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--- Chapter 101 ---
Aside from the incident of sneaking into the bedroom, the others have made significant improvements over the past three years. Although they may not be as explosive in growth as Liu Erlong and Ye Xuelan, the rest of the group has also strengthened quickly.
A year and a half ago, Dugu Xin absorbed a 100,000-year-old spirit ring from the rare Chilling Bone Fire Dragon, which resides in the extreme north and successfully advanced to the Spirit Douluo Realm.
After that, Dugu Xin focused on learning and mastering his "Emerald Mist Dragon" martial soul. Now, he could fight a low-leveled Title Douluo, if not killing them in a battle of attrition, using his unique poison arts.
Emerald Mist Dragon's ability to produce freezing and superheated poison mist is terrifying. Dugu Xin can change the poison's matter back and forth at a rapid rate, creating a shockwave that renders anything on its path disappear from the sudden change of temperature alone, which means conventional defense is useless.
Then, if the enemy ever survived, the extreme poison would affect their bodily function because of the half-crystalized and half-burned organs.
The extreme poison also affects one's spiritual power due to the perfect mix of ice and fire elements.
Even though Dugu Xin's poison wasn't as strong as Dugu Bo's, his ability is more versatile. He didn't just focus on poison but also his new ice and fire attributes.
Of course, Dugu Bo would always win because the Jade-Eyed Nether Dragon is stronger and more durable in combat. His darkness attribute also gives him a better edge as he could "disappear" from Dugu Xin's superheated crystal-mist explosion.
The third member of the Dugu Family, Dugu Yan, also improved tremendously.
After absorbing the spirit rings of a 12,000-year-old River Dragon as her fourth and a 23,000-year-old Oceanic Blast Dragon as her fifth, Dugu Yan reached Spirit King at 17. She's currently at level 52 and would likely reach level 60 and get her sixth spirit ring before the next Continental Spirit Tournament begins.
Dugu Yan's martial soul also evolved, solidifying the dragon's essence in her body. The Jade-Scaled Flood Dragon has completely awakened and becomes the Jade-Scaled Sea Dragon, a dragon species with ultimate poison, extreme water, and wind attributes.
With the Jade-Scaled Sea Dragon, Dugu Yan could defeat the Spirit Emperor without much effort, though the Spirit Sage is still difficult for her.
Oh, by the way. The Jade-Scaled Sea Dragon might evolve again if Han Yuan gave her the Water Dragon King's essence beneath the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, but he was against doing such a thing because Dugu Yan had yet to master her current strength.
Dugu Yan's current strength puts her in the 2nd-ranking among the Dao Academy's students.
Then, there is Dugu Yan's best friend and partner in crime, Ye Lingling.
Just like her mother, Ye Lingling also accepted the Flower Goddess Nine Trials under the supervision of the Goddess of Life. She also has reached Spirit King Realm with a spirit rank of level 55, slightly higher than Dugu Yan because of her trial's rewards.
After Ye Lingling's martial soul evolved into Nine Heart Divine Begonia, she changed her spirit master's path from support to auxiliary combat system.
The additional attributes of her martial soul have allowed her to become a versatile support character. Unfortunately, mastering space attributes is quite challenging. Ye Lingling can only teleport, as creating a space slash is much more tricky than one might think. Nevertheless, as long as she has enough spirit energy, Ye Lingling is nearly invincible as a support player on the battlefield.
Ye Lingling also abused her Chidori and Rasengan with teleportation Nine Heart Divine Begonia's space attribute like a "certain" Hokage, so beware of the flash.
She's currently at the 3rd rank among the academy's students.
Resuming another pair, we have Ning Rongrong and Ning Fengyuan.
Ning Fengyuan's martial soul evolution allowed her to break the curse of her clan, which prompted her breakthrough into the Spirit Douluo Realm, much like Ye Xuelan before she got the divine trials. She also becomes more skillful in copying other's spirit skills, whether recovery, poison, or teleportation.
While she couldn't defeat people like Dugu Bo or Liu Erlong, they also found her annoying to fight because every hard-hitting attack they launched at her would get returned immediately.
Her martial soul truly embodies the concept of NO U! Cough. It was the concept of reflection.
Aside from Ning Fengyuan's martial soul evolution and cultivation, her most noticeable change is perhaps her status in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
After becoming a double agent and the one reliable for every purchase between the Dao Academy and Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, Ning Fengzhi raised Ning Fengyuan's status to a high-level elder with more access to the clan's resources and authority.
She was also responsible for being Ning Rongrong's guardian while studying at the academy.
