Li Xun gazed at the spectacular scene before him and nodded slightly.
As long as one of the hundreds of thousands of seeds successfully grew, it would mean the continuation of the Silver Branch Spruce's life.
His vision for the first Spirit Ring was derived from this.
As the flying sword descended, Li Xun slowly walked over to the Silver Branch Spruce.
With a gentle push.
The massive silver spruce tree toppled to one side. After waiting for a while longer, a yellow ring slowly rose from the tree stump.
Sword Douluo looked worried at this moment: "Xiao Xun, sit cross-legged, hold your breath, and focus your mind to guard your Martial Soul."
Li Xun followed the instructions and sat cross-legged, concentrating his mind on the Thousand-Hand Buddha in his right hand. The Martial Soul immediately generated a suction force, slowly pulling the yellow Spirit Ring from the tree stump.
As the Spirit Ring approached the Martial Soul.
Li Xun could feel a pressure emanating from it. This pressure seemed to squeeze his body, causing his bones to creak.
Soon, the Spirit Ring reached above Li Xun's head, then suddenly contracted, directly encircling his Martial Soul.
Li Xun immediately felt the pressure multiply.
A nearly six-hundred-year Spirit Ring, though gentle in nature, was too advanced for him to handle due to its age.
Fine wounds began to appear on his body, a sign of the energy's expansion beyond his capacity to absorb. But then, Wood Release's powerful self-healing ability restored his wounds.
This cycle repeated several times.
Sword Douluo's eyes narrowed, but even someone as strong as him couldn't intervene. Absorbing a Spirit Ring relied entirely on oneself; interference from others would only harm the person.
After an unknown amount of time.
Li Xun felt the pressure gradually lessen, and a surge of energy flowed from the Spirit Ring into his body. As soon as this energy entered his body, it quickly merged with the flame formed by his Spiritual Energy and Soul Power.
The moment the energy merged with the flame, the True Several Thousand Hands began to change. The originally brown Thousand-Hand Buddha took on a faint green hue, brimming with vitality.
"It's done."
Feeling the changes in his body, Li Xun was filled with joy and immediately opened his eyes.
"Good!" Chen Xin's lips curled into a smile.
When they had set out, he had worried about not being able to bring Li Xun back safely. Fortunately, this time it had been a close call but ultimately safe.
Li Xun slowly stood up, adjusting to the changes in his body.
He felt that it wasn't just about gaining a Spirit Ring; his physical strength had also increased.
"How is it? Xiao Xun." Sword Douluo asked curiously.
Li Xun smiled: "My Soul Power has increased to level 12, and I estimate I'm not far from level 13."
Absorbing beyond his limits, coupled with his innate full Soul Power, if not for his weak foundation, he might already be at level 13.
"As for the Soul Skill"
Li Xun slowly raised the Thousand-Hand Buddha, and the yellow Spirit Ring at his feet gradually lit up.
In the next moment, ten energy fruits were instantly thrown out by the Buddha's arms. These energy fruits exploded in mid-air, turning into seeds that flew in the direction Li Xun intended.
Seeing the seeds in place, Li Xun clasped his fingers together, forming the Snake Seal, and circulated his Spiritual Energy within.
"Tree Sea Genesis."
As his words fell, the seeds of life underground began to grow rapidly.
In an instant.
Fifty to sixty small trees, each about three fingers thick and nearly half a meter tall, had grown.
"Xiao Xun, does your first Soul Skill still have room for growth?" Sword Douluo pondered thoughtfully.
Initially, Sword Douluo didn't place much importance on Li Xun's first Soul Skill. Even if a hundred-year Spirit Ring was special, it wouldn't bring about a qualitative leap.
Not to mention the ground was covered with tiny saplings.
But he noticed that after Li Xun used his skill, there were still many seeds left on the ground that hadn't grown.
Hence, he asked.
"Yes, Sword Grandpa, my first Soul Skill will enhance the quality of plants and the number I can summon as my level increases," Li Xun said, looking at the dozens of saplings on the ground.
"As long as there are seeds left on the ground, even if the enemy destroys the jungle, I can regenerate the same amount of plants."
