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Actually, according to common sense, he could have applied for graduation after absorbing his first spirit ring, because the graduation requirement for an Elementary Spirit Master Academy was to become a Spirit Master.
It was just that the timing wasn't right then.
Because his situation was too special, if he rashly changed academies, it would only attract more attention. Staying at Nuoding Academy, at least he had a small backer in the dean, making things much more convenient in all aspects.
After comprehensive consideration, it was not suitable for him to graduate early at that time.
The current timing was much more mature than before.
However, before applying for early graduation, he still had many things to do. The first thing was to obtain his second spirit ring!
The next morning, Shi Quan told Marde about his Breakthrough to Rank 20.
After Marde surprisingly checked him, he sighed, "Your Innate talent is now almost on par with Innate full spirit power."
Seeing that it was still early, Marde directly took Shi Quan to the Spirit Hall to find Dawson.
Dawson was also surprised to see Shi Quan Break through to Rank 20 so quickly.
After confirming everything, he didn't delay.
The three of them once again boarded the Spirit Hall's carriage and set off for the Elementary Soul Hunting Forest.
"What! You want to absorb a thousand-year one!"
Marde suddenly stood up, and with a bang, his head hit the roof of the carriage. At this moment, he didn't care about the pain, his eyes fixed on Shi Quan as he said in a deep voice, "No, a thousand-year one is too high. Your first spirit ring only exceeded by less than a hundred years. A thousand-year one is more than two hundred years over the limit for a second spirit ring, and there's a significant difference between a thousand-year Spirit Beast and a hundred-year Spirit Beast. The energy is more violent, and it's not just a small difference compared to a hundred-year spirit ring."
Because of the hasty departure, Shi Quan had not discussed the age limit of the second spirit ring with Marde before, which was why he reacted this way.
Dawson also looked at Shi Quan with surprise. A thousand years and a hundred years represented a Rank leap. Although there was only a one-year difference between nine hundred ninety-nine years and a thousand years, the pressure endured increased exponentially.
Shi Quan smiled and appeased him, "To perfect my theory, taking risks is inevitable. However, I won't be foolish enough to throw my Life away. Don't worry, Teacher, I definitely have confidence in choosing this."
"But this is too dangerous." Marde rubbed his head helplessly and sat down. "Shi Quan, I still suggest you choose a plant over nine hundred years old; that should be enough."
"Let's take a look first."
Shi Quan smiled and lowered his head, shifting his gaze to the book in his hand.
Dawson then spoke at this opportune moment, "The book in your hand only records hundred-year Spirit Beasts. For thousand-year Spirit Beasts, you need to look at this one."
Saying that, Dawson took out another book and handed it to Shi Quan. Compared to the book in Shi Quan's hand, this one was noticeably much thinner.
"Dawson, you..." Marde could only sigh helplessly at the sight.
Shi Quan was still wondering why he hadn't seen any thousand-year Spirit Beasts, so that was the reason.
How could such a large Spirit Beast forest not even have a single thousand-year Spirit Beast?
Taking the book from Dawson's hand, Shi Quan immediately began to flip through it.
Most of the Spirit Beasts in the book were low-age thousand-year Spirit Beasts, with the highest being around fourteen hundred years old. After all, it was only an Elementary Soul Hunting Forest; while there were thousand-year Spirit Beasts, their age wouldn't be too high.
Dawson looked at the enthusiastic Shi Quan and reminded him with a smile, "If you want a thousand-year plant-type Spirit Beast, you can look at the plant-type Spirit Beast on the second to last page. Its age is exactly a thousand years, and this plant is also a rare Advanced Spirit Beast."
"Advanced thousand-year Spirit Beast?" Shi Quan's eyes lit up, and he skipped the previous content, flipping directly to the end.
"Black Jade Bamboo!" Shi Quan's expression was a bit strange.
"Black Jade Bamboo?"
Marde showed an understanding expression upon hearing the name. Generally speaking, it was rare for Advanced Spirit Beasts to appear in a Spirit Beast forest. Even if they did, they were some very special Advanced Spirit Beasts.
Black Jade Bamboo belonged to this situation. Black Jade Bamboo itself did not possess any offensive capabilities. It only had one characteristic: hardness. And Black Jade Bamboo relied on this single attribute to force its way into the Ranks of Advanced Spirit Beasts.
The self-hardness of Black Jade Bamboo far exceeded that of its peers. Even some ordinary thousand-year Spirit Beasts could not harm a hundred-year-old Black Jade Bamboo in the slightest. For a thousand-year-old one, there was almost nothing at the same Rank that could break its defense, and the same applied to Advanced Spirit Beasts of the same Rank.
It was the kind that maxed out its defense, with no additions to speed, strength, or attack.