Talking about Ning Rongrong, she reached a half-step Spirit Ancestor Realm at 10. She could have broken through weeks ago if not for the rarity of gem-type spirit beasts, especially the older ones.
Han Yuan's investment in Ning Rongrong also paid off, as she became a crucial piece in his negotiations with Ning Fenzhi regarding the evolution of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.
With Ning Fengyuan and Ning Rongrong supporting Han Yuan, the old fox Ning Fengzhi was under immense pressure, ultimately coughing more blood to obtain an Immortal Pill made with Beautiful Silk Tulip.
Ning Fengzhi finally experiences the frustration of having a daughter who loves her husband more than she loves him. It feels as if the flower he had nurtured with care and affection got taken away by a mule.
He finds himself powerless in this situation because he was the one who encouraged his daughter to grow close to Han Yuan in the first place.
Hehe, he could only get angry at himself!
Having a little witch on your side is a good thing. She could intimidate your opponent with her charm.
However, Han Yuan also found Ning Rongrong's development baffling because she became more playful with Xiao Wu.
Since Xiao Wu became Han Yuan's pet and lived in the Dao Academy, she has become with his students, Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, and especially Ning Rongrong. The little brat and rabbit combination are well-known for their mischievousness in the academy.
Then, they instantly became sensible, cute young sisters when Han Yuan was around.
Although Xiao Wu wasn't as rogue as she used to be, living with Liu Erlong changed her perspective on life. She acts like a cute rabbit when needed and strikes as quickly as lightning when her enemy's guard is down.
Not to mention, Xiao Wu's talent and strength as a transformed 100,000-year-old spirit beast are fearsome.
With Han Yuan's rigorous training and rich resources, the little rabbit reached level 43 as a Spirit Ancestor Realm with yellow, purple, black, and black spirit rings. But her effort is also commendable.
Nevertheless, Han Yuan's motivation for training Xiao Wu went beyond training his pet. He was also eager to understand how a spirit beast condenses its spirit ring after transforming into a human. Han Yuan knew that spirit beasts used origin—a small piece of their existence or soul—and spiritual power to create their spirit rings, but he did not fully comprehend the process.
With the assistance of his pet rabbit, he successfully figured out the specific method for producing a self-condensed spirit ring. He named this creation the Natal Spirit Ring Method!
Condensed from the spirit master's origin, spiritual power, and a fragment of their soul, the Natal Spirit Ring can also be used as another revival method because it records enough information about one's soul and genetic codes.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using this method.
On the positive side, since the Natal Spirit Ring is self-condensed, most of the skills acquired from it are passive and can grow alongside the spirit master. Additionally, there is no delay when using the spirit skill, as it originates from the spirit master's own cultivation rather than from a spirit beast.
However, there are downsides as well. The Natal Spirit Ring does not provide new origin energy to the martial soul because it drains one's origin. As a result, the martial soul does not have the opportunity to mutate or evolve.
From the Natal Spirit Ring, Han Yuan furthermore developed a method of stripping spirit masters from their spirit rings and strengthening spirit rings by aging them.
The method of stripping the spirit ring is the Spirit Destruction Method, as it uses spiritual power to sever the connection between one's spirit ring and martial soul, isolating and then sealing or destroying them.
The only downside is that the process was 'extremely' painful, as it rip through one's origin, spiritual power, and will.
Weirdly enough, it's a great way of training one's willpower and spiritual power.
Han Yuan discovered the method of strengthening spirit rings by aging them by a complete accident while using the energy pathway of the Natal Spirit Ring in conjunction with his Earthly Nourishment Manual. Instead of nourishing one's body, he utilized the heaven and earth energy present in the atmosphere to enhance the spirit ring.
After a few successful attempts, Han Yuan finally understood how spirit masters in the future would employ spiritual power to measure the quality and resilience of Spirit Souls, thereby strengthening them. They used spiritual power to communicate with the natural energies (heaven and earth force).
It led to the creation of the Spirit Nourishment Method.
Even though the Spirit Nourishment Method is slow because the aging spirit rings by 100 years alone took a month, its gradual enhancement to the spirit master is tremendous. Well, Han Yuan could still improve it.
Funnily enough, all these techniques originated from a single technique Han Yuan created many years ago, Thousand Eyes!
Without sufficient mastery over spiritual power and a deep understanding of Thousand Eyes, one can't condense the Natal Spirit Ring or use the Spirit Destruction and Spirit Nourishment techniques.
Of course, Han Yuan didn't just focus on these matters.
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