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Salas, one of the four great Platinum Bishops of Spirit Hall, was also the Hall Master of the Tian Dou City Spirit Holy Temple.
Today, while he was handling affairs within the temple, he received an urgent report from a deacon.
Logically speaking, deacons, who were generally at the Grand Spirit Master or Spirit Elder level, were unable to directly contact a Platinum Bishop like him. However, all matters have varying degrees of urgency. If a major emergency was encountered, even an ordinary Spirit Hall member had the opportunity to contact a Platinum Bishop.
"A thousand-year second ring?" A sharp glint flashed in Salas's eyes. "Investigate all of this Su Wen's past records."
After assigning the task to investigate Su Wen's past, he personally went to the registration room where Su Wen was located.
Su Wen watched the original deacon leave. When Salas entered, Su Wen sensed the man's extraordinary and imposing presence and had an idea of who he might be.
"Display your spirit and your spirit rings," Salas commanded.
Su Wen did not hesitate. He directly released his spirit, and two spirit rings—one yellow, one purple—rose from beneath his feet, pulsating around him.
Salas confirmed that the second spirit ring was indeed the purple of a thousand-year ring. He then observed Su Wen's spirit, his gaze flickering.
A Book Spirit... and he was able to absorb a thousand-year ring as his second...
"You are Su Wen, correct? I am Platinum Bishop Salas. Your situation is extremely special. I wonder if you could describe the process of how you absorbed that thousand-year spirit ring? Naturally, Spirit Hall will give you the reward you deserve for this," Salas said, looking at Su Wen as he inquired about the details.
Su Wen wasn't particularly bothered by this. He had come here precisely with the intention of reporting it.
"I was alone in the Star Dou Great Forest..."
Upon hearing that Su Wen had hunted the spirit ring alone, Salas's expression turned strange. He looked at the young boy before him, who was merely eleven years old, and simply couldn't imagine him running off to the Star Dou Great Forest all by himself to hunt a spirit beast.
Furthermore, he had actually succeeded in killing a thousand-year spirit beast! It was simply outrageous. And this kid's spirit was just a book.
However, after listening to Su Wen's story—which was nine parts truth and one part falsehood—he gradually understood how Su Wen had managed to succeed.
"You are saying that you consumed monkey wine brewed by a Clarity Ape, which greatly improved your physical condition. Then, by a stroke of luck, you killed a Phantasmal Spirit Fox, and, unwilling to let it go to waste, you simply tried to absorb it? And you succeeded?" Salas lamented that Su Wen was truly a "newborn calf unafraid of a tiger."
"Yes, Lord Hall Master. It wasn't a completely impulsive decision to absorb it. Based on my understanding, the various attributes of different Spirit Masters are completely different, so their capacity to withstand and absorb spirit rings also varies. Using a single, fixed number as the 'limit' for a spirit ring's age seems inherently flawed.
However, the reality is that the spirit rings Spirit Masters can absorb are all below this supposed limit. Even auxiliary-type Spirit Masters can absorb rings that are extremely close to this value.
I still refuse to believe that the upper age limit one can withstand is only related to a Spirit Master's rank. Different Spirit Masters clearly have different physical constitutions, and yet the spirit ring age they can withstand is so similar.
Therefore, I hypothesize that there must be a certain attribute, one that is closely related to one's spirit power cultivation rank, that truly determines the absorption capacity."
Su Wen presented his case logically. This time, he was prepared to report his entire theory regarding spirit ring absorption.
With such a theoretical achievement, he could at least gain the attention of Spirit Hall.
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
He would use the theory behind absorbing a thousand-year second ring to divert Spirit Hall's focus away from the fact that he had a thousand-year second ring.
At the same time, this theory was sufficient to secure enough benefits for Su Wen.
For example, Salas's support and the attention of Spirit Hall's upper management. He could then take the opportunity to propose the idea of joining the Tian Dou Royal Academy to continue his studies. As long as his reasoning was sound, he wouldn't be stopped.