Logically speaking, such a tough Black Jade Bamboo should be an incredibly rare find for control system plant-type Spirit Masters who pursue toughness.
But the awkward thing was, because the hardness and toughness of Black Jade Bamboo were too high, absorbing it would cause the plant Martial Spirit itself to harden, making the Martial Spirit hard and difficult to control. Over time, this led to control system plant Spirit Masters simply not daring to choose Black Jade Bamboo as a spirit ring.
Defense-type Spirit Masters among plant-types were also extremely rare, and Beast Spirit Spirit Masters would not choose plant-type Martial Spirit Beast Spirit rings either, which led to Spirit Beasts like Black Jade Bamboo being very unpopular in the Spirit Master's world.
"Although Black Jade Bamboo is strong, its drawbacks are too great. Shi Quan, you shouldn't..."
"That's the one!"
Marde's voice hadn't even faded when Shi Quan had already decided.
"Shi Quan, you should be aware of the drawbacks of the Black Jade Bamboo spirit ring. Don't choose it just because it's an Advanced Spirit Beast." Marde quickly advised.
"I've overcome so many difficulties, am I still afraid of a stiff Martial Spirit? Teacher, I believe I can solve it. Blue Silver Grass is inherently weak, and toughness is one of its biggest problems. If I have the Black Jade Bamboo spirit ring, I believe the drawback of Blue Silver Grass's toughness can be greatly alleviated." Shi Quan looked at Marde with a serious expression.
Marde shook his head, "Alright then, it's just going to be tough on my old bones."
Shi Quan smiled and said, "Teacher, you're still young and strong."
"I wish." Marde also smiled.
Black Jade Bamboo was incredibly hard. Although it had no offensive power, it wasn't something anyone could handle. Ordinary attacks landing on it might not harm it, but the attacker might not be so lucky. Its hard bamboo body was like iron or stone, producing a considerable Rebound force (recoil force). If one wasn't careful, the attack might fail, and they could even get injured instead.
Because they were delayed for a while in the morning, it was already late afternoon, nearing sunset, on the second day when they arrived at the Spirit Hall's outpost outside the Soul Hunting Forest.
The location of the Black Jade Bamboo was deep within the Soul Hunting Forest, a long way off. After some discussion, the three decided to set off early the next morning.
After all, it was a Spirit Beast forest. Although it was only Elementary, running towards the deepest part in the middle of the night was still very dangerous.
Early the next morning.
The three set off, and after several more hours of travel, it was close to noon when they finally saw the pitch-black, ink-like long bamboo in a thicket.
Judging the age of Black Jade Bamboo was simple: one hundred years per segment. Each additional segment on the bamboo body indicated another hundred years of its age.
The Black Jade Bamboo in front of them had exactly ten segments.
Aside from its powerful toughness, Shi Quan chose Black Jade Bamboo for another reason: bamboo plants belonged to the grass family, they were a type of grass, not trees. Furthermore, bamboo Spirit Beasts had very strong Life force, and all aspects were extremely compatible with the Blue Silver Grass Martial Spirit.
As for the problem of Martial Spirit stiffness, Shi Quan had already thought of a solution: the Immortal Herb Black Jade Divine Bamboo.
Black Jade Bamboo and Black Jade Divine Bamboo differed by only one character, but both shared a commonality: rigidity. If he remembered correctly, the rigidity of Black Jade Divine Bamboo was increased within its flexibility and would not cause the Martial Spirit to stiffen.
Shi Quan speculated that a Spirit Beast like Black Jade Bamboo might have originated from an Immortal Herb like Black Jade Divine Bamboo.
As for Immortal Herbs, Shi Quan felt that with the special nature of Nine Yin Nine Yang Divine Skill, he should be able to consume more than one Immortal Herb. Black Jade Divine Bamboo was originally just a backup, but if he absorbed the Black Jade Bamboo's spirit ring, then Black Jade Divine Bamboo would become one of his top choices.
The specific subsequent arrangements would have to wait until they reached Heaven Dou City for a detailed plan.
While he was deep in thought, Marde had already swung his long staff, striking fiercely at the Black Jade Bamboo. Violent crashing sounds continuously echoed.
His powerful and heavy staff only managed to leave a faint scratch on the Black Jade Bamboo. Fortunately, the Black Jade Bamboo was not aggressive and could only passively endure Marde's continuous attacks.
To kill the Black Jade Bamboo, one had to break all the joints of each bamboo segment.
The entire process was quite time-consuming and laborious.
Marde and Dawson could only take turns constantly attacking the Black Jade Bamboo, and they attacked for a full hour like this.
This was just a thousand-year Black Jade Bamboo, yet it withstood a Spirit Ancestor's attacks for a full hour. This showed just how exaggerated its toughness was.
"Shi Quan, it's your turn." Marde panted heavily, his hands trembling as he waved at Shi Quan.
