Chapter 60: Spirit Hunting 2.0 (Part Three)

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The group continued searching for a suitable soul ring for Li Yusong in the mixed zone.

They had already spent half a month in the mixed zone, yet they still hadn't found anything suitable. Why was it so difficult to find a soul ring for Old Li?

Arriving at a particularly dense forested area, Flender suddenly spoke up:

"Old Li, we've found your soul ring. It's a Golden Python that's at least fifty thousand years old."

Flender's words startled everyone. After half a month of fruitless searching, a suitable candidate had finally appeared. Spirit beasts with golden bloodlines were truly rare.

Flender pointed toward the trees, where a massive python coiled around a branch. It was as thick as a water barrel and at least fifteen meters long. Its golden scales shimmered brilliantly, making it an exceptionally beautiful snake in terms of appearance.

"Yanzi, Luochen, go play with it. Flender, bring that Golden Python down," Dugu Bo said, looking at the snake on the tree.

Flender unleashed his spirit and flew up, directly breaking the sturdy branch. The Golden Python fell from the tree.

The Golden Python was a pure brute-force spirit beast without any flashy skills. Its attack methods were simple—biting and constricting—but these primitive tactics were highly effective. Spirit beasts with golden bloodlines surpassed ordinary ones in every aspect.

Most spirit beasts couldn't penetrate the Golden Python's scale defense.

Li Luochen and Dugu Yan prepared for battle. A fifty-thousand-year-old Golden Python possessed strength comparable to a high-level Soul Douluo, with immense power. One careless move could result in being crushed to death by its coils.

"Fifth soul skill, Dragon Blaze Evil-Crushing Annihilation!" The Coiling Dragon Staff in Li Luochen's hands emitted a golden glow. He casually threw it, smashing it into the Golden Python.

After absorbing the soul ring of the Golden Earth Dragon King, the weight of the Coiling Dragon Staff had increased from six thousand kilograms to nine thousand kilograms, significantly boosting its destructive power. Li Luochen speculated that when he became a Soul Sage, his staff might even outweigh the Coiling Dragon Staff wielded by the Thousand-Pound Demon-Sealing Douluo of the Spirit Hall.

*Boom—*

The golden Coiling Dragon Staff struck the Golden Python, engulfing its body in powerful destructive force. Many of its golden scales were knocked off, and blood began to seep from its wounds.

It seemed that Li Luochen's fifth soul skill was incredibly potent, rivaling the eighth soul skill of a Soul Douluo.

Dugu Yan, with her arms transformed into dragon claws, unleashed the Dark Golden Terror Claws, savagely tearing into the Golden Python's body. The claws left several deep gashes, causing more blood to flow.

At this point, the Golden Python sensed the presence of death and considered fleeing. However, it realized it was locked down by someone's overwhelming aura—it couldn't escape.

Li Luochen and Dugu Yan's attacks were sharp, but they weren't lethal just yet. While the Golden Python wasn't severely injured, it still retained formidable combat power. However, it could sense that the humans before it were far too strong, rendering its attacks ineffective.

Li Yusong had already released his Dragon Pattern Staff, a crimson weapon emanating a fierce aura. Old Li stared intently at the Golden Python—it was the spirit beast his grandson had carefully selected for him, and he couldn't afford to miss this opportunity.

According to Li Luochen, absorbing the power of a golden-bloodline sub-dragon species would likely evolve Old Li's spirit into a top-tier one.

For advanced spirits, breaking through to become a Title Douluo was challenging. But if the Dragon Pattern Staff evolved into a top-tier spirit, the process would be smoother, and it could handle higher-year soul rings.

Advanced spirits might not withstand the energy of a hundred-thousand-year soul ring, but evolving into a top-tier spirit would eliminate this issue.

In essence, a spirit's nature was all about evolution, and choosing the right soul rings was key to advancing it. Dugu Bo's ability to evolve his Jade Phosphorous Snake into a Jade Phosphorous Snake Emperor was a prime example.

Another example was the Blue Silver Grass evolving into Blue Silver King—strengthening one's spirit was fundamental.

Thus, to ensure his grandfather could eventually obtain a hundred-thousand-year soul ring, Li Luochen first had him consume a Nine Treasure Purple Zoysia pill and a Seven Leaf Dragon Fungus pill to enhance his spirit. Then, they sought out a golden-bloodline sub-dragon species for his seventh soul ring.

