Star Dou Forest.
Residual flashes flickered, shadows overlapping.
Strands of white light flashed and darted through the woods, trailing long afterimages.
Suddenly, all the light faded.
A black-haired youth in white appeared—Yun Chuan.
"Finally nailed it."
After long experiments, Yun Chuan had found the maximum speed his body could currently handle. Not quite light speed, but still, leagues beyond what he could do before.
"I hadn't expected soul beast soul rings to be so beneficial. If absorbing the Aurora Bird's soul ring and bone gave me light speed, what about other beasts?"
Could absorbing soul beasts of different elements grant new powers? Especially those with time or space attributes—who knows what kind of breakthroughs that could lead to?
Driven by this thought,
he couldn't hold back. Yun Chuan plunged into the forest, hunting for varied soul beasts.
Moving like a streak of white light, he raced through the trees.
He soon spotted a target:
A massive, earth-yellow beast resembling a rhino, but armored like a dragon—a ten-meter-long, five-meter-tall land titan: the Earth Dragon Rhino.
Any soul master could tell this beast's specialty: maximum defense.
With dragon blood and ties to earth attributes, this creature could shake or crack the land with a stomp, and when standing on soil, enhance its own defense and strength. A nightmare for any attacker.
Yun Chuan recognized it immediately by size—this specimen was a ten-thousand-year beast. Even strong power-type Soul Saints would struggle to defeat it.
"Earth attribute, eh…"
He eyed the rhino, intent on making it his next victim. Ordinarily, he'd use Thunder Spear to ignore its heavy defenses, but having just gained light-speed, he was tempted to try his new "light-speed kick."
The next instant—
A white streak flashed.
Boom!
The rhino was sent flying, as if blasted by a cannonball.
It was so fast, not even the eye could follow.
Yun Chuan appeared, glancing at the downed beast now gouged and battered thirty meters away, with a gaping wound in the side—most bones shattered.
One kick.
Just one.
The Earth Dragon Rhino never even saw it coming.
Having tested the power of his "light-speed kick," Yun Chuan was satisfied. Seeing the rising black ten-thousand-year soul ring, he summoned his five-colored elemental light and drew the ring to him, absorbing it through his palm.
He sat cross-legged, turning his senses inward as his five organs, shining with elemental color, ground down the soul ring for absorption.
But this time, he found the Earth Dragon Rhino's ring brought only slight benefit compared to the previous Aurora Bird—a paltry ability.
"Earth Tremor?"
He stood and gave the ground a tap.
Rumble…
For 100 meters around, the land shook—a mild earthquake.
This ability used only the Earth Dragon Rhino's gift, with no boost from Yun Chuan's own power.
"So the lower the ring's age, the weaker the ability? Just like how soul masters get crummy soul skills from lesser beasts."
It made sense: you can't expect abilities from ten-thousand-year beasts to rival those from hundred-thousand-year legendary ones.
"To gain another power like true light speed, I'll need to absorb rings from rare, high-age, pure-element beasts."
"But ten-thousand-year beasts are scarce, and each kill depletes their numbers…" Yun Chuan frowned.
Previously, absorbing the Aurora Bird—pure light attribute, a true rarity—had been sheer luck.
He wondered: could quantity offset quality?
If he absorbed huge numbers of low-level same-element soul rings, would they fuse into something greater?
But after a moment, he rejected the idea.
"That's too naive."
This wasn't arithmetic—absorbing countless weak rings would likely just give him a pile of junk skills, not a breakthrough. Quality over quantity, always.
"Shortcut-seeking rarely pays off. I'll stick to cultivating and inventing my own powers."
Low-year rings were worthless; high-year ones were too rare.
Besides, the power he gained from light speed alone was enough to last him for a long time—no point in rushing or chasing too much at once.
Better to master what he had first than to bite off more than he could chew.
(End of Chapter 101)