"Father, I can clearly feel my body's strength. If you don't believe me, you can test me and see if I'm telling the truth."
"Oh, come here and let me test you."
Father raised his hand and carefully squeezed Ling Yun's arm, shoulder, and calf for a while. This should be a bone-touching test.
In the original work, when Tang San and the others entered Shrek Academy, the Shrek Academy's test teachers also used this method to check their bone age, and of course, their physical strength.
"Your body indeed has the strength of a Level 20 Spirit Master. So, for your spirit ring, you can choose a Spirit Beast between 800 and 900 years old. We haven't reached the inner area of the Soul Hunting Forest yet, so the Spirit Beasts here are relatively younger. We can go a bit deeper and see, and also check if there are any Spirit Beasts suitable for Shui Bing'er's spirit ring year limit."
We walked further into the forest along the river. Along the way, we didn't see any Spirit Beasts suitable for Shui Bing'er. Ice Phoenix is an ice-attribute Spirit, and there are fewer types of Spirit Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest, so finding one suitable for Shui Bing'er will likely take some time.
After walking a bit further, Ling Yun saw a flat stone in a bamboo grove not far from the river. At this moment, a bamboo-green snake was coiled on the stone, its tongue raised high, flicking its forked tongue, looking at us warily.
"This is a Qingfeng Bamboo Snake. This type of snake grows very fast when it's born, but after a hundred years, it only grows 10 centimeters per century. This snake is less than 1.8 meters long, so its age should be over 800 years. This snake is very aggressive and extremely fast, making it a very difficult Spirit Beast to deal with. As your First Soul Skill, it should provide you with a very good Spirit Ability, perfectly suited for you."
"Alright, I'll choose it. Father, can you please not make a move yet? Let me try to deal with it myself."
"Are you sure? Although it's not venomous, its speed still makes it very dangerous."
"No problem, Father. Just watch from the side, and if I'm in danger, then you can act." As soon as he finished speaking.
Without waiting for his father's response, Ling Yun had already summoned his Qingping Sword, his toes performing the agile footwork of Xiaoyao Step, and he charged towards the Qingfeng Bamboo Snake like an arrow.
He started with the first form of Qingyun Swordplay—Qingyun First Appearance. As the blade cut through the clear wind, it condensed an arc of green light, but it only struck a lingering afterimage—the Qingfeng Bamboo Snake's speed was faster than Gui Mei, its scales scraping against the sword's edge as it retreated three feet, and its bamboo-jointed tail tip tapped against the sword, clinking.
Ling Yun's wrist twisted, and the sword's momentum suddenly changed. Liufeng Chasing Clouds was originally a marvelous combination of movement and sword technique. With the boost of Xiaoyao Step, he crushed the moss on the bluestone, and the Qingping Sword followed the snake's shifting trajectory like a shadow.
When the sword tip brushed past its cold, gleaming scales for the third time, the sword wind had already created a sharp whistling sound, forcing the bamboo snake to abandon its evasive maneuvers and dart quickly towards the small river.
Ling Yun instantly appeared in front of it with Xiaoyao Step. Seeing no hope of escape, the Qingfeng Bamboo Snake once again entangled itself with Ling Yun.
During the continuous struggle, the Qingfeng Bamboo Snake had several cuts on its body from the sword qi. The Qingfeng Bamboo Snake suddenly leaped, its mouth aimed directly at my neck. Ling Yun's wrist twisted, and the Qingping Sword drew a full-moon arc in mid-air, a variation of Qingyun First Appearance—this time, the sword's momentum did not strike directly, but instead, using an upward thrust, condensed thousands of sword shadows, striking the Qingfeng Bamboo Snake's vital spot like thunder.
"Hiss—"
A sharp cry mixed with the faint sound of bones shattering, as the Qingping Sword plunged into the bamboo snake's body at its seven-inch mark. The snake's body suddenly tensed like a bowstring, and blood beads bursting from its scales splattered on Ling Yun's hand, making his palm tremble. The entire snake fell from mid-air, its head weakly raised.
Ling Yun did not rush to kill it, but instead sat cross-legged and meditated for a while. When his state returned to its best, I summoned my Qingping Sword and walked in front of the Qingfeng Bamboo Snake. With one sword, I pierced its head.
Not long after, streams of yellow light floated from the snake's body, eventually converging into a deep yellow ring in mid-air.
Father and Yu'er stood beside Ling Yun and said to me, "We will protect you. Absorb the spirit ring with peace of mind."
