A Bite of Douluo Continent

The halo was initially white, but after condensing and taking shape, it rapidly transformed into yellow. Then, under Qi Han's tense gaze, the yellow deepened and finally transformed into purple, before finally stabilizing completely.

This is yet another skill that has reached the millennium level as soon as it appears, indicating that the skill corresponding to Qi Han's fourth soul ring has reached the mastery level.

With the age of the spirit ring completely stabilized, Qi Han's spirit power level bottleneck instantly loosened, reaching level forty-one.

Without Qi Han's reminder, Ruyi had already redeemed the rewards that Qi Han hadn't used before.

A warm current flowed through Qi Han's body, strengthening his soul power and pushing his soul power level to level forty-two.

Finally, we've reached the Fourth Ring Road!

Feeling the surging, powerful soul energy within his body, Qi Han's face showed a hint of excitement. He looked at Ruyi, who was sitting on the table next to him with her legs crossed, and asked with a smile, "Ruyi, what is my fourth soul skill?"

"Fourth Soul Skill: Spiritual Rhinoceros Strike," Ruyi said softly. "Bound Skill: Ingredient Deconstruction. Ingredient Deconstruction is the level of understanding of the structure of various ingredients. Its levels are divided into: Beginner, Proficient, Master, Perfect, and Final..."

"The cook eats the cow."

So that's what it is.

A look of realization dawned on Qi Han's face.

Deconstructing ingredients, though it may sound complicated, actually involves a lot of skills in the cooking process.

To give a simple example, if someone who doesn't usually eat fish eats it occasionally, they will find that the fine bones of the fish are completely unpredictable. It seems like they have to spit out several bones every time they eat a bite of fish, and if they're not careful, they can easily get stuck in their throat, which is extremely troublesome.

However, if you have a full understanding of the fish's body structure and know its location, you can easily remove all the small bones without damaging the fish meat when cooking.

This includes things like cutting steak along the grain; understanding the structure of ingredients is often essential for handling them, and it's a process that requires practice to master.

Having processed so many ingredients, it's perfectly normal for Qi Han to have reached a master level in ingredient deconstruction.

Qi Han even felt that a perfect level wouldn't be too much.

"You haven't processed enough types of ingredients." Seeing what Qi Han was thinking, Ruyi rolled her eyes playfully. "You need to process at least a thousand kinds of ingredients to reach the perfect level."

I see. Then the quantity is indeed a bit small.

Qi Han nodded knowingly, then asked, "Then what is my fourth soul skill, this Spirit Rhinoceros Blade?"

"The Spirit Rhinoceros Strike is a status-based soul skill that can be maintained for a long time without consuming too much soul power," Ruyi smiled slightly. "As for its effects..."

"Based on the insight into the enemy's weaknesses, in the Spirit Rhinoceros Blade state, all attacks consume an additional 30% of soul power, and the double damage effect is triggered 100% of the time."

Qi Han's expression suddenly became interesting.

It sounds a bit like playing a game.

Isn't this just critical hits every time?

What a brilliant, swift strike!

If he only needs to increase his soul power consumption by 30%, with his current soul power level of 42, he can still unleash a slash by using all four soul skills at the same time.

The strike that killed the Snowfield Ice Pheasant was somewhat impulsive, but its effect surprised even himself—doubled the damage...

Qi Han suddenly realized that even a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast might not be able to withstand this strike.

and…

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, I always feel that the soul skills given by the system's soul rings can be stacked together without any conflict.

So... is this a way for me to develop in the direction of Saitama-sensei?

He's One-Punch Man, so does that mean I'm One-Sword Man?

If this continues, and I reach the ninth ring, and unleash a single strike with all nine soul skills simultaneously…

Qi Han gasped, suddenly feeling incredibly awesome.

Chapter 340 A Day Trip to Divine Soul Village (Bonus Chapter for Bai Yituo, the Thirteenth Helmsman of this Book)

"Zhuiyun, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Qi Han stroked the soft mane on the back of Zhuiyun's neck and a smile appeared on his face.

After obtaining the system soul ring, Qi Han once again took Gulu back to the hunting grounds of the Snowfield Ice Pheasant.

Without disturbing the other snowfield pheasants, the man and cat tiptoed away from the hunting area and quickly headed towards the edge of the far north snowfield. Only after completely leaving the snowfield area did Qi Han have Ruyi bring Zhuiyun out of the system's small world.

After not seeing each other for a night, the fatigue from yesterday afternoon's flight had long since vanished thanks to Ruyi's meticulous care. At this moment, it affectionately nuzzled Qi Han with its neck, and then gently touched Qi Han's forehead with its horn.

"Master, master, where do we go next?"

"Next..." Qi Han's smile deepened, "we'll go to the Star Dou Great Forest."

The task of acquiring ingredients has been completed, and Qi Han's cultivation level has also broken through the fourth ring, reaching level forty-two.

With his fourth soul skill, Spirit Rhinoceros Blade, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Qi Han's strength has doubled.

With this strength, he felt even more confident going to the Star Dou Great Forest to complete his intermediate advancement mission.

The task requirement for intermediate promotion is to create a two-star recipe that meets the system's evaluation criteria.

As Ruyi had already mentioned, if higher-level ingredients were used to achieve a two-star effect, it would not be deemed worthy of a two-star rating. Therefore, in order to complete a two-star recipe, Qi Han's choice of soul beast ingredients and rare treasures would all be limited to the hundred-year or ten-year level.

