The next day, at noon.
Fu Yu walked carefully through the Sunset Forest, his alert gaze scanning the surroundings.
The scene before him was far from what the books described; the entire forest appeared exceptionally desolate.
From time to time, a group of ten-year Soft Bones Rabbits would run past, or a few ten-year Netherworld Wolves would flicker behind the trees; such a sight made Fu Yu find it somewhat amusing.
One should know that where Fu Yu was standing had been part of the Inner Circle of the Sunset Forest ten thousand years ago—analogous to the area between the Mixed Zone and the Core Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Ten thousand years ago, let alone a Rank 10 Trainee Spirit Master like Fu Yu, even a Spirit Saint with a Martial Soul True Body wouldn't have dared to advance so boldly in this area where ten-thousand-year Spirit Beasts ran rampant.
Even if one didn't say ten-thousand-year Spirit Beasts were as common as clouds and thousand-year ones as common as rain, it wasn't far off.
But the Sunset Forest today? Even an ordinary hunter could make a round trip if they were careful enough.
The entire Inner Circle only had ten-year Spirit Beasts running around; hundred-year ones were rare, and as for the thousand-year level, one had to go even further inside.
Fu Yu cautiously passed through an area with a pack of hundred-year Spirit Beasts and arrived in a denser part of the woods.
He looked up at his surroundings and used the distant mountain peaks as a reference point.
After comparing it with the distribution of Spirit Beasts in the Sunset Forest he had seen in his mind, Fu Yu nodded with certainty.
"This should be the place, the territory of the thousand-year Spirit Beast, the Crimson Flame Bird."
"According to the revised edition from five years ago, this Crimson Flame Bird should have just promoted to the thousand-year level, making it extremely suitable to be my first spirit ring."
Fu Yu unconsciously clenched his fists, feeling the power coming from within his body, and nodded with some satisfaction.
With a body repaired and strengthened by Garuda, plus the Sword Heart Art he had already initiated, absorbing a newly-entered thousand-year spirit ring would definitely be no problem.
This wasn't just Fu Yu's baseless guess; he had also compared his body to Zhang Lexuan's before she broke through to Spirit Elder, and he wasn't much weaker in comparison.
He probably had the physique of a Rank 26 or 27 Spirit Grandmaster.
Generally, a Spirit Master who has just broken through to Spirit Elder, without having used body-strengthening substances like Whale Glue or Medicinal Pills, can absorb a spirit ring of at most sixteen hundred to eighteen hundred years.
The specific situation also depends on the Spirit Master's Spirit.
And Fu Yu's Spirit was the Garuda with Extreme Fire; in terms of grade, it was even above the so-called pure-blooded Phoenix Spirits in the Douluo World. As for whether it could reach the quality of a Divine Rank Spirit, he would have to compare it personally to find out.
So with the two combined, through trade-offs, Fu Yu conservatively believed that he could try any spirit ring below thirteen hundred years without much issue.
If it were any higher, it might not work; if his body exploded and he died in the Sunset Forest, there would be no stable environment for him to recover.
At that time, if the hundred-year Spirit Beasts each took a bite, Fu Yu would truly be dead.
Fu Yu quietly approached the Crimson Flame Bird's nest, found a position with the best view within range, cautiously lay down, and took out the Godly Zhuge Crossbow from his spirit tool.
Fu Yu looked at the Godly Zhuge Crossbow produced by the Tang Sect in his hand and gently loaded the bolts according to the procedure.
Regardless of how Tang San was, the Tang Sect Hidden Weapons he brought from another World were truly quite good.
Convenient to carry, simple to operate, silent when fired, and didn't require a single shred of spirit power.
Even now, when Sun Moon Empire spirit tools were all the rage, Tang Sect Hidden Weapons still had their merits.
With all preparations done, Fu Yu exhaled a puff of turbid air and silently recited the Sword Heart Art in his heart.
Four hundred and sixty-two strange syllables sounded in his heart. The spirit power within his body began to flow continuously with the circulation of the Sword Heart Art, gradually merging into one with heaven, earth, and nature.
And under this extreme quiet and focus, Fu Yu entered a special state.
He only felt his body becoming increasingly light; the thoughts in his mind were no longer turbulent, and his five senses obscurely converged into one, merging into a pool of heart-lake.
The waters of the heart-lake were crystal clear and transparent; a few strands of melancholy fell onto the surface like withered leaves, yet failed to provoke even a single ripple.
The waves flattened, the water stilled.
Taixu Heart Rhythm, the first stage of the Four Stages of Sword Heart—Still Water.
Having entered the Still Water state, Fu Yu felt as if all the time in the World was under his control; between the tightening and relaxing of his mind, time would speed up or slow down.
In such a state, Fu Yu waited for three hours.
The sunlight gradually slanted westward, and the Crimson Flame Bird finally returned to its nest with prey in its beak.
And just as the Crimson Flame Bird laid down its prey and stretched its wings, Fu Yu, hidden in the shadows, decisively seized the opportunity.
As the Still Water Sword Heart condensed, the state of the World in his eyes became incredibly slow; every twitch of the Crimson Flame Bird's feathers was like an animation flipping frame by frame.
Accompanied by a very faint 'click,' Fu Yu decisively pulled the trigger.
Dozens of crossbow bolts gleaming with a dark light, carrying the power to pierce metal and shatter stone, penetrated the Crimson Flame Bird's body in an instant.
Even a Spirit Elder using spirit power and Spirit abilities wouldn't dare to take the power of the Godly Zhuge Crossbow head-on, let alone the completely defenseless Crimson Flame Bird at this moment.
"Li!"
After the Crimson Flame Bird instinctively let out a mournful cry, it fell heavily onto the prey it had hunted.
Fu Yu also waited until wisps of spirit power condensed into a pale purple spirit ring above the Crimson Flame Bird's corpse before he climbed out of his hiding place.
A centipede dies but never falls—let alone a thousand-year Spirit Beast with even stronger vitality.
However, just as Fu Yu walked to the side of the spirit ring, the Fenghuang Down in his Sea of Consciousness began to spin, emitting a faint divine light.
As the divine light pulsed, a red and white phantom of the Crimson Flame Bird appeared beside the Fenghuang Down.
"Is this... the Crimson Flame Bird's Soul? Fenghuang Down has this ability too?"
The Legacy Fu Yu inherited did not mention that Fenghuang Down had such a function, so he was quite surprised to see the Crimson Flame Bird in his Sea of Consciousness.
This also made Fu Yu realize that the description in the Legacy wasn't everything about Fenghuang Down; or rather, having changed to a different World, this key of consciousness had developed abilities different from those in the Honkai World.
"Collecting dissipating Soul consciousness... if Bishop Otto saw this, he would probably go straight-up insane."
Fu Yu thought of that mad pure-love Bishop and chuckled.
"Safe travels, Bishop!"
Only a dead Otto is a good Otto.
Fu Yu sent the Bishop on his way in his heart and turned his gaze back to the spirit ring in front of him.
Whether it was the changes in Fenghuang Down or the Soul of the Crimson Flame Bird, they could be studied later.
But the matter of absorbing the spirit ring could not be delayed; if it wasn't absorbed for a while, this most suitable spirit ring would disappear.
Finding another spirit ring as suitable as this in the Sunset Forest later wouldn't be so simple.