Nowadays, even Su Wen himself is not particularly fixated on the age limit of Spirit Rings.
At the very least, he no longer strives to push the limits of his Martial Spirit's evolution by challenging the extremes.
Su Wen's current absorption of higher-level Spirit Rings is like a snowball he started rolling earlier, growing larger and larger. As a result, the age of his Spirit Rings is higher than that of Spirit Masters at the same level, but it's not because he's challenging the limits.
Since he's not pushing the limits, there is no pressure on the Martial Spirit itself, so there won't be any need for breaking down and rebuilding. Thus, the evolution won't be too extreme.
But this way is more stable.
Moreover, even though Su Wen isn't breaking the limits, he is constantly raising his own limits on his own.
The snowball effect wasn't just caused by the previous over-level Spirit Ring absorptions; it also came from the foundation Su Wen had laid with his earlier Spirit Rings, which allowed his cultivation methods in all aspects to mature.
His Spiritual Power is constantly tempered by the Visualized World, making his progress far surpass that of Spirit Masters with spiritual attributes. His star attribute, Body Tempering Technique, and Divine Power Body Tempering have also significantly enhanced his body's endurance.
He's not avoiding pushing the limits; he's just chosen a more stable way to challenge them.
This isn't cowardice—it's rationality.
Su Wen has always believed in one thing: knowledge is power.
He follows the path of knowledge, using theory and knowledge to pave his way to the top in cultivation.
Challenge the limits?
Su Wen tried that with his first three Spirit Rings to ensure the quality of his Martial Spirit, which would, in turn, guarantee that his "talent" could support his entire cultivation journey.
Obviously, he no longer needed this method.
"Rongrong, just absorb it directly."
In the end, Su Wen did not develop the Spiritual Power version of the Spirit Ascension Method.
At his prompt, Ning Rongrong crushed the pale golden orb in her hand, and a soft golden airflow surrounded her.
Her four Spirit Rings—yellow, yellow, purple, and black—appeared around her.
A white halo slowly formed outside her fourth black Spirit Ring.
Soon, the white Spirit Ring turned yellow.
The yellow turned purple.
The speed was astonishing, and in less than half a minute, the Spirit Ring's age had already reached a thousand years. The purple deepened, indicating that the thousand-year-old Spirit Ring was rapidly approaching ten thousand years.
Boom!
A sudden pressure descended.
This was the oppressive force brought by the ten-thousand-year Spirit Ring.
In just ten minutes, the God Bestowed Spirit Ring around Ning Rongrong had already increased to ten thousand years.
Time continued to pass.
Ning Rongrong's limit was gradually approaching, and the increase in the Spirit Ring's age became slower and more stable.
One hour later.
The Spirit Ring's age had increased to 20,000 years.
At this point, the growth of the Spirit Ring's age slowed significantly, gradually probing Ning Rongrong's limits.
Each increase allowed plenty of time for Ning Rongrong to endure the pressure, to feel the strain, and to bear it over an extended period, giving her the opportunity to decide whether to absorb it directly.
However, Ning Rongrong persisted throughout.
"The other advantage of the God Bestowed Spirit Ring is that it allows you to clearly experience the limit you can handle and safely attempt to challenge that limit."
The Spirit Ring's age gradually tests the Spirit Master's limits, and once those limits are truly reached, the Spirit Master can hold out at that threshold, tempering themselves, and bit by bit, push their limits further.
Ning Rongrong was undoubtedly in such a state now.
Three days later.
The pressure from the Spirit Ring finally stopped increasing.
A 26,000-year-old Spirit Ring suddenly took shape.
A massive surge of Soul Power flooded into Ning Rongrong's body.
Su Wen let out a sigh of relief.
He watched as Ning Rongrong completed the final stage of absorbing the Spirit Ring, using Spirit Skills like Healing Light to heal the injuries she sustained during the absorption process.
Ten more days passed.
Ning Rongrong finally fully absorbed the Spirit Ring.
Su Wen sensed the fluctuation of Soul Power within her and nodded.
Level 53, not bad.
Typically, a Spirit King who absorbs a ten-thousand-year-old Spirit Ring would reach around level 51, nearing level 52, but Ning Rongrong had absorbed a Spirit Ring of 26,000 years—more than double the age of an average Spirit King's fifth ring, which is usually less than 12,000 years.
After Ning Rongrong absorbed her fifth Spirit Ring, Su Wen took her to the sea according to the previous plan.
This time, Dugu Yan also accompanied them on the sea trip.
"Brother Xiaowen, going out to sea like this is so cool!"
Ning Rongrong stood on top of Xiao Bai, feeling the sea breeze and said happily.
Su Wen set up a Soul Power barrier around them, filtering the wind and waves of the sea, making it feel very comfortable.
Dugu Yan also had a look of amazement.
Before, when Su Wen mentioned going to Sea God Island, she thought they would be traveling by boat, but it turned out they were riding a Sea Spirit Beast.
And this Sea Spirit Beast was from the Deep Sea's dominant race, the Demon Soul Great White Shark, with cultivation as high as 100,000 years!
So, there's actually such a way to travel by sea.
Since they had already completed the construction of the Wisdom Palace branches on the islands along the way during their previous return journey to the Continent, it only took them a month to reach Sea God Island this time.
On the way, Su Wen taught Ning Rongrong and Dugu Yan the technique of using the Visualization Method to conceptualize designs.
Disasters were frequent on the open sea, and the experiences were more intense, making visualization easier. As long as they mastered the Visualization Method, they could quickly achieve certain results.
Of course, mastery of the Visualization Method depends on the level of proficiency. The better one masters the technique, the greater their achievements, and the higher their potential in using Conceptual Design.
The level of the Visualization Method is also determined by the Spirit Master's innate Spiritual Power.
Dugu Yan is a normal Spirit Master. Since she is a control-type Spirit Master, her Spiritual Power is somewhat more prominent, but the difference from other Spirit Masters isn't large. However, thanks to Su Wen's guidance and the use of the Book of Ten Thousand Techniques pages to guide her, she had already opened her Sea of Consciousness and quickly mastered the Visualization Method.
She was comprehending the Conceptual Design of storms and thunderclaps over the ocean.
With the evolution of her Martial Spirit, she was gradually moving away from poison-based attack methods, focusing instead on storm and thunderclap as her new primary abilities.
The top-tier lightning-attribute dragon Spirit Bone prepared for her by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan further advanced her path to dragon transformation. It was also the first crucial step in this transformation, providing a solid foundation for her lightning attribute.
The dragon bloodline within her Jade Phosphor Serpent Martial Spirit was originally weak, so it was natural for it to gradually mutate under the influence of a more powerful dragon bloodline.
Later, Old Jerry's Golden Dragon Sweet Potato, which contained rich earth-attribute Dragon Qi, helped Dugu Yan's evolution stay on course, slowly strengthening her dragon bloodline.
Earth, by its nature, is inclusive, and Old Jerry's Spirit Skills fully harnessed this quality, allowing Dugu Yan's Martial Spirit to thoroughly absorb the lightning attribute Dragon Qi from that top-tier Spirit Bone.
...
Sea God Island.
"You two go ahead and take the trial," Su Wen said to Ning Rongrong and Dugu Yan.
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