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Upon entering the valley, it only took Xiao Hongchen three days to obtain a suitable soul ring.
However, their luck didn't last. As they ventured deeper, they found no soul beasts suitable for Su Yu.
Forget about the Ten-Thousand-Year Swordgrass— they hadn't encountered any soul beasts with life attributes at all.
For an entire month, the trio scoured the valley in a monotonous search.
Suddenly, Jing Hongchen pointed in a direction and said, "I sense a strong fluctuation of soul power. It's restrained yet carries an intense feeling of danger."
The danger he referred to wasn't a life-threatening risk, but rather a sense of foreboding.
The three moved toward the direction Jing Hongchen indicated, and soon Xiao Hongchen and Su Yu also sensed the fluctuation.
"This sharp sword aura is distinctive—it must be Swordgrass!" Su Yu exclaimed in excitement.
After a month of searching, they had finally found a clue.
"Judging by the soul power fluctuations, it's at least ten thousand years old, though we don't know the exact age yet."
Jing Hongchen urged Xiao Hongchen and Su Yu to stay cautious and activated their soul shields as they pressed on to investigate.
These soul shields could hide their soul power fluctuations, which is how the trio managed to remain undetected for so long during the battle between the Purple-Gold Dragon Beast and the Silver Moon Tiger.
"This sword aura is incredibly strong," Su Yu remarked, even feeling the intense will behind it through the soul shield.
It was a will that seemed capable of cutting through everything.
"There's no doubt it's Swordgrass. Let's hope it's not older than twenty thousand years."
Based on his normal cultivation, Su Yu's physique—honed daily with the power of starlight—was expected to be able to withstand a ten-thousand-year soul ring by the time he reached the fortieth level.
After refining the Nine-Grade Snow Lotus, his martial soul and body had undergone a transformation, increasing his tolerance by an additional three thousand years.
Furthermore, Su Yu had also absorbed the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue that Kong Deming had found for him, further strengthening his body and boosting his soul ring tolerance by another three thousand years.
That brought the total to sixteen thousand years.
On top of that, with Su Yu's self-developed auxiliary methods, he could easily increase his tolerance by another two thousand years.
And then, there was one more external factor—Electrolux.
If Su Yu could awaken Electrolux during the soul ring absorption process, the soul shock from a ten-thousand-year soul ring would pose no threat to him at all.
This would allow him to fully concentrate on resisting the soul power impact and refining the essence of the soul ring, raising his limit by another four to five thousand years.
Even if Electrolux didn't awaken, the simplified version of Jing Hongchen's "Hongchen Protection" would still be effective.
This cautious calculation already took everything into account. After rounding it all down conservatively, Su Yu determined that his fourth soul ring limit would be twenty thousand years.
Though it seemed extreme, it was actually quite reasonable. Unlike others who jumped straight from a two-thousand-year third ring to over ten thousand years, Su Yu had steadily built up his foundation.
From his second ring, Su Yu had already started absorbing soul rings beyond his level, using the life attribute and starlight to temper his body. After refining the Nine-Grade Snow Lotus, which was equivalent to the power of a ten-thousand-year soul ring, and later absorbing the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue, his strength had significantly increased.
So, transitioning from a five-thousand-eight-hundred-year third ring to a twenty-thousand-year fourth ring wasn't as outrageous as it seemed.
Moreover, a considerable part of this leap was due to Electrolux or the simplified "Hongchen Protection" that Jing Hongchen provided.
Considering all this, Su Yu's decision to set his fourth soul ring limit at twenty thousand years seemed reasonable after all.
"A primary sword pattern with five auxiliary sword patterns. Fifteen thousand years!"
Jing Hongchen finally spotted the Swordgrass.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Swordgrass wasn't large, standing only a meter tall, and it closely resembled a longsword. The soul power around it had condensed into a white sword aura.
Centered around the Swordgrass, this aura formed a sword storm, leaving sword marks all over the surrounding ground.
On the Swordgrass itself, silver-white sword patterns flickered faintly. One pattern ran from the root to the tip of the grass—this was the primary sword pattern.
Surrounding it were five auxiliary sword patterns.
Every ten auxiliary sword patterns would converge to form a single primary sword pattern.
For a Ten-Thousand-Year soul beast, an auxiliary sword pattern forms every thousand years. Beyond the primary and auxiliary sword patterns, a web of intricate lines crisscrossed the surface of the plant.
"Xiao Yu, what do you think? Can you absorb it?" Jing Hongchen asked Su Yu.
Fifteen thousand years—this was even older than the Purple-Gold Dragon Beast's soul ring that Xiao Hongchen had absorbed.
Xiao Hongchen's face was grim as he glanced at Su Yu. He reminded him, "Don't push yourself too hard. I get that surpassing me, a prodigy, feels great, but a fifteen-thousand-year soul ring is extremely dangerous."
Su Yu's expression was equally serious, his eyes fixed on the root of the Swordgrass.
"If it were an ordinary fifteen-thousand-year Swordgrass, I'd be confident. But this one is clearly different."
"Oh?"
At Su Yu's prompt, Jing Hongchen also examined the root of the Swordgrass and noticed something unusual.
"A mutated Swordgrass!"
The growth of Swordgrass was incredibly difficult. Its increase in age depended on overcoming various tribulations, through which it would form sword patterns. To better adapt to this growth, Swordgrass typically splits into multiple sword leaves.
By the time it matures to Nine Leaves, it would pass through transformations at intervals—ninety years, a hundred years, nine hundred years, a thousand, nine thousand, and then ten thousand years, all the way up to ninety thousand to one hundred thousand years. During each transformation, the nine leaves would merge to survive each tribulation.
On one hand, splitting into nine leaves helped the plant build a stronger foundation, allowing it to gather more power when it merged. On the other hand, the division offered more chances for survival.
But the Swordgrass before them showed no signs of having ever split its leaves. Its root was completely intact.
This was a mutated Swordgrass.
No splitting.
No retreat.
One plant, one leaf—cutting through every tribulation with no fallback.
Undoubtedly, this kind of mutated Swordgrass possessed far more terrifying offensive power.
However, that wasn't the main problem. Jing Hongchen could handle it, as it was still just a fifteen-thousand-year-old Swordgrass, mutated or not.
The issue lay in Su Yu's ability to absorb it.
The soul power of the mutated Swordgrass would be far harder to refine. Its explosive strength would make the impact on his meridians even more dangerous.
In short, absorbing the soul ring of this mutated Swordgrass would be as difficult as absorbing the soul ring of a twenty-thousand-year Two-Leaf Swordgrass.
"Xiao Yu, we should look for another one," Jing Hongchen said with a sigh of frustration.
They had finally found a Ten-Thousand-Year Swordgrass, only to discover it was fifteen thousand years old.
That would've been enough of a challenge on its own, but to make matters worse, it was a mutated Swordgrass.
Incredible.
"Wait, Hall Master, I want to try," Su Yu said suddenly.
"What?"
"Su Yu, are you crazy?" Jing Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen exclaimed in unison.
They couldn't understand how someone as calm and cautious as Su Yu would suddenly make such an irrational decision.
What they didn't realize was that Su Yu was always rational.
In fact, to ensure his safety, he had been extremely cautious when calculating the limits of his body's ability to handle his fourth soul ring.
"In that case, I need to ask: how effective is that simplified version of the Hongchen Aegis?" Su Yu asked.
(End of chapter)