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With Kong Deming's involvement, Su Yu's progress in developing the spirit tool linkage technique advanced at an astonishing pace.
After all, Kong Deming's first martial soul had already achieved linkage, and his expertise in spirit tool technology far exceeded Su Yu's.
When it came to Tier 5 and below, Su Yu was confident he could rival his teacher. But with advanced spirit tool theory, he was still far behind.
Over the past half month, Su Yu also immersed himself in studying spirit tool theory.
He had already mastered Tier 5 theory, and most of Tier 6 had been self-taught. Under Kong Deming's guidance, he fully absorbed this knowledge and began delving into Tier 7 concepts.
With the amplification of his initial battle armor, Su Yu used his Spirit Emperor-level strength to personally craft a Tier 6 spirit tool—a flying spirit tool.
The *Spirit Tool Wings* were a temporary addition to his initial battle armor and a prototype for the wings of his intermediate battle armor.
This was a test run; if the results proved effective, Su Yu planned to further upgrade the spirit tool's formation to Tier 7 and incorporate it into the core array of his intermediate battle armor.
Meanwhile, Kong Deming needed to find the ideal spirit ring to complement his Sun Martial Soul for his seventh spirit ring.
The Scarlet Gold Bird had originally been an excellent match for his Sun Martial Soul and was his intended seventh spirit ring.
However, since he had absorbed the 100,000-year Scarlet Gold Bird as his fifth spirit ring, he now had to search for another 100,000-year spirit beast.
"There are rumors of a Fire Phoenix near the southern coast of the Sun Moon Continent, but the information is vague and unreliable—it's hard to locate.
In the southwest, there's a place called Dragon Valley. It's extremely dangerous, even for Super Douluos, who face near-certain death there. However, it's said that the valley contains a pure and intense fire-attribute energy, possibly from a 100,000-year fire-attribute dragon spirit beast."
Kong Deming's knowledge of 100,000-year spirit beasts within the Sun Moon Empire's territory was encyclopedic.
Every time Su Yu heard him talk about these rare spirit beasts, he couldn't help but twitch his lips.
*How long had the Sun Moon royal family been obsessing over these creatures?*
In the end, Kong Deming decided to head south along the outskirts of the Evil Forest.
The Evil Forest lay in the west, so they would first head south toward the Sun Moon Empire's southwest coast to investigate Dragon Valley. If it met the requirements, they would hunt there. If not, they would continue their search for the Fire Phoenix.
The process of finding a spirit ring was tedious.
Locating a suitable spirit ring often took considerable time, especially for a seventh ring, which required the rare 100,000-year threshold.
It took the teacher and student ten days to find the location of Dragon Valley.
Su Yu waited outside the valley for half a month before his teacher finally returned.
This time, there had been no battle, meaning Kong Deming hadn't found a suitable target.
"Sigh, Dragon Valley has many dragon-attribute spirit beasts, but most are mutated by draconic energy.
At the heart of the valley lies a spatial rift—a chaotic mix of spatial energy with an overwhelming draconic bloodline aura spilling out, creating the valley.
Even with my strength, I can't guarantee my safety within that rift."
A spatial rift was one thing if it led to another realm. But if it was merely a tear in space, entering it would mean certain death.
The fire dragon's aura also originated from within the rift.
From preliminary observation, it seemed the rift wasn't just a random tear—it likely connected to a terrifying domain.
"The aura coming through the rift far exceeds that of an ordinary 100,000-year spirit beast. That fire dragon is likely of a ferocious beast level.
Moreover, there are numerous traces of true dragon auras."
Kong Deming wisely refrained from entering recklessly.
Listening to his teacher's account, Su Yu felt a surge of astonishment.
*If that's the case, could this Dragon Valley be connected to that Dragon Valley?*
If so, his teacher's decision to avoid entering was undoubtedly correct.
From what Su Yu recalled, that small Dragon Valley realm was incredibly unstable, allowing only Spirit Kings and below to enter.
"Teacher, is the spatial rift stable?"
If he remembered correctly, this Dragon Valley was a treasure trove.
"The rift itself is relatively stable, but the spatial storms are intense, and the true dragon aura on the other side is overwhelming."
"Teacher, why not use a spirit tool to probe the area? That's true dragon aura we're talking about!" Su Yu suggested eagerly.
His mind churned with possibilities—surely Elder Yi's wisdom could help assess the rift's safety.
Using a spirit tool to scout the area would allow them to gradually steer toward the correct path.
Kong Deming hesitated at first. Spatial rifts were unpredictable and posed immeasurable risks.
Still, using a spirit tool for reconnaissance seemed feasible.
With that, Kong Deming took hold of Su Yu, shielding him with spirit power, and ventured deeper into the pseudo-Dragon Valley.
The dragon-attribute spirit beasts, sensing Kong Deming's overwhelming power, wisely kept their distance.
"This is the spatial rift," Kong Deming said, gesturing ahead.
Kong Deming set Su Yu down and cautioned him sternly, "Stay where you are and don't move. Don't let the energy from the spatial rift sweep you inside."
"The other side of this spatial rift is no ordinary place," he added.
As they approached the rift, Elder Yi's voice echoed in Su Yu's mental sea.
"The other side is entirely inhabited by true dragons. If we use the Douluo Continent's spirit beast age scale, they'd all be at least 100,000 years old, with likely no shortage of ferocious beast-level entities.
However, amidst these powerful dragon energies, there's also an aura of death.
I suspect that what lies within are dead dragons."
Su Yu's eyes narrowed as understanding dawned upon him.
It seemed the other side was indeed the Dragon Valley he remembered.
"Elder Yi, is the spatial passage stable? Given our current state, do we have any chance of passing through it?" Su Yu inquired within his mental sea.
"The spatial energy is chaotic, but an eighth-tier spirit shield should hold up," Elder Yi responded.
Su Yu exhaled in relief.
An eighth-tier spirit shield?
His teacher certainly had plenty of those to spare.
*This is one of the perks of being Kong Deming's disciple.*
If he were still at Shrek Academy, even if such an opportunity arose, there'd be no eighth-tier spirit shield available for him to attempt this.
"Teacher, I think we should attempt to go through.
I can't sense any signs of life on the other side."
"What?" Kong Deming's eyebrows shot up in disbelief.
With such intense vitality and the powerful aura of true dragon bloodlines, how could there be no life at all?
However, after his initial reflex to question Su Yu, he paused.
As someone embodying the ultimate in life essence, Su Yu's sensitivity to life energy was unparalleled.
"No signs of life... Could the other side really be a land of death?"
"Are you sure? Try sensing again—really focus. Not even a trace of life energy?"
With a resigned sigh, Su Yu exaggerated his efforts, feigning an all-out activation of his spiritual power to scan for any life.
"Still nothing," he replied firmly.
Kong Deming's mind began to churn.
Such dense true dragon bloodline energy, and yet no signs of life?
"Teacher, could you create a spirit tool to test the path ahead? Ideally, one that can send back a signal—make sure the signal is strong."
"I'll give it a shot," Kong Deming said, his tone turning decisive.
(End of Chapter)