Although it's not always true that the rarer something is, the stronger it is, this Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon is indeed very suitable for Bai Feng.
Of course, Su Yu's Star Spirit Grass is also extremely well-suited as his First Soul Ring.
"This Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon isn't something you can handle. Let me do it."
Bai Feng has been smart since he was young. His village chief grandfather occasionally taught him some combat skills. Despite his playful nature, Bai Feng sometimes practiced the Soul Master's combat techniques.
After awakening his Martial Soul, his talent in combat also stood out remarkably.
However, without obtaining his First Soul Ring, he couldn't face this century-old Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon.
Although the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon is rarer than the Star Spirit Grass, its quality isn't much higher. But that's only in comparison to the Star Spirit Grass.
The Star Spirit Grass, having the dual attributes of stars and life, possesses extremely rare attributes. It's not particularly focused on combat orientation, and its combat threat isn't very high, but it is categorically in the top tier in terms of quality.
The Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon also belongs to the top-tier category.
However, the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon that Su Yu and his group encountered was nearly five hundred years in cultivation. Even a Soul Venerable would hesitate to take it on, so how could Su Yu let Bai Feng deal with it himself?
"It's slightly beyond that so-called limit year."
Though it's not a big problem.
Su Yu didn't even frown.
Almost five hundred years, that's all.
The limit year is merely a statistical figure, which means there are variations. Bai Feng's Star Soul Sword is a top-level Martial Soul, naturally with greater endurance.
The Soul Ring places pressure on the flesh, which results from the Martial Soul enduring a certain amount of pressure.
When a Soul Master absorbs a Soul Ring, most of the pressure is borne by the Martial Soul, with only a minimal part reflected onto the Soul Master's body.
The greatest impact on the Soul Master is actually when the Soul Power of the Soul Ring surges into the meridians.
This tests the physique of the Soul Master, but more accurately, it tests the meridian's strength.
Being able to cultivate Soul Power to a certain level means the meridian strength is already up to par.
This explains why even the Support Soul Masters, despite having generally weaker physiques, do not fall short in absorbing Soul Rings compared to ordinary Strong Attack Soul Masters, among others.
Surpassing the limit year, the excessive pressure from absorbing the Soul Ring is mostly borne by the Soul Master's body, which is also the challenging part of exceeding levels in absorption.
Exceed it by how much, and that's how much the body needs to endure.
If the limit year is four hundred years, absorbing an eight-hundred-year Soul Ring means you have to train your physique to be on par with the Martial Soul's level!
Of course, it's about the ability to withstand external Soul Power at a similar level, not absolute strength, although physique correlates strongly with this endurance ability. Generally, physique stands in as the surrogate term for Soul Ring absorption endurance.
Bai Feng's Martial Soul quality is higher, offering more feedback to himself. His body should be strong enough to withstand the initial impact of Soul Power.
With Su Yu's previous exploration of Soul Ring absorption techniques, such as semi-refinement of the Power of the Stars as assistance, and the Self-Hypnosis Technique to minimize the will's influence of the Soul Power within the Soul Ring, it reduces pressure considerably.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring contains remnants of the Soul Beast's soul from before its death, causing Soul Shock to the Soul Master during the absorption process. Although sub-Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings do not have this, they inherently contain some of the Soul Beast's will, hindering the refinement of the Soul Ring by the Soul Master.
...
The nearly five-hundred-year-old Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon is ten meters long and three meters high, but in front of Su Yu, it's utterly vulnerable.
With a casual wave, he sends out a torrent-like Sword Qi, sweeping over it and severely injuring it.
"Xiaofeng, go on."
With a flick of his hand, Su Yu unleashes a Sword Qi stream that stuns Bai Feng.
So strong!
Was the teacher always this powerful?
Startled by his teacher's words as he was in shock, Bai Feng immediately summoned his Martial Soul.
With the integration of the Power of the Stars and Soul Power into the Martial Soul, he advanced to slash at the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon's throat.
