Great Star Dou Forest, Unknown Location
The Sun Moon Empire was an empire that ruled the Sun Moon Continent, one of the four continents on the Douluo Continent, and one of the two that housed humans and Spirit Beasts.
It was a nation that was devoted to Soul Tool development. Within the Sun Moon Empire, the Soul Engineer occupation was more prestigious than being just a Spirit Master. The Sun Moon Empire, due to its advancements in the Soul Guidance Weapons, unified the entire continent under the banner of the Sun Moon.
There were many precious metals and ores on the Sun Moon Continent, especially the mineral deposits from the Jing Yang Mountain Range. Even though the Ore Veins could be replenished over the course of many thousands of years with abundant Spirit Energy, the Sun Moon Empire was always on the hunt for new deposits of precious ores and metals.
Due to this, even though the development of the technology on the Sun Moon Continent was literally unmatched, when it came to the development of their Spirit Masters, it was seriously lagging, as the number of Titled Douluos was rather scarce.
And the number of the Hyper Douluos was even more, as they were all legendary figures that were born once per generation. The cultivation systems of the Sun Moon Continent were rather undeveloped, and their heritage in this aspect wasn't really that deep.
Compared to the several Gods that were born on the Douluo Continent and their legacies that they left there, the number of Gods that were born in the Sun Moon Continent was exactly zero.
It made sense that the Sun Moon Continent focused more on the Soul Tool development than on anything else.
Today was a very special day, as one of the expeditionary vessels of the Sun Moon Continent managed to discover an entirely new continent. This would be an enormous discovery for the Sun Moon Empire, and it would also start either conquest or colonization of the new continent.
Not to mention, for the Sun Moon Empire, it would solve the problems because right now, the Imperial Family of the Sun Moon Empire was undergoing highly turbulent times after the unification of the entire Sun Moon Continent.
It has been several hundred years since the Sun Moon Imperial Family managed to unite the entire continent under their banner. Since then, the Empire has prospered greatly, and Soul Tool development has become rather stagnant due to a lack of competition and pressure.
At the same time, over the centuries, many internal problems started resurfacing, especially the conflict between the various factions within the Empire, and right now, it was only a matter of time before the Empire would descend into a full-fledged Civil War.
Several higher-ups within the Empire believed that if the Empire could solve the most pressing matter, which was the lack of powerful Titled Douluos and Spirit Beasts, and search for the other continents, they could consolidate the situation and progress further.
Thus, they funded a lot of expenditures in the wider oceans.
Unfortunately for the expeditionary ship of the Sun Moon Empire, as soon as they arrived at the shores of the new continent, they were attacked by several sea Spirit Beasts, of which two were over 100,000 Years Old.
Even the Soul Tools that the vessel of the Sun Moon Empire possessed were not able to resist the might of the powerful Spirit Beasts. Within the Sun Moon Continent, the number of Spirit Beasts wasn't that great like that of the Douluo Continent, not to mention the Spirit Beasts whose age was above 100,000 Years Old.
The Soul Tool Cannons that were capable of internally killing Spirit Kings and Spirit Emperors were firing at full power at the several Spirit Beasts that were circling around the naval ship, but not even one of the Soul Tool Cannons was strong enough to actually injure the maritime Spirit Beasts.
The ship of the Sun Moon Empire was being attacked by a group of Demonic Whales.
The Demonic Whales were oceanic Spirit Beasts. They were the overlord of the ocean spirit beast, together with Demon Spirit Great White Shark and Evil Spirit Orca. They were regarded as the most Evil Oceanic Spirit Beasts, like Dark Spirit Masters, because they are the kind that devour Oceanic Spirit Beasts to evolve and are extremely evil.
Although the Deep Sea Demon Whales are undoubtedly the strongest, they were pretty rare.
Moreover, they all lived alone and are completely lazy; ordinarily, they'll only open those idiotically giant mouths and wait for food to deliver itself.
