In the bushes, Zhu Ziyang confronted a Blazing Light Mantis.
This Blazing Light Mantis's cultivation was likely around 1,400 years. Perhaps it had just been through a major battle, as it still bore many wounds and was extremely agitated, raising its forelimbs threateningly at Zhu Ziyang.
First, I'll deal with the Blazing Light Mantis!
Zhu Ziyang made up his mind and immediately struck.
He lunged at the Blazing Light Mantis, his Radiant Scythe slashing and creating gusts of wind.
The Blazing Light Mantis was furious, letting out sharp cries. Its two forelimbs glowed as it charged towards Zhu Ziyang.
The Radiant Scythe and the Blazing Light Mantis clashed, and the air trembled. The Blazing Light Mantis possessed great strength, causing Zhu Ziyang's arm to tremble slightly. However, the Blazing Light Mantis was not faring well either; already injured and not yet recovered, it now sustained new wounds.
Zhu Ziyang suddenly exerted force, simultaneously pushing back the Blazing Light Mantis and retreating a large step himself. Immediately after, his first spirit ring behind him lit up, and a gray-white blade of light, imbued with a desolate aura of Death, instantly flew out.
The Blazing Light Mantis, having suffered a hidden loss, was extremely annoyed, its eyes turning red. Its massive body froze, and its two scythe-like forelimbs instantly transformed into hard bronze, glowing intensely, as it actually struck directly at Zhu Ziyang's Blade of Death!
"Utterly ignorant!" Zhu Ziyang watched this scene, a hint of disdain flashing across his face, but his movements were not careless in the slightest. The Radiant Scythe spun at high speed in an unusual manner, and after the blade of light made contact with the Blazing Light Mantis, it instantly detached and flew towards it.
The moment the Blazing Light Mantis touched the blade of light, it felt an intense fear. Driven by a creature's instinct for Death, it recoiled. And it was this recoil that caused it to completely lose its chance of survival. The Blade of Death instantly severed one of the Blazing Light Mantis's forelimbs at the root. Before blood could even flow out, the muscle and nerves at the wound were covered by a gray airflow.
Immediately after, under the Blazing Light Mantis's terrified gaze, the rapidly spinning Radiant Scythe accurately struck its body, its sharp blade mercilessly lopping off its head.
The Blazing Light Mantis, deceased!
"Haha!" The Radiant Scythe returned to Zhu Ziyang's hand. He couldn't help but burst into laughter, looking at the fallen Blazing Light Mantis and the light purple spirit ring emerging from its corpse. He said, "It's just an insect after all. Even a thousand-year Spirit Beast still lacks intelligence!"
With a flick of his hand, the Radiant Scythe and the bright yellow spirit ring disappeared.
Arriving before the bright yellow fruit tree, the bright yellow fruit was now fully ripe. Zhu Ziyang's face was beaming with a smile as he picked the bright yellow fruit and placed it into his emerald jade bracelet. The rich osmanthus fragrance instantly vanished. Zhu Ziyang was quite satisfied; this way, he wouldn't fear the fragrance attracting other Spirit Beasts.
After picking the bright yellow fruit, Zhu Ziyang did not rush to absorb the spirit ring. Instead, he squatted down and began searching among the Blazing Light Mantis corpses beneath the bright yellow fruit tree.
The Blazing Light Mantis's scythe-shaped forelimbs were excellent Spirit tool materials. The scythe-bones of thousand-year Blazing Light Mantises were even hot-selling items on the market. These mantis forelimbs should allow their family to make a small fortune.
Of course, they were just a bonus; Zhu Ziyang's main target was the Spirit Bone. Unfortunately, none of the five Blazing Light Mantises, including the one he himself killed, had produced a Spirit Bone.
He could only regretfully put away the ten scythe-shaped forelimbs. Then, he carefully arranged the surroundings to form a hidden cave, and then he crawled inside.
He was preparing to begin absorbing the spirit ring.
Zhu Ziyang sat cross-legged on the ground, drawing the purple spirit ring before him. With a solemn expression, he closed his eyes. The Great Bright Light Art began to operate, and the spirit power around his body became active, quickly connecting with the purple spirit ring in front of him. A surge of powerful, Xenomorph spirit power instantly poured into his meridians.
