast do you plan to choose for your spirit weapon's third ring?"
Wang Chen had long decided.
He would follow the path of extreme offense. As the saying goes, "better to master one than dabble in many." Instead of spreading himself thin across different abilities, he would hone one to the utmost.
For defense and mobility, he would rely on soul tools.
He replied, "Elder Wang Yuan, for my third ring, I wish to choose a beast with powerful offensive abilities."
Wang Yuan nodded with satisfaction. "So you plan to follow the path of extremes… Very well, then this old man must catch you a strong, high-quality beast."
With that, Wang Yuan and Elder Wang Xiaoming skipped the outer ridges and headed straight toward the central mountain range.
The two Spirit Sage, seventh-rank soul engineer elders, bulldozed through, scattering any beasts in their path.
They avoided wanton killing, however. The Sun Moon Empire's spirit beast resources were scarce, and conservation was common practice.
Under their protection, Wang Chen soon found a target.
A massive golden tiger prowled ahead, its aura surpassing 5,000 years.
Wang Yuan frowned slightly and said, "Chen'er, this tiger is beyond 5,000 years. Even with medicinal aid, absorbing it will be difficult."
Wang Chen replied calmly, Elder Wang Yuan, I've recently absorbed a spirit bone. Combined with the clan's resources, my physique has strengthened greatly. I want to try.