One had to admit that this ship from the Sun Moon Empire was just rather unlucky that they entered into their territory, and also, because the Demonic Whales that were right now besieging the ship sensed that there were a lot of humans present, and they were hungry.
The fact that they sensed only one Titled Douluo significantly helped their decision. The Demonic Wales were only after the food, and humans were their favourite type of food. When they realized that these humans were lacking the protection of powerful Titled Douluos, they immediately decided to attack the ship and eat its inhabitants.
Soon enough, the ship had crashed and its extraordinarily tough hull had been breached, and the ship was drawn into the river. Unfortunately for the crew of the Sun Moon Empire, what they didn't know was that they were heading towards the most dangerous place in the entire Douluo Continent.
***
In the other parts of the Great Star Dou Forest, Golden Crocodile Douluo Jin Eyu was observing the fight of the Holy Son of the Spirit Hall Hun Tiandi against the Abyssal Pit Serpent.
The first move conducted by the Holy Son was partially successful, but the effects on the Abyssal Pit Serpent weren't really that effective. It seemed that this one precise Abyssal Pit Serpent had rather good experiences with the Spirit Masters and gained some understanding of the Spirit Energy.
The most frightening aspect of the Innate Ability of the Abyssal Pit Serpent Worthless was that it could negate even the Spirit Energy itself. This was something that Hun Tiandi learned the hard way, because the Abyssal Pit Serpent was using the Worthless on his Spirit Energy.
Which was creating him no small amount of problems.
Due to being 80,000 Years Old, the Abyssal Pit Serpent was very strong, and its Lineage was making its strength even more, making it comparable to the average 100,000 Years Old Spirit Beast.
'I am close to achieving the 7th Spirit Transformation already...'
The Golden Crocodile Douluo Jin Eye closed his eyes as he resumed his cultivation. He was one of the few people within the Spirit Hall who were cultivating the full version of the Celestial Spirit Mantra, and he had already reached the 9th Layer of the cultivation technique.
The Nine Spirit Transformation Layer was currently at the 6th Spirit Transformation, which he successfully completed several months ago. Right now, he was heading towards the 7th Spirit Transformation.
With each successful Spirit Transformation, Titled Douluo gained 100% of their Spirit Energy capacity, which was a tremendous boost. Jin Eyu estimated that at the peak of the Celestial Spirit Mantra, the Titled Douluos would be tremendously more powerful.
Not only in their raw power and pressure that they could extend, but most importantly, they would be able to fight for a much, much longer time. Coupled with the other benefits of the Celestial Spirit Mantra, like the increasement in the Spirit Energy Regeneration or in the Physical Regeneration and Healing, the benefits were tremendous.
He himself was an unstoppable force.
Because of that, it was also decided that the full version of the Celestial Spirit Mantra would be reserved only for the core people of the Spirit Hall.
Meaning Supreme Pontiff, Worship Elders, Cardinals, Leaders of the Burial Agency, and Titled Douluos and their direct inheritors. Other people within the Spirit Hall were given only the watered-down version, which brought significantly fewer benefits, called the Light Spirit Mantra, and to the outside world, they released the Spirit Energy Cultivation Manual, which was even weaker compared to the Light Spirit Mantra.
Yet, even the Spirit Energy Cultivation Manual was something that was revolutionary.
As the Golden Crocodilo Douluo closed his eyes to resume his cultivation as he wanted to reach the peak of the Quasi-Demigod Stage of Limit Douluo, Hun Tiandi was locked in a fierce fight with the Abyssal Pit Serpent.
Large parts of the abilities of the Abyssal Pit Serpent stemmed from its poisons and abilities of attacking mind, but due to the nature of its Martial Soul and the Spirit Rings, it had very high resistance towards poisons, and due to the 4th Spirit Skill Psy Guard that was passively active, it didn't fear the mental attacks.
Not to mention, with his Spirit Sea Spiritual Realm, only extraordinarily powerful mental attacks could actually overpower all of his defenses. Hun Tiandi was primarily fighting against the Abyssal Pit Serpent using the Bloodviolet Seven Star Fiend Sword Martial Soul with the Fel Spirit Skill.
