Chapter 7: The Blood Vein Ring

The night before the voyage through the Space Gate, Wei was cultivating in the pagoda. He had just reached early stage Foundation Establishment, now trying to solidify the spirit energy in the body. Oscar Ji stared silently at Wei as Wei sat in lotus position with five elemental crystals positioned in a five star point formation. The five elements of fire, thunder, earth, light, and wood were inside the crystals, Wei's Spirit Crown levitating above his lap.

"Strange. Why is his spirit energy so erratic?" the director frowned as large amounts of spirit energy surged into Wei's body from the crystals. Han Cong Wei also stirred, his spiritual trance disrupted as he yelled out. Five kinds of elemental energy just surged into his body. Wei's Spirit Crown shined as Wei reached the middle Foundation Establishment stage.

"Did you use a cultivation method?" Director Ji asked, stunned as he felt Wei's body and soul were both refined at once. Such a combination was extremely rare. Of course, the director did not receive a journal from Grandma Ling of the Immortal Ruins to record and combine whatever it copied into its pages.

"I found a way to combine body refining methods with soul refining methods. I lacked a strong body refining cultivation method that would be able to endure the enhanced strength of my soul and purified spirit energy. Unfortunately, such combinations are only effective for Foundation Establishment. I merely used the basics of several cultivation methods so I don't harm my potential," Wei answered as he stood up.

"If your life was a story, it would be akin to a weak MC rising to become a monster," the director sighed, a tinge of envy in his voice.

"A monster?" Wei muttered, thinking of how he was created in the Immortal Ruins. "That might be true, but I am not the main character."

"What was that?" the director asked.

"It's nothing. I registered my Fireball spell, gray flying sword talisman, my sword, and the ancient sword battle skill the Northern Sword Sect desired," Wei said.

"You own a flying sword?" the director asked, his eyes widening.

"No. Just a gray talisman that creates sword of gray spirit energy. I also cannot ride it, but I can manipulate it like a flying sword due to the telekinesis technique of the talisman. I admit I'm not proficient with the Fireball spell, talisman, or ancient sword battle skill. However, I mastered the first stage of the Indestructible Golden Body technique and already mastered the Lightning Arrow spell," Wei replied as the empty crystals shattered and turned to black dust.

"That is quite a feat. You certainly are full of surprises. Your affinity to fire, thunder, and earth are quite high. I cannot predict what you might face in the Space Gate's dimension, but you should stick with your classmates. You cannot trust the students from other academies," the director warned as he absorbed some of Wei's dual-light essence into a vial. "If you have a method to tame magical beasts, you can also use it on the magical beasts in the Space Gate."

"Really? I thought only one spell could be registered?" Wei frowned.

"Yes, but those Cosmos Rings have the same time freezing spatial ability as spatial rings. You can knock one unconscious and store it in your ring. Best to get a youngling as the Cosmos Ring's space is only 2x2x2 meters. A two meter square-sized room can only hold so much," Director Ji answered.

"My hidden body space contains a 8x8x8 meter space now. I'll store the best stuff I find in there anyway. Divine abilities are not inhibited by restrictions," Wei thought but appreciated the director's advice.

"I'll leave my spatial ring here. I don't trust the students in charge to not attempt to steal anything within. Even if my ring is a spatial ring, it is better to leave it here," Wei said and left his black jade ring on a table nearby.

"You and the imperials are lucky because you are already at the Foundation Establishment stage. You don't need to search and hope to find a Spirit Pearl there. The more you fight, the more your cultivation will grow unhindered. Many talented youths soared like a carp transforming into a dragon precisely because they survived the Space Gate," the director grinned. "You must work hard. You will also gain many enemies in terms of jealous students of the academy already part of the Slumbering Beast Sect. It is because you have the option to keep your loot or donate it to the academy for contribution points."

"Sounds good," Wei said, the director laughing before heading up to the fourth floor of the pagoda. Wei didn't care about people who wanted to harm them. He was an executioner who beheaded even immortals from beyond the Mortal Realm.

"So what makes this ring so special?" Wei mused as he took out the ring he took from Lu Mang's book. He stared at the vein along the side of the ring, his eyes narrowing as it felt warm and pulsed. He bound the ring with his spirit energy and inspected it, his consciousness entering the ring.

His consciousness appeared in a small space containing a large canyon. Countless elemental energies turned into chains connected to a large cage suspending over a river made of pure spirit energy in liquid form. In the cage, a savage beast roared in defiance.

The beast was similar to a sabertooth tiger. However, it had scales around its neck and lower back with a lone horn on its forehead. Its tail was two feet long with long strands of hair extending like roots from its tail. The creature had black and white scales and fur, and slashed viciously at the cage imprisoning it.

Its eyes were filled with hatred as it noticed a new presence in the Blood Vein Ring. As the owner of the ring, Wei had free control of the pocket dimension and seemed to walk on the air as he descended toward the cage.

"What a magnificent magical beast. As the owner of the Blood Vein Ring, I also gained knowledge of what it contained and how to control it. This ring originated from one of the many Space Gates, this creature imprisoned from another planet. If my cultivation rises high enough, I can travel the stars and find a planet with better resources to ascend to the Immortal Realm. Why haven't I read much information about it? Could it be that only a few select people know that those people who rose into the sky did not reach the Immortal Realm yet?" Wei muttered as he gazed into the creatures eyes.

He remained calm as the sabertooth tiger slashed at the cage before him. The elemental energies stopped the claw from reaching out the cage, electrocuting the savage beast. Han Cong Wei smiled as he slowly extending his arm toward the creature, his hand appearing to grasp the beast from afar.