"A certain attribute closely related to one's spirit power cultivation rank?" Salas stared at Su Wen, knowing he already had the answer.
"That's correct, Lord Hall Master. When cultivating spirit power, the spirit power circulates within the body. It follows its own system of pathways. I call these 'meridians'."
"Meridians?"
"Yes. Meridians are the pathways that spirit power follows when circulating in the body. As one's spirit power increases, the meridians are nourished by this power and are also strengthened. As long as one hasn't specifically and purposefully strengthened them, Spirit Masters of the same rank will have very similar meridian strength.
Meridians are nourished by spirit power, and likewise, they are the key to withstanding spirit power pressure. It's just like when facing the pressure from a high-level Spirit Master: if one's spirit power goes berserk, strong and resilient meridians will be able to withstand it. But if the meridians are not strong enough to support it..."
Su Wen fabricated a complete, coherent narrative for how he came up with the theory.
In reality, this was something he already knew from his transmigration.
It was logical, evidence-based, and he had a successful case study (himself). Salas began to take Su Wen's theory very seriously.
"Are you saying that as long as a Spirit Master's meridian strength is purposefully enhanced, they will have the opportunity to absorb a spirit ring that exceeds the normal limit?"
"That's right. But to be safe, it's best to improve it as much as possible. I didn't just rely on the Clarity Wine; during my cultivation, I never neglected to train my body. Even just external physical conditioning has a certain strengthening effect on the meridians."
Salas nodded.
Just then, a deacon knocked on the door.
"Come in."
The deacon handed the file to Salas and then hurriedly departed.
Looking at the file on Su Wen, Salas compared it with what Su Wen had just said, connecting all the pieces.
"Su Wen, you have great potential as a theorist," he praised.
At this point, it was basically certain. Su Wen's theory was comprehensive, and the verification step had been completed by the theorist himself. It was, for all intents and purposes, a correct theory.
And with the guidance of this theory, when Spirit Hall cultivates talented Spirit Masters in the future, they could pay special attention to these aspects, thereby enabling them to absorb spirit rings that exceed the usual limits.
Even if it didn't allow them to absorb a ring of the next major rank, just improving from a seven-hundred-year ring to a nine-hundred-year ring would have a drastically different effect.
Between five hundred and seven hundred years, the spirit ring's effect isn't drastically different, so Spirit Masters don't agonize over it.
However, once one exceeded the standard limit—anything above seven hundred years—every additional hundred years would greatly increase the spirit ring's enhancement effect on the spirit. Someone within Spirit Hall had proposed a similar "Benefit of Exceeding-Limit Absorption" theory long ago.
Now, with the addition of Su Wen's theory, that "Benefit of Exceeding-Limit Absorption" theory had room for further refinement.
"I will report your theory to the Supreme Pontiff." Salas was very pleased, as he knew this would be a major personal achievement for him.
As for Su Wen, who had delivered this achievement to him, Salas found him more and more pleasing to the eye.
Even if he was treacherous and cunning, he wasn't a truly petty man. At the very least, he wouldn't be overly stingy with his subordinates.
Especially since Su Wen had, in effect, gift-wrapped this achievement and delivered it to his doorstep.
After obtaining his spirit ring in the Star Dou Great Forest, a full three months had passed before he came to the Tian Dou City Spirit Holy Temple to reveal his thousand-year second ring.
Salas was certain that Su Wen intended to use this achievement to gain his support, and he didn't mind one bit.
"Thank you, Lord Hall Master." Su Wen was 'overjoyed,' bowing deeply as he expressed his thanks.
"Good. You will stay here at the Spirit Holy Temple for the time being and await the Supreme Pontiff's next instructions. In the meantime, I will grant you access to the Holy Temple's archives."
Su Wen's expression revealed a trace of hesitation, which Salas immediately noticed.
"What is it? Do you have something else in mind?"
"Reporting to the Lord Hall Master, I wish to enter the Tian Dou Royal Academy to cultivate."
(End of this chapter)