After chatting with Wu Qianyun for a while, Murong Huai returned to his room, opened the Soul Beast Atlas, and searched for his target for his second soul ring.
His physique is now comparable to that of a Soul King, so he should have no problem with Soul Rings below ten thousand years old. However, depending on the quality level of the Soul Beast, a high-quality Soul Beast should not be too old, around four or five thousand years is suitable, and for a lower-quality one, eight or nine thousand years is also fine.
His first spirit ring can now enhance his attributes. In terms of attack, the first three moves of the Angelic Sword Technique are more than enough against Spirit Masters. Therefore, he plans to add a defensive spirit skill to his second spirit ring, preferably with some offensive capabilities.
After all, the Immortal Lord Ninefold Sword isn't just about attack; it needs to be well-rounded. Like the Soul-Shattering Spear of the Breaking Clan in the original work, it's purely offensive. While powerful, it's clearly unwise to directly confront an overwhelmingly strong attack.
Single-target attacks have no defense; the only option is to withstand the attack. While offense is the best defense, if the enemy is too strong, a head-on confrontation would be suicide.
In a head-on clash between weapons of the same rank, swords, spears, and knives are clearly inferior to weapons like maces and hammers.
As for attack skills, it's not too late to add them later.
"Defensive-type soul beasts: Scaled Giant Lizard, Heavy Armored Black Tortoise..."
...,
Two days later, in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Murong Huai, Qian Xunji, Tu Zhen, and Ju Qinglan went together to hunt for a soul ring for Murong Huai.
"Xiao Huai, you said you wanted to add a defensive soul skill to your second soul ring, which is to use a defensive soul beast. When I obtained my seventh soul ring, I learned that there are many defensive soul beasts in the southern mountains and forests, so let's go there and take a look," Qian Xunji said after thinking for a moment.
"Okay." Murong Huai nodded.
So the group set off for the southern mountains and forests, with Tu Zhen leading the way. Along the way, they encountered many attacking soul beasts, all of which were repelled by Tu Zhen. The group's strength was also quite good, so as long as they didn't encounter soul beasts around 80,000 or 90,000 years old, they would basically be fine.
After walking for about an hour, the group arrived at the southern mountains and forests. They soon encountered a golden-armored lizard that was over a thousand years old. Its defense and attack were not weak, but its age was too young. Tu Zhen knocked it away and continued onward.
Half an hour later, a furious roar echoed through the mountains and forests.
"roar--"
Upon seeing this, everyone rushed forward and saw a golden-scaled dragon feasting on the corpse of a soul beast.
Its entire body is covered with thick armor plates ranging from dark gold to bronze, with a cold metallic luster on the surface, as if it were forged from ancient refined iron and dragon scales. The edges of the armor plates are serrated, like sharp sword blades, which can both defend and cut and attack.
On the center of its back is an inverted bell-shaped giant armor, resembling an ancient bronze bell. On its head are a pair of curved metal horns, and its eyes are as fiery as molten gold. Its mouth retains serrated dragon teeth, and its breath carries metallic dust. It is short and thick, with iron claws and a retractable sword-shaped tail that exudes a chilling light.
"This is... Xuanzhong Sword Armor Dragon, a soul beast with extremely strong defense. It belongs to the sub-dragon species. There are nearly seven patterns on the bell-shaped armor on its back, indicating that it is about six thousand years old."
"With my current physique, I can absorb it without any problems." Murong Huai quickly recognized the soul beast; sub-dragon soul beasts were among the most powerful races on the continent.
Nowadays, the number of dragons with truly pure bloodlines on the mainland is probably less than a handful, including the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, the Hell Demon Dragon King Zi Ji, the Silver Dragon King Gu Yue Na, and so on.
This Xuanzhong Sword Armored Dragon is of very high quality. Although it is weaker than the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, it is of comparable quality to its lower-level soul beasts, the Dark Gold Bear and the Terrorclaw Bear, making it a rare find.