Ling Yun sat cross-legged on the ground, summoned his Qingping Sword, and used his mental force to slowly draw the spirit ring closer to him.
When the spirit ring reached the top of my head, it suddenly shrunk rapidly and finally settled onto Ling Yun's Qingping Sword.
Immediately, Ling Yun felt a powerful pressure descend upon him. He gritted his teeth and held on stubbornly. That mountain-like pressure weighed down on Ling Yun, and after a while, his body suddenly relaxed.
The spirit ring had been completely absorbed by the Qingping Sword. Ling Yun stood up, his bones crackled, and the spirit power in his body surged. Ling Yun carefully sensed his spirit power level.
"I seem to be Level 19 already." Although Ling Yun always knew that his innate spirit power was more than Level 10. Initially, Ling Yun's spirit power should have been Level 17-18, and with this over-level absorption of the spirit ring, it pushed Ling Yun's spirit power to Level 19.
In that case, Ling Yun only needed to advance one more level to obtain his second spirit ring.
"Ling Yun, what level are you? What is your First Soul Skill? What are its effects?"
Ling Yun summoned his Qingping Sword and, with a loud shout, aimed at a bamboo grove in front of him, "Green Glow Thrust." Immediately, the entire bamboo grove in front of him was cut off at the roots by Ling Yun's single sword strike.
Ling Yun put away his Spirit and told his father, "My First Soul Skill is Green Glow Thrust. It condenses sword qi at the tip of the sword and rapidly thrusts forward in a straight line. It's extremely fast, with a piercing effect, and can break through a portion of the enemy's defense."
"This is a very powerful Spirit Ability with strong offensive power. Generally, defensive two-ring Spirit Masters probably wouldn't be able to block it. Let's pack up, and we'll search along the bamboo grove again to see if there are any Spirit Beasts suitable for Shui Bing'er."
We bypassed the bamboo grove and walked a bit further. To the front left, there was a cave, from which waves of cold air emanated.
"There's cold air coming out of here. There might be a Spirit Beast suitable for Shui Bing'er inside. I'll go in first; you two follow behind."
"Look, there's an Ice Silkworm there!" We had only walked about 10 meters when we heard Shui Bing'er's soft exclamation.
Ahead, there was a small pond, and the water in the pond was not very deep. In the middle of the pond was a raised stone, and an Ice Silkworm was lying on the stone. It looked only three centimeters long. The age of an Ice Silkworm is also easy to distinguish; an Ice Silkworm grows 1 centimeter every 100 years. This one was exactly 300 years old. It would be perfect as Shui Bing'er's First Soul Skill.
"The Ice Silkworm has no offensive power. Its only attack method is to spit out a stream of cold air to freeze the target. And the Spirit Ability it provides should also be of the freezing type. It can provide Shui Bing'er with a powerful control system Spirit Ability. Shui Bing'er, I will control it; you go and kill it." After his father finished speaking, he mobilized his spirit power to firmly suppress the Ice Silkworm, rendering it unable to move.
Shui Bing'er pulled out a dagger from her waist, jumped onto the stone, and immediately pierced the entire Ice Silkworm. Streams of yellow light floated from the Ice Silkworm's corpse, gathering in the air to form a ring. Perhaps due to its age, this ring's color was much lighter than mine.
Shui Bing'er sat cross-legged on the stone, summoned her Ice Phoenix Spirit, and drew the spirit ring, which slowly floated above Shui Bing'er's head and then quickly enveloped Shui Bing'er's body. Shui Bing'er's body suddenly trembled, followed by an expression of pain on her face, and cold sweat on her forehead soon soaked her hair.
After a while, the painful expression on Shui Bing'er's face slowly disappeared. The spirit ring finally integrated into Shui Bing'er's body.
"Martial Soul Fusion, Ice Seal!" she shouted softly.
A wave of cold air emanated from Shui Bing'er's hand, instantly freezing the entire pond. Shui Bing'er stepped onto the ice and with a light leap, she was in front of us.
"Dad, my First Soul Skill is Ice Seal, a control system Spirit Ability. Its effect is to use mental force to lock onto a target and then freeze the entire target. The most important thing is that it's an instant cast!"
"Shui Bing'er, this Spirit Ability is very suitable for you. With it, you will become an excellent control system Spirit Master. On the battlefield, you will be able to provide the best control for your teammates. Alright, our mission for this trip is successfully completed. It's time to prepare to go back."