Chapter 15: The Transparent Ape
"You're lucky," Ning Fengxing said to Sun Qi. "We in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect possess a large distribution of ape-like Soul Beasts. The spiritual type you need was reported to us by our last soul-hunting team."
Sun Qi's eyes lit up.
"What kind of Soul Beast is that?"
Ning Fengxing said, "It's a Transparent Spirit Ape."
Sun Qi was thrilled.
This Transparent Spirit Ape was arguably the perfect match for his needs.
Transparent Spirit Apes are a rare, top-tier Soul Beast among apes. They don't live in groups, but rather are a unique species.
It's said that Transparent Spirit Apes are so called because they possess the full range of Soul skills of ape-like Soul Beasts.
If each Soul Beast has a Soul skill library, then the Transparent Spirit Ape possesses the Soul skills of all ape-like Soul Beasts, allowing it to awaken and master any of them.
Their spiritual attributes are incredibly powerful, and the number of Soul skills they can awaken is related to the strength of their spiritual power.
"That Transparent Spirit Ape has awakened at least Spirit Shock, Spirit Monkey Phantom, and Phantom Thousand Strikes. On top of that, it should also have the gift of Ape Heart Transparency."
Sun Qi's breathing quickened.
This Transparent Spirit Ape possessed so many Soul skills beyond its basic abilities, clearly possessing a bloodline of exceptionally high quality. Ape Heart Transparency, in particular, was a perfect match for his little stone monkey.
"That Transparent Spirit Ape is four hundred years old, probably closer to five hundred. I wonder if you can handle it."
Four hundred years?
Both Sun Qis frowned simultaneously.
They knew skipping Soul Rings was theoretically possible, but none of their seven original bodies had yet attempted it.
This time, Armor Sun Qi was prepared, but he also had to consider the actual soul hunting situation. If he could find a Soul Beast just over a thousand years old that matched his needs, he would certainly skip to the second ring of a thousand-year-old. However, if he couldn't find a Soul Beast of that age, he would have to choose the second ring of a hundred-year-old.
Armor Sun Qi was prepared, but Sun Qi was not.
According to Yu Xiaogang's list of the ten core competencies of Spirits, the maximum lifespan a Spirit Master's first ring can withstand is four hundred and twenty-three years.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has documented cases exceeding this limit, but those were exceptional cases, created under unique circumstances. A regular Spirit Master absorbing a Soul Ring older than this would explode.
The data in Yu Xiaogang's list of the ten core competencies of Spirits refers to the maximum age limit that all Spirit Masters can challenge, guaranteeing that no Spirit Master will explode if they absorb a Soul Ring within this age limit. It doesn't mean that all Spirit Masters will explode if they absorb a Soul Ring older than this age limit.
As for the four hundred and twenty-three years, it's pure nonsense.
The Spirit Master community can't even determine the age of a ten-year-old Soul Beast to the single digit, so how could they possibly determine the age of a hundred-year-old Soul Beast to the single digit?
And this is especially true when data is collected from Spirit Masters.
You have to know that there aren't many theoretical scholars who can accurately determine the age of a Soul Beast. Ordinary Spirit Masters can only roughly determine whether a Soul Beast is a hundred or a thousand years old.
Calculating the age of Soul Rings from these Spirit Masters is simply ridiculous.
So, there is indeed a limit within four hundred years, but the exact number of years is uncertain, but it's roughly around four hundred.
Given this, someone with some special abilities might be able to withstand Soul Rings approaching or even reaching five hundred years old.
Of course, this presupposes special qualities.
Either they have exceptional physical fitness or their Spirit strength exceeds expectations in some way, allowing them to suppress the Soul Power impact of the Soul Ring.
Sun Qi's expression froze.
He was very pleased with this Transparent Spirit Ape, but it was likely that it had nearly five hundred years of cultivation, which was not good news for him.
With only level one innate Soul Power, he was already at the limit of being able to reach level ten in two and a half years. He simply didn't have the energy to prepare for the absorption of Soul Rings of a higher level.
"Should I try to leapfrog Spirit Rings with my first Spirit Ring?"
Sun Qi muttered to himself, then decided to give it a try.
It's not that he doesn't have something special.
Strictly speaking, Xiao Sun's very existence is special.
Out Of Body Spirits are independent of the current Spirit Master system in many aspects, possessing many characteristics that ordinary Spirit Masters don't have. Sun Qi also uses these characteristics to accelerate his own cultivation.
Now, perhaps he can also try to find out if an Out Of Body Spirit has the talent to absorb Soul Rings of leapfrog levels.
This is easy to find. Theoretically, a Spirit Master with an Out Of Body Spirit has low innate Soul Power, but according to Sun Qi's previous conjecture, this is because the Spirit separated from the body and condensed into a living being, dividing the Spirit Master's essence, resulting in poor cultivation aptitude.
Therefore, the Out Of Body Spirit itself can be considered an individual, but it also coexists with the Spirit Master.
When a Spirit Master with an Out Of Body Spirit absorbs Soul Rings, it is obviously the responsibility of both the Spirit Master and the Spirit.
Ning Fengxing frowned when he saw that Sun Qi actually intended to try.
He looked at Armor Sun Qi with a questioning look.
Armor Sun Qi nodded to Ning Fengxing, indicating that he was prepared.
"Our destination is the Star Dou Great Forest. The round trip may take some time."
The Star Dou Great Forest.
The journey from Notting City to the Star Dou Great Forest took them about a month, thanks to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's carriage.
"Let's go, first, find the Transparent Spirit Ape that suits you."
Ning Fengxing was leading the team this time, but he was only the most senior. His Spirit was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and he was a direct descendant of the sect, of the same generation as Ning Fengzhi, with a Soul Power of level 69.
The real force on this trip were the other two offensive Soul Emperors, wielding the Iron Rhino and White Bear Spirits, respectively. Both possessed both offensive and defensive abilities, and with Ning Fengxing's amplification, their strength would approach that of a Soul Sage.
This configuration was sufficient to assist the two Sun Qis in their search for Spirit Rings on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Three days later.
"Still there,"
Ning Fengxing breathed a sigh of relief.
He pointed to the area ahead, where a massive ape sat cross-legged beneath a waterfall, apparently meditating.
Such a bizarre posture was truly eye-catching.
"This Transparent Spirit Ape is likely quite intelligent."
Soul Beasts possessed their own minds, but most relied solely on physical instincts. Thousand-year-old Soul Beasts possessed some independent thinking, but only after reaching ten thousand years did such thinking become effective. Even ten-thousand-year-old Soul Beasts often possessed an IQ comparable to that of a human child.
Ten-thousand-year-old Soul Beasts would likely struggle to entertain the idea of meditating.
This Transparent Spirit Ape's intelligence surpassed that of ordinary Soul Beasts.
This was likely related to his gift of a Transparent Ape Heart.
He had undoubtedly awakened this gift, and it had awakened completely!
[end of the chapter]