"Alright, since that's the case, let's take this Xuanzhong Sword Armored Dragon. Let's get started." Qian Xunji nodded upon hearing this.
Upon hearing Qian Xunji's words, Tu Zhen leaped into the air and launched an attack, unleashing his soul skill upon the Xuanzhong Sword Armored Dragon.
In less than five breaths, the Xuanzhong Sword Armor Dragon was on the verge of death, severely wounded. Seeing this, Murong Huai drew the Immortal Lord Nine Descent Sword and thrust it forward, piercing directly through the dragon's neck.
The latter let out a mournful cry, and a deep purple spirit ring slowly condensed above its corpse. Then, Murong Huai sat cross-legged on the ground and began to absorb the spirit ring.
In other words, with a few experts like Qian Xunji, ordinary soul masters would not dare to venture into the southern mountains and forests rashly. They could only search slowly over a large area. However, they could directly pinpoint the target within a certain range and quickly find suitable soul beasts.
...,
An hour later, golden energy rippled around Murong Huai's body, indicating successful absorption. Murong Huai slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.
"Phew~"
Seeing that Murong Huai had successfully absorbed the energy, Qian Xunji stepped forward and asked:
"Xiao Huai, how are you?"
Upon hearing this, Murong Huai explained, "Very good, the second soul ring comes with a decent defensive soul skill."
After unleashing my soul skill, a golden sword bell formed around me, possessing incomparably strong defensive power. With my current strength, unless the opponent is a Soul King with powerful offensive capabilities, they simply cannot break through my defense.
"In addition, the surface of the sword bell is made up of golden longswords. When the opponent attacks, I can also control the longswords on the bell to counterattack, which also has a certain attack power."
The soul skill is named—"Sword Condenses into Golden Bell, Spiritual Platform's Unextinguished Light."
As he spoke, Murong Huai's second soul ring pulsed, and a large golden bell descended, enveloping him. The bell's surface was covered with countless golden swords.
Seeing this, Qian Xunji raised his hand and conjured a longsword. He then flicked his wrist and the sword flew out, striking the bell. The bell remained unmoved, which surprised Qian Xunji. He then imbued his palm with soul power and struck the bell with his palm.
The powerful energy caused cracks to appear on the surface of the golden bell. Two breaths later, with a bang, the golden bell shattered into pieces.
Qian Xunji nodded and said:
"Not bad, your Golden Bell's defense is comparable to that of a Soul King, a very good Soul Skill."
Murong Huai nodded. He was very satisfied with this soul skill, which not only had excellent defensive capabilities but also some offensive abilities.
"Alright, now that we've obtained the spirit ring, let's leave the Star Dou Great Forest first."
Everyone nodded and headed towards the outside of the Star Dou Great Forest.
On the way, Murong Huai asked curiously:
"Senior brother, I heard that the Spirit Hall will be carrying out a major mission soon. Is it to attack some kind of force?"
Upon hearing this, Qian Xunji didn't hide anything from the other party, after all, he was also a Holy Son of the Spirit Hall. However, he also glanced at Tu Zhen and the other two, who, sensing his meaning, moved ten meters away from each of them.
"You are the Holy Son of the Spirit Hall, and I will not hide it from you. In five months, our Spirit Hall will lead a large army to conquer the Sea God Island, which is far away in the East China Sea."
"What, attacking the Sea God..." Murong Huai was extremely surprised. He then remembered that the original work seemed to mention that the Spirit Hall had attacked the Sea God Island several years ago, but returned defeated and suffered heavy losses. Could this be the attack?
Based on the timeline, the current High Priestess of Poseidon Island should not be Poseidon yet, and the Seven Pillars of Poseidon Island are likely far more powerful than the later ones.
After all, the strongest of the Seven Sacred Pillars at that time was only around level 95, which was not enough to pose a significant threat to the Spirit Hall. It seemed that it would be a fierce battle.