"Coming." Shi Quan quickly stepped forward and picked up the fine iron spear next to Marde.
The bamboo joints of the Black Jade Bamboo were not as hard as its outer skin, but they couldn't be pierced by an ordinary dagger either. To hunt it, the two of them had specially prepared this fine iron spear for Shi Quan when they entered the forest.
Shi Quan picked up the heavy spear, thrusting it fiercely into the remaining bamboo joint of the Black Jade Bamboo, then twisted it violently.
"It's really hard." Even though Shi Quan was mentally prepared, his hands still felt numb from the recoil force transmitted from the spear.
Putting down the spear, in a short while, a light purple spirit ring floated out.
Shi Quan stopped his movements, walked to an empty spot nearby, and sat down.
"Go for it, Shi Quan." Marde, standing by, didn't forget to encourage him.
Shi Quan's expression was calm. Looking at the purple spirit ring not far away, he summoned his Martial Spirit and began to guide and absorb it.
A familiar scene reappeared, but this time, the yellow bracelet-sized spirit ring had turned purple.
"Hiss!" As the violent energy entered his body, Shi Quan's body trembled violently. After taking a sharp intake of cold air, his body began to shake.
Compared to the last time, this energy was even more explosive!
That's right, it was explosive. The surging energy was like mad gunpowder exploding within Shi Quan's body, causing even Shi Quan to let out muffled groans of pain.
The Yi Jin Xi Sui method quickly circulated. Fortunately, although the process was painful, everything was still within the limits of what Shi Quan could bear.
Time passed by minute by minute.
Internal vision.
Unlike the last time, this time all the flames were black, dyeing the entire World black, leaving only the light blue Blue Silver Grass swaying in the center, emitting a faint glow, as if resisting the entire World.
Under the scorching of the flames, the Blue Silver Grass began to change again. Its originally thinned branches and leaves grew long and wide again. The faint blue deepened, and a black halo seemed to want to dye the entire Blue Silver Grass black. It was also at this moment that the deep dark glow emerged again from the depths of the Blue Silver Grass. It was a black even deeper than black, like an abyss, a black that could devour everything.
Finally, the light blue Blue Silver Grass stabilized at a deep blue. Compared to ordinary Blue Silver Grass, the current Blue Silver Grass had a deeper color, and its originally slender branches and leaves returned to their previous thick appearance. Its surface had a jade-like luster, appearing even tougher.
Crack—
The fiery hot current within his body gradually calmed down, dispersed, and then fused and absorbed.
This familiar feeling of breaking through made him happy. His Internal Energy quickly fused with the power of the spirit ring.
Rank 20, Breakthrough!
spirit ring absorption successful!
"Phew!" Marde, standing by, let out a long breath. Seeing the purple spirit ring slowly settle, he understood that Shi Quan's Spirit Beast absorption was successful, and his tightly clenched fists finally relaxed.
Shi Quan, who had been sitting in meditation, slowly opened his eyes. The once bright sky was now shrouded in darkness.
Time had passed directly from noon to evening.
"Congratulations, Shi Quan." Marde's voice carried both surprise and a hint of admiration. If it were him, he would never have had the courage to try a thousand-year spirit ring. Shi Quan not only tried but also succeeded, a true pioneer.
"I still have to thank Hall Master Dawson and Teacher for their help in hunting and protecting me." Shi Quan stood up and said with a chuckle.
Marde waved his hand and laughed heartily, quickly asking, "These are minor matters. Quickly tell me, how do you feel?"
"My spirit power increase is similar to last time, only one Rank. I'm still some distance from twenty-two." Shi Quan said, moving his body. "My body's strength has still improved quite a bit."
"As for the Martial Spirit..." Saying that, Shi Quan raised his hand and summoned his Martial Spirit. The deep blue Blue Silver Grass appeared in his hand. Besides its color deepening, the Blue Silver Grass as a whole had grown a size larger, emitting a faint luster, looking very tough.
Marde said in surprise, "Shi Quan, why does your Blue Silver Grass not seem to have stiffened?"
Shi Quan thought for a moment and then said, "I think it's because the Blue Silver Grass itself is too soft. Even with the toughness enhancement of the Black Jade Bamboo, plus the special Life attribute of my Blue Silver Grass, which gives it extremely strong adaptability, that's why it hasn't stiffened."
Shi Quan was also somewhat surprised by the current situation. The fundamental reason why the Blue Silver Grass did not stiffen was the hidden devouring attribute within the Blue Silver Grass, which devoured and absorbed the dominant toughness attribute of the Black Jade Bamboo. This also allowed the Blue Silver Grass to almost perfectly absorb the Black Jade Bamboo's spirit ring, causing a revolutionary change in the toughness of the Blue Silver Grass.