In the end
Tang San sighed inwardly and gave up on the idea of hunting the Lingyun Turtle, but he still couldn't help asking, "How are you planning to treat it? And how will you get it to willingly accept your treatment?"
When it came to medicine, Tang San knew his stuff.
As a Tang Sect disciple, he was a master of poisons, and poison and medicine were two sides of the same coin—naturally, he also understood medical techniques.
Still, it wasn't really something he could display in front of Zhou Qing.
Not that it was a huge deal to show off his skills, but it would take some time—he'd need to wander around the area near Holy Soul Village, collect the native plants of this Douluo Continent, and figure out their medicinal properties...
Hmm?
At that thought, Tang San froze for a second, inwardly cursing himself:
"Tang San, oh Tang San, you've been in this world for four years already and still haven't thought to study the medicinal properties of its plants? That's truly unacceptable! Luckily, thanks to Zhou Qing, I've started thinking about it early—otherwise, I'd waste time later just researching plants before I could even develop poisons!"
Still, his thoughts quickly shifted back to the Lingyun Turtle.
Displaying his medical knowledge wasn't an issue. Even if he wasn't a veterinarian, with the turtle's formidable vitality, medicine used to treat humans might still be applicable.
But how to make the turtle obedient was another matter.
This was a spirit beast that had lived for two hundred years!
"I bought a book," Zhou Qing said confidently, "and one of them includes a bunch of folk remedies. It says that if you mix Blue Silver Grass with carp scales and grind them into powder, you can produce a scent that attracts aquatic spirit beasts. Once they eat it, they'll pass out."
"After that, you just remove the rotting flesh inside the turtle's shell, then apply a layer of yellow yam powder."
Yellow yam was a common root vegetable in Holy Soul Village. Every household grew it in front or behind their homes.
Once the root was dried and ground into powder, it could stop bleeding and speed up wound healing.
In Zhou Qing's opinion, yellow yam powder was similar to Yunnan Baiyao from his previous life—though much rougher.
Tang San pondered this. He realized that learning the medicinal properties of this world's plants—and maybe even buying local medical books—might accelerate his progress.
The two of them walked down a small slope and arrived at the little waterfall.
Seeing that the white spirit ring was still there, Tang San asked in surprise, "Can a spirit ring stay here indefinitely?"
"No," Zhou Qing replied, stepping up to the ring. "According to the books, it disappears after one hour." As he spoke, he reached out to touch it—but his hand passed through.
The spirit ring clearly wasn't physical.
An energy construct?
Zhou Qing wasn't sure, but he still said, "Spirit rings are strange. Why does one appear after a spirit beast dies? Why don't we stay and watch how it disappears?"
Tang San thought for a moment and decided to stay. After all, spirit rings were things that didn't exist in his past life. How could he not be curious?
"By the way," Zhou Qing asked, "how much time have we used up—looking for the Lingyun Turtle, watching it eat, and then walking back?"
"About an hour and a half?"
Tang San hadn't been keeping track and could only give a rough estimate.
"Then we only need to wait about half an hour more." Zhou Qing took off his outerwear, tossed it into the stream, and began scrubbing away the dirt.
Seeing this, Tang San followed suit. After all, he still had that alcoholic father at home. If he went back covered in mud, he'd definitely get scolded.
Even if the blacksmith shop was always dirty, Tang San was sure: if he went home wearing filthy clothes, Tang Hao wouldn't help him wash up—instead, he'd berate him, accusing him of trying to copy the village kids as an excuse to demand new clothes.
In Tang San's memory, when he was just three, he got scolded for a full hour just because he got his clothes dirty.
"Even though I do all his laundry…"
The more time he spent with Zhou Qing, the more Tang San felt that… maybe he wasn't Tang Hao's biological son.
Even that heart-wrenching "San'er!" he'd heard once after birth seemed like a hallucination now. After all, what kind of adult stays stuck in grief for so long?
Too emotionally fragile!
What troubled Tang San more was that Tang Hao always looked at him like a stranger he once knew—not like a father gazing at his own child. Even if Tang San's birth had truly caused his mother's death, he could accept being looked at with resentment—and hoped to slowly heal the bond through obedience and filial piety.
But Tang Hao showed no response.
"Maybe… maybe he really is just like the villagers say—a drunk and a slacker. Maybe Mom didn't die in childbirth, but actually ran away with someone else. Maybe he shut down emotionally because of that. And maybe… just maybe, I'm not his biological son at all..."
As Tang San's thoughts spiraled further into wild territory, Zhou Qing suddenly grabbed his arm and exclaimed, "Look, San'er! The spirit ring is changing!"
"Huh?"
Tang San's gaze sharpened. Instinctively, a faint purple glow rose in his eyes.
The white spirit ring began to tremble—ever so slightly—rising and falling. Then, strange patterns, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, began to emerge across its surface. These lines spread all over the ring and then—
Pop!
Like a bursting bubble, the entire ring shattered and dispersed into the air.
"So that's how it works… The ring trembles, then forms cracks, and finally breaks apart." Zhou Qing muttered thoughtfully.
"But aren't you missing something?" Tang San frowned slightly. He knew Zhou Qing was meticulous and wouldn't overlook a detail—so why hadn't he mentioned the pattern that appeared before the ring cracked?
"Missing something?"
Zhou Qing grabbed Tang San excitedly. "What did you see?"
Tang San realized it might've been visible only because of his Purple Demon Eye, so he described the faint patterns that emerged just before the cracking started.
"Patterns? What kind?" Zhou Qing's brows lifted in curiosity.
"They looked kind of like fish scales. Like the scales on a big white carp," Tang San said without hesitation.
"I think I get it now!"
Zhou Qing suddenly danced with excitement.
Tang San couldn't stand it anymore and grabbed him. "What did you figure out?"
"The true nature of a spirit ring's ability to release soul skills!"
Zhou Qing suppressed his excitement and explained seriously, "I've always wondered—why can a spirit master release a beast's ability just by absorbing a spirit ring? Human bodies are structured differently from spirit beasts, so how could it work? Surely the Martial Soul doesn't do everything on its own."
"Martial Souls, even though they aren't fully physical, still reflect real-world traits. The existence of Tool Spirits and Beast Spirits proves they have tangible features and affinities."
"Martial Souls have great endurance—but to use a spirit beast's skill, that skill must already be encoded within the spirit ring. A spirit master only needs to inject soul power to activate the soul ring, which will then 'translate' the stored ability through the Martial Soul."
"So matching a Martial Soul with a spirit ring isn't just about getting a powerful beast—what matters is how well the beast's nature matches the Martial Soul."
"For example, a plant-type Martial Soul can absorb a beast-type spirit ring and still gain strong attack skills—but those beast skills may not be very compatible with the plant's structure. That mismatch makes them harder to use effectively."