This first Soul Skill confirmed his speculation: choosing an enhancement-type Spirit Ring would yield far greater benefits than an offensive one.
With his current amount of Spiritual Energy, he could unleash a much larger-scale technique if he went all out, but that would be just for show and useless in combat.
So, he had to reserve a portion of his Spiritual Energy to control the trees in battle. Although there were still limitations now, as he improved in the future, it would undoubtedly be stronger than choosing an offensive Spirit Ring early on.
Tang San's Blue Silver Entanglement was Li Xun's guide to avoiding pitfalls.
In the mid-to-late stages, Tang San hardly used his first few Spirit Rings. The Blue Silver Emperor Bloodline and the Blue Silver Emperor Domain also had little presence. If it weren't for Tang San taking the opportunity to replace his Spirit Rings after Xiao Wu's resurrection, he wouldn't have had such formidable combat power.
Dispelling his thoughts, Li Xun formed a hand seal with one hand, channeling his Spiritual Energy to try and control the trees.
Influenced by Wood Release.
The originally rigid trees softened and intertwined like vines. From a distance, it was hard to believe this was a forest, as it looked more like a dense tangle of creepers.
What caught Sword Douluo's attention the most was the dense thorns growing on the vines of these small trees.
The thorns varied in length.
The longest were about seven to eight centimeters, while the shortest were around two centimeters.
Sword Douluo's eyes lit up, and he nodded. "Not bad, it has both control and lethality."
He had initially worried that Li Xun might be weaker than his peers due to a lack of offensive skills. Now, it seemed he had overthought it.
From his perspective, this skill was already effective against low-level Spirit Masters.
Though it had flaws, as a first Soul Skill, its future potential was promising.
Li Xun chuckled.
This skill was derived from Wood Release's Cutting Technique. Although it couldn't shoot out thorns, under his deliberate control, these trees became a living jungle of thorns.
"Let's call this first Soul Skill combination 'Tree World Genesis, Thorny Jungle' for now."
As the flying sword ascended, Li Xun glanced into the distance.
At the center of the Sunset Forest was the Yin Yang Well.
Sword Douluo's flying sword was fast.
Including the time Li Xun spent absorbing the Spirit Ring, their round trip took only about five hours.
This left Ning Rongrong quite frustrated. "Brother Li Xun, I've already finished today's lessons. You can go by yourself."
Ning Rongrong shook Li Xun's arm, pouting.
Ever since she vowed to train hard, Li Xun had mentioned it to Ning Fengzhi.
Ning Fengzhi, of course, was happy for them to spend more time together.
After all, one was the future sect leader, and the other was the future pillar of the sect. Building a strong bond from a young age would benefit their future collaboration.
Even Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo remained silent on the matter.
"Then I'll give you half a day off."
Seeing Ning Rongrong's endless pouting, Li Xun reluctantly agreed.
"Great! Thank you, Brother Li Xun. I'll go play now," Ning Rongrong said cheerfully before Li Xun could even respond, and she skipped away into the distance.
"Aunt Xue, I'll have to trouble you to take me there."
Li Xun turned to Aunt Xue, who stood beside him.
The excuse of supervising Ning Rongrong's studies was just a cover; his real goal was to visit the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's library.
He needed to learn about Soul Beast classifications and herbal knowledge to prepare for the future. Among these, the knowledge of immortal herbs was of utmost importance.
Currently, only three people in the entire continent were most knowledgeable about this: Tang San, Chrysanthemum Douluo, and Yang Wudi.
Chrysanthemum Douluo, as an elder of the Spirit Hall, was difficult to approach.
Asking Tang San about it would be akin to seeking death.
Yang Wudi was highly knowledgeable but reclusive and somewhat stubborn, so he would have to approach him gradually.
"Aunt Xue, could you help me post a task? The goal is to collect rare herbal books from across the continent."
"Any book that contains herbs I haven't seen before will count. The reward will range from one Gold Soul Coin to a hundred Gold Soul Coins, depending on the content."
At this point, Li Xun paused and added, "If the book truly contains what I need, the reward can go up to a thousand Gold Soul Coins."
"Young Master, isn't the reward too high? Many people might try to fake it," Aunt Xue expressed her concern.
(End of Chapter)