Quest Maker of Soul Land

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"Did you get a spirit bone?" Hu Lana inquired instantly.

"I meant, questions after I start speaking," Ja Sun narrowed his eyes at Hu Lana, fully knowing that the fox was screwing with him. As expected, she smirked smugly while Xie Xan winked.

"Alright, since I don't know how it feels to absorb a spirit ring directly, I will just speak about my own experience. My martial soul, Three-eyed Silver Lion, allows me to communicate my intentions with the spirit beasts. It also helps remove the aggression of Spirit Beasts towards me. In my early years, I accidentally found out that Spirit Beasts can voluntarily sacrifice themselves.

When this happens, I feel like something I had lost long ago, even without my knowledge, has finally returned to me. My body is filled with power and my spirit energy also advances quickly. After studying under Teacher, I think that this is directly related to the fact that when it comes to me, spirit beasts willingly give up their everything. We know that before absorbing a spirit ring, our spirit energy, physical strength, and mental energy must be on par with the quality of the spirit ring but it's not the case with me. My spirit energy is boosted and my physical strength is increased. The only requirement is stronger mental energy and due to this pressure, I found ways to cultivate my mind."

Ah Yin, of course, knew that everything regarding his past was a lie, but his experiences should be true so she listened with great interest. Many things even matched her knowledge of the concept of the sacrifice of the spirit beasts.

"So—"

"Let him finish," Qian Daoliu cut Liu Erlong short.

Even if Ja Sun didn't mind it, Qian Daoliu simply abhorred the act of cutting off one's explanation. Questions can be asked later.

"Um.. master, that was it," Ja Sun smiled.

"Hmm? Then what about the stuff with the Fantasy Beast?"

"That depends if you ask for it. Since you're asking, I'll answer it, of course," Ja Sun smirked and finally explained what happened back then. However, he simply didn't expose that the combined mist lived within him and stated after fusing, it dispersed and turned into a spirit ring. He also planned to reveal something else to Qian Daoliu alone so that he isn't questioned too much in the future. After all, this opportunity was a divine one.

"What about the Spirit Bone? In this case, will the spirit bone have a higher chance of appearing?" Hu Lana inquired.

"I honestly don't know," Ja Sun shook his head, "This is my first spirit bone either way.".

"According to your method, the only requirement is to have the greater mental energy. Does that mean you can persuade a spirit beast to do the same method for us?" Liu Erlong inquired.

"It depends. Until now, all my spirit rings come from rather passive spirit beasts. But your martial soul is a fire dragon and the spirit beasts compatible with you are much more violent and predatory in nature. There is a chance that I can only subdue them for a little bit but once you reach rank 50, there is no harm in trying."

Ja Sun nodded.

Even Bibi Dong's eyes gave a faint luster after hearing this.

"What's the name of this new Spirit Beast?" Ah Yin raised her eyebrow. Everyone was already more familiar with Ja Sun's method now and understood that this method cannot be envied over since it belongs to unique Martial Souls itself. They were more interested in a spirit beast that is fused. Even Qian Daoliu's ears perked up.

"It's called Nightmare's Fantasy. Cultivation: 63000 years."

Everyone's expression froze.

"What?"

Bibi Dong uttered.

Smilingly, Ja Sun's gaze revealed sadistic intentions as he whispered, "I have the greatest 4th spirit ring in our group, that's what."

"T-then your Spirit Bone..." Xie Xan gulped.

"If you want to feel defeated, let me help you," Ja Sun shook his head, "63000-year-old Nightmare's Fantasy Skull Bone. Of course, I will keep the spirit ability of my ring and skull bone a surprise for all of you. Do force me enough to reveal it," he winked.

While everyone was reeling with shock, Ja Sun glanced at Qian Daoliu, "Master... can we speak alone?"

Qian Daoliu nodded and stood up as the duo returned to the tent.

"Teacher, what is the year of your fourth spirit ring?" Bibi Dong looked at Liu Erlong.

"It's a purple one."

"Oh..."

"You have already seen it. Why are you asking?" Bibi Dong narrowed his eyes as Liu Erlong shook her head idly, "Just trying to make sense of reality."

"We all are," Xie Xan patted Liu Erlong's shoulder.

"Don't touch me," Liu Erlong scoffed and shook him off.

"But... you let Ka-ul place his elbow," he huffed.

"Sure, get a 63,000-year-old fifth spirit ring instead."

"Ah!" Ah Yin suddenly exclaimed, "We forgot to ask his spirit rank."