His Spirit, his body, began to refine this spirit power. He could feel the Light Attribute of the Radiant Scythe slowly increasing, becoming more refined.
Time flowed by in silence.
After an unknown period, an eight or nine-year-old youth burst out from the dense bushes.
An excited smile spread across his handsome young face. In his hand, he held a pure white battle scythe with a silvery sheen and intermittent golden patterns on its handle. Behind him were two spirit rings, one yellow and one purple.
It was precisely Zhu Ziyang.
"Second Spirit Ability, Blessing of Light!" Zhu Ziyang let out a powerful, low shout.
The purple second spirit ring behind him quickly lit up. Then, the Radiant Scythe in his hand was covered in a bronze glow. Immediately after, Zhu Ziyang lightly swung it, and all the plants and rocks within a nearly five-meter radius in front of him were instantly cut in half, as smoothly and effortlessly as a kitchen knife cutting tofu.
Seeing this, Zhu Ziyang's face lit up with joy.
Blessing of Light: Upon activation, Zhu Ziyang's strength increases by one hundred percent, the hardness and sharpness of the Radiant Scythe increase by one hundred percent, and the Light Attribute is enhanced by fifty percent.
He was quite satisfied with this Spirit Ability. A thousand-year spirit ring providing a buff-type Spirit Ability that could enhance three abilities was already very rare, not to mention that Blessing of Light could also boost the power of an attribute.
After absorbing the spirit ring, Zhu Ziyang's spirit power reached level 21, just a small step away from level 22. He estimated that he would reach level 22 in at most half a month. Furthermore, he still had a bright yellow fruit.
In addition, his affinity for the Light Attribute had reached around fifty, and the Light Attribute of his Radiant Scythe was further strengthened. At this rate, perhaps by the time Zhu Ziyang reached three rings, the Radiant Scythe would be able to touch the level of a top-tier Spirit.
"Very good! Mission accomplished, time to go home!" Zhu Ziyang was triumphant and said with a smile.
—
Zhu Ziyang traveled overnight, returning to Anyang City early the next morning. At this point, exactly seven days had passed since he left Anyang City.
"Ah! Brother, you're back!"
Zhu Ziyang returned to his academy dorm and happened to meet Jiang Nannan, who was on her way to class. The young girl, seeing Zhu Ziyang return safely, excitedly pounced on him and hugged him joyfully.
"This is wonderful! You have no idea how worried I've been these past few days!" The young girl cried tears of joy, burying her head in Zhu Ziyang's embrace and sobbing.
"There, there! Haven't I returned?" Zhu Ziyang gently comforted her, softly stroking Jiang Nannan's back, and said, "Besides, my gains have been quite significant, would you like to see?"
"Mm!" Jiang Nannan stopped her tears, her voice still tinged with a sob, and looked up at Zhu Ziyang, agreeing.
"Then you'd better watch closely!" Zhu Ziyang smiled, released Jiang Nannan, took a step back, and then, the Radiant Scythe appeared, with two spirit rings, one yellow and one purple, displayed before Jiang Nannan's eyes.
"This..." Jiang Nannan's eyes widened when she saw the purple second spirit ring, and her small mouth opened, a look of disbelief on her face.
"Hehe! How about it? Isn't your brother amazing!" Zhu Ziyang said with a hint of pride.
"Mm mm! Brother, you really are amazing!" Jiang Nannan's eyes still held a trace of shock, but her pretty face was filled with more excitement and thrill as she said, "A purple spirit ring, oh, Brother, you really are amazing!"
The young girl's vocabulary was limited, but her emotions were very clear, and Zhu Ziyang could feel them.
"You have to work hard too!" Zhu Ziyang put away his Spirit, reached out, and affectionately stroked the young girl's beautiful hair, saying, "When you reach level 20, Brother will also help you find a spirit ring of around a thousand years!"
Jiang Nannan's spirit power level was 16, still some distance from level 20, but the young girl's talent was excellent, and she should be able to become a two-ring Spirit Grandmaster before she turns nine.
"Mm! I definitely will!" Jiang Nannan was greatly motivated by Zhu Ziyang, her fighting Spirit soaring.
"By the way, have my parents returned?" Zhu Ziyang asked.
"Not yet," Jiang Nannan said.
"Still not back?" Zhu Ziyang couldn't help but be startled. It had already been almost half a month, and he felt a little worried.