The True Body of the Spirit was critical. There was a high chance the Golden Python would evolve the Dragon Pattern Staff, or at least partially evolve it. By the time Li Yusong reached level ninety and obtained his ninth soul ring, the evolution might be complete.

During the battle,

Li Luochen and Dugu Yan coordinated their attacks, leaving more and more wounds on the Golden Python. While none of the strikes were fatal individually, their cumulative effect was devastating. Like boiling a frog in warm water, the Golden Python was doomed.

The Golden Python's attacks were entirely ineffective. Li Luochen and Dugu Yan's mental strength allowed them to predict its moves and evade its strikes effortlessly.

The Golden Python fought in frustration. Its condition worsened while the two humans remained unscathed, infuriating it.

After about fifteen minutes of continued attacks, Li Luochen and Dugu Yan retreated to Dugu Bo's side. They had consumed over half their soul power, and the Golden Python was nearly finished—it was time to wrap things up.

"This Golden Python is really tough. Grandpa Dugu, use your poison to immobilize it. Let my grandfather finish it off," Li Luochen said, looking at the now crimson-scaled Golden Python.

Though severely wounded, the Golden Python still retained thirty percent of its combat power and had the potential to counterattack. Such was the resilience of golden-bloodline creatures.

Upon hearing this, Dugu Bo unleashed the soul bone skill from his left arm—the Snake King Binding. Several green phantom snakes coiled around the Golden Python, injecting it with paralyzing toxins. This time, the Golden Python was completely immobilized, lying motionless except for its flickering tongue.

Li Yusong knew the moment had come. Gripping his Dragon Pattern Staff, he moved in to deliver the final blow.

"Sixth soul skill, Dragon Spirit Breakthrough!"

Li Yusong unleashed his strongest offensive soul skill. His sixth soul ring came from a fifteen-thousand-year sub-dragon species called the Heavenly Spirit Giant Lizard, one of the most powerful types of giant lizard sub-dragons.

With a single strike to the Golden Python's vital spot, the creature let out a final, reluctant breath before dying. A deep black soul ring emerged from its body.

Staring at the pitch-black soul ring, Li Yusong was filled with emotion. Originally, his seventh soul ring should have been from a twenty to thirty-thousand-year spirit beast. He never expected his grandson to secure a fifty-thousand-year one for him.

He now understood that a fifty-thousand-year soul ring was sufficient for a Soul Douluo's eighth soul ring. For a Soul Sage to obtain such a ring as their seventh was virtually impossible.

Among those he knew, only Flender had a seventh soul ring reaching fifty thousand years—a combination of fifty thousand and two thousand years. Even Dugu Bo's seventh soul ring was only over forty thousand years.

To think his seventh soul ring could become this powerful felt surreal. His previous soul ring configuration was quite ordinary—white, yellow, purple, purple, purple, black—and becoming a Soul Sage was his limit.

According to his grandson Li Luochen, choosing a good seventh soul ring could make cultivation after level seventy smoother. He trusted his grandson, whose strength had long surpassed his own. He appreciated his grandson's thoughtfulness and wouldn't waste this opportunity.

Li Yusong's reflection lasted only a few seconds before he began absorbing the soul ring. There was a gap of nearly forty thousand years between his sixth and seventh soul rings. The exact age of this Golden Python was fifty-four thousand years.

This far exceeded the usual limits of a seventh soul ring. However, Li Yusong had enjoyed excellent resources over the years. He had consumed millennium whale jelly long ago, absorbed the Nine Treasure Purple Zoysia and Seven Leaf Dragon Fungus, and integrated a near ten-thousand-year Golden Python left arm bone.

Before the hunt, he had also consumed an eighty-thousand-year whale jelly and a seventy-thousand-year whale jelly, further enhancing his physical conditioning. Absorbing this fifty-four-thousand-year Golden Python soul ring shouldn't pose much difficulty.

Li Yusong's current state wasn't bad—he was sweating slightly, but his body showed no signs of swelling. Though absorption might be somewhat strenuous, enduring it should allow him to succeed.

It remained to be seen what level Li Yusong would reach after absorbing the soul ring. He still had whale jelly energy stored within his body.

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