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Su Wen was already quite satisfied to have obtained this much intelligence from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
"To think there is actually a direct lead on a ten-thousand-year Three-Eyed Phantom Spirit Fox."
This was something Su Wen hadn't expected.
While a significant portion of Phantom Spirit Foxes that managed to cultivate to the ten-thousand-year level were mutated, the Three-Eyed Phantom Spirit Fox variant actually only accounted for about ten to twenty percent of those mutations.
Since he wasn't sure if a regular Phantom Spirit Fox could complete the Ring Replacement, Su Wen was still more inclined to choose another Three-Eyed Phantom Spirit Fox.
"There is only intelligence regarding one nine-thousand-year Starfruit Tree, and it's uncertain if it has been killed by other Spirit Masters, but at least it's a direction."
"As for the Stone Monster, it seems there are extremely old Stone Monsters present in the Sunset Forest." Su Wen recalled Dugu Bo mentioning he had seen a thirty-thousand-year Stone Monster in the Sunset Forest, and even deeper in, there might even be Stone Monsters over fifty thousand years old.
Before leaving the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, Su Wen also inquired about intelligence regarding individuals of these three categories with cultivations around the thousand-year level.
Upon returning to Heaven Dou City, Su Wen informed Xiao Zhan and Dugu Bo of his plans to travel.
Neither of them tried to dissuade him.
They were aware of the alternative mimicry cultivation method Su Wen had developed, and they knew that going out to travel at this time was more like making a final push for growth.
Of course, they were comfortable letting Su Wen go because he now possessed the power to protect himself.
A Spirit King was already considered mid-to-high-level power on the continent. Combined with the fact that Su Wen's strength was among the best even for a Spirit King, he was more than capable of preserving his life even if he encountered a Spirit Emperor.
Furthermore, he mastered the fifth soul skill, Void Traverse; even if he met an unbeatable enemy, he could still escape.
Leaving Heaven Dou City, Su Wen did not head for the Sunset Forest immediately.
Stone Monsters lived in groups within the Sunset Forest, and since Dugu Bo hadn't investigated why this was the case, it was safer not to rush into the depths looking for a ten-thousand-year Stone Monster just yet.
Su Wen did not want anyone else to know about the Ring Replacement process for the time being.
Therefore, he had to try hunting soul beasts on his own, and he estimated that the limit for a soul beast he could hunt solo was currently twenty thousand years.
Setting out from Heaven Dou City, he headed straight for the Star Dou Great Forest.
Half a month later, the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Su Wen entered the forest via Xingluo Village, located to the southeast of the Star Dou Great Forest.
"I'll start by attempting the Ring Replacement with a lower cultivation level first."
In the outer regions, Su Wen searched for the location of a Starfruit Tree he knew of.
This was a two-thousand-year-old Starfruit Tree.
When he found the tree, Su Wen discovered three guardian soul beasts around it. They were originally ordinary Iron Rhinos, but at this moment, they looked completely different from their typical appearance.
"This is the effect of the Starfruit."
The Starfruit Tree absorbs the power of the stars. While this power is violent, it has a tempering effect on the physique. However, absorbing this power directly into the body is too damaging; even soul beasts can rarely absorb starlight directly to temper themselves.
The function of the Starfruit Tree is to store the absorbed starlight within the Starfruit, gradually refining it until the fruit falls off.
Even the leftover bits of starlight were highly beneficial for soul beasts like the Iron Rhinos.
Thus, they were willing to stand guard outside the Starfruit Tree.
However, at this moment, the aura emanating from the detestable human across from them was too terrifying.
The three Iron Rhinos did not yet possess true wisdom; they merely had a sliver of spirituality alongside their survival instincts, but they were unable to think completely independently.
Feeling Su Wen's terrifying soul power pressure, the three guardian Iron Rhinos turned tail and fled.
Su Wen shook his head, ignoring the three rhinos.
He looked at the Starfruit Tree before him, his eyes reflecting the starlight emanating from the tree.
"Back when I absorbed the Starfruit Tree for my first soul ring, I could only focus on strengthening my martial soul as much as possible; I didn't have the spare energy to care about this 'Star' attribute."
Among soul beasts, those capable of digesting the power of stars were all top-tier beasts—either their physical bodies were incredibly strong, allowing them to forcibly use starlight to temper themselves, or they possessed the Star attribute like the Starfruit Tree, able to draw in and slowly refine the starlight themselves.
"I must seize the opportunity during this Ring Replacement."
Su Wen only had nine total opportunities for soul rings.
Every time he absorbed a soul ring, he had to make trade-offs, choosing the direction most suitable for him and guiding the soul ring to modify and strengthen his martial soul in that specific way as much as possible.
However, with the Ring Replacement method, Su Wen would have the chance to absorb more characteristics from the species of his nine major soul rings in the future.
"Everything for the sake of cultivation."
Hunting soul beasts for cultivation was only natural; Su Wen felt no guilt whatsoever.
He condensed a Spiral Sphere (Rasengan) and pressed it against the trunk of the Starfruit Tree.
Feeling despair, the Starfruit Tree lashed out with its branches, but they were blocked by the wind wall around Su Wen's body.
The Spiral Sphere erupted, piercing through the entire trunk.
A purple soul ring slowly floated out.
Su Wen sat cross-legged on the ground, sensing the origin of his martial soul and the origin of the soul ring.
"First Soul Ring, Shatter!"
He shattered the first soul ring, and the soul power within it circulated and merged into Su Wen's body, though the boost provided by a three-hundred-year first ring was not very significant.
This time, it wasn't just a matter of the soul ring exploding.
Su Wen used the most crude method this time, not utilizing the techniques of the Ring Shattering Secret Art, but shattering the very origin of the first soul ring along with it.
The third soul skill came into play.
This was the core of the Ring Replacement method; it was something Su Wen could only achieve after he had developed his third soul skill combination to a level where it could stabilize the martial soul and the soul ring's origin.
The second, third, fourth, and fifth soul rings were linked together, supporting Su Wen's martial soul so it would not collapse.
Fortunately, the first soul ring was only a hundred-year ring; the damage to Su Wen's martial soul after its explosion was minimal, and Su Wen easily stabilized the martial soul's tendency to collapse.
In the outside world, the two-thousand-year Starfruit Tree soul ring slowly settled over Su Wen's body.
Soul ring energy surged within his body, and a streak of soul ring origin rushed into the martial soul space.
Unlike a normal soul ring refinement, this streak of soul ring origin did not spontaneously begin modifying Su Wen's martial soul. Instead, it seemed a bit "dazed," not knowing what to do.
It looked clumsy and slow.
Even though there was a vacant soul ring slot, it didn't automatically merge into it at this time.
Even though it was a slot left by the vacancy of a soul ring from the same species, it didn't seem able to attract it to merge again.
Su Wen was not in a hurry; he was also conducting an experiment.
Mobilizing his Origin Soul Power to guide the soul ring origin into this vacant slot, Su Wen felt a sense of repulsion. However, through his Super Perception, he could feel that while there was repulsion, the soul ring origin was also slowly merging into the slot—it was just that the speed was pathetically slow.
Even if he could mobilize the Origin Soul Power within the martial soul space to apply "external force" to urge its fusion, he estimated he would have to sit there for several months before there was any hope of success.
Only Su Wen possessed the talent of Super Perception, which had evolved after absorbing the fifth soul ring to encompass an all-around perception of himself; otherwise, a normal Spirit Master would be completely unable to sense this tiny change.
"As expected, it's not that simple."
However, Su Wen had long since prepared a contingency plan.
(End of Chapter)