Liu Erlong's and Xie Xan's complexion changed instantly. They both only had one advantage over Ja Sun: Spirit Rank. If they fell behind, their lives would turn pitiful.

Both of them who were squabbling glanced at each other, determination flickering in their eyes.

---

"Take a seat," Qian Daoliu stated somberly and Ja Sun sat in front of him. Both of them were on the ground, their legs crossed and Qian Daoliu nodded.

"Do not reveal this information to anyone else... until you are Titled Douluo. Do not try to use this method on your teammates either until their 9th Spirit Ring including Bibi Dong."

"Master, it shouldn't be that bad, right?"

A hundred-year-old spirit soul can provide 2 Yellow spirit rings.

A thousand-year-old Spirit Soul provides 3 Purple Spirit Rings.

A ten-thousand-year-old Spirit Soul may provide 3 or 4 black spirit rings based on their quality. Ja Sun's would provide him 3 spirit rings.

Originally, he wasn't planning on telling this to Qian Daoliu so much so that he had already made up his mind to find and make another spirit beast sacrifice itself for another spirit soul. However, once he came to be, he realized he had absorbed two 50000-year-old spirit beasts, the combination of which turned out to be a 63000-year-old Nightmare's Fantasy. In fact, Ja Sun still hadn't revealed a truly astonishing feature and that was the skill of his spirit bone. He deliberately adopted a condescending appearance to make others feel normal.

The main point, however, still remained that Qian Daoliu knew that he had absorbed two spirit beasts.

And only then did he reveal that he can actually have another spirit ring once he reaches rank 50.

Ja Sun didn't explain anything further but instead asked Qian Daoliu's assistance on the matter and the fact that Qian Daoliu asked him to sit and state so much regarding privacy meant that he knew something.

Of course, how much he wished to trust others still depended on himself and Ja Sun wasn't the least bit affected by Qian Daoliu's caution.

Ah Yin, he already trusted with his life.

Others? He trusted them with dirty jokes, and sometimes his back.

"How can it not be bad?" Qian Daoliu smiled bitterly, "The fact that you can have two spirit rings from a single beast can only be justified if others saw what we all saw today. There is one dangerous secret of the world that even Bibi Dong isn't told about. But your situation demands you know the reason for your caution else you take my warnings for an old man's rambling."

Speaking till here, Qian Daoliu thought for a moment and then spoke up.

"Above 10000-year-old spirit rings are 100000-year-old spirit rings. They are red in color and the surroundings bask in their light once they are revealed. Do you know why such spirit rings are claimed as the most precious treasure for Spirit Masters aside from their strength?"

Ja Sun silently shook his head.

"Compared to even a 99999-year-old spirit, a 100000-year-old spirit ring's ability's consumption is drastically low. For instance... a single charge powerful spirit ability from a 90000-year-old spirit ring may only consume 3/100th of the strongest Titled Douluo. Meanwhile, a 100000 ability of the same kind will not only produce double or triple the attacking capability but may only consume 6 or 7/100th of the total reserves.

So, a Titled Douluo with a 100000 ring and one without it is a completely different concept. Of course, the actual consumption is not really as simple as 7/100th and may even have stricter restrictions, but each ability produced by such a ring is nothing short of a miracle.

Now, are you clear on the value of a hundred-thousand-year spirit ring?"

"A little," Ja Sun nodded.

"As an independent spirit master, you are also aware of human greed. But I will explain greed's relevance on the matter later.

Now, I will tell you something that others must not be taught about, not even Bibi Dong or Ah Yin... they will be taught about this once the time is right.

In our world, there exists a phenomenon that you are already aware of: Evolution.

Just like a martial soul may evolve its trait, for instance, a wolf growing a pair of wings because of a powerful bird-type spirit beast or a fish turning into a dragon due to some evolutionary material, Spirit Beasts are capable of evolving, too.

Mind you, Evolution is not to be misunderstood by the Awakening of martial souls. Awakening is simply the unlocking of further latent potential that changes the martial soul.

When it comes to Spirit Beasts, each of them has a chance to evolve at 10, 100, 1000, 10000, and 100000 years of cultivation. A small lizard may as well turn into a dragon by then.

But once a Spirit Beasts reach 100000 years of cultivation, they face a choice. From whom, that is unclear. Maybe it is the heavens itself or the world's will. But, such a strong beast will have a chance to evolve as a human."

Ja Sun frowned and clenched his fist. This was merely an act, of course. He already knew this long ago.

"Calm your mind and understand fully," Daoliu narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Once a spirit beast turns into a human, for a period, it is still considered a beast. It will cultivate like a human. Rise in spirit ranks but at every bottleneck, they won't need to hunt spirit beast. Being a spirit beast, they can materialize their own skills as spirit rings.