Su Yu's Spiritual Power firmly suppressed the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon, rendering it unable to move even during its final counterattack before death.
A bright yellow ring slowly condensed from the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon's corpse.
Su Yu's gaze shifted, as if sensing something, and he used his Spiritual Power to scan the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon's corpse.
"Is this, Soul Bone formation?"
It was a very mysterious fluctuation, and only because of the relationship with the Life and Death runes could Su Yu feel this waveform.
Ellex confirmed Su Yu's speculation.
"Teacher, I want to try helping Xiaofeng refine this unformed Soul Bone this time."
The formation of a Soul Bone is merely the beginning, not even a tenth of the entire process, before the subsequent progression ceased.
Yet before this energy dissipated, Su Yu successfully captured it.
"Xiaofeng, while absorbing the Soul Ring, pay attention. I will help you refine the corpse of this Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon into your Soul Ring in a form similar to that of a Soul Bone."
Bai Feng seemed bewildered but still remembered Su Yu's words.
He sat down cross-legged, beginning to absorb the Soul Ring.
Su Yu drew out the energy with Spiritual Power and began its refinement under Ellex's guidance.
It was essentially an awakening of its Spirituality.
Upon awakening, Su Yu then further purified and compressed this energy, guided by runes to integrate into Bai Feng's body.
"How Xiaofeng will develop this energy in the future, and what weapons it'll be used to forge, all depend on him,"
Su Yu said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He could actually engrave runes on this energy mass, solidifying its form, but it might not match Bai Feng's thoughts.
So he simply preserved its malleability, merging it into Bai Feng's Soul Ring.
In the future, this energy is akin to a piece of rare metal, allowing Bai Feng to shape it and also engrave runes on it using Soul-guiding Device techniques, continually refining it.
Moreover, it could even serve as an additional component for his future Battle Armor.
Due to the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon's body nurturing the Soul Bone progress at merely a tenth, and no Soul Skill had been generated, perhaps, with further development of this energy, a Soul Skill might eventually emerge.
Su Yu marveled at his disciple's luck.
Though, under normal circumstances, this piece of Soul Bone would certainly not have formed, given the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon's cultivation was too low.
But owing to Su Yu's presence, who noticed that just a tenth of the energy had gathered, fortune played its role.
...
Bai Feng's process of refining the Soul Ring went thrillingly but ended without mishaps.
After all, he had just awakened his Martial Soul. Even though the Star Soul Sword provided significant feedback, bearing the burden of stepping beyond his limits was still somewhat challenging.
However, with Su Yu's Life Force aid, he completed the absorption of this Soul Ring.
"How is the Soul Skill?"
Bai Feng closed his eyes to feel it for a while.
Around him, there was a bright yellow Soul Ring, studded with luminescent white characters.
He opened his eyes, his voice slightly joyful, "My First Soul Skill is Unrivaled Sword Qi! It can amplify my Sword Qi's power by thirty percent, and during the skill activation, it can flexibly maneuver the Sword Qi around my body to form a Sword Qi defense."
An integration of offense and defense.
It seemed to have inherited the traits of the Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon well.
Moreover, this Soul Skill passively granted Bai Feng the ability to condense Sword Qi.
His Martial Soul could release Sword Qi, but it needed his cultivation to reach it, and the strength of the condensed Sword Qi would initially not be very high.
"Indeed, it's no less than a nearly five-hundred-year Soul Ring. This Celestial Star Sword Scale Dragon's Soul Skill suits you well and the effects are promising."
Percentage amplification is one of the most cost-effective Soul Skills.
According to Su Yu's research, the Soul Ring on Douluo Continent was at its core an interface between the Soul Master and the rules, a mechanism to harness the rules' applications.
The percentage increase has the assurance of the rules, making the augmentation quite substantial.
As long as you don't neglect the cultivation of this Soul Skill, even if your Soul Power realm keeps improving, as long as your comprehension and application of the First Soul Skill is up to date, this percentage is very unlikely to diminish.
That was Su Yu's hypothesis.