Fortunately enough, the Abyssal Pit Serpent wasn't very effective in fighting against the Fel that was extremely corrosive in nature. Not to mention, even though Hun Tiandi didn't dare to call himself a prodigy at the Poison Master Profession...
He knew a thing or two about poisons, and it was more than evident that Fel was behaving exactly like the poison. He still didn't use the External Spirit Bone - the Eight Spider Lances, primarily because of their very low age.
At the same time, he was trying to drain the stamina and infuse the Abyssal Pit Serpent with enough Fel. He always implemented a very similar strategy. When he realized that he couldn't kill his opponent straight away, he would use various abilities to weaken it considerably.
Though...
This time, there was also something different in that.
He wanted to test the limits.
How far could he go?
"Die human!!!"
The Abyssal Pit Serpent shouted as it lunged toward Hun Tiandi with the intent to kill.
Spirit Beasts, at a young age, are not that intelligent compared to humans. It's only when they reach 100,000 years old that they gain the same intelligence as a human, and they are able to talk as well. Before then, they slowly mature.
Some Spirit Beasts are able to talk and have the intelligence of a human before they were cultivated for 100,000 years. These Spirit Beasts are nobles or royalty in the Spirit Beast world and have unique bloodlines.
Like the Abyssal Pit Serpent in front of Hun Tiandi.
As he noticed the Abyssal Pit Serpent lunging towards him, Hun Tiandi showed no fear and instead he grinned. Just before the Spirit Beast was about to reach him, a shadow appeared, and three huge heads bit into the long neck of the Abyssal Pit Serpent.
It didn't need further explanation that it was his second Martial Soul, a detached one that was doing what it wanted, Austin Griffin, whom he named Hao Yue, due to the sense of responsibility it had possessed.
When he had left it to wander on its own, it had two heads, and now it seemed that there was success, and the Austin Griffin had three heads. One was Red, which was the first one, signalling the Fire Element.
Then the second head was Light Yellow, which symbolized the Light Element, and the newly gained head, the third head, was green, which signalled the Wind Element. Not to mention, he could sense that the strength of Hao Yue was right now, around the peak of the Spirit Ancestor, if translated, the Spirit Ranks.
Yet...
Its true combat prowess was far more frightening.
As Austin Griffin started wrestling with the Abyssal Pit Serpent on the ground, using all three of its heads to bite it to death. This was the opportunity that Hun Tiandi needed, because in front of Austin Griffin, the Abyssal Pit Serpent had already stopped paying much of its attention to Hun Tiandi.
As the Abyssal Pit Serpent was fighting against Austin Griffin, Hun Tiandi appeared above the Spirit Beast, holding the Bloodviolet Seven Star Fiend Sword Martial Soul that was flaming with the greenish flames of Fel Spirit Skill as he stabbed the sword into the head of the Abyssal Pit Serpent.
The Abyssal Pit Serpent roared briefly before its life started leaving it, as the creature was soon enough killed.
Even before Hao Yue attacked the Abyssal Pit Serpent, the Spirit Beast was already very tired, and when it was being pinned down by the Austin Griffin, Hun Tiandi exploited its weakness.
With one powerful attack aimed at its soul, the Abyssal Pit Serpent froze in one spot and couldn't react immediately, when Hun Tiandi appeared and stabbed through its skull with his sword.
When the serpent was killed, Hun Tiandi started absorbing the Spirit Ring.
Because the Abyssal Pit Serpent was already 80,000 an 80,000-year-old Spirit Beast, Hun Tiandi needed to be very careful about it. There were two crucial aspects when absorbing the Spirit Rings.
First was the Spiritual Realm of the Spirit Master, and the second was the strength of the body of the Spirit Master. Obviously, then there was another very important factor, which was the quality of the Martial Soul to which the Spirit Ring was being attached.
