Chapter 9

Chapter 9 — Spirit Ring (1)

"I should probably tell master about me entering the first sword realm," Ning Chen muttered happily.

He then went inside the house to talk with Yu Qian. Luckily for him, his master was still eating his breakfast.

"Master! Master! I have completed my training!" Ning Chen said loudly while smiling with satisfaction.

Yu Qian quickly stopped eating and stared at Ning Chen with a slightly stunned expression.

He didn't doubt about Ning Chen faking it because he had seen him training very diligently everyday, but wasn't this too fast?

It has only been five months since Ning Chen started his training. Yu Qian had expected for him to take another month to finish it, but it seems like he had underestimated Ning Chen's determination and talent.

Yu Qian was starting to be curious about who could give birth to such a monster and his background.

He didn't knew much about Ning Chen's background since he didn't bother with it at first.

"Did you enter the first sword realm I told you?" Yu Qian enquired further.

Ning Chen nodded vigorously.

"Show me," Yu Qian stood up from his seat and went toward the backyard.

Ning Chen quickly followed after him and stood underneath the willow tree.

Under Yu Qian's eyes, he called out Kel'al and held it firmly. An extremely sharp and vigorous heartbeat soon resounded through the air.

A clear sign that Ning Chen and his sword became one.

Ning Chen started to perform the four basic moves that were engrained into his instincts.

He swung his sword gracefully, chopped it harshly, slashed it extremely fast and then pierced it toward the air viciously.

Those four moves flowed smoothly like water and precisely under Ning Chen's delicate control.

There was also not a single sense of him and the sword being separated because his sword acted as if it was part of his body.

Clap! Clap!

"Very good! It seems like we can proceed to your next training," Yu Qian clapped in amazement.

Ning Chen flinched after hearing the last part of his words, but was also curious about what he will learn from the next training.

Still, there was something more important than his next training.

"Master, can I leave for a while?" Ning Chen asked quite anxiously.

"Why?" Yu Qian raised his eyebrows as he questioned.

Ning Chen quickly explained his reason, "I have already reached rank 10 for some time now and I really need a spirit ring to advance."

Yu Qian nodded with his expression not changing.

"Then you can leave now. You might as well take a one month break before your next training."

Ning Chen smiled happily after hearing that. He didn't also expect to have a one month break.

"Thank you, master!" Ning Chen said before heading toward his room to prepare for his journey.

Before leaving the house, Ning Chen received a book from Yu Qian that he placed inside his spatial ring.

Ning Chen also said goodbye to Yu Liena and the latter said to return safely without losing any limbs, earning her some wry smile from him.

He then took a carriage leading toward the Star Dou Forest and while heading toward there, he silently started reading the book his master lent him.

The book was called 'The Two Branch Of Sword Path'.

The [One With Sword Realm] was the very first sword realm that allowed someone to have a precise control over their sword.

After the first sword realm, the sword path branched into two way.

The Sword Art and the Sword Law.

The sword art was the first discovered way of practicing the sword and the sword law was something recently discovered over the past hundred years.

The sword art focused on using the body and sword moves while the sword law focused on creating an intent to affect the world's law.

The realms of the Sword Art were the Sword Weight Realm and Sword Instinct State Realm.

The realms of Sword Law were the Sword Intent Realm and Sword Heart Realm.

There were also many theories about a more higher sword realms, but no one had managed to reach them.

Ning Chen was surprised to see those realms and felt he still have a long way to go when it comes to reaching the peak of the sword path.

...

The beautiful blue sky was like a vast ocean, seemingly to expand without limits as bits of white clouds formed on it

Beneath this blue sky, was a vast green forest, filled with many towering trees with deep green leaves. Countless dangerous spirit beast roamed and lurked inside this forest, waiting and searching for prey.

This vast forest was called 'Star Dou Forest' by the many.

Inside this forest, a small yet dignified silhouette could be seen walking around.

This silhouette belonged to Ning Chen who was currently looking for a spirit beast to make as his first ever spirit ring.

His mind was at constant high awareness and his body walked silently because this forest was lurking with many unknown dangers.

Ning Chen had been traveling around the forest for a hour now, but he wasn't still able to find a suitable spirit beast.

Fortunately, he was a very patient man and believed he would soon encounter his destined spirit beast.

While he was walking quietly on the road, Ning Chen suddenly saw a large shadow slamming toward his head.

Ning Chen's brain wasn't able to react in time, but his body instinctively moved on it's own.

He instantly summoned Kel'al and drew it out from the scabbard, chopping it toward the large shadow without any wasted movement.

Thud!

Ning Chen felt his sword hitting something very hard which also contained a lot of power behind it.

"Munyaa!!" A monkey-like piercing cry resounded.

Ning Chen quickly saw the identity of his attacker. It was a monkey, currently screaming in pain as blood poured out from it's right hand.

His sword strike had severely wounded the monkey's hand.

Ning Chen saw the monkey had crimson scales covering it's skin instead of a fur.

If he remembered correctly, this monkey was called as 'Explosive Muscles Scaled Monkey'.

It had some dragon blood flowing through it's vein and based on the color of it's scale, it's age was about 875 years old.

Seeing this monkey, Ning Chen decided to make it as his first spirit ring.

He didn't care about it's current age surpassing the optimal age for absorbing as the first spirit ring because he had faith in himself.

A great amount of faith on his own body and mind.

