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Perhaps because Ye Wen had been stuck at rank 58 for so long, in the blink of an eye, with the surge of abundant life soul power washing over him, his cultivation instantly reached rank 59.
Due to Ye Wen's consistent efforts in strengthening his body, his foundation was incredibly solid. Without pausing, he immediately began charging toward the next milestone—rank 60.
As Yu Xiaogang once told Tang San when recruiting him, Blue Silver Grass could embrace everything, so it had no restrictions when absorbing soul rings. This allowed Tang San to absorb a soul ring from snake-type spirit beasts.
However, in Ye Wen's view, the reason Blue Silver Grass could embrace everything was twofold. On one hand, its initial fragility made it easily influenced by other existences. For instance, a soul master with an ordinary wolf martial soul could absorb a soul ring from a compatible wolf-type martial soul that possessed elemental abilities. This would evolve their own martial soul and grant elemental powers it originally lacked—a reflection of how higher-level beings could influence lower-level ones.
However, as Blue Silver Grass grew older and evolved into forms like Blue Silver Trees or the Blue Silver King, ordinary spirit beast soul rings would find it increasingly difficult to affect such high-quality Blue Silver Grass martial souls.
Even so, the Blue Silver Grass martial soul still retained a certain ability to assimilate soul rings that didn't align perfectly with its nature.
In Ye Wen's eyes, this indicated that the Blue Silver Grass martial soul possessed excellent mutation and evolution potential, capable of optimizing itself by consuming other existences. This was evident in A'Yin's transformation into the Dark Blue Silver Emperor.
After observing these phenomena, combined with the Blue Silver King's sacrifice and his research into how immortal herbs enhanced soul masters' cultivation, Ye Wen arrived at a conclusion:
For ordinary soul masters, forcing rapid growth often destroyed their foundation. However, if physical strength was simultaneously increased while using external means to enhance cultivation, this theory of forced growth wouldn't hold true.
The life energy offered by the Blue Silver Domain through sacrifices was, in Ye Wen's opinion, somewhat similar to the essence energy nurtured by immortal herbs—it brimmed with vigorous life force.
Thus, Ye Wen equated the two.
Several hours passed, and Ye Wen's cultivation steadily reached rank 60. He then deactivated the Blue Silver Soul Ascension Array, allowing the Blue Silver Forest to return to its tranquil state.
Breathing in the fresh air, Ye Wen couldn't suppress the upward curve of his lips.
"Everything went exactly as I planned," Ye Wen confidently chuckled.
However, as a gentle breeze passed by, Ye Wen momentarily froze. He noticed that his previously shoulder-length hair had grown all the way down to his waist!
Well, Ye Wen admitted this was beyond his expectations. He hadn't anticipated that the surge of life force would also inadvertently promote physical growth.
Subsequently, Ye Wen used his spiritual power to examine his body. After confirming that the hair growth wasn't a negative effect, he relaxed.
At this moment, Dugu Bo lightly clapped his hands in admiration.
"As expected of you, Xiao Wen. You've managed to rapidly increase your cultivation through this method. Let's head back—the sixth soul ring has already been prepared for you."
Ye Wen nodded in agreement. Before leaving, however, he expressed his gratitude to the Blue Silver Grasses of the forest through the Blue Silver Domain.
With a powerful faction at his disposal, Ye Wen no longer needed to hunt soul beasts himself like ordinary, struggling soul masters. He simply instructed his subordinates to locate the required soul beasts and dispatch stronger individuals to capture them.
Finding Ye Wen's sixth soul ring was relatively easy since it was an ultimate ice attribute. For the Tian Dou Empire, which bordered the Far North Ice Plains, hunting such a target was a straightforward task.
This time, Ye Wen didn't demand a specific age. He only requested an Ice Jade Scorpion between twenty and thirty thousand years old.
According to Ye Wen's subsequent plans, a mere difference of several thousand years in cultivation was inconsequential and could be compensated for later through other means.
As for whether hunting an Ice Jade Scorpion might provoke the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, whose cultivation exceeded three hundred thousand years in the Far North Ice Plains—
Ye Wen wasn't worried. First, the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion was a twin lotus-loving entity (lesbian) without direct bloodline descendants. Moreover, the vast expanse of the Far North Ice Plains meant that Ice Jade Scorpion groups were scattered rather than concentrated. Additionally, Ye Wen wasn't targeting Ice Jade Scorpions nearing a hundred thousand years of cultivation.
Unless the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion was bored or the assigned hunters had terrible luck, there was little chance of trouble finding them.
As Ye Wen predicted, the soul beast hunt proceeded smoothly. The Medical Alliance's soul-hunting team successfully brought back a thirty-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion for Ye Wen.
Though soul masters liked to enlarge their martial soul manifestations during battles, the actual size of a thirty-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion was only about a meter long—quite petite compared to other spirit beasts.
However, Ye Wen didn't underestimate this creature, as it was a spirit beast with an ultimate attribute.
According to the Soul Douluo who captured it, Ye Wen was fortunate to have requested a thirty-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion. If it had been any older, even the Soul Douluo might not have been able to handle it.
Keep in mind that a human Soul Sage typically matched up against fifty-thousand-year spirit beasts. Yet, even this slightly younger Ice Jade Scorpion posed a challenge for a Soul Douluo, showcasing its formidable power.
Ye Wen felt no shame in relying on stronger individuals to capture it. For human soul masters, this was the norm. Hunting the optimal-age soul beast was inherently disadvantageous unless one was a battle prodigy. Without assistance, most soul masters couldn't secure the ideal soul beast for themselves.
With a swift motion, Ye Wen struck down the gemstone-like Ice Jade Scorpion. Its glowing eyes dimmed, and a deep black soul ring emerged.
Having endured the energy surge from the Blue Silver King's sacrifice and undergone rigorous training, absorbing the soul ring energy from a mere thirty-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion posed no difficulty for Ye Wen. Within half an hour, he completed the basic energy absorption.
As for the subsequent soul shockwave—
This was no issue for Ye Wen either. With spirit-attribute soul masters around him and having analyzed Tang San's methods for strengthening spiritual power, Ye Wen had refined the soul-training techniques in the Xuan Yuan Technique over the past year since the tournament ended.
A thirty-thousand-year-old soul shockwave? Easily handled.
As Ye Wen expected, his sixth soul skill turned out to be Ice Element Mastery.
Unfortunately, Ye Wen's luck wasn't extraordinary this time. The thirty-thousand-year-old Ice Jade Scorpion didn't drop a soul bone.
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