At the same time...
Somewhere, five miles away from the wild Artemisia patch.
A vast area of gourd vines grew here, with several vines reaching over nine hundred years in age.
Lin Rong and the old butler had just finished searching this area and were about to leave.
Suddenly, a silver light appeared at the center of the gourd vine patch.
The next moment, Lin Rong detected a plant-type soul beast's life force with a cultivation level of over nine hundred years, almost reaching a thousand years.
"Sudden appearance... it must be related to the space attribute."
"And it's a plant soul beast with nearly a thousand years of cultivation. Truly, this is divine providence!"
Lin Rong immediately stopped and said to the old butler at his side:
"Grandpa Yu, take me back to the center of this gourd vine patch, quickly!"
The old butler, upon hearing this, didn't ask any questions or respond, but immediately began to lead the young master back.
This gourd vine patch wasn't large, and with the old butler pushing his speed to the limit, it took only five or six seconds for Lin Rong and the old butler to return to the center.
The dark green bamboo, which had just been glad to escape from the wolf's den, saw Lin Rong and the old butler returning.
The shaking bamboo leaves stopped suddenly and remained motionless.
"Oh, quite intelligent, huh?"
Lin Rong stepped forward, getting closer to the bamboo, while the old butler followed closely behind.
"Such dense and pure space power, and with this cultivation of nine hundred eighty-one years."
"Tsk tsk, this is truly a soul beast tailor-made for my second soul ring."
The dark green bamboo, watching the two approaching, almost wanted to cry, but had no tears.
It had just used its space soul skill, which could only be used once a month.
A few seconds ago, it had escaped from the wolf den using its space soul skill, but it never expected there would be another trap here.
Its mutation had granted it extremely high intelligence and a great ambition to one day become a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
For the past few centuries, it had been hiding and evading using its ability, and it had finally nearly reached a thousand years of cultivation.
Once it surpassed a thousand years, its space soul skill would evolve again.
Not only would its teleportation range increase significantly, but its frequency of use would also grow, no longer limited to once a month.
Damn it, it was so close, just nineteen more years of cultivation, and it would have broken through to a thousand-year soul beast!
Why was it so unlucky today to run into humans twice in a row?
Could it be that the humans it encountered were working together?
Yes, it must be.
Humans were so deceitful, using one group to deplete its space soul skill and then waiting here for the next group to strike.
If Lin Rong had known what the bamboo was thinking, he would have laughed aloud.
Even though he and Oscar were from the same group, they didn't know where the space soul skill would land, so how could they possibly have been waiting for it?
Although Lin Rong didn't know what the bamboo was thinking, he could feel the intense emotional fluctuations it was emitting through his life perception.
This made him feel a bit playful, and he said:
"With such high intelligence, you can't just stay nameless."
"Since you're going to be my second soul ring, I'll give you a name!"
"With your space attribute and this dark green appearance, how about calling you 'Kong Qing Zhu'?"
Then, Lin Rong unleashed his Nine-Tiered Vine Dragon, and countless vine dragon roots wrapped around Kong Qing Zhu, slowly tightening and strangling it.
"Don't be afraid of death; being my second soul ring is an honor!"
"Honor my foot! Why don't you just die?"
Kong Qing Zhu cursed in its heart, but its consciousness quickly dissipated as the vine dragon roots strangled it.
Not long after, a deep yellow soul ring formed in mid-air. Upon closer inspection, there was a faint, almost imperceptible purple glow around the soul ring.
Seeing the soul ring before him, Lin Rong couldn't help but feel extremely pleased.
For a moment, even the air he breathed seemed fresher than usual, and he was almost intoxicated by the feeling.
Lin Rong didn't rush to absorb the soul ring; instead, he focused on Kong Qing Zhu.
"Logically, with such high intelligence, the chance of a head soul bone dropping should be quite high."
"Let's see!"
With that, Lin Rong controlled the vine dragon roots to crush the small, less-than-a-meter-long Kong Qing Zhu piece by piece.
When he reached the top segment of the bamboo, Lin Rong sensed something hard beneath the vine dragon roots.
His heart skipped a beat, and he controlled the vine roots to retrieve the object.
It was a round, translucent bone that glowed faintly with green and silver light.
"Indeed, it's a head soul bone. Such a top-grade soul beast's bone... If it weren't for its low age..."
Lin Rong thought to himself, feeling a bit disappointed. He was about to store the soul bone when he seemed to have noticed something, standing frozen in shock, his face full of astonishment.
"This soul bone... can evolve?"
Just a moment ago, Lin Rong had sensed the soul bone's age increase from nine hundred eighty-one years to nine hundred eighty-two years.
Upon this discovery, Lin Rong calmed down and carefully sensed the specific condition of the soul bone.
He then realized that the head soul bone from Kong Qing Zhu was slowly absorbing the life energy and space energy from the air to increase its age.
"It's not an external soul bone, but it can evolve like one."
"Kong Qing Zhu, this soul beast, can truly be compared to the Thunder God Bloodline's Thunder Punishing Hell Vine."
This head soul bone from Kong Qing Zhu not only shared the same origin as Lin Rong's upcoming second soul ring, meaning their absorption effects would be maximized together, but it also possessed both life and space attributes, which Lin Rong found quite tempting. If it weren't for its low age, he wouldn't hesitate to keep this soul bone.
But now that he knew it could evolve, age was no longer an issue.
A soul master can absorb six soul bones.
Ranked in rarity, they are: torso bone, head bone, left arm bone, right arm bone, left leg bone, and right leg bone.
Now, for the head soul bone, Lin Rong was certain it was the one dropped by Kong Qing Zhu. With its evolutionary ability, it would reach ten thousand years without a problem.
As for the remaining five soul bone positions, Lin Rong already had targets in mind.
However, one of them would require a bit of luck to obtain.
If he couldn't get it, he would have to find another way.
After staring at the soul bone in his hand for a long time, Lin Rong finally put it away and turned his attention to the soul ring.
He didn't know how long it would take to absorb the soul bone, but the soul ring would only last for one hour.
After an hour, it would dissipate into the heavens and earth.
For now, it was better to absorb the soul ring first and then consider the soul bone.
Lin Rong sat beside the soul ring and murmured to himself:
"Today's surprises have been enough, but I still want an even bigger surprise."
"Hopefully, this soul ring can fulfill that wish!"