If absorbing the third soul ring still doesn't allow the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile to evolve into the Eight Treasure Glazed Tile, then all hope will have to be placed on the fourth soul ring.
Over the past two years, Ning Fengzhi not only had the two Title Douluo, Jian and Gu, take turns hunting soul beasts, but he also sent people to search for the gem-type soul beasts that Ning Rongrong would need in the future.
Apart from the 800-year-old Crystal Demon Bird soul ring that Ning Rongrong had already absorbed and the 2,500-year-old Ruby Sunflower that she was about to absorb, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had also captured a 7,000-year-old White Jade Xuan Turtle, which would serve as Ning Rongrong's fourth soul ring, providing a defense enhancement soul skill.
As for the 10,000-year soul beasts required for the fifth ring and beyond, capturing them was not particularly difficult for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
However, once soul beasts surpass the 10,000-year threshold, their intelligence increases dramatically, and most soul beasts are inherently proud, making it very difficult to capture them.
Therefore, Ning Fengzhi only had his people note the areas where suitable soul beasts could be found, intending to go and hunt them when needed.
Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and white jade were the four types of gems that represented different soul beasts.
The soul rings produced by these soul beasts would provide the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile with enhancements in four attributes: strength, agility, soul power, and defense.
If by the time Ning Rongrong absorbs the White Jade Xuan Turtle's soul ring, the Eight Treasure Glazed Tile still hasn't fully formed, then even if her fifth soul skill isn't an attack enhancement, Ning Fengzhi would go to great lengths to find a gem-type soul beast to serve as the soul ring for her to complete the final evolution.
Although "glass" is a precious gem, it is fragile.
Thus, gem-type soul beasts representing glass would not align with the first six soul skills of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile, which require enhancements in strength, agility, soul power, defense, attack, and attributes.
However, such a soul beast would perfectly align with the attributes needed for the seventh soul ring and would be the best choice for Ning Rongrong's martial soul transformation.
The problem, of course, is that gem-type soul beasts representing glass are extremely rare, and the age of the seventh soul ring can't be lower than 30,000 years.
Because of this, no sect leader in the history of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had ever been lucky enough to absorb this type of soul beast as their martial soul transformation.
However, not long ago, Gu Douluo encountered a glass gem-type soul beast in search of suitable targets.
Gu Douluo knew that this soul beast would be perfect for Ning Rongrong's seventh soul ring. Since its cultivation level had not surpassed 50,000 years, he did not strike immediately but instead noted the soul beast's activity range.
When Ning Fengzhi received the 60,000-year-old Mirror Image Beast's head soul bone, he also learned of this from Gu Douluo.
This news greatly pleased Ning Fengzhi.
In the Sunset Forest, there was a 15,000-year-old Agate Unicorn that represented the gem agate and could provide an attack-enhancement soul skill.
In the Star Dou Forest, there was a 32,000-year-old Azure Pearl Oyster, representing the gem pearl, which could provide an attribute-enhancement soul skill.
Lastly, in the Extreme North, there was a 47,000-year-old Glass Snow Crystal Deer, representing the gem glass, which would be perfect for Ning Rongrong's martial soul transformation.
With this, the first seven soul beasts that Ning Rongrong needed for her soul rings had already been located.
While Ning Fengzhi was thinking about targets for Ning Rongrong's eighth and ninth soul rings, Ning Rongrong had already finished absorbing the soul bone and woke up from her meditation.
March is the season of Grain Rain.
In the early morning, a drizzle fell on the manor, and a thin mist hung in the air.
It was already the last month of spring, and in just over half a month, summer would arrive.
The old butler, Yuán, had entered seclusion in late autumn last year, and it had been almost half a year since then.
On this day, a large door deep within the manor suddenly creaked open, and an elderly man in black robes emerged, his complexion flushed with vitality.
The black-robed elder rarely showed such joy. Feeling the vast and powerful soul power within his body, he couldn't help but reflect:
"After half a year, I have finally broken through the 90th level with the help of the residual medicinal power of the Immortal Herb."
"Only those with innate full soul power can bypass the bottleneck between the 89th and 90th levels."
"Below innate full soul power, breaking through this bottleneck is as difficult as ascending to the heavens!"
"With my 8.5 levels of innate soul power, if it weren't for the immortal-grade herbs given to me by the young master, my chances of breaking through this bottleneck would have been less than thirty percent."
In the current age, most people's understanding and development of the soul master cultivation system are still limited to meditation, soul rings, soul bones, and self-created soul skills.
The use of external forces, like herbs or secret formulas, was extremely limited.
As a result, most soul masters believed that absorbing a soul bone to improve their qualifications was the best and only way to increase the probability of breaking through the 90th level.
As for immortal herbs and divine assessments, very few knew about them, and even those who did would find them useless.
Immortal herbs were incredibly rare, only appearing once every hundred years.
Divine assessments, on the other hand, were a double-edged sword. If the person undergoing the assessment failed, they were doomed. Furthermore, the requirements to become an assessor were very high.
Now, regarding soul bones.
To increase the chances of breaking through the 90th level, the soul bone's age must be at least 10,000 years. The older and higher quality the soul bone, the greater its help in breaking through the bottleneck.
This was also why soul bones were so precious.
Not only because they provided additional soul skills, but because absorbing them could improve one's qualifications, giving the person a chance to reach even greater heights.
Once he broke through the 90th level, the worry that had been in the old butler's heart would vanish.
As the hereditary Duke of Tiandou, the Lin family naturally had a long-standing tradition of soul bones passed down through generations, with three pieces in particular:
A right-arm bone of about 12,000 years, a head bone of about 14,000 years, and a torso bone of about 15,000 years.
With these three soul bones, combined with their top-level plant-type martial soul, Dragon Soul Vine, which had at least 5 levels of accompanying soul power, the Lin family's dukes were always able to cultivate to the rank of Soul Douluo.
These three soul bones had originally been absorbed by Lin Rong's grandfather.
After the old duke passed away, these three soul bones were left untouched, as Lin Rong's father died in the beast tide before he could absorb them.
Now, these three soul bones were kept within the Azure Dragon Vine on Lin Rong's wrist.
Since childhood, the old butler had taken care of Lin Rong, so he knew that his young master had high aspirations and would not care for the family's inherited soul bones.
The old butler feared that if he couldn't break through the 90th level in the future, Lin Rong might force him to absorb those three 10,000-year soul bones to break the bottleneck.
Even disregarding how many years the Lin family had passed down these soul bones, the fact that the old master had already absorbed them made the old butler reluctant to take them for himself.
Even though he knew that absorbing these three 10,000-year-old soul bones would increase his chances of breaking through the 90th level by about 30%, it was a matter of principle, and the old butler could not bring himself to do it.
Note: Before the introduction of Burmese jade to China, the term "emerald," one of the four famous jades, actually referred to the feathers of the kingfisher bird.