"This Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear has both offense and defense; I feel it's very suitable for me," Jin Mian voiced his thoughts.
Jin E said nothing. After releasing a powerful pressure to drive away the surrounding Spirit Beasts, he instructed, "Go ahead and absorb it. Grandpa will protect you here."
Without any hesitation, Jin Mian sat cross-legged in front of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear's corpse and summoned his Martial Soul, the Golden Crocodile King.
The Soul Ring nested into the Martial Soul from top to bottom.
Under the guidance of spirit power, the Soul Ring burst with a dazzling purple light, and the energy contained within began to flow into Jin Mian's body.
It was only an instant.
Jin Mian felt that this thousand-year Soul Ring produced by the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear contained energy that was not only vast but also incredibly violent.
It was by no means comparable to an ordinary thousand-year Spirit Beast.
Fortunately, his body was strong enough to withstand the wash of energy every second.
Jin E stood not far away, most of his attention focused on his beloved grandson, his eyes filled with worry.
If anything went wrong with Jin Mian, he would immediately step forward to interrupt the absorption process.
Although doing so would likely damage Jin Mian's foundation, it would at least ensure his life.
Two hours later.
The absorption of Jin Mian's first Soul Ring officially reached its final stage.
Jin E's hanging heart finally settled, replaced by a look of gratification.
A thousand-year first ring!
In the entire Spirit Master's world, this was the very first instance.
As expected of his grandson, this talent was likely unprecedented.
As for whether there would be anyone like him in the future, that was a matter for the future; how could he know?
When he returned this time, he had to show off properly to the other Enshrined Priests.
The next second.
Jin Mian opened his eyes, and a flash of golden light passed through them.
His entire aura began to rapidly climb to the peak of Rank 20!
This is the benefit of high innate spirit power. After awakening their Martial Soul, ordinary Soul Masters need to cultivate for about a month to reach Rank 10 to absorb a Soul Ring.
After absorbing the Soul Ring, they must continue to cultivate for a long time to reach Rank 20 before they can absorb a second ring.
In contrast, Jin Mian didn't need to go through such trouble. With innate spirit power exceeding Rank 20, his level reached Rank 20 immediately after absorbing the first Soul Ring.
He could continue to absorb the second ring.
Jin Mian stood up, feeling the changes in his body.
First, his height grew from 1.3 meters to 1.5 meters, and then his previously unremarkable muscles now bulged slightly, looking full of power.
Jin E walked over and asked curiously, "Xiao Mian, what is your thousand-year first Spirit Ability?"
"Dark Gold Tyrant Body!"
"It's an enhancement-type Spirit Ability. After casting it, all my attributes increase by 200%, and my strength and defense increase by 300%. I am immune to all negative status effects during the process, and this effect increases by 20% for every ten levels I gain!"
"The only pity is that with my current spirit power, I can only maintain it for about ten minutes."
"Ah!!!"
Just as Jin Mian finished speaking, a sharp pain came from his right hand.
"Xiao Mian!" Seeing Jin Mian suddenly clutching his right hand and crying out in pain, Jin E thought there were side effects from absorbing the Soul Ring and rushed forward to check.
Unexpectedly, the next scene left him stunned.
Jin Mian's right hand was emitting a golden light.
In the palm where the golden light converged, a dark gold bone-like object gradually formed.
Jin E's eyes widened, his face full of surprise and joy: "This... this is a Spirit Bone! And it's an external Spirit Bone!!!"
Good heavens, was his grandson's luck a bit too good?
Never mind awakening a God-level Martial Soul.
Never mind the first Soul Ring being a thousand-year one.
Now an external Spirit Bone had actually dropped!
Could Jin Mian be the Child of Destiny?
Jin E quickly called out a reminder: "Xiao Mian, hurry and use your spirit power to guide the Spirit Bone to fuse with your right hand!"
Hearing the old man's words, Jin Mian was startled.
What was it?
A Spirit Bone?
He looked at his gold-like right palm and said, "So this is a Spirit Bone; my luck really is quite good."
Immediately, he released his spirit power and guided the Spirit Bone to begin fusing.
Another hour passed.
The golden light on Jin Mian's right hand gradually faded, the intense pain also slowly dissipated, and his palm returned to its normal state.
What surprised him was that this external Spirit Bone was actually growth-type, meaning that as his level increased, the Spirit Bone would also grow with him.
"Xiao Mian, how do you feel?" Jin E asked anxiously.
Jin Mian looked at his right hand and said, "I feel very good, my right hand is full of power now!"
Jin E placed his hand on Jin Mian's shoulder, checking if any hidden injuries were left behind.
After a careful inspection and seeing that Jin Mian's body indeed had no major problems, Jin E finally felt relieved.
He continued, "Let's go, let's continue hunting for your second Soul Ring."
"Since your first Soul Ring is already a thousand-year one, the second ring can only be higher, not lower!"
"Mm." Jin Mian nodded.
The grandfather and grandson thus began searching for a suitable Spirit Beast in the forest again.
This time their luck was quite good.
Without much effort, they found a Crocodile Dragon of about three thousand years that carried a trace of the 'Golden Crocodile' bloodline.
Although it was a bit ugly, this bloodline was very compatible with Jin Mian's first Martial Soul.
Golden Crocodile did some warm-up exercises, and this Jin E was beaten until it had only one breath left.
The reason he didn't kill the Golden Crocodile directly this time was because he wanted Jin Mian to kill the Spirit Beast himself.
Because a Soul Ring can only be absorbed if the Soul Master personally participates in or delivers the killing blow to the Spirit Beast.
The Dark Gold Dreadclaw Beast earlier was entirely an unexpected situation.
Furthermore, since Jin E already had nine Soul Rings and there was no one else around, the Soul Ring produced by the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Beast became an unowned object.
Only then was Jin Mian able to absorb it.
Looking at the dying Golden Crocodile, Jin Mian pulled out a small knife and stepped forward.
One strike ended the Golden Crocodile.
Immediately after, a thousand-year Soul Ring condensed and floated in the air.
The first time is difficult, the second time is easy.
Jin Mian summoned his Martial Soul and used his spirit power to guide the Soul Ring to begin absorption.
Perhaps it was the bloodline suppression of the Golden Crocodile King over the Golden Crocodile.
This time the absorption process was incredibly smooth.
The whole process took only half an hour to finish.
And the second Spirit Ability the Golden Crocodile brought him was an offensive type.
Named: Golden Flash.
He could condense a light ball with powerful destructive and offensive power in his palm and throw it at his opponent.
In addition, his level also reached Rank 28!
This was even the result of Jin Mian's deliberate suppression; otherwise, he could have already started looking for a third Spirit Beast.
However, although he had strength now, he had no combat experience.
So he looked at Jin E and said, "Grandpa, I want to test my current strength."
Faced with this request, Jin E naturally had no objection.
It just so happened that he also wanted to see the effects of the two Martial Soul Abilities his precious grandson had obtained.
He stroked his white beard and said with a smile, "Good, I'll go find a Spirit Beast for you."
...