Chapter 162 – Yang Zhenzhen’s First Soul Ring

Zhangyang Village.

The arrival of Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan brought great joy and excitement to Granny Yang and Yang Zhenzhen. They immediately prepared the best food they could offer. However, the pair politely declined and explained the purpose of their visit.

"Granny, I see that Nannan's soul power has already reached rank 10. We're here to take her to get her first soul ring, so we won't stay for dinner," Jiang Nannan said warmly. She truly liked this little girl who, like her, was also called Nannan.

"Really?! Thank you, Brother! Thank you, Sister!" Yang Zhenzhen exclaimed with delight.

"This… Thank you both so much!" the old woman cried, tears streaming down her face, smiling through her sobs.

Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan didn't waste any time. They took Yang Zhenzhen straight to the soul hunting forest outside Falan City. On the way, they asked her about her cultivation. As it turned out, shortly after their last visit a year ago, Zhenzhen had already reached rank 10. But even after hitting the bottleneck, she continued training daily, just as Jiang Nannan had instructed her.

Soon, they arrived at the Falan City Soul Hunting Forest—a relatively small forest, where all the soul beasts were kept in captivity for the sole purpose of becoming soul rings or food. The strongest beasts here didn't exceed the thousand-year level. Every so often, high-ranking soul masters would cull any beast that surpassed this limit.

At the forest entrance, there was a crowd of hunters and civilian soul masters waiting for their turn to enter.

Zhu Ziyang ignored the curious, confused, skeptical, or indifferent gazes of the crowd and walked straight to the gate.

There, they were stopped by a group of guards. The captain stepped forward and said, "Without an official writ from the city lord, no one may enter the forest."

Zhu Ziyang said nothing. Instead, he took out a badge—the symbol of a Shrek Academy Inner Court student. This badge allowed unrestricted access to any soul hunting forest in the three empires. There was no way the guard wouldn't recognize it.

Sure enough, the captain's expression shifted instantly. "You're a soul master from Shrek Academy! Forgive me, I didn't recognize you!"

He quickly ordered his men to open the gate, allowing them passage.

Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan led Yang Zhenzhen into the forest. Eager to find a suitable soul beast, they didn't bother hiding their presence. Instead, they flew openly through the forest skies—confident, even a bit arrogant.

But arrogance didn't mean carelessness. Their eyes scanned every corner below with precision, and soon they spotted an ideal candidate near a lakeside: a 200-year-old Conductive Lightning Rat.

Yang Zhenzhen's martial soul was the Lightning Moth, a relatively common thunder-type beast martial soul, well-suited for an assault system path. The Lightning Rat was also thunder-attribute, with strong compatibility and decent combat ability—it could likely grant her a useful soul skill.

With the target selected, they acted immediately. Zhu Ziyang stayed behind to watch over Zhenzhen, while Jiang Nannan went ahead to take down the beast. A mere 200-year soul beast didn't warrant both of them taking action. Jiang Nannan moved with clean efficiency. Before the Lightning Rat even noticed, she was upon it. A single palm strike to its head knocked it unconscious with a surge of soul power.

Dragging the stunned rat back, she tossed it before Yang Zhenzhen and said, "Zhenzhen, do you remember what I told you on the way here? It's all up to you now."

"Mhm! I remember!" the girl replied with determination. She pulled out a kitchen knife—yes, a kitchen knife—that Granny Yang had personally given her before their departure.

Her movements were clean and quick. One strike ended the Lightning Rat's life. Her expression didn't change, as if it were a trivial task. Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan were genuinely surprised.

"Grandma's hands tremble," Zhenzhen explained, cheeks slightly red. "So I'm the one who always chops the vegetables at home."

"Hehe, very impressive!" Jiang Nannan laughed and praised her. "Alright, go ahead and absorb your first soul ring. You can do it!"

"Okay!" Zhenzhen's face lit up with excitement. Following Jiang Nannan's instructions, she sat cross-legged and began absorbing the Lightning Rat's ring.

Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan stood guard as she cultivated. Jiang Nannan's face showed some concern—she knew well how dangerous soul ring absorption could be. Just because she and those she knew had always succeeded didn't mean it was a riskless process.

Every year, there were soul masters who failed in this step. Some merely lost cultivation levels; others suffered worse—broken martial souls, or even death.

Luckily, Zhenzhen succeeded. Though it took her nearly six hours, she successfully refined the soul ring and her soul power rose to rank 13, her full year of training paying off handsomely.

The girl was overjoyed, her laughter and excitement continuing the entire way back.

Upon returning to Zhangyang Village, Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan stopped at the gate. They didn't go in, but instead told Zhenzhen:

"Zhenzhen, train hard. If you can reach rank 15 before your thirteenth birthday, Brother and Sister will take you to Shrek Academy!"

"Mhm! Brother, Sister, don't worry. I'll work hard!" Zhenzhen nodded earnestly.

"Good. We're off, then," Zhu Ziyang said as the two turned to leave.

Zhenzhen stood at the village entrance, watching their figures disappear into the distance. Her eyes sparkled with determination. She vowed never to let them down.

By the time Zhu Ziyang and Jiang Nannan returned to Anyang City, it was already the fifth day of the break.

Back home, Zhu Ziyang finally relaxed completely. The weight of thought and stress gone, he collapsed into a deep sleep—so deep he didn't wake until the following afternoon.

Once awake, he didn't linger at home. Instead, he headed straight to the Extreme North.

Why the Extreme North? The reason was simple: to fully refine the first soul ring of his Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon.

Currently, Zhu Ziyang had six soul rings—five from his Reaping Scythe of Quiet Judgment and one from the Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon. The five on the scythe had already been secondarily refined and completely integrated with him.

But the first ring of the Heavenly Frost Sacred White Dragon—a staggering 190,000-year red ring—had not yet been fully refined.

At the time, Zhu Ziyang hadn't been strong enough to handle the life force contained in a 100,000-year ring. Even now, to refine it properly, he would need external help. That's why he was heading to the Extreme North—to use the freezing environment to assist in refining the soul ring of the Silver Dragon Wolf, a sacred beast of the north.

By harnessing the unique cold energy of the Extreme North, Zhu Ziyang was confident his success rate would be 99%.

So, with no hesitation, he informed his parents and Jiang Nannan, then flew north—toward the icy wilderness.

The day after Zhu Ziyang entered the Extreme North, a bright-eyed boy arrived at its outskirts. Had Zhu Ziyang or Jiang Nannan been there, they would've called out his name in shock:

Huo Yuhao!

Staring out over the endless snowy plains, Yuhao shouted with joy, "Finally! The Extreme North—I made it!"

He had been lured here by his "big brother Tianmeng," and, at just twelve years old, didn't truly understand how reckless it was to enter the Extreme North alone. Or maybe he did—but had no choice. His all-or-nothing decision was about to change his fate, the fate of the Extreme North, and maybe even the world.

A destined transformation was about to begin.

An unexpected encounter was about to take place.

And a new kind of lifeform—unprecedented—was about to be born.