"Also, the courses I've arranged for you—train on your own judgment. As long as you reach the goals I've set, you may stop. Keep in touch with me over the next few years, send me a letter once every month and report your progress. And if your soul power reaches level 30, don't rush to let Flender take you to obtain a spirit ring. I will personally come to oversee it."
"Mm, I understand, Teacher." Qian Jue nodded earnestly, committing every word of the Grandmaster to heart.
"Other matters—"
Just as the Grandmaster was about to continue, a sharp whistling sound split the air. Flender descended from above, each hand carrying a scorpion the size of a hound.
"Here, this one's 900 years, this one's 1000 years. Xiao Gang, did I catch the right ones?" Flender lifted the two unconscious scorpions for inspection.
The Grandmaster immediately set aside his words, crouching down quickly to examine the pair of Obsidian Venom Scorpions.
"Mm, the years are correct. Xiao Jue, come, absorb this one—the millennial one. Don't worry, since you already have a spirit bone, this absorption won't pose a problem."
"Alright. So I'll finally experience the so-called agony of spirit ring absorption." Qian Jue sighed softly, but still drew a dagger and plunged it into the eye of the millennial Obsidian Venom Scorpion, ending its life. Soon, a purple spirit ring slowly floated up from its corpse.
Seeing that the other 900-year scorpion was no longer useful, Flender casually tossed it more than ten meters away. The scorpion, jarred awake from the throw, frantically scrambled away with all eight legs, vanishing into the forest.
Qian Jue sat cross-legged, steadied his breathing, and released his martial spirit. His soul power lightly stirred the spirit ring, and the purple halo drifted toward the wolf spirit at his side.
As soon as the purple spirit ring settled onto the wolf spirit, Qian Jue once again felt that familiar warmth. But this time, the warmth was too intense—gradually turning into searing heat. As the ring's power poured into the wolf spirit, the swelling, painful sensation he had felt in yesterday's absorption grew stronger and stronger.
Finally, when Qian Jue felt as though his body would burst apart, a cool sensation suddenly flowed from his left leg. The swelling pain seemed to find an outlet, converging entirely into that leg. The scorching heat also faded, once more becoming comforting warmth.
"Huu…"
Watching from the side, the Grandmaster exhaled in relief as Qian Jue's expression eased. That sign meant the absorption was already successful—it was only a matter of waiting for him to awaken.
Sure enough, not long after, Qian Jue's tightly shut eyes trembled, and then slowly opened.
Rising to his feet, he marveled at the surge in his physical strength and soul power.
"As expected, there's a qualitative difference between a 1.000 and a 100 spirit ring. The improvement to my body's attributes alone far surpasses what I gained from yesterday's 900-year ring."
"Heh, and there's still the Spirit Skill. A 1.000 ring's attached skill will surely be much stronger than a 100 one. Let's see what surprise your first millennial ring brings us." The Grandmaster stepped forward, intrigued.
"Alright, let me see." Qian Jue closed his eyes to sense the wolf spirit's second Spirit Skill.
Before long, he opened them again, filled with astonishment.
"Teacher, this second skill is extremely straightforward—crude, even. And it's not quite what we expected."
"Oh? Different how? Worse, or better?"
"I think better. This second skill is a passive ability, with a single effect: anyone bitten by the wolf spirit will have their physical reaction speed reduced by 20%, lasting one minute."
"A direct 20% reduction in reaction speed? How can that be…" the Grandmaster muttered, momentarily stunned.
"Teacher, isn't it that those stung by an Obsidian Venom Scorpion gradually lose mobility? What I gained is essentially its toxin effect. Lowering an opponent's reaction speed by 20%—I think that's very good." Qian Jue looked puzzled by his teacher's hesitation.
"It's more than good. It's excellent. If I'm not mistaken, this reduction might carry a very high priority of effect. Flender, why don't you test it?"
The Grandmaster stroked his chin, visibly perplexed.