With only a hundred-year-old soul beast as a requirement, Qi Han doesn't need to venture too deep into the Star Dou Great Forest. At most, he can venture into areas inhabited by hundred-year-old and thousand-year-old soul beasts. With his current strength, it's difficult for anything to pose a threat to him.

As Qi Han picked up Gulu and sat on Zhuiyun's back, Zhuiyun took a few steps, spread its wings, and took off. Then, with a flap of its wings, it quickly left the vicinity of the far north snowfield and headed towards the Star Dou Great Forest.

It's already noon, and even with Zhuiyun's current flying speed, it would be quite difficult to reach the Star Dou Great Forest today. Moreover, Zhuiyun is only at the thousand-year level, and Qi Han can't possibly make it travel for such a long time in one go.

Therefore, Qi Han planned to have Zhuiyun travel for a few hours in the afternoon, then they would find a town to stay in, rest for the night, and continue their journey the next day.

As for which town is suitable…

Qi Han opened the system light screen, brought up the overall map of the Heavenly Dou Empire, and carefully examined it before his gaze suddenly fell on a certain spot.

Seeing the three large characters "Shenhun Village" marked on the map, Qi Han's heart stirred and his interest was piqued.

This is where Tang San grew up, and it was renamed Divine Soul Village from the original Holy Soul Village because of Tang San's ascension to godhood.

Ling Qing seemed to have mentioned it before. After so many years of development, Shenhun Village has become a village that is almost as prosperous as Notting City. As the hometown of the Sea God Tang San, it attracts many tourists every year.

How about... we go take a look?

The location of Shenhun Village happens to be about an afternoon's journey from where Qi Han is currently.

"Zhuiyun, let's adjust our direction."

Qi Han patted Zhuiyun, guiding it to slightly deviate from its original direction towards the Star Dou Great Forest and head towards Shenhun Village.

...

Shenhun Village is located in the Fasno Province in the southwest of the Tiandou Empire.

More than 5,000 years ago, it was called Holy Soul Village. At that time, Holy Soul Village was just a small village with only three hundred households in the south of Notting City in the Fasno Province.

It is named Holy Soul because a Soul Master of the Soul Saint level once emerged from here.

As the legendary Sea God Tang San emerged from here, the village name of Holy Soul Village was changed to Divine Soul Village by the village elder Jack at the time.

More than five thousand years have passed, and the world has changed. The dilapidated state of this small village has long been buried by time and no trace of it can be seen. The only thing that remains unchanged to this day is a golden stele standing at the entrance of Shenhun Village.

This golden stele is as tall as a person, and it bears two magnificent characters: "Soul".

At the entrance of every village there is a stone tablet inscribed with the village's name, but this tablet, made of pure gold, is far superior to the ordinary stone tablets in other villages.

Regardless of its significance, the sheer size of this gold piece alone represents a considerable fortune.

However, five thousand years have passed, and this golden stele still stands here, and no one has ever dared to touch it.

According to legend, this golden stele is blessed by the sea god, and destroying it will incur the god's wrath.

Every year, many people come here to visit this golden monument, stand in front of it and tell it their wishes, hoping that the sea god will hear them and grant them.

Hmm... that's very superstitious.

Holding the now-restored Zhuiyun by the hand, Qi Han had changed out of his windproof and cold-weather gear into casual clothes. He glanced at the tourists queuing up to pray and make wishes in front of the golden monument, and his face twitched involuntarily.

In his previous life, when he traveled, he saw many travelers like this, who wanted to make a wish wherever they went and see if it would come true.

I never thought I'd see this again in my lifetime.

Because he was standing in God's-eye view, Qi Han didn't feel any admiration for Tang San, so he naturally wouldn't go up and make a wish with him.

But it was that golden stele, as tall as a person, that caught his eye a few more times.

What a huge piece of gold!

"Meow~"

Lazily perched on the back of the big guy Zhuiyun, Gulu curiously surveyed the crowd in line.

What are these humans queuing up for? Is that golden thing edible?

As Qi Han stepped into Shenhun Village, a young girl carrying a stack of things quickly walked towards him. "Welcome to Shenhun Village. Sir, you look unfamiliar. Are you from out of town?"

"Yes." Qi Han nodded. "Is there something you need?"

"This is a free travel guide. I'm sure you've come here to visit the ruins of the Sea God. With this guide, you won't have to spend time searching for the places you want to visit." The girl smiled and pulled a small booklet from a stack of booklets she was holding, handing it to Qi Han.

They even have a visitor's brochure?

Qi Han suddenly felt like he had entered a tourist resort. After taking the brochure, a smile appeared on his face. "Thank you."

Without a map, the enjoyment of traveling is halved.

The girl didn't linger; after a polite smile, she turned and continued distributing brochures to the other arriving passengers.

Qi Han looked at it with great interest, and soon his expression became quite interesting.

The first page of this map clearly marks the location of a hotel, along with a detailed description of this place called the Rose Hotel.

The proper guide map starts from the second page.

Clearly, this travel brochure contains hidden agendas.

Qi Han looked around and quickly noticed many young people similar to the girl, distributing visitor brochures. At first glance, the brochures in their hands all seemed to be different.

Travel brochures smuggled in various hidden agendas?

Qi Han chuckled, somewhat surprised by the business acumen of the shopkeepers here.

Speaking of which... the Rose Hotel?