Lin Rong gave Shi Nian a Spirit Bone, the lowest-aged one he had at his disposal, which was the Green Wood Twin Lotus Left Leg Bone, over thirty-three thousand years old.
He had originally intended to keep this Spirit Bone for himself to use as a bargaining chip for Guang Yue in the future.
But it couldn't be helped that the other Spirit Bones in his possession were significantly older than this one. The only one below fifty thousand years old was the Head Bone that Shi Nian already possessed.
The remaining Spirit Bones were all over fifty thousand years old and in excellent condition. Rewarding Shi Nian with them would be a waste.
After all, as the sharpest blade in his hand for the future, Ma Hongjun still required six Spirit Bones, and he couldn't afford to be careless with them.
Lin Rong's requirements for Ma Hongjun's Spirit Bone configuration weren't high. He didn't necessarily need to equip him with Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Bones, but at least each Spirit Bone had to be in excellent condition, meaning their age couldn't be less than fifty thousand years.
Currently, three Spirit Bones remained from Tang Hao: the Torso Bone, Head Bone, and Right Leg Bone.
Among these three, only the Head Bone was under fifty thousand years old. The remaining two Spirit Bones were both over fifty thousand years old.
Therefore, the standard six Spirit Bone slots were: Torso, Head, Right Arm, Left Arm, Left Leg, Right Leg.
With the Torso Bone and Left Leg Bone having potential candidates, four more slots needed Spirit Bones.
As for the source and difficulty of acquiring Spirit Bones, Lin Rong didn't give it much thought.
In the future, when unifying the continent's oceans, confiscating property and destroying sects would be commonplace. Among those ancient sects and families, there were bound to be a few with Spirit Bones over fifty thousand years old in their lineage.
On the Heaven Dou Empire's side, the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile School and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon School, due to Lin Rong's familiarity with them, had an almost zero probability of possessing Spirit Bones over fifty thousand years old.
However, on the Star Luo Empire's side, although the original work didn't elaborate much, given the foundations of the Star Luo imperial family and the hidden Star Crown Sect, the probability of their lineage Spirit Bones including those over fifty thousand years old was not low.
Even if there were overlapping Spirit Bone slots or if he couldn't gather enough, directly leading people to sweep through the Star Dou Great Forest and collect Spirit Beasts over fifty thousand years old would suffice, and there would even be a considerable surplus of Spirit Bones.
...
After Shi Nian returned, he immediately absorbed that Ten Thousand Year Left Leg Bone.
After absorbing the residual, powerful Soul Power from the Spirit Bone, his own Soul Power cultivation increased by one and a half levels, breaking through from level seventy-two and a half to the initial stage of level seventy-four.
Shi Nian carefully felt the changes in his body and muttered to himself:
"Although this Spirit Bone is the second least precious among the six Spirit Bone slots, its age is here, over thirty-three thousand years."
"The improvement to my aptitude from this Left Leg Bone is about fifty percent greater than what the Illusionary Wisdom Head Bone, which is just over twenty thousand years old, provided for my aptitude."
"With two Ten Thousand Year Spirit Bones, it's enough for me to smoothly cultivate my Soul Power to level eighty-nine, but to break through the bottleneck of level ninety, it's still far from enough!"
At this point, Shi Nian's eyes clearly showed an extreme craving for Spirit Bones.
With the Lingering Dream Martial Soul, one could only see what the other party experienced in illusions upon reaching the Titled Douluo realm.
This was his greatest pursuit in this life.
Shi Nian also understood that with his innate Soul Power being less than level eight, the possibility of cultivating to the Titled Douluo realm solely based on this innate aptitude was extremely slim.
Therefore, he set his sights on Spirit Bones.
Hard work pays off. After several years, he finally obtained the Illusionary Wisdom Head Bone, over twenty thousand years old, which suited his attributes through a fortunate coincidence.
However, just one twenty-thousand-year-old Spirit Bone was far from enough. To steadily break through the bottleneck of level ninety, he needed more Spirit Bones of higher age.
And when Shi Nian learned that Spirit Hall had begun to build momentum for the Golden Generation, he was certain that, with Spirit Hall's usual style, they would definitely offer a Ten Thousand Year Spirit Bone as the championship prize in that generation's All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament.
To win the championship prize of that tournament, Shi Nian chose to join an unremarkable academy among the various Advanced Spirit Master Academies and obtained the position of Vice Principal with his Soul Emperor cultivation.
Concurrently, Shi Nian was continuously searching for seven students with Gem Martial Souls and refining his ideas for the Seven-in-One Fusion Skill.
However, this endeavor had not progressed for long before he was subdued as a subordinate by "that adult" during the previous tournament nearly two years ago.
"Fortunately, this adult is very generous. Both the miraculous medicinal herb last time and this Ten Thousand Year Spirit Bone have benefited me greatly, giving me hope to continue peering into the Titled Douluo realm."
Shi Nian thought, dedicating himself wholeheartedly to tonight's mission. This was not only because the mission concerned his life and safety but also because the success of the mission would help him go further on the path of a Spirit Master.
"The adult wants me to extract the cultivation method and incantations of Mysterious Heaven Skill from Tang San. After completing the mission, as the primary contributor, I should at least have the qualification to cultivate this Mysterious Heaven Skill."
"Otherworldly Tang Sect, cultivation techniques, meridians."
"If Mysterious Heaven Skill is truly as powerful as described on that piece of paper, then after cultivating this technique and opening up the eight extraordinary meridians, breaking through to the Titled Douluo realm will be a piece of cake."
Shi Nian thought, his anticipation for the evening growing stronger.
...
Time passed as Shi Nian waited, and finally, it was evening.
The winter night was very cold, accompanied by howling winds, making it impossible for anyone from the Tang Sect to stand watch in such conditions.
Therefore, Shi Nian didn't need to specially conceal his figure. He merely suppressed his aura and moved through the Tang Sect mansion as if no one else was there.
Before long, Shi Nian quietly approached the master bedroom door.
Through the candlelight burning in the bedroom, Shi Nian vaguely saw a figure sitting cross-legged on the bed, seemingly meditating and cultivating.
"This Tang Sect Master is quite diligent in his cultivation,"
Shi Nian exclaimed in his heart. A specially made sleeping incense appeared in his hand. He lit it and silently sent the sleeping smoke into the bedroom using his Soul Power.
This incense was made from premium rosemary and could induce sleep in unsuspecting individuals. It was something Lin Rong had specially prepared for Shi Nian's actions tonight.
Although Tang San's current level of Purple Demon Eye couldn't break through illusions, it was capable of letting him know he was facing one.
To ensure Tang San had no inkling of tonight's actions, it was essential to make him fall asleep before Shi Nian could use Nightmare.
The raw material for the sleeping incense, rosemary, was sourced from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.
Therefore, the sleeping smoke produced by the burning incense was extraordinarily effective.
In less than three seconds, a faint sound came from the bedroom. Tang San, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, slumped onto the bedding.
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