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Sea of Consciousness.
Su Wen suppressed the remnant soul of the Void Silver Moon Tapir, eroding it with the visualized power of ice and fire, while using his mental power to refine and absorb the energy within the remnant soul.
As his Martial Soul refined the origin of the soul ring, the energy contained within this remnant soul could also be refined by Su Wen to enhance his own mental strength.
Meanwhile, the energy that had penetrated into his Sea of Consciousness via the Martial Soul Space split into two streams. One stream rushed rapidly into Su Wen's Illusion Spirit Pupil, while the other merged into Su Wen's Sea of Consciousness. Simultaneously, Su Wen felt his eyes being nourished, a sensation very similar to when he had previously consumed the Full Moon Gaze Dew.
After merging with this power, the Illusion Spirit Pupil seemed even more powerful. The originally gorgeous vertical pupil was now covered with noble silver patterns, and the entire pupil became incomparably ethereal.
At the same time, Su Wen could sense through his mental power that a pocket of space seemed to have been opened within the Illusion Spirit Pupil.
No, it wasn't just the Illusion Spirit Pupil—it was his eyes as well. All three eyes were collectively connected to another dimension.
This absorption lasted longer than any of Su Wen's previous soul ring absorptions.
Two and a half days later.
The blood on Su Wen's body had scabbed over. His bones crackled continuously as the injuries within his body healed rapidly.
Opening his eyes, Su Wen saw everyone letting out a collective sigh of relief, along with Ning Rongrong, whose face still bore traces of tears.
"Brother Wen, you scared us to death," Ning Rongrong said with a look of lingering fear.
"I also didn't expect that a combination of mental and spatial attributes from this Void Silver Moon Tapir could achieve such a feat," Su Wen shared his speculation.
"Knowing it was doomed, it sealed its mental power into the soul ring to counterattack during the absorption? Seeking a mutual destruction?" Gu Rong frowned, clearly having never heard of such a thing.
Dugu Bo also shook his head, indicating he had never heard of it either.
"Furthermore, it could actually compress a massive amount of soul power from its body into the soul ring to be sent into the Soul Master's body, attempting to make the Soul Master explode?"
Both Title Douluo found this a bit far-fetched.
Su Wen smiled and said, "That's because normal Soul Masters absorb soul rings according to the levels they can withstand. Even if a remnant soul merges into the soul ring—take that Void Silver Moon Tapir for example—it would likely struggle to truly threaten a Soul Saint. A more massive soul power impact can also be forcibly endured."
To put it bluntly, once you reach the ten-thousand-year level, the biggest hurdle for soul ring absorption is actually the strength of one's mental power; physical endurance is secondary.
Besides, given the quality of a forty-five-thousand-year soul power, even if the quantity was higher, the hope of surviving by force was much higher than succeeding against the impact of a normal fifty-thousand-year soul ring's energy.
But Su Wen was different.
He was only a Soul Ancestor; he would only become a Soul King after finishing the absorption.
The Void Silver Moon Tapir didn't know the source of Su Wen's confidence, but that didn't stop it from looking down on him and trying to perish together in this manner.
"Mhm, that possibility can't be ruled out. Of course, the intelligence of this Void Silver Moon Tapir was also a major factor," Dugu Bo nodded, agreeing with Su Wen's explanation, though he noted that such ideas required the soul beast to possess high intelligence.
Ten-thousand-year soul beasts already have their own thoughts and can think independently rather than acting on physiological instinct, and once a soul beast exceeds fifty thousand years, its IQ is basically the same as a human's.
This Void Silver Moon Tapir was only forty-five thousand years old, but its intelligence surpassed that of a fifty-thousand-year beast. Its mental attribute was indeed powerful, allowing it to successfully seal its mental power within the soul ring.
Unfortunately, in the end, Su Wen successfully absorbed it.
"Xiao Wen, is the soul skill the same as you expected?" Dugu Bo asked.
The others also pricked up their ears, curious about the soul skill Su Wen had obtained this time.
Su Wen nodded and did not hide it, explaining the nature of his soul skill.
"My fifth soul skill inherited the most fundamental ability of the Void Silver Moon Tapir: Void-Reality Traverse. Upon completing the soul ring absorption, I also gained an illusory realm. I can utilize this realm to complete the traverse between illusion and reality."
This time, Su Wen truly didn't hide anything and informed everyone of his soul skill's capability.
However, he didn't explain everything with total clarity—such as where his illusory realm was located, or if there were limitations to this traversal.
Dugu Bo nodded, already quite satisfied with Su Wen's soul skill.
"A spatial attribute soul skill of over forty thousand years... its traversal ability surely won't be lacking. This gives you a life-saving trump card for the future."
Su Wen nodded; that was indeed true.
If he ever encountered another inexplicable assassination attempt like the one from Hu Yanzhen, Su Wen would at least have the chance to use the classic "villain talks too much" window to traverse away and escape.
Moreover, the most important part was that Su Wen's Illusion Spirit Pupil possessed an early-warning capability. Combined with this fifth soul skill, his survival capabilities were even more outstanding.
"Now we only have the soul rings for Xiao Zhan and his daughter left. Should we continue searching here on Evil Spirit Island, or return to the continent and head deep into the Flame Mountain Range?"
"We are already in the depths of this primeval forest. Let's finish exploring this area before we leave."
Evil Spirit Island was, after all, a small island surrounded entirely by ocean; the probability of finding a powerful fire-attribute soul beast wasn't high. If one truly existed, it should be very conspicuous, and they should have felt it long ago.
However, there were indeed many types of soul beasts here rarely seen on the continent, so they planned to investigate the depths.
Upon their return, what they saw here would become part of their knowledge. If someone close to them needed a similar soul ring in the future, they wouldn't have to spend as much effort searching.
Two days later, the group left Evil Spirit Island.
"If the powerful sea soul beasts nearby were indeed gathered because of the Void Silver Moon Tapir, then now that we've hunted it, those sea soul beasts should disperse."
"The fear is that these sea soul beasts might throw a tantrum toward the coastal areas before they disperse."
The capabilities of ten-thousand-year soul beasts were still very formidable.
Particularly sea soul beasts, who held a home-field advantage in the deep sea and an advantage in coastal waters as well; a single soul skill eruption might trigger a terrifying tsunami.
"The Void Silver Moon Tapir had just fed, so this shouldn't happen in the short term, but we should be on guard," Xiao Zhan said. "After I finish absorbing my soul ring, I'll take a trip to Blazing Academy City to remind Tianyang."
Dugu Bo and Gu Rong both nodded.
Blazing Academy City wasn't far from East Sea City, so it was indeed convenient for Huo Tianyang to handle this matter.
On the return journey, the group encountered several more attacks from sea soul beasts.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the whale-type soul beasts along the route had already been hunted by them on the way there, as they did not obtain any more whale glue.
Back on shore, Ning Rongrong stretched her arms and said, "It's still more comfortable on land."
The feeling of being on a boat was quite unpleasant—especially that salty sea breeze. It was fine for a little while, but blowing on you for ten days to half a month made it much more uncomfortable.
(End of Chapter)