Journey to the West: Life Simulation of Sun Wukong

"Xiao Ming, what kind of soul beast do you think Yan Yan should choose for her fourth soul ring?" Dugu Bo, admitting that Sun Ming's understanding of soul beasts now surpassed his own, sought his advice.

"Yan Yan's first three soul rings are close to ten thousand years old, with ice, fire, and earth attributes. It's clear she is aiming to gain multi-attribute enhancement abilities similar to my Heart Ape Martial Spirit, to adapt to a variety of environments in the future."

Sun Ming pondered, "For the fourth soul ring, Yan Yan should be able to withstand soul shock, so it could be a ten-thousand-year one. As for the attribute, she could choose wood, representing life, which could grant her strong vitality and recovery abilities."

"Since her martial spirit is a Crystal Dragon, naturally a dragon species would be best."

"If none can be found, we might return to the Ice Fire Yin Yang Eyes. In the herbs we collected earlier, there was a Dragon Blood Ginseng, probably at the millennium level. We can replant it, and I'll have the Wood Ape accelerate its growth, allowing it to surpass ten thousand years and become a plant-type soul beast."

"However, one thing is peculiar: Dragon Blood Ginseng usually thrives in areas nourished by Dragon Blood, and yet there seems to be an unusually high number of them near the Ice-Fire Lake."

Dugu Bo immediately realized something: "Are you suggesting that the Ice-Fire Lake formed from the fall of a powerful dragon soul beast with ice and fire awakening?"

"Most likely so," Sun Ming nodded, "You're aware of the Diamond Ape's situation; it's been two hundred thousand years. So, a dragon soul beast's fall forming such a unique environment—how many years of cultivation would that ice-fire attributed dragon soul beast have? At the minimum, over nine hundred thousand years."

"Previously, I didn't mention it because I was afraid you'd impulsively try it out. Now that you've reached level ninety-eight, coupled with the three-dan solidification, you could go explore the lake bottom."

"Nonetheless, it's best to wait until your soul power at level ninety-eight stabilizes for safety."

Dugu Bo chuckled, "No problem, if any soul bones are found, they'll be for you."

"I don't really need them; they're for Yan Yan. After all, I'm planning to experiment with human spirit bones," Sun Ming shook his head. "Besides, my martial spirit isn't related to dragons, so the enhancement for me would be minimal."

"You're not interested in a soul bone that's at least nine hundred thousand years old?" Dugu Bo was speechless.

"Not interested. A foreign soul bone inside one's body, no matter how powerful, is still an impurity... But rest assured, in my concept, if the human spirit bone experiment succeeds, any absorbed soul bones will voluntarily detach, for even the strongest outside soul bones can't compare to the perfection and integration of one's own skeleton," Sun Ming smiled.

"Good fellow, for you, even hundred-thousand-year soul bones are just transitional tools." Despite his words, Dugu Bo was extremely excited, for if human spirit bones could truly be cultivated, hundred-thousand-year soul bones would indeed lose their significance.

In the blink of an eye, the sun was setting in the west.

The distant sky was lit with a purple-red glow at sunset, so splendid that Sun Ming couldn't help but marvel, "I've finally understood why the Sunset Forest is named 'Sunset.' Such a sight makes this trip worthwhile... Surely the one who named this forest was a romantic poet who could appreciate beauty."

"To name the Soul Beast Forest, it must have been a strong individual at the Title Douluo level," Dugu Bo interjected abruptly.

"Can't a Title Douluo be a poet?" Sun Ming retorted.

The trio walked and chatted about everything under the sun and soon arrived at the edge of a lake approximately a kilometer wide.

The lake was full of water lilies and lotuses, and in the center, there was a lotus with a diameter exceeding twelve meters. Its thirty-six petals swayed rhythmically in the wind, with patterns resembling dragon scales on them.

The dragon scale water lily is a plant-type soul beast. Its cultivation age is judged by diameter, with a millennium corresponding to a meter. Thus, twelve meters signifies twelve thousand years.

Compared to animal-type soul beasts, plant-type soul beasts have constraints, like developing intelligence later—at least not until over thirty thousand years would they have some simple wisdom.

Moreover, movement is inconvenient. For plants, the deeper their roots, the better they grow. Otherwise, they'd fall with a gust of wind, so how can they cultivate?

Of course, this is true for most plants, although some can parasitize others, which is different.

It's even more demanding for aquatic plants.

After all, they love moisture.

"That dragon scale water lily is quite suitable. Although it's a plant type, the term 'dragon scale' doesn't just refer to the dragon-scaled patterns on its petals; it needs to absorb Dragon Blood to grow," Sun Ming said. "I speculate that there are quite a few aquatic soul beasts with dragon lineage in this lake, and their nutrient-rich corpses have been absorbed by this dragon scale water lily, allowing it to reach such a level."

"Alright, we'll go with that one." Dugu Bo, using his formidable soul power, grasped from a distance and pulled the dragon scale water lily, along with its lotus root, out.

