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During this absorption process, Kong Deming, prioritizing safety, didn't plan to take too long.
As he absorbed the spirit ring, his tightly shut eyes trembled, and his brows furrowed deeply, as though he was enduring some kind of pain.
A fiery aura emanated from his eyes, accompanied by a chilling icy breath.
Su Yu channeled the life energy of his Blade of Vitality and used his first and second soul skills to assist Kong Deming in refining the spirit ring.
He could see clearly now what it was.
External Spirit Bones.
Two external spirit bones!
In the eyes!
He couldn't help but marvel at his teacher's extraordinary luck.
Su Yu's role was to aid in refining the spirit ring and spirit bones.
The immense life energy of the Blade of Vitality could sustain a spirit master in peak condition almost indefinitely, eliminating any need to worry about exhaustion.
This allowed Kong Deming to refine the spirit ring with maximum efficiency, disregarding the impact of spirit power on his meridians, and proceeding at the fastest pace possible.
Any residual damage was swiftly healed by Su Yu's manipulation of life energy.
After a day, the blood-red spirit ring gradually shrank and merged into Kong Deming's body.
"Let's go!"
The moment Kong Deming finished absorbing the spirit ring, he didn't take time to assess his condition. He immediately left with Su Yu.
As they exited the Evil Demon Forest, an overwhelmingly powerful mental force swept across the entire area, enveloping the forest. The terrifying pressure left every spirit beast trembling in fear.
"Good thing we're out. Let's find a place to rest first."
Having spent over half a month hunting and absorbing spirit rings, Kong Deming was thoroughly exhausted.
"Teacher, wasn't the absorption process too brief this time? Was the refining of life energy enough to strengthen your physique?"
Su Yu sounded slightly concerned.
Kong Deming waved it off and said, "No problem. I can feel it—my physical enhancements are quite significant.
"After all, that Fire Evil Tyrant is among the top-tier spirit beasts. Even though its main attribute is mental strength, its spirit ring's boost to my physique surpasses that of most other spirit beasts.
"Of course, the most notable gain this time is the massive improvement in my mental power."
Previously, Kong Deming's mental power had only reached the formless yet tangible stage and had progressed slightly within that realm.
Now, with the absorption of the Fire Evil Tyrant's spirit ring, his mental power had at least doubled. While it might not have reached the peak of formless yet tangible, it had advanced considerably toward its late stages.
When mental power becomes sufficiently strong, it can begin to influence reality. Similarly, it can bear part of the pressure from spirit rings during absorption.
However, this pressure-bearing ability is only temporary during the absorption process.
Though the body cannot withstand the strain, mental power can compensate. While it may not directly endure the spirit ring's force, it can fortify the physical body, making it easier to complete the absorption process.
This principle of temporarily enhancing the body with mental power was a key point Kong Deming had researched upon reaching the formless yet tangible stage.
This method of mental power temporarily strengthening the body was one of the measures he had devised to counteract his previously weaker physique.
"The Fire Evil Tyrant's benefits are the greatest I've experienced, far surpassing those of the 100,000-year Scarlet Gold Bird from before."
"Xiao Yu, remember this for the future. If you ever absorb the spirit ring of an Evil Eye Tyrant, try to channel its spirit power into your eye region during the absorption process.
"The Evil Eye Clan's spirit bones often manifest as external eye-related spirit bones.
"This is especially true for 100,000-year spirit beasts. Such spirit bones aren't pre-existing within the spirit beast but begin forming only after the spirit master hunts the beast, fully materializing during the absorption of the spirit ring."
Before absorbing a spirit ring, it's rare to detect spirit bones, as they usually form during the process of absorption.
"The spirit bones of the Evil Eye Tyrant, with some guidance, have a good chance of forming external eye-related spirit bones."
Su Yu nodded, marveling at this bit of obscure knowledge but also feeling a twinge of helplessness.
His Blue Silver Grass martial soul was intended to absorb only life-attributed spirit rings, making the Evil Eye Tyrant an impossibility for him.
"Teacher, were you able to achieve the martial soul fusion you envisioned?"
Kong Deming's face lit up with a bright smile, brimming with satisfaction.
"Congratulations, Teacher."
Self-Martial Soul Fusion Technique.
Although this fusion relied solely on one individual's martial souls rather than the combined soul power of two spirit masters, it was still immensely powerful.
The absence of a second person sharing the burden meant all the strain fell on a single user, but it also eliminated the coordination challenges of dual-person fusion.
Additionally, the technique allowed for a higher upper limit of explosive power.
"Now, the conflicts between my two martial souls are partially harmonized. In their fused state, my overall condition is enhanced.
"If I absorb a spirit ring while in this state, it will alleviate some of the pressure on me."
Martial soul fusion requires the gap between the two martial souls to not be too large. Conflicts will still exist, but fusion inherently suppresses these clashes by focusing on their shared traits.
Kong Deming calculated carefully—he was now very close to absorbing his seventh spirit ring!
"Teacher, if we add the linkage between spirit rings in advance, could you directly absorb the seventh spirit ring?"
Su Yu, recalling his partially developed spirit ring linkage technique, posed the question.
"You've developed the linkage technique?"
Kong Deming's expression turned to one of astonishment.
When he originally chose to construct the "Yang" rune over the spirit ring linkage technique, it was because the latter was too complex to develop easily.
Su Yu smiled wryly and shook his head.
"Of course not. I've merely used spirit tools and integrated spirit tool technology to explore an initial direction for assisting with spirit ring linkage."
Kong Deming let out a thoughtful "Oh~" and nodded in understanding.
That made sense.
Developing a direct linkage technique is not something that could be accomplished overnight. However, leveraging external tools to achieve spirit ring linkage was much simpler.
This idea had stemmed from a suggestion Kong Deming made regarding Su Yu's mid-tier battle armor.
At the time, due to time constraints, he hadn't considered how long it would take to develop such a technique using external tools or how it might benefit him.
"You've found the direction?"
Kong Deming recalculated. If his second martial soul completed the linkage, it would provide another boost to his physique.
Although this enhancement would be temporary—reverting once the linkage was deactivated—absorbing the seventh spirit ring afterward would result in a permanent passive boost.
It was worth pursuing!
Kong Deming delved into Su Yu's progress and current ideas in detail.
The teacher and student duo did not return to Mingdu.
Instead, they decided to refine the spirit tool linkage technique first before hunting a 100,000-year spirit beast and then heading back to the city.
With Kong Deming's expertise, Su Yu's creativity, and his sharp intuition, the development process went extraordinarily smoothly.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.
"Good disciple, let's go! It's time to absorb another spirit ring!"
(End of Chapter)