"When the lotus petals appeared, I deliberately stood in a corner where they couldn't reach me. But I still got hit," Qu Yuanyi said.

Qian Yuelong revealed the answer: "My fourth soul skill is called 'Incense Lighting,' which can paralyze the poisoned person. In addition to flower petals, fragrance can also be a medium for poisoning."

Hu Liena, who had indeed smelled a faint fragrance before experiencing poisoning symptoms, was somewhat surprised: "Was it the same fragrance I smelled at the beginning? But why didn't I smell it afterward?" She almost thought she was hallucinating, as she could only smell a little at the beginning and couldn't smell it at all afterward.

"Because you've already been poisoned, you naturally won't be able to smell the fragrance anymore. Only those who haven't been poisoned can smell it; those who can't smell it are the ones who have been poisoned."

Qian Yuelong explained her fourth soul skill to everyone in detail: "As for the dizziness, nausea, heaviness in the head, and even the turning of the blood vessels into a purplish-black color, it is because 'Lighting Incense' inherits the characteristics of the Purple Scale Serpent King's venom. If the poisoned person cannot be detoxified or treated in time, they will eventually be eroded by the venom, and their internal meridians and blood vessels will decay and wither, leading to death."

The venom of the purple-scaled snake is a neurotoxin. The venom silently erodes the bite, damaging the body's meridians and blood vessels, eventually leading to internal exhaustion and death.

Everyone suddenly realized.

Hao Xuan remarked, "This fourth soul skill is quite vicious."

Qian Yuelong paused, put away the Floating World Golden Lotus, her oppressive aura dissipated, and she returned to her harmless and obedient appearance.

Wei Ming: "What about the others? Did you encounter any special situations when you absorbed spirit rings that exceeded their original lifespan?"

"Oh right, speaking of which," Qian Yuelong felt it was necessary for her to explain the concept of "soul vibration" to everyone.

"My third spirit ring is an ice-skinned frog that is about three thousand years old. In the records of the Spirit Hall, the longest that a spirit master's third spirit ring can withstand is 1760 years. Spirit masters who exceed this limit all died because they could not withstand the spirit ring and eventually exploded."

"As you all know, after a soul beast's cultivation breaks through ten thousand years, it is at a completely different level from a thousand-year soul beast. I once heard a concept that going from a hundred years to a thousand years is a sublimation, and going from a thousand years to ten thousand years is a qualitative change. In this process of qualitative change, the strength of a ten-thousand-year soul ring and the difficulty of absorption lies in the enormous energy impact of the soul ring itself and the soul vibration impact remaining in the soul ring."

"It can also be understood that although the soul beast is dead, it still retains a trace of its lingering spirit, which is engraved into the soul ring formed after the death of the ten-thousand-year-old soul beast. It is the last attack left to the soul master who killed it. If the mental strength and physical toughness do not reach a certain level, it is very likely that during the absorption process, it will be devoured by this trace of soul remnant spirit, losing all its mind and leaving only a shell in this world, living a muddled life."

Everyone gasped in shock.

Upon hearing this concept for the first time, Wei Ming's expression turned serious: "How come I've never heard of this before?"

Qian Yuelong remained expressionless: "It was something my older sister told me when I was a child and my family made me study."

Although the female protagonist Xiao Wu still has to grow up from a tiny human after transforming, her age is undoubtedly greater than the combined age of her two lifetimes.

Calling her "sister" is perfectly fine.

Knowing full well Qian Yuelong's identity, Wei Ming paused, deliberately changing the subject to avoid the somewhat dangerous topic, and then asked, "Did you also encounter this 'soul shock impact' when you were absorbing the soul ring?"

"Well, after practicing the Body Tempering Technique, my physical strength has long surpassed that of other Soul Masters at the same level. As for mental power, I am originally a control-type Soul Master. Although I have a plant-based Martial Soul, like Nana, I seem to be more adept at mental power techniques. Resisting soul shocks is a piece of cake. Those with slightly weaker mental power need to be careful."

Hu Liena, who was practicing the spiritual power secret technique given to her by Bibi Dong, nodded in agreement.

Indeed, most Soul Masters specializing in control have strong mental power, and there are very few control-type Soul Masters with weak mental power.

Qian Yuelong: "I have reviewed the records of the opposing Soul Masters' growth in the Spirit Hall and found that most of those who can absorb ten-thousand-year Soul Rings are Soul King level Soul Masters. When a Soul Master reaches level fifty, all aspects of their functions have grown to an excellent level, and they can accommodate even stronger energy."

"We are all practicing body tempering techniques and have already entered the basics. I believe that our physical resilience surpasses that of most other Soul Masters at the same level who have not practiced body tempering techniques. We can still give it a try and exceed the maximum lifespan of the third Soul Ring that we originally summarized."

As she spoke, Qian Yuelong looked at Xu Yu, whose soul power had just broken through to the Soul Venerable Realm.

“Xu Yu’s third spirit ring can challenge a spirit ring that exceeds the original age by 500 to 1,000 years. Don’t worry about the soul shock and impact; that’s something only spirit beasts that are over 10,000 years old can experience. Your third ring is still 1,000 years old.” She had secretly checked Xu Yu’s meridian expansion on the way to Sunset Forest. Based on his current physical strength, he could probably add another 500 to 1,000 years to his current age.

Upon hearing this, Wei Ming and the others also looked over.

Under immense pressure, Xu Yu chuckled dryly and cautiously took two steps back under the intense gazes of the crowd: "I think we could try a soul ring that exceeds the original's lifespan by three or four hundred years?"

While it may be a beginner's skill, to challenge a spirit ring that far exceeds one's original lifespan in such a short time, like the squad leader did, is simply a death sentence!

He's still young and doesn't want to be buried so soon.

Wei Ming patted Xu Yu's shoulder reassuringly: "Don't worry, I won't let you challenge the highest level directly like Yue Long did. I originally thought that a hundred or two hundred years would be enough, but I didn't expect you to be so courageous, Xu Yu."

Xu Yu: "."

No!

He could live for one or two hundred years!

Xu Yu's face twisted slightly, and just as he was about to speak, Hao Xuan smiled and placed his hand on his other shoulder, looking at him with a loving expression, and said, "It's alright, kid, even a hundred years is still surpassing. You might be a little scared of four hundred years, so how about three hundred years? Three hundred years is still surpassing. Come on, let's think about what kind of spirit beast you should choose for your third spirit ring."

Xu Yu: "."

Zhang Ping looked at Xu Yu, who was receiving special attention from the three teachers, with sympathy, and her envy for Xu Yu breaking through to the Soul Venerable level before them was much less.

I feel like breaking through to Soul Master now would be a bit of a loss.

As darkness fell, the group left the devastated area and chose a relatively open space to set up camp, planning to continue their search for soul beasts the next day.

Three tents were set up: one for the three teachers, one for Qian Yuelong, Hu Liena, and Zhang Ping, and one for the remaining four boys.

Wei Ming simply handed over the night watch to Qian Yuelong and the others.

Neither Xie Yue nor Xu Yu felt there was any reason for the girls to stay up all night.

Although their strongest squad leader is also a girl, she is somewhat embarrassed.

So the night watch team was formed by four boys, in pairs: Xie Yue and Xu Yu for the first half of the night, and Yan and Sun Chuantao for the second half.

Nothing was said that night.

—A side note—

Double update is here! [Hands on hips]

(End of this chapter)