Dugu Yan's martial spirit was attached to her body, and a set of crystalline dragon scale armor appeared on her body, with two crystal dragon horns emerging on her head and a dragon tail casually swaying behind her.

She took three steps forward and used her dragon claws to cut through the stem of the dragon scale lotus, and then a black soul ring slowly emerged.

As Dugu Yan was absorbing it, the lotus with a diameter of over twelve meters unfolded its petals, transforming into thirty-six dragon scale-shaped lotus petals, floating above her head and continuously shrinking, condensing, presenting a crystal-like texture, and floating between the dragon horns, forming a small crown that landed on Dugu Yan's head.

"A head soul bone?" Dugu Bo was not impressed that Dugu Yan was absorbing a mere ten-thousand-year head soul bone, feeling it unworthy of his granddaughter. But now his granddaughter was still absorbing the soul ring, and he couldn't interrupt her, or else all would be for naught, "Xiao Ming, do you have any way to prevent the absorption of this head soul bone?"

"It's not a head soul bone, it's an external soul bone." Sun Ming observed for a while and made a judgment, "Look, although this delicate crown sits atop her head, it hasn't fused with her skull; instead, it vibrates with those two dragon horns."

"An external soul bone, something that can evolve with the soul master, second only to a hundred-thousand-year soul bone, though no one has the ability to evolve it to a hundred-thousand-year level openly."

Dugu Bo shared his knowledge of external soul bones, "Once absorbed perfectly, it cannot be removed and will dissipate upon the soul master's death; if not absorbed perfectly, it can be removed, but with removal, the external soul bone loses its evolutionary traits, its value akin to ordinary soul bones, determined by age."

After an hour, Dugu Yan finished absorbing the soul ring and excitedly said, "My fourth soul skill is the Breath of Life."

As she spoke, she immediately used the soul skill, and green patterns appeared on the scales of the Crystal Dragon Martial Spirit, and dragon scale armor resembling a lotus skirt even grew around her waist.

"With this soul ring, my life force has greatly increased, and when I unleash the Breath of Life, I can also heal others."

A surge of soul power radiated, with Dugu Yan at its center, causing the grass on the ground to grow wildly, especially the Blue Silver Grass, which grew madly, with the life aura within a hundred-meter radius becoming more intense.

Dugu Bo exclaimed in wonder, "It's quite a powerful skill. By the way, Yan Yan, you also absorbed an external soul bone earlier; what skills does it have?"

Instantly, a small lotus crown appeared on Dugu Yan's head, and under the influence of soul power, thirty-six petals expanded to envelop her. The genuine article resides on M|V|L&EMPYR.

Because the petals were transparent, her silhouette inside was still visible.

"After absorbing the external soul bone, I've felt a considerable increase in my spiritual power, and I can manipulate these thirty-six petals to form a shield, protecting me from all directions. As for how strong an attack it can block... Grandpa, why don't you give it a try?" Dugu Yan was somewhat expectant.

"Alright, I'll try using soul pressure to test it, and perhaps I can estimate how much you can withstand."

Dugu Bo released his soul pressure, starting from level forty, then fifty, sixty, seventy... Until level eighty-three, Dugu Yan couldn't endure it any longer.

Although Dugu Bo knew Dugu Yan could still bear it, he slowly withdrew the soul pressure, saying, "Extremely strong, possibly due to your practice of the Soul Power Circulation method, combined with a powerful martial spirit, leading to your ability to withstand soul pressure at level eighty-three. If you were to face an attack from a strong offensive soul skill, such as the current strongest Haotian Hammer, you could withstand an attack from a soul skill at level sixty. Regarding attacks from martial spirits with weaker soul skills, you could endure approximately twelve attacks from the Hell Martial Spirit True Form."

Don't underestimate only twelve times, as currently Dugu Yan is just a Soul Ancestor, and the external soul bone will continue to evolve!

The future is promising!

"Grandpa, I've discovered that when using the external soul bone, my training accelerates, as this lotus crown seems to actively help me channel the energy of heaven and earth." Dugu Yan continued to speak.

"Really? That's wonderful!" Dugu Bo was overjoyed; this way, his granddaughter's cultivation speed would be faster, although still not comparable to Sun Ming, but now had a hope to catch up.

"Can you only form a shield with thirty-six petals?" Sun Ming asked.

"The soul power circulation gives me that feeling, but I think it should also be able to form other shapes," Dugu Yan said, manipulating the thirty-six petals into some simple abstract shapes.

Small dogs, small cats, snakes, etc.

Sun Ming nodded, had Dugu Yan control a petal to come before him, examined it carefully, and said, "Transparent, edges thin as cicada wings, middle thicker, like a convex lens."

"Convex lens?" Dugu Bo again encountered an area outside his knowledge.

"Thick in the middle, thin at the sides as a convex lens; thin in the middle, thick at the sides as a concave lens." Sun Ming explained succinctly, "Some teachers at Tiandou Royal Academy wear glasses, mostly concave lenses, a few convex lenses, not to seem cool, but to correct their vision."

With that, Sun Ming formed two clear ice blocks, one as a concave lens, the other as a convex lens.