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**
Truth be told, having Ling Xiao absorb the Shala Iron Tree was actually somewhat wasteful. Ling Xiao was not the most suitable candidate; after all, his Martial Soul, the Profound Sky Axe, was a Power Attack System Tool Martial Soul.
Granted, absorbing a soul ring formed by the Shala Iron Tree offered immense benefits.
Not only would his Martial Soul's origin be strengthened and a powerful defensive soul skill obtained, but because the Shala Iron Tree was a top-tier defensive Soul Beast, Ling Xiao's body would receive a massive boost after enduring the impact of the soul ring's power.
By integrating a portion of the Shala Iron Tree's origin energy, his physical toughness would far exceed its previous state, complementing his already powerful physical foundation perfectly.
However, this could not be compared to the benefits a Soul Master with a similar plant-type Martial Soul would obtain from the Shala Iron Tree.
If a Soul Master possessed a plant Martial Soul with defensive characteristics, or even just an ordinary tree Martial Soul, absorbing the Shala Iron Tree soul ring would likely trigger a metamorphosis.
The Martial Soul itself would undergo a qualitative leap, potentially altering the person's entire future developmental path. In the past century within Spirit Hall, such a perfect candidate had appeared once: the Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan.
His Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum was also a top-tier plant Martial Soul. Though not considered the absolute strongest among top-tier souls, its innate characteristics were extremely similar to the Shala Iron Tree.
Unfortunately, when Yue Guan joined Spirit Hall, he was already at the Soul King level.
At that time, the Shala Iron Tree was only approaching two thousand years of cultivation, making it unsuitable for his sixth soul ring. When Yue Guan was at Rank 60, his own Martial Soul origin was already far stronger than this Shala Iron Tree; absorbing its ring would have been useless.
This had been a source of great regret for the high-ranking officials of Spirit Hall at the time.
Now, Bibi Dong had taken the lead in bestowing it upon Ling Xiao as his third soul ring. Naturally, this provoked opposition from the Spirit Hall executives and even the Elder Hall. However, with Bibi Dong standing firm against all dissenting opinions, they eventually relented.
By the time Ling Xiao absorbed the soul ring of this Shala Iron Tree, its cultivation had surpassed two thousand years, reaching nearly two thousand three hundred years—far exceeding the average standard limit of one thousand seven hundred years for a third soul ring.
If someone had told Ling Xiao back when he first transmigrated that his future third soul ring would come from a top-tier Soul Beast with nearly two thousand three hundred years of cultivation, he wouldn't have believed them.
After all, according to Yu Xiaogang's theories, the limit for a Soul Master's third soul ring was seventeen hundred-some years. He couldn't remember the exact number, but it was supposedly precise down to the single digits, somewhere just above seventeen hundred years.
While Yu Xiaogang was quite pathetic in terms of theory—and many considered him a complete waste, which he factually was—this soul ring absorption limit was still recognized by many in the real world.
However, Ling Xiao subconsciously felt there was a problem. With so many different Martial Souls in the Douluo Continent, how could the age limits for soul rings be the same for everyone?
For instance, how could the third ring limit for a Diamond Mammoth be the same as that of a Food System or Support System Soul Master? If they were truly identical, wouldn't that mean everyone's physical constitution was exactly the same when absorbing a soul ring?
If they were truly similar, then a Support or Food Soul Master could just pick up a soul weapon. Aside from lacking combat soul skills, as long as a powerhouse created some soul power combat techniques and they learned them, couldn't they just "guest star" as Tool Soul Masters?
Yet, this phenomenon did not exist in the Soul Master world.
This proved one of two things: either Soul Masters of different Martial Souls—or even those with the same Martial Soul—possessed different physical constitutions that varied from person to person at the same realm, or Support Soul Masters using soul weapons still couldn't compare to combat Soul Masters of the same rank.
Of course, it was likely both.
He leaned most toward that possibility. Ever since he arrived at the Spirit Hall Academy, he felt more and more that Yu Xiaogang's soul ring limit theory was unreliable.
He refused to believe that a Soul Master with a low-level plant Martial Soul and one with a top-tier beast Martial Soul could absorb the same maximum soul ring age at the same level of cultivation.
However, when he was absorbing his first soul ring and the Chrysanthemum Douluo was searching for a suitable Soul Beast, he still looked for one just over four hundred years old. At that time, Ling Xiao had assumed Yu Xiaogang's words were correct.
It wasn't until later, when they were helping him obtain his second soul ring that he finally understood what was truly going on with soul ring absorption. He also finally understood why Yu Xiaogang was so unshakeable in his belief in that theory.
As it turned out, soul ring absorption for Soul Masters truly did vary from person to person. Different Martial Souls provided vastly different boosts to a Soul Master's physical constitution.
Even with the same Martial Soul, though the initial boost might be identical, once they absorbed the first soul ring and became a true Soul Master, their physical strengthening would show distinct differences based on their different cultivation processes and the rings they chose.
In such circumstances, there could not possibly be a so-called "soul ring limit" that applied to everyone. Especially in ancient times, before the profession of Soul Master had developed for long or become refined.
The human Soul Masters of the Douluo Continent had to grope in the dark, exploring bit by bit to find the most suitable soul ring ages for their own Martial Souls.
During this process of exploration, as Soul Master Clans were established, some Soul Masters were able to summarize and pass down this experience.
This became part of the clan's foundational heritage, helping future generations cultivate better. As for those Soul Masters who couldn't form large-scale clans, they could similarly pass down their meager experiences to their descendants.
However, because there weren't enough people with the same Martial Soul in their families and their strength wasn't great enough, their experience was limited. Often, they only had summaries for the soul ring limits of the first few realms.
If someone in the later generations cultivated to a higher realm, they would have to make new attempts themselves. This was a glaring difference between the great Soul Master Clans and ordinary Soul Masters in the world back then.
It wasn't until a certain action by Spirit Hall that this situation began to change.
Spirit Hall was founded by the Angel Clan.
Initially, though the Angel Clan was extremely powerful and had many formidable Soul Master Clans following them, they had no way to solve this phenomenon, regardless of their strength.
However, as the Angel Clan led its followers to establish Spirit Hall and began large-scale recruitment, the organization grew larger and larger, eventually spreading across the entire continent.
The number of Soul Masters under its banner was staggering. Whether it was the number of top-tier powerhouses or low-to-mid-tier Soul Masters, no faction could compare to Spirit Hall.
With such a vast number of Soul Masters under its control, Spirit Hall naturally possessed a countless variety of Martial Souls, encompassing nearly every type found on the Douluo Continent at the time.
In this situation, to better assist those Soul Masters in the world who lacked summarized experience, Spirit Hall collected data on the soul ring ages absorbed by a massive number of their own Soul Masters, their Martial Soul types, and their respective cultivation histories.
After spending several years, they finally summarized a set of soul ring age tables that could be used as a guide and published them, bringing a blessing to the ordinary Soul Masters of the continent.
Of course, this age table was not meant to be used rigidly.
Again, soul ring absorption varied by individual.
The primary function of this table was to serve as a reference.
**
Enjoying the story? Support the translation and get early access to future chapters here: www.patr eon.com/c/FanficTranslator
Thanks for reading!
I have 70 advanced chapter now on Patreon. I will post 5 advanced chapter on Patreon everyday except Sunday