"Test? Fine, I'm not afraid. Xiao Jue, let me try your wolf spirit." Flender stretched out his arm with bravado.
"Alright." Qian Jue grinned, secretly anticipating Flender's awkward reaction.
He released his martial spirit, the wolf spirit darting swiftly through the air and biting Flender's offered arm.
But the expected outcome didn't happen. Instead of Flender, it was Qian Jue who winced in pain.
"Cough, cough, cough—!"
The backlash from the wolf spirit's failed bite made him cough violently.
"Oh! I forgot to retract my protective soul power!" Flender smirked wickedly at Qian Jue's sorry state.
Still coughing and bent over, Qian Jue wordlessly raised a middle finger at him.
"Heh, alright, alright. This time I'll definitely withdraw my soul power."
The wolf spirit approached again, this time lightly grazing Flender's arm and leaving a shallow wound with a trace of blood.
"Damn it, Xiao Gang, this hurts like hell!" Flender gritted his teeth, clutching his arm, and shouted at the Grandmaster.
"How painful could it be? Where's your willpower? Hurry up and test how much of the skill's effect remains."
Flender, annoyed, mimicked Qian Jue's earlier gesture, flipping the Grandmaster the same middle finger. Though he didn't know its meaning, it perfectly conveyed his mood.
As the pain subsided, Flender carefully sensed his condition, and his eyes widened.
"Eh? This skill is really strong. Even with the huge gap between our levels, it still affects me by about 5%."
"There's still 5%? As expected, it's far better than I thought." The Grandmaster muttered under his breath.
"Teacher, have you discovered something?" Qian Jue asked, noticing his teacher's unusual demeanor.
The Grandmaster glanced between Qian Jue and Flender, then sighed with a hint of melancholy.
"There's no harm in telling you. Xiao Jue's new skill has exceeded my expectations. The ability to reduce reaction speed—it's clearly a refined version of the Obsidian Venom Scorpion's poison. The toxin's potency was diminished, but its application was compressed—transformed from a slow-acting effect into an immediate one.
"And obviously, its priority of effect has risen greatly. If it were purely the Obsidian Venom Scorpion's toxin, at best it could cripple someone's mobility to the point of suffocation. With your current level, it would only be effective against soul kings at level 50. But now, this skill has some effect even on Flender, a soul saint.
"And as your soul power grows, if it were just the original poison, the effect would weaken over time. But now, if my guess is correct, the strength of this skill scales with your level. If you reach spirir saint rank, Flender could very well suffer the full 20% reduction."
"Then isn't that amazing? This skill is incredibly powerful! What are you so worried about?" Flender couldn't understand why the Grandmaster looked troubled.
"It is something to be glad about. But haven't you noticed? Every spirit ring Xiao Jue has gained so far produced extremely strong abilities. This may no longer be just the result of my research. More likely, it's because his martial spirit itself is extraordinarily powerful, which in turn creates such formidable skills.
"When hunting spirit rings, we don't just look at years—we carefully choose beasts because their traits dictate what kind of skills we receive.
"But look at Xiao Jue's new skill. Though related to the Obsidian Venom Scorpion's poison, it altered the effect to better suit his wolf spirit, as if his martial spirit itself disdained the scorpion's original poison."
The Grandmaster shook his head, eyes narrowing in thought.
"Combine this with what I've seen before—take two tool martial spirits, for example: the Blackiron Staff and the Coiling Dragon Staff. Even when absorbing rings from the same type of spirit beast with similar years, the resulting skills were completely different. I used to think it was just the randomness of absorption.
"But now, it seems the Coiling Dragon Staff's skills were stronger because its martial spirit itself was superior to the Blackiron Staff."
The Grandmaster clapped his hands together, excitement sparking in his eyes.
"This leads to a new hypothesis: while a spirit beast's species and years are critical in shaping a skill, the martial spirit of the absorber also plays an unknown role. If I can uncover the mechanism behind this influence, then my Ten Core Theories of Martial Spirits will become the Eleven Core Theories!"
…