But this changes once a Spirit Beast turned human reaches rank 60. From then on, they are considered partial humans. But because of this, they need to hunt spirit beasts like humans for their 7th to 9th spirit ring.

Now, does this situation feels similar to both of your rings?"

Ja Sun nodded. Seeing that Qian Daoliu had stopped speaking and left everything on him to comprehend on his own, Ja Sun finally inquired.

"How does one differentiate between a spirit beast and a human?"

"A spirit beast, until they turn rank 60, has a peculiar scent. I'm not only talking about the physical scent but also spiritual. A strange energy signature that can be noticed by Spirit Douluo at careful observation and Titled Douluo with a simple glance. Of course, the reason for this observation will be clear to you once you reach that rank."

"Then... if this is such a big secret, it must be because a Spirit Beast in the human form is easy to kill. But even if they are a human, they will still give a crimson spirit ring, right?"

"And a spirit bone. A hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beast will always give a spirit bone."

Ja Sun nodded at this before he frowned, "There's something else, right, Master? You said that at rank 60, they are considered Partial Humans. Is there a rank where they will be considered complete human?"

"Yes. Rank 90. Once a spirit beast turned human reached rank 90, their deaths will not give any spirit ring or spirit bone."

"Then why isn't this information already publicized?"

Qian Daoliu smiled.

"Think."

Closing his eyes for a moment, Ja Sun actually thought about this question.

The answer was a stunning one.

"Because this may attract trouble from actual spirit beasts who are already Titled Douluo?"

Qian Daoliu shook his head.

"It is only part of the reason. Once a spirit beast is a Titled Douluo, it cannot be considered a Spirit Beast anymore. But can someone forget their heritage so easily? Even if we take a step back, informing many Spirit Douluos of the continent already infringes on one's personal benefits. Finally... what if your closest comrade, brother, father, mother, sister, or lover is a spirit beast?

By not spreading the information, many selfish interests are saved. Even if a spirit beast turned human is found, the hunt for it is done in shadows. In the recorded history, there has never been such an event, but my great grandfather taught me that Spirit Hall has hunted a total of three spirit beast turned humans.

Each of them belonging to some family. So, what we did was hunt down families."

"I see," Ja Sun looked down, a ponderous expression on his face, "Given that a spirit beast has already lived for 100000 years, how can they form relationships with humans so easily?

I'm not questioning the difference in the race. But experience. What would a 100000-year-old spirit beast find appealing about a human with a lifespan less than 1% of its entire life?"

Praise flickered in Qian Daoliu's eyes for the first time. This was a rare question, so rare that even Qian Daoliu himself hadn't thought of back then.

"Spirit Hall captured one of the beasts' lover and questioned him thoroughly. We were curious, too. It should be called an interrogation, more like.

The answer did surprise us a little. According to that man, after every qualitative evolution, a Spirit Beasts gets a fresh start. For instance, to a thousand-year-old spirit beast, its past 999 years will feel like a dream. Similarly, to a human evolved from spirit beast, the past hundred thousand or so years of cultivation will feel like a fleeting dream and experience. They start anew. Like us, they, too, fall in love. Have families. Of course, offsprings of such a combination are human and not a spirit beast. Killing them will not bring you a spirit ring. We tried all of the methods."

Qian Daoliu's gaze turned dull momentarily.

Ja Sun nodded.

"I won't tell anyone about this until I'm Titled Douluo."

"Good, child. Now... your spirit rank is already 47 and extremely stable. Just a little away from that girl Erlong and youth Xie Xan. Cultivate and reach the same level as Ah Yin as quickly as possible. You merely started late but your progress is stunning. Even... hehe, Crocodile's Late Bloomer cannot compare to you. Of course, only I can call him that.

Your next extreme environment will be a special one. I will leave tomorrow morning and won't return until all of you satisfy Dong'er with your progress. Of course, she will be training like you all."

Ja Sun stood up and stretched lightly.

"Then I will go out and rub their faces in my superiority."

As Ja Sun walked out, he heard Qian Daoliu speaking: "Don't go overboard then. Your superiority may end up biting dust if all of them lashed out together."

Once Ja Sun walked out, he found Bibi Dong handing others their scrolls.

The next training event.

Ja Sun hurriedly walked over to get his own reading material.

With that, like usual, they all trained while Qian Daoliu took out the time to give pointers to everyone before leaving after midnight as everything returned to normalcy except for Ja Sun's mental scape. It was going bananas.

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