This Wind Spirit Deer was indeed a top-tier Soul Beast extremely suitable for Caelus.
Xu Jiujiu had previously worried about not finding a good enough target, but she hadn't expected to encounter such a suitable one so quickly.
"Mm, this beast is just right for little Caelus."
Man Yi nodded slightly and wasted no more time.
She took a step forward, not even releasing her Martial Soul, but merely raising her wrinkled hand and pressing down remotely toward the Wind Spirit Deer, which had raised its head vigilantly.
In an instant, above the clearing, countless fragmented starlight seemed to materialize out of thin air, like the Nebula suddenly descending from the night sky.
A massive pressure, soft yet vast as the sea, crashed down, precisely enveloping the Wind Spirit Deer.
The Wind Spirit Deer let out a terrified cry; azure light burst forth from its body as it tried to transform into flowing wind and escape.
However, under the absolute suppression of a Level 93 Titled Douluo, all its struggles were futile.
The vast Nebula force acted like the toughest shackles, firmly binding it in place, making it unable to even twitch a hoof; only its nimble eyes were filled with fear and despair.
Nebula Douluo, Martial Soul: Nebula Fan.
Even without revealing the true form of her Martial Soul, the might of her control over the power of stars and clouds was clearly evident.
"Little Caelus, make your move." Man Yi commanded calmly.
Caelus nodded, the clock markings in his eyes subtly rotating.
He stepped forward, arriving in front of the completely restrained Wind Spirit Deer, and raised his right hand.
The flowing wind containing the rhythm of time—the Wind of Time—quietly gathered around him, condensing in his palm into a pale azure wind blade, thin as a cicada's wing, its edges seemingly wreathed in fragments of time.
He did not hesitate, swinging his arm.
"Whoosh—!"
The wind blade silently swept through the air, precisely slicing across the Wind Spirit Deer's neck.
Blood splattered. The light in the Wind Spirit Deer's eyes rapidly dimmed, and its life force abruptly ceased.
A bright yellow spirit ring slowly condensed and rose from its corpse.
Caelus immediately sat down cross-legged, using his Soul Power to guide the yellow spirit ring toward himself.
Unlike the painful ordeal Castorice experienced when absorbing her thousand-year soul ring, Caelus's process of absorbing this five-hundred-year spirit ring was stable and smooth.
Although the spirit ring's energy was immense, it was completely within the range his body and Meridians could withstand.
Caelus cautiously guided this pure wind-attribute energy, transforming it into fundamental Soul Power and allowing it to resonate with his Regent of Time Martial Soul.
The entire process lasted less than half an hour.
When Caelus opened his eyes again, the yellow spirit ring beneath his feet was stable, and the Soul Power fluctuations around him were noticeably stronger; he had clearly advanced to Level 12, officially becoming a one-ring Soul Master.
Although he could not compare to Castorice, being able to advance by two levels was already quite good, as most Soul Masters only advance by one level when absorbing a spirit ring.
Furthermore, Caelus did not absorb a spirit ring that greatly exceeded his limit in age.
"He succeeded."
Xu Jiujiu said joyfully, then eagerly asked.
"Caelus, quickly tell us, what is your first Spirit Ability?"
Caelus stood up, sensing the newfound power within his body and the Spirit Ability information clearly appearing in his mind.
He looked at Xu Jiujiu and Man Yi, not hiding anything: "My first Spirit Ability is called—Dreamlike Bubble."
"Dreamlike Bubble?"
Xu Jiujiu repeated softly, finding the name full of the flavor of time, yet somewhat elusive.
"Its effect is... it can reproduce 'phenomena' that have already occurred and concluded in the past, making them reappear in the present like bubbles."
While explaining, Caelus began his demonstration.
He fixed his gaze on a spot in the Void Realm next to the clearing, waved his right hand, activating his innate Wind of Time; a pale azure wind blade pierced the air, carving a fleeting ripple in the atmosphere before its energy was depleted and it vanished without a trace.
"Your Highness."
Caelus looked at Xu Jiujiu.
"Please take a sturdy longsword and place it along the trajectory where my wind blade just passed."
Although Xu Jiujiu didn't understand why, she still complied, retrieving a longsword from her storage spirit tool—a sword gleaming with cold light and flowing with runes.
She explained: "This is a Level 4 spirit tool longsword; its material is extremely hard. With the intensity of your wind blade, it's absolutely impossible to damage it in the slightest."
As she spoke, she carefully laid the longsword horizontally upon the Void Realm trajectory where the wind blade had just vanished.
Caelus nodded, and the yellow spirit ring on his body immediately shone; his first Spirit Ability—Dreamlike Bubble—was activated.
There was no warning, no process.
In the very next instant after the longsword was placed on the trajectory, an invisible wind blade, seemingly returned from the far side of time, appeared out of thin air along that predetermined path, as if it had never vanished, had always existed there, and only now reappeared.
"Clang!"
A crisp snapping sound rang out.
That Level 4 spirit tool longsword, which could withstand the full attack of a Soul King, actually snapped into two halves instantly, as if it had encountered an irresistible force.
The broken surface was smooth as a mirror, as if it had been born that way.
Xu Jiujiu's cherry mouth parted slightly, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.
Caelus's wind blade absolutely did not possess such power. The only explanation was that this reproduced wind blade did not rely on energy intensity to sever the sword, but rather forcefully executed the past event of "the wind blade slicing through the air."
In the face of such a phenomenal reappearance, the hardness or softness of the material was meaningless, because the outcome was already determined.
"Reproducing 'past phenomena' in the 'present'... ignoring defense, achieving the result directly..."
Man Yi murmured softly, an unprecedented sharp light bursting forth from her cloudy eyes.
"Such an ability... let this old woman experience it personally."
Having said that, without waiting for Caelus's reply, she signaled for Caelus to wave another wind blade into the air.
After the wind blade dissipated, this Nebula Douluo actually stepped forward proactively, standing precisely on the trajectory where the wind blade had just passed, and said in a deep voice: "Little Caelus, activate your Spirit Ability targeting me."
Caelus took a deep breath, knowing this was an excellent opportunity to test the limits of his Spirit Ability, and he activated his spirit ring again.
Swish!
That deadly wind blade, like Gui Mei, suddenly appeared right next to Man Yi's body, still without any warning.
Although Man Yi was prepared, her powerful mental force and the keen perception of a Titled Douluo allowed her to capture that minute fluctuation at the critical moment.
With a thought, thick starlight Soul Power instantly condensed in front of her into a Star Shield—seemingly fragile, but actually capable of blocking a Spirit Douluo's attack—and positioned it before the wind blade.
However, in the next instant, Man Yi's pupils violently contracted.
She watched as the Star Shield, which could withstand a Spirit Douluo's attack, instantly developed a smooth gap the moment it contacted the wind blade, as if an invisible force had erased a section of it.
The wind blade passed through the shield, its momentum undiminished, continuing along its predetermined trajectory—just as if the shield had never existed.