The poor little pink fox had finally met its match, its "natural enemy." The two little lolis genuinely adored it, but being so young, they didn't know their own strength, and the little fox often lost fur from their affectionate roughhousing. So now, whenever it saw the two little lolis, the pink fox would instinctively bolt.
Leisurely and happy times always passed quickly. Only half a month remained until the 2023 Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, hosted by the Heaven Dou Empire.
During this period, all the Soul Master academies across the Douluo Continent were secretly gathering their strength for this top-tier event in the Soul Master world.
Chang Li had long since completed the registration for St. Freya Academy for this tournament. The seven participating team members from the academy had also been decided.
Besides Zhang Lexuan and Keqing, the remaining five members were students St. Freya Academy had recruited over the past few years. However, these five possessed ordinary talent and were destined to achieve little significant success on the Soul Master path.
Thus, they decisively chose to sell themselves to Lu Jingming and underwent the Fusion Warrior surgery. After this competition, they would bid farewell to St. Freya Academy, abandon their original identities, and join the Golden Guard and the Wuchang Division, respectively.
But before that, they had to go all out in this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, for it was precisely because of this tournament that they received the valuable opportunity to undergo Fusion Warrior surgery.
Due to limited resources and their lack of any significant achievements, they only underwent Soul Sect-level fusion surgery. But this was fine; they were merely supplementary forces.
The true main powerhouses were Zhang Lexuan and Keqing. These two had diligently cultivated for a full year in the Golden Tree of Shrek Academy and had already successfully broken through to the Soul Saint realm. Upon their return, with Jingliu's assistance, they successfully obtained their seventh soul rings.
With two Soul Saint powerhouses leading the team, St. Freya Academy was almost guaranteed victory in this tournament, a "dragon riding on the face"—how could they possibly lose?
The Sea Abyss was left in Shrek City for Ningguang to use, and the second airborne soul tool warship had not yet been completed.
Out of necessity, Zhang Lexuan and the others could only rely on flying soul tools to travel to the Heaven Dou Empire.
This expedition team consisted of seven contestants, plus Jingliu and Lu Jingming, totaling nine people. Oh! And the little pink fox.
Lu Jingming needed to go to the Star Dou Great Forest to acquire his third soul ring, and he was also curious about this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, intending to observe it. After all, it was a world-class event, so lively, he didn't want to miss it.
Lu Jingming had always been full of a desire to explore this world. Previously, his understanding of this world was limited to textual descriptions, lacking real experience.
Due to his young age, apart from Haiyuan City, he had never set foot anywhere else. This was a good opportunity to experience the grandeur of Heaven Dou City.
Because they had to go to the Star Dou Great Forest, they had to take a detour. However, with half a month remaining until the tournament's opening, time was relatively abundant for Lu Jingming, who only needed to acquire his third soul ring.
Initially, Lu Jingming was limited by his thinking, believing that, like ordinary Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent, his soul skills were closely related to the type of soul beast.
So, when acquiring his first soul ring, he single-mindedly searched for soul beasts with destruction and death attributes. But it wasn't until he obtained his second soul ring that Herta informed him that his Abyssal White Flower was fundamentally different from others' martial souls. Regardless of the attribute of the soul beast soul ring absorbed, the soul skills obtained would be the power inherent in the Abyssal White Flower itself.
Absorbing soul rings and raising his cultivation was essentially just unsealing the true power of the Abyssal White Flower. Therefore, what truly determined the strength of his soul skills was not the soul beast's attribute, but the soul ring's lifespan. The higher the lifespan, the stronger the soul skill obtained.
This meant Lu Jingming no longer needed to painstakingly search for soul beasts with death and destruction attributes to hunt.
After all, such attribute soul beasts were extremely rare, and his requirements for soul ring lifespans were quite high. Take his third soul ring, for example: ordinary Soul Masters, upon reaching the Soul Venerable realm, mostly absorbed thousand-year soul rings, while he was targeting ten-thousand-year soul rings.
In terms of physical constitution, as long as he could endure the intense pain during soul ring absorption, with the Abyssal White Flower's power of creation, he could tough it out.
As for the mental aspect, a flicker of red light flashed in Lu Jingming's eyes, a sign of extremely condensed spiritual power. He had practiced swordsmanship since childhood, learning not ordinary sword techniques, but what Jingliu truly imparted to him: refining his spiritual will into a sharp sword, solidifying his sword intent.
Once his sword intent reached mastery, he could wield any weapon with great power. Although Lu Jingming's sword intent had not yet reached entry level, his spiritual power had steadily grown during his long-term sword practice. Now, his spiritual power far exceeded that of mental-type Soul Masters of the same rank.
Because of this, he was very confident in absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul beast's soul ring. He didn't have to worry about being blown apart by violent soul power or having his soul damaged by the residual spirit of a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
Although there were other ways to increase soul ring lifespans later on, the soul power feedback gained from absorbing over-leveled soul rings would save him a lot of cultivation time.
Upon arriving at the Star Dou Great Forest, Zhang Lexuan and Keqing led the team to wait outside the forest. Only Lu Jingming and Jingliu entered the Star Dou Great Forest, and the little fox was left behind to be cared for by Keqing.
Since the target was a ten-thousand-year soul beast, Jingliu directly led Lu Jingming deep into the core zone. The soul beasts living in the core zone were extremely powerful, both in terms of lifespan and bloodline.
Even so, finding a soul beast with a cultivation of around fifteen thousand years was not an easy task, and they spent a considerable amount of time. Along the way, they also encountered a few soul beasts, but these soul beasts had cultivation lifespans that were too high, far exceeding the maximum that Lu Jingming could absorb.
Just then, Jingliu sensed a soul beast moving rapidly. This soul beast exuded an aura of light and flame, with a cultivation lifespan of around fifteen thousand years, perfectly meeting Lu Jingming's absorption conditions.
After receiving Jingliu's reminder, black mist permeated Lu Jingming's hand, and a jet-black long spear appeared in his grasp. He steadily took a few steps forward, arriving at an open area, quietly waiting for the soul beast to arrive.
A ten-thousand-year soul beast already possessed the combat strength of a Soul King level. Normally, such a powerful opponent would be something Lu Jingming, a mere Soul Venerable, could never contend with. But Lu Jingming showed no fear.
He was no ordinary Soul Master; his powerful physique, spiritual power far exceeding his rank, and the Abyssal Spear in his hand all gave him the confidence to challenge opponents beyond his level.
In his eyes, it was just a ten-thousand-year soul beast, its intelligence not yet fully developed, its beastly nature dominant. How could he possibly feel fear?