Hun Tiandi's Blood Violet Seven Star Fiend Sword Martial Soul was a God-Level Martial Soul, meaning that the Spirit Master with this Martial Soul could cultivate into the Godhood. God-Level Martial Souls were very rare...
In the entire Douluo Continent, there were only a few of them.
Like Angel Martial Souls of the Qian Clan, White Tiger Martial Soul, some of the mutated Dragon-type Martial Souls that belonged to the category of the Divine Beast Martial Souls, and others.
They were regarded as the supreme existence on the Douluo Continent.
Hun Tiandi sat down cross-legged as he started assimialting the Spirit Ring from the Abyssal Pit Serpent, which took some time. At the start, he felt some uncomfortable pain in his body, because it seemed that the age of the Abyssal Pit Serpent was a bit high for him.
That was a slight misclaculation on his part, but it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle.
The last thing that he wanted to experience was the Spirit Ring Soul Shock.
Soul Shock was a special capability that arises after a high-level Spirit Beast is dead, but before its soul has dissipated. Only a ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast or above can possess it.
Generally speaking, absorbing a ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast's Spirit Master requires at least a fiftieth rank or above Spirit Rank, but that was primarily true for the old era before Hun Tiandi started introducing the cultivation techniques based on the Dou Qi Cultivation.
By that time, the Spirit Master already possesses a certain degree of functionality in all aspects, and mental strength has also matured to a certain extent. Besides the energy contained in the Spirit Ring, there's also the danger of this soul shock.
The Soul Shock could often lead to crippling of the Spirit Master, other kinds of severe injuries, or even death in some of the more extreme cases.
Even though Hun Tiandi was confident in his ability to absorb the Spirit Ring from the 80,000 Years Old Abyssal Pit Serpent, he was still very careful during the entire process and cautiously absorbed the 5th Spirit Ring for the Bloodviolet Seven Star Fiend Sword Martial Soul.
The entire process took more than half an hour, as a huge amount of Spirit Energy that rivalled that of the Spirit Emperors burst out of his body, when he finished the absorption process and assimilated the Spirit Ring.
At that moment, he reached the Spirit Rank 50 and became the Spirit King.
Becoming Spirit King at the age of seventeen was something admirable, but in the end, it wasn't ranked actually that high compared to the different kinds of geniuses that were born over the course of tens of thousands of years.
This was primarily attributed to the fact that Hun Tiandi's Martial Souls were God-Level one and the second one Divine Beast Level, which was making the cultivation way slower. On top of that, he had Twin Martial Souls, which further slowed down his cultivation speed, and his primary Martial Soul, the Bloodviolet Seven Star Fiend Sword, was also an Ultimate Martial Soul.
An Ultimate Martial Soul exhibits Ultimate Attributes within its own kind. The cultivation speed of an Ultimate Martial Soul is generally moderate before reaching Spirit Rank 30, progresses at a sluggish pace between Spirit Ranks thirty and seventy, and accelerates significantly beyond Spirit Rank 70.
The Spirit Energy of an Ultimate Martial Soul is purer and more resilient.
His Bloodviolet Seven Star Fiend Sword had the Ultimate Slaughter Attribute.
As he finished the absorption of the Spirit Ring, Hun Tiandi noticed that there was something that remained after the death of the Abyssal Pit Serpent.
"80,000 Years Old Torso Spirit Bone... If I didn't have a full set already, I would be too tempted by it..."
The Golden Crocodile Douluo appeared in front of Hun Tiandi when he noticed that he had reached the Spirit King Realm and took a look at the Spirit Bone. It seemed that heaven was really favouring him, because so far, finding a suitable Spirit Bone for him was a huge hassle.
The Spirit Bones are the bones that are left following the death of a Spirit Beast. The chances of a Spirit Beast dropping the Spirit Bones are extremely rare. Generally speaking, the lower the cultivation of a Spirit Beast, the lower the probability of producing a Spirit Bone.
But the possibility of dropping a Spirit Bone does increase if the Spirit Beast feels a huge amount of resentment before getting killed, dies willingly, or if the Spirit Beast is grateful for their death.