The sabertooth tiger paled as it saw a cyan magic rune circle appear on the palm of Wei's hand. It began a beam of light that entered its body, slowly making its way to the brain. The beast tried to resist, but Wei controlled the elemental energy to constrict the creature in a smaller cage to divide its attention. The beast could no longer resist and the rune circle entered and branded itself onto the creature's brain and soul.

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"The Beast Tamer spell is complete. The creature is my magical beast now. It was captured as a cub and is only at the seventh layer of condensation. However, its bloodline was so powerful that I needed the help of the ring to make it my spirit beast. Its cultivation should grow if I let it roam in the river below. I should have passed the ring's test and the spirit hiding within should now replace the beast in the cage," Wei nodded, seeing a human ghost appear in the cage as the savage beast celebrated its freedom and descended into the river under Wei's mental command.

"Someone actually tamed that savage beast? What a surprise," the ghost exclaimed and looked at Wei. "Middle Foundation Establishment stage with two elemental essences and three attribute spirit root. You actually made a Spirit Crown with all five. I half suspected a weakling to acquire the ring, but I didn't expect it to be someone whose spirit energy is so pure and contains traces of an undying property."

"Well, it was supposed to be Lu Mang. I couldn't let the MC rise to power so early and defeat me. I am the antagonist," Wei thought and appeared to be waiting for the spirit to speak further.

"I am Raymond, a former celestial who once traveled the stars and took resources from countless planets. Your planet believes those who rose up in the sky actually ascended into the Immortal Realm. It is proof that your planet is a mere fledgling that benefited from the scar in the sky many millennia ago. Help me attain a physical body and I will help you rise in cultivation to travel the stars," the ghost spirit said, slightly nervous as Wei was different than the past owners of the ring.

"What happened to cause the ring to imprison you?" Wei asked first.

"The ring only allows the living to bind it and roam its small world. Besides being commanded to imprison a living creature into the ring, the dead are also imprisoned. I did not know this when I found the ring on this planet countless years ago. I was betrayed and sought refuge in the ring as I lay dying in my safe house. How could I have known it was a ring from the scar in the sky, a rip between the Mortal Realm and Immortal Realm? I could not foresee the ring's effect and it imprisoned my spirit when I sought refuge within," the ghost sighed. "There is another spirit inside the ring. Do not trust it."

"You're right. There is another spirit, but I can't trust you," Wei said as his sword appeared in his hand. The ghost cried out in terror as the cage changed into a platform while the chains shackled his wrists and ankles. It felt fear as a familiar black mask appeared on Wei's face, a strange neon symbol on the forehead neon green in color.

"What are you?" the ghost cried as it felt its body shift forward to expose the neck as Wei walked to its side. "How could you bring a mask and sword into this place?"

"I did not use some simple method to tame the sabertooth tiger. I used the Beast Tamer spell, a rare spell originating from the Immortal Realm itself. I received it from an immortal I beheaded as I represented the Black Sea. I could not receive the technique without the Soul Scour ability even if it was gifted to me as the condemned were souls, not the living. The mask and sword are indestructible and a part of my soul itself," Wei answered as radiant golden armor appeared on his body. "It is unfortunate, for me, that I cannot use the mask in the outside world just yet. However, I can clearly use it here."

"Did you not think that I could obtain some memories from the savage beast? I could gain skills, spells, and other information from the condemned through the divine ability the mask granted me when I first killed a condemned prisoner: Soul Scour. You killed the beast's family while it was a cub and sealed it in the ring. The part of you finding the ring on this planet is a lie, but the bit about you dying was not," Wei continued.

"Perhaps me killing you changed the fate of Lu Mang. Maybe he might have been deceived. No. He's protected by plot armor. He would have found a way to escape your reach and become monstrously strong through the teachings of the other spirit. Who knows?" Wei shrugged as he drew his sword, the sword radiating a familiar golden flame.

"Release me! RELEASE ME! I'll tell you all the spells and battle skills I know. I could lead you down the path to greatness!" the ghost begged.

"Maybe you could," Wei said, hope in the ghost's eyes before Wei continued. "But you didn't. You can blame me. I didn't want to be the antagonist either, but your memories and existence could have helped Lu Mang destroy me. I've already seen the jealousy and envy in his eyes."

"D, don't. Please don't," the spirit begged as Wei's sword rose into the sky.

"Your time has come. We had no enmities, but your fate was decided the moment I tamed my spirit beast," Wei said before slashing his sword toward the ghost's neck.

"NOOOO!" the ghost screamed before its very soul was beheaded and destroyed like many others. The spirit beast below shivered, but knew its master would not harm it.

It let its hatred go as Wei took the beast's revenge in its stead. The beast felt like a cub again and played in the water, its body shrinking to the size it was before it was imprisoned. All harm on its body and soul were recovered. The pain would remain, but it was no longer consumed with hate.

Han Cong Wei watched as a third being appeared before him. The spirit was so damaged, it would take time before the ring could fully restore the spirit. Still, Wei gained some pieces of memories and a spirit beast. He could just expose the cub when he returned from the Space Gate to avoid suspicion.

He fantasized about all the memories of the Space Gate's dimensions he obtained from the ghost. The ghost actually did venture through the stars and entered three different Space Gates. The savage beast was indeed from one of them, and the dimensions of the Space Gates were never the same and had their own restrictions.

"I have to go through a Space Gate tomorrow. Who knows when I would enter another one. I have to obtain whatever I can," Wei sighed as his consciousness exited the Blood Vein Ring. He stored it back in his hidden body space and put on his Cosmos Ring. He cleaned the black sand from the floor and decided to make final preparations in the morning. He also made a mental note to transfer the cub into his Cosmos Ring before he returned from the Space Gate.