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Although Dugu Bo's family was powerful and had its own inheritance, their cultivation path itself was flawed.
Even if they had a strong path for spirit ring configuration, they mostly stuck to the ordinary Spirit Master methods, exploring new spirit skills in the hopes of finding a way to ameliorate the toxic backlash from their family's spirit.
Furthermore, with such a major flaw in their spirit, they wouldn't seek help from other scholars to develop a so-called "detoxification method," but would rather research it themselves.
Because of this, generation after generation, this family of poison users had actually accumulated a significant amount of knowledge on spirit research. This was especially true for Dugu Bo; having reached an extremely high level in his research of toxins, he also had his own unique understanding of spirits.
In the past, Dugu Yan hadn't understood why her grandfather, after becoming a Titled Douluo, had suddenly begun to research theoretical books.
Now, she vaguely understood.
"Little Wen, Teacher Xiao Zhan, my grandfather said that in the depths of the Sunset Forest, there are Stone Golems over 50,000 years old. That is also the gathering place for the Stone Golem clan. However, there are still many Stone Golems that live on the outskirts. Let's just search the outer perimeter."
"Fifty thousand years?" Su Wen was astonished.
In all the data he had read, he had never seen a case of a Stone Golem with such a high age.
The highest was a 30,000-year-old Stone Golem discovered by a Spirit Master in the Star Dou Forest a thousand years ago, as recorded by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
"It seems I can't fully trust publicly available information in the future," Su Wen thought to himself.
It wasn't that the public data was wrong, but that the records were likely truly incomplete.
"A 50,000-year-old Stone Golem is indeed a rare sight," Xiao Zhan also lamented.
The birth of a Stone Golem was already difficult. Even if it wasn't a fit for Su Wen, for a defense-type Spirit Master, a Stone Golem was an excellent spirit ring.
Therefore, Stone Golems had always been few in number and rarely had the chance to grow to such an age.
"Wait." Su Wen stopped Dugu Yan and Xiao Zhan, walking over to a peculiar rock next to a small hill.
He extended his spiritual power.
"There is a residue of spirit power inside this rock. A Stone Golem has rested here."
When Stone Golems rest, they choose special rocks as their stopping point and fuse with them to camouflage themselves.
After they leave, their spirit power will remain within the rock they used.
"The spirit power intensity isn't high, but according to the records, the residue left by a Stone Golem is inherently faint and will dissipate over time."
Based on a comprehensive judgment, this was a Stone Golem of at least three thousand years.
"What do you think? Does it meet your age requirement?" Xiao Zhan asked.
Three thousand years already exceeded the absorption limit for a normal level-30 Spirit Master's third spirit ring.
And it exceeded it by a lot.
Su Wen had absorbed a ring beyond his limit before. What age he could withstand now depended on his own judgment; after all, only he truly understood himself.
"Let's check it out first." Su Wen prepared to see the Stone Golem's specific age first.
To be honest, three thousand years was a bit low.
However, a Stone Golem's control over its own spirit power, the type of rock, and even the passage of time could all influence the quality of the spirit power residue.
Therefore, this Stone Golem wasn't necessarily only three thousand years old.
"Alright."
Xiao Zhan nodded, and the three of them split up to search for the Stone Golem's tracks.
They tracked it for a full three days before discovering another rock with spirit power residue.
The residue in this rock was much stronger than the previous one.
Su Wen began to feel expectant.
The three continued their search, and finally, after half a month, they caught up to their target.
"Little Wen, this Stone Golem's age is a bit high." Xiao Zhan's expression was grave as he looked at the five-meter-tall golem, its body covered in purple patterns.
"Over five thousand, three hundred years," Su Wen stated the Stone Golem's precise age.
However, his voice held no disappointment or despair.
From Su Wen's tone, Xiao Zhan heard... satisfaction.
"Little Wen, absorbing a spirit ring is no joke!"
"That's right, Little Wen! Absorbing a 5,000-year ring for your third one is definitely impossible!" Even Dugu Yan began to persuade him.
Five thousand, three hundred years.
What did that even mean?
For an ordinary Spirit Master, the limit for the third ring was only 1,760-something years.
The theoretical limit for the fourth ring was only 5,000 years.
This Stone Golem's age of 5,300 years had already surpassed the limit for many Spirit Masters' fourth ring!
For his second ring, he had "only" jumped ahead to absorb a third-ring-level beast. Now, Su Wen wanted to jump ahead and absorb a ring with an age that even a fourth ring couldn't reach.
"Little Wen, don't be ridiculous!"
Faced with their attempts to stop him, Su Wen felt helpless.
"Uncle Zhan, Sister Yan, I know my own constitution very well. My physical qualities are in no way inferior to any level-40 Spirit Ancestor. Absorbing a 5,000-year ring is no problem. As for the extra 300 years... I think I can withstand it."
Su Wen was trying to say that a Spirit Ancestor's limit was his normal level. Strictly speaking, only those 300 years were in the "exceeding-limit" category for him...
"Impossible! How can your physical constitution be comparable to a Spirit Ancestor's?" Xiao Zhan was not so easily fooled. "A Spirit Master's cultivation is the growth of the Spirit Master and the spirit. At the four-ring stage, the spirit itself has entered its true mature phase, and its feedback to the Spirit Master's body is at its greatest. You have only added two rings. Even if your spirit itself has evolved, the feedback to your body cannot compare to that of a level-40 Spirit Master!"
With such a huge gap, how could you possibly get your body to a level-40 standard?
"Uncle Zhan, your Fire Demon Style's tempering of the whole body—"
"Don't try to fool me. The Fire Demon Style is useful for strengthening the body, but have you cultivated it to such a high level?" Xiao Zhan snorted coldly.
The Fire Demon Style did temper the body, but did he not know what that tempering effect was like?
The so-called "tempering" was an enhancement to one's combat state using the Fire Demon Style; its enhancement to the Spirit Master's normal physical state wasn't that significant.
Without cultivating it to a profound realm, you couldn't achieve a qualitative change.
"Uncle Zhan, you haven't checked my training progress in a long time," Su Wen said helplessly.
Xiao Zhan blinked, recalling the recent situation.
It... really had been a long time since he'd checked Su Wen's progress.
It was mainly that Su Wen's learning ability was too strong. The fact that Su Wen had learned the Spirit Fusion and Spirit Ring Fusion methods on the spot had truly dealt him a blow.
No matter how happy he was for Su Wen, he himself was having a bit of an existential crisis.
Added to that was Su Wen's consistently fast training progress.
And that accelerating cultivation speed...
He had simply decided to stop checking Su Wen's progress altogether, to protect himself from the psychological damage...
"Are you... really sure you can try it?" he asked, his tone slightly uncertain.
Su Wen rolled his eyes.
Obviously.
If I wasn't sure, why would I take this risk?
And it's not just the Fire Demon Style. I've also been continuously training my external techniques, and my internal technique's nourishment of my meridians is also becoming more perfected...
With all these enhancements, plus my mastery over my spirit space... it's just a measly 5,300-year spirit ring...
(End of this chapter)