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Observing those unsteady footsteps, Su Wen formed a guess. He waited until the Fire Cloud Fox was out of sight, then he moved forward and sniffed the air carefully.
"That Fire Cloud Fox's spiritual fluctuations were also abnormal..."
After gaining the ability to mobilize his spiritual power, it was as if Su Wen had gained an extra sense. The range of information he could perceive was far greater.
This Fire Cloud Fox's spiritual fluctuations were somewhat chaotic.
This was the key to Su Wen discovering the anomaly.
At the same time, having only just gained control over his spiritual power, Su Wen wasn't very familiar with this kind of perception, which is why he hadn't noticed it at first.
Moving forward to sniff the lingering scent of the Fire Cloud Fox, Su Wen became mostly certain of his guess.
There was another fox-type spirit beast nearby, one that specialized in spiritual attributes.
Most likely, it was a female fox...
Su Wen reasoned that since the Fire Cloud Fox was male, the other one was unlikely to be male as well.
Following the Fire Cloud Fox's scent in the opposite direction, Su Wen quickly located a cave.
"Good, it's not far."
Su Wen did not enter the cave rashly, as he could sense a very strong spiritual fluctuation emanating from within.
"It carries a bewitching quality."
If it weren't for the Clarity Wine strengthening his spiritual power, combined with the 'Clarity' effect from his Book Spirit keeping his mind clear, Su Wen would have been prepared to back off right now.
He could feel a spiritual fluctuation with a bewitching nature just from the cave entrance. What would happen if he faced it head-on?
"First, I need to find a way to confirm its species."
Su Wen departed silently and returned to the Clarity Ape's cave. This time, he only stole a single jin of the Clarity Wine.
Carrying the wine, he returned to the fox's cave.
A rich, fragrant aroma of wine drifted into the cave.
Su Wen hid a good distance away, observing the cave entrance through a gap in the trees.
Swoosh!
A figure appeared, moving with incredible speed.
"Phantasmal Spirit Fox!"
Su Wen instantly identified its species from its appearance, his heart pounding with excitement.
This one is perfect!
Moreover, as the Phantasmal Spirit Fox's wary gaze scanned the surroundings, Su Wen also got a clear look at its face.
"Three eyes!"
A Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox!
A mutated Phantasmal Spirit Fox.
"This is a top-tier spiritual-attribute beast."
Su Wen couldn't help but marvel at his luck. He wanted a spiritual-attribute spirit ring for his second ring, and first, he found the Clarity Wine, and now, a mutated Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox.
"Its primary attribute is spiritual. While it might not excel at spiritual impact, it specializes in constructing illusions!"
For Su Wen, this was the absolute best spirit ring to help him develop his visualization techniques and overcome the limitations of his mimicry cultivation.
"What's more, this Phantasmal Spirit Fox mutated to have three eyes. Its spiritual power is likely even stronger, and it might even possess offensive spiritual techniques."
As Su Wen sensed the spiritual fluctuations from this Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox, he became a little confused again.
"It's not bewitching anymore, but rather... a feeling that makes one 'sink in' or 'be immersed'..."
He figured it out a moment later.
This Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox specialized in illusions. Its spiritual fluctuations were adept at luring a target into a state of immersion, thereby pulling them into an illusion. It was just that it had previously been used for certain... 'lewd' activities, which is why its aura carried that bewitching quality.
Tsk tsk, they were definitely playing wild games!
"Its spiritual fluctuations are also very strong. It can probably launch a spiritual impact."
Hunting this Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox was still going to be troublesome.
Su Wen was not in a hurry.
He could afford to wait!
"In any case, I've set aside a full three months for hunting my spirit beast."
When he left New Moon Village, Su Wen had accumulated about half a year's worth of origin spirit power, equivalent to about three levels.
This naturally wasn't enough. Factoring in one month on the road and one month already spent in the forest, Su Wen had accumulated another level's worth of origin spirit power.
This was thanks to his cultivation speed and the effects of the Clarity Wine. Even without the Little Sweet Potato's buff for the past month, his cultivation speed hadn't been affected in the slightest; in fact, it was slightly faster.
In addition to enhancing his spiritual power and cultivation, the Clarity Wine's contribution to Su Wen's physical strengthening was also very noticeable.
By using his internal and external techniques to fully digest everything, Su Wen felt that absorbing a thousand-year spirit ring would not be a problem.
And this Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox's cultivation level... was impressively, just at the thousand-year mark!
This was why Su Wen was marveling at how incredibly good his luck was.
It had to be said, Su Wen was truly patient.
After discovering the Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox, he lay in wait for an entire month.
"The Fire Cloud Fox has left. Now is the Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox's weakest moment."
Slipping quietly into the cave, Su Wen took out a special narcotic powder. He used the detached pages of his Book Spirit to deliver it deep into the cave.
Su Wen had secretly administered this drug earlier while the Fire Cloud Fox was present, which was why the fox had been limping when it left.
Of course, that wasn't the most important part.
The most important part was that before the Fire Cloud Fox, there had been two other fox-type spirit beasts.
After three consecutive days of... indulgence, this Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox was definitely weakened to its absolute limit.
This was the very reason Su Wen had waited in ambush for a whole month.
The scene had been truly explosive.
He had waited and schemed for a long time, luring the Phantasmal Spirit Fox into heat to such an extent, for three days straight...
Now, after administering another massive dose of an aphrodisiac, the Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox was completely incapacitated.
Watching a 'two-legged fox' walk towards it, the creature closed its three eyes. It didn't want to move, quietly waiting for the newcomer to... enter.
Splurch.
The dagger entered its head.
"Tsk tsk, a thousand-year spirit beast is nothing special after all." Su Wen put his hands on his hips, looking pleased with himself.
Indeed, for a thousand-year spiritual-attribute spirit beast to be killed by him—a Spirit Master who hadn't even obtained his second spirit ring—was practically unheard of.
Of course, the key was Su Wen's thorough preparations.
As for why he had prepared such thorough measures in advance... it was naturally because Su Wen was meticulous in his planning.
"It can't be helped. The biggest difference between humans and spirit beasts is our ability to use tools."
"My strength isn't as great as yours, so I'll just use tools."
Su Wen was no fool.
Hunting a spirit beast alone was already dangerous enough. If he still insisted on a head-on clash, wouldn't that just be seeking death?
"I need to absorb this spirit ring quickly and leave the Star Dou Great Forest. I haven't replied to Old Jack in three months; he's probably starting to worry."
A faint purple spirit ring emerged from the corpse of the Three-Eyed Phantasmal Spirit Fox.
Su Wen sat cross-legged, drawing the spirit ring over his body.
It was the same familiar feeling, the same familiar process.
This time, Su Wen immediately mobilized his spirit power and origin spirit power, forcing the spirit ring's power that surged into his body to merge into his spirit space. He quickly fed it into the spirit ring origin's transformation of his spirit, consuming it in the process.
Even so, the sheer volume of the spirit ring's power within his body still made Su Wen feel as if his meridians were being stretched to the breaking point.
"As expected, the risk of absorbing a spirit ring that exceeds one's limit is just too great."
An average person truly wouldn't be able to handle this.
Su Wen had already overestimated the difficulty of absorbing a thousand-year spirit ring as much as possible, yet it was still this terrifying. The difficulty was evident.
Grandmaster's ability to summarize those age limits probably marks the exact mutation points where the physical demands for absorbing a spirit ring increase dramatically for a Spirit Master at each stage.
As time passed, the pain Su Wen had to endure gradually lessened. He finally had the spare energy to leverage this spirit ring absorption process to open his Sea of Consciousness.
(End of this chapter)