"This is something I figured out myself—more of a personal talent for now. It can't really be replicated yet. Maybe in the future it could become some kind of secret technique, but at the moment I can't properly explain it."
Chen Ming walked over to the headless dragon corpse and nodded while looking at the deep purple Spirit Ring floating above it.
"A dragon mutant with an innate defect, not a true dragon yet still comparable to one… I wonder what kind of Spirit Ability this ring will give me after absorption."
"This Spirit Ring should be around six thousand four or five hundred years old. Aside from that person, ordinary people don't even have fourth rings this powerful. Are you really sure your third ring can handle this?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo still looked worried.
"There's no problem. My body is strong enough, my Martial Soul is overbearing enough, and my control over Spirit Power is precise enough. A Spirit Ring like this isn't an issue for me."
"But teacher, who exactly is this 'that person' you mentioned?"
Chen Ming already knew he was referring to Bibi Dong, but he still wanted to know how she had managed it.
"That person… you saw the Pope yesterday, so you should remember her. She's that kind of abnormal genius."
"But her talent is different from yours. She was born with Twin Martial Souls, and both of them are beast-type Martial Souls with extremely high compatibility between them."
"Before Spirit Masters reach Spirit Saint and obtain their Martial Soul True Body, beast-type Spirit Masters are generally considered stronger than tool-type Spirit Masters of the same level because their bodies are naturally more powerful."
"Ordinary people only possess one Martial Soul, and the enhancement beast-type Martial Souls provide to the body usually depends on the strength of the Martial Soul itself."
"But she possesses two beast-type Martial Souls that complement each other perfectly. And both of them are emperor-class Martial Souls of the absolute highest caliber."
"Either one alone is no weaker than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon—perhaps even stronger."
"Even if she only cultivates one Martial Soul and doesn't attach Spirit Rings to the second one, as her cultivation rises, both beast-type Martial Souls still continuously strengthen her body."
"That makes her physical abilities overwhelmingly superior compared to ordinary Spirit Masters."
"You can't learn this kind of talent."
Golden Crocodile Douluo sighed as he said this.
What was this? This was heaven itself feeding someone with a spoon.
Two emperor-class spider Martial Souls—each one among the absolute strongest Martial Souls in existence. Not only did they possess unique abilities, but the enhancement they granted to physical strength far surpassed ordinary Martial Souls.
And beast-type Martial Souls strengthened the body even without possession.
Even if Bibi Dong cultivated normally, her base physical abilities would still be over fifty percent stronger than those of ordinary Spirit Masters. For her, absorbing Spirit Rings beyond standard limits was as simple as eating and drinking.
No technique.
Just pure talent and overwhelming stats.
In earlier eras, no one possessed such absurd talent. Tens of thousands of years later, there would be a Spirit Master with Twin Martial Souls of Light Holy Dragon and Darkness Holy Dragon who possessed similar gifts—but by then, Spirit Masters no longer absorbed traditional Spirit Rings and instead used Spirit Souls.
The Douluo world truly did not have many tricks for increasing Spirit Ring endurance limits.
The only real method was to endure it head-on—and rely on an even stronger body to do so.
In this era, nobody had even discovered that whale rubber could enhance physical strength and indirectly increase Spirit Ring absorption limits. Even Spirit Hall had no real understanding in this area.
Chen Ming's mouth twitched slightly, and he nodded.
Brute force wins the day. There may not be any technique, but the force was overwhelming.
Sitting beside the Spirit Beast's corpse, Chen Ming pushed his processing ability to the limit. The Land Dragon Golden Melon within his abdomen began to operate, and scorching, pure energy flowed throughout his body. With the assistance of the Land Dragon Golden Melon, Chen Ming temporarily achieved the effect of dual-core processing.
As the purple Spirit Ring was drawn in by his Martial Soul, the Spirit Power within his body circulated rapidly yet orderly through his many meridians, forming a complex cycle that reduced the strain of Spirit Ring absorption on his body with precise efficiency.
The little dragon had died extremely unwillingly.
If it had been an ordinary ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast, its spiritual resentment would already be boiling like scalding water by now.
However, although this Spirit Beast possessed tremendous strength and high-quality bloodline, it lacked spiritual attributes. Its spiritual power had not reached the level where it could leave behind lingering soul remnants. As a result, the only effect was a slight increase in the restlessness of the Spirit Power.
This mutant possessed four attributes.
Darkness and water inherited from the Hell Demon Dragon.
Metal and earth inherited from the White Armored Holy Dragon.
But not all innate attributes could fuse together into a special ability.
The metal attribute within this Spirit Beast was primarily reflected through physical enhancement. As for elemental abilities, it was instead the fusion of darkness, water, and earth that created a unique power.
...
The process of absorbing the Spirit Ring went exceptionally smoothly.
Chen Ming's Martial Soul was powerful enough. His meridians were strong enough. And under AI-like thought processing, every strand of Spirit Power was controlled with absolute precision.
Every possible change could be predicted in advance.
No matter what situation occurred, preparations had already been made beforehand.
After nearly half an hour of struggle, the Spirit Power within the Spirit Ring was completely subdued by Chen Ming and gradually merged into his Martial Soul, beginning the formation of its corresponding Spirit Ability.
Generally speaking, enhancement-type Spirit Abilities were Chen Ming's preferred choice.
But this mutant Spirit Beast possessed a special variable within its abilities—a unique power formed from the fusion of darkness, water, and earth attributes. Its effects were extremely similar to damage reduction and damage absorption.
If Chen Ming chose this ability as his Spirit Ability, he could potentially continue developing and integrating it into himself in the future.
After calculating for a while, Chen Ming ultimately chose a utility-type Spirit Ability, abandoning his previous obsession with enhancement abilities.
As darkness and water attributes merged into his body, both his Martial Soul and physique began to change.
Several more moments passed before Chen Ming slowly opened his eyes.
One yellow and two purple Spirit Rings floated around him.
But the most eye-catching thing was not the Spirit Rings.
It was Chen Ming's right eye.
Originally, Chen Ming's eyes had looked completely ordinary. After his Martial Soul evolved, his eyes would become somewhat reptilian during Martial Soul Possession, carrying faint traces of gold—somewhat similar to the hybrid protagonists from another neighboring world.
But now, his right eye had changed.
Although the pupil still remained a reptilian vertical slit, darkness and water-attributed power now filled the eye itself, causing his right eye to radiate a deep, abyss-like feeling, as though it could swallow light itself.
This was not some psychological illusion.
It was a genuine transformation caused by elemental attributes.
This was not the result of obtaining an external Spirit Bone during absorption. Rather, darkness and water had affected the origin of his Martial Soul itself, creating direct changes to his body.
It was simply because human eyes were among the most delicate and fragile organs in the body, coupled with Chen Ming's current cultivation still being insufficient, that no deeper mysteries could yet be seen from it.
For now, it could only be treated as a visual effect.
"Level 33? This feels… unexpectedly good."
Chen Ming stood up and stretched his body.
As his second Spirit Ring lit up, two bulges emerged from his back. Soon after, a pair of golden dragon wings spread open behind him.
This was not an External Spirit Bone, but a deeper level of Dragonification resulting from the further increase in his cultivation and understanding of his Martial Soul.