This was not a groundless faith, but was something born from his effort filled with blood and sweat.

His body was extremely strong. It was an excellent vessel to contain the vast amount of energy inside the spirit ring.

His mind was also strong enough to handle the pain and mental impact.

Making his final decision, Ning Chen pointed his sword toward the crimson monkey.

He solemnly looked at the monkey before saying, "Come and taste death, you monkey!"

The monkey glared at him angrily, it was extremely furious at him for damaging it's right hand.

Thud!

Thud!

The monkey pounded it's chest loudly before pouncing toward Ning Chen.

Ning Chen didn't move as the monkey approached, he just assessed his surroundings and every subtle movements the monkey made.

The crimson monkey's muscles contracted like a spring, throwing a quick and powerful punch with it's left hand that caused the wind to be chaotic.

Ning Chen was quite surprised seeing the power behind that punch, but he quickly countered with his own slash.

His muscles were also strained to their limits as a tyrannical strength concentrated to his sword.

Boom!

The monkey trembled furiously, it's fist having a deep, dangerous cut with blood continuously flowing out from it.

It quickly became rooted in it's spot with fear, forgetting even about the immense pain coming from it's wound.

Ning Chen's physical strength was just too powerful, surpassing even the monkey's own strength which was it's source of pride!

His sword moves also made use of all that strength, concentrating it all into his sword which was already deadly on its own.

Ning Chen saw this as a chance, he quickly charged toward the monkey, his sword turning into a beautiful arc.

Swoosh!

The beautiful sword arc became very deadly as it decapitated the monkey's left leg, separating it from it's body.

The monkey didn't have any time to react, it fell helplessly to the ground, it's crimson blood drenching the grass.

The smell of the blood filled the air, Ning Chen felt his stomach churning up, but he quickly delivered his final blow.

Puchi!

His sword pierced toward the monkey's eyes filled with fear and entered it's brain, causing it's final sign of life to fade into nothingness.

Ning Chen didn't felt anything when he killed the monkey, he only felt empty inside.

He was already resolved and prepared to kill when he decided to go in this forest.

A bright yellow spirit ring appeared above the corpse of the monkey.

Ning Chen stared at this spirit ring with fascination. This was the first time he saw it with his own eyes.

He sat on the ground and started to circulate his spirit power through his energy pathway just like what his parents taught him a long time ago.

Kel'al and the scabbard floated infront of him and he mentally commanded it to absorb the spirit ring.

'Roar~!'

A faint childish dragon roar resounded in Ning Chen's head. Kel'al obediently followed his command and made the spirit ring closer to it's body.

The spirit ring soon got absorbed inside it and the vast energy within the spirit ring started to enter Ning Chen's body.

His body suddenly jerked straight, an extremely berserk energy began to flow through his meridians, causing it to crack.

Ning Chen didn't panicked and started to control the berserk spirit ring.

A faint crimson scaled monkey appeared inside his mind, but Ning Chen merely glared at it with his piercing eyes.

"Get lost!"

A transparent sword pierced the monkey's chest, causing it to scatter into pieces.

The only thing left to do was to forcefully absorbed the vast energy.

His meridians were cracking quickly, but they soon healed by his spirit power to become more tougher and wider.

This repeated for several times before his meridians became wide and tough enough to handle the vast energy.

Ning Chen slowly absorbed the spirit ring remaining energy for a hour before successfully merging with it.

He stood up from the ground, his bones making some popping sounds.

His amethyst eyes shone more brighter than before as a wide smile formed on his face.

He had finally obtained his first spirit ring!

Ning Chen inspected his current spirit power and then saw he was currently rank 12.

He could have advance further, but his strange spirit power didn't choose this quick method and instead condensed to become more potent and dense.

"I should try activating my spirit ring first," Ning Chen said with great excitement.

After merging with a spirit ring, a spirit ability would be created to suit his spirit. He was very excited to find it out.

Ning Chen held Kel'al and a bright yellow spirit ring slowly rose up from his feet.

A strange information appeared inside his head and it was about his first spirit ring.

"Red Dragon Power!" Ning Chen chanted, feeling his spirit power being drained.

His nine-colored longsword suddenly became completely crimson in color. It also grew more bigger and heavier.

A strong devouring force appeared inside his sword, devouring all of the fire elemental energy from the heaven.

The energy was then sent into Ning Chen, causing him to feel a warm current to circulate throughout his whole body.

His muscles grew bigger as a behemoth-like strength filled his body. His amethyst eyes changed into a pair of crimson eyes.

"My first ability increase my power by 40% and my resistance to fire elements also increasing by 40%!" Ning Chen exclaimed, feeling that the ability he gained from the yellow spirit ring was great.

It was also a shame that his first ring was just limited to yellow.

Ning Chen wondered if there was any way to somehow increase the age of his spirit rings.

Ning Chen was about to recall his spirit, but then realized something while looking at it's scabbard.

"Eh? Why do you also have an spirit ability?" He muttered in astonishment.

(To Be Continued.)

...

The Seven Treasure Pagoda which buffs the other, his first Ring instead buffs him, but there would be more uses and hidden secrets to his rings which Ning Chen will uncover as he progress more with his sword.

(The reason for his ring only increasing his power by 40% will be explained in the next chapter.)

I'll say this very early— not all of his spirit abilities will provide him with buff-related abilities.