Skeleton Martial Soul

A moment later.

The Black-Purple Ghost Fire vanished from his sight, and the miserable cries echoing in his ears disappeared as well.

Immediately afterward, Xia Liang felt a warm current arise within his body. It followed his blood through his entire body, making every bone feel as though it had expanded twofold.

It lasted for three minutes before the swelling sensation in his bones gradually faded, replaced by a sense of comfort and weightlessness.

The discomfort from his shrunken body had vanished completely, while the sensation of his bones being strengthened became increasingly apparent.

Just as these changes subsided, the Black-Purple light on Xia Liang's skin condensed into enormous Black-Purple Ribs that enveloped him.

"A Skeleton Martial Soul?"

The surprise in Su Yuntao's eyes immediately turned to disappointment. "No, it is only ribs. Not a complete skeleton frame."

The light in the room gradually dimmed. Su Yuntao released Lone Wolf Possession and withdrew the two Soul Rings beneath his feet. Smiling, he asked, "Child, do your parents' Martial Souls look like this too?"

"Yes." Xia Liang instinctively concealed the truth. "The Skeleton Martial Soul should have been inherited from my father."

Su Yuntao shook his head regretfully. "What a pity. This is an incomplete Skeleton Martial Soul."

"Master Su, what do you mean by an incomplete Skeleton Martial Soul?" Xia Liang asked in confusion.

"A complete person has sound limbs and every part of their body intact. A complete skeleton frame should likewise possess every bone of a sound body. Yet you have only awakened ribs. As an external Tool Martial Soul, it is clearly a Crippled Martial Soul. If it were a complete skeleton frame, perhaps..."

"Sigh. That makes sense. You are merely an ordinary person, not an inheritor of one of the great sects. Awakening a complete and powerful Martial Soul is simply too difficult."

"Never mind that for now. Come, let us test your Innate Soul Power. If you have Soul Power, even a Crippled Martial Soul can be cultivated."

As he spoke, Su Yuntao handed the Blue Crystal Ball to Xia Liang and gestured for him to place his right hand on it.

Xia Liang did as instructed, pressing his palm against the Blue Crystal Ball.

A moment later, the disappointment in Su Yuntao's eyes gradually turned to astonishment. "Level Five Soul Power? Even a Crippled Martial Soul can awaken Innate Level Five Soul Power? What incredible luck has Guowan Village stumbled upon today? Child, congratulations. You have the qualifications to become a Soul Master."

Hearing this, Xia Liang finally let out the breath he had been holding.

Perhaps because he had been in Douluo Continent for less than a year and his Martial Soul Bloodline had not truly formed yet, he had awakened a Skeleton Martial Soul with only the rib portion.

But none of that mattered.

What mattered most was that he had Innate Level Five Soul Power.

Although it was not as monstrous as the original protagonist Tang San, nor could it compare to the original characters with high Innate Soul Power, at least he could cultivate.

With the opportunities mentioned in the original story to aid him, perhaps he would have a chance to become a Titled Douluo.

"Um, Master Su, how do I put away my ribs..." Xia Liang suddenly corrected himself. "No, how do I put away my Skeleton Martial Soul?"

"Use your mind to retract your Martial Soul. The same goes for releasing it," Su Yuntao reminded him.

Xia Liang did as instructed. Under the control of his mind, the Black-Purple Ribs that shielded his entire body like a barrier gradually withdrew back into his body.

The Martial Soul Awakening was over, and the door to the wooden hut opened.

Seeing Su Yuntao emerge from the hut with the children, the Old Village Chief hurried up with a tense expression and anxiously asked, "Master Su, how did it go? Do any of the children in our village have a chance to become Soul Masters this year?"

"There is one. I asked his name—it is Xia Liang. The other seven children have no Soul Power and cannot become Soul Masters. Xia Liang's Martial Soul is a skeleton. Though it is a Crippled Martial Soul, its ribs can protect his body, which means it possesses a certain degree of defensive power. He has Innate Level Five Soul Power, so becoming a Soul Master will still be easy for him. Old Village Chief, congratulations. Your village has finally produced a Soul Master."

Su Yuntao glanced at Xia Liang and suddenly said, "However, I have been responsible for your village for many years, yet I have never discovered an inheritance of the Skeleton Martial Soul here. This child is not originally from your village, is he?"

The Old Village Chief nodded. "That's right. Yesterday, I found A Liang wandering outside the village entrance. According to him, he was originally a villager of Konoha Village. His village was destroyed by a powerful Soul Master, and his parents and the other villagers were all killed. He had nowhere to go and no relatives to rely on."

"I pitied him, and since it happened to be the day of Martial Soul Awakening, I let him stay in the village and take part in it."

"So that is how it is." Su Yuntao came to a realization. "Old Village Chief, good people are rewarded. You have truly found a treasure. Perhaps in the future, your village will be renamed Skeleton Village."

That night.

On a small hill several hundred meters outside Guowan Village.

Bright moonlight shone over the hill, coating the surrounding plants in a faint layer of silver. A gentle breeze swept past, making the shadows of the trees sway.

Xia Liang stood alone in an open space beneath the hill.

Leaving Holy Soul Village and coming to Guowan Village had truly been a wise decision.

This way, he would not need to worry about Tang Hao noticing either his Skeleton Martial Soul, which only had the form of ribs, or his Innate Level Five Soul Power.

With a thought, a Black-Purple aura spread from Xia Liang's body and condensed into Black-Purple Ribs that covered his entire body.

"A crippled Skeleton Martial Soul?"

Reaching out to touch the Black-Purple Ribs before him, Xia Liang was deeply shaken. Was this rib-shaped Skeleton Martial Soul transformed from his own bones?

Probably not.

After all, while the rib-shaped Skeleton Martial Soul was displayed outside his body, his own ribs still remained inside to support him. He simply did not know whether injuries to the ribs of his Skeleton Martial Soul would backlash onto the ribs inside his body.

This was the first time Xia Liang had heard of a Crippled Martial Soul.

Only after asking Su Yuntao in detail did he learn that so-called Crippled Martial Souls were essentially like congenital deformities in humans, possessing flaws in their physical structure.

In addition to ribs, a complete skeleton should also have the bones of two arms and legs, as well as a skull.

His current Skeleton Martial Soul only possessed the rib portion, which was why Su Yuntao called it a Crippled Martial Soul.

There were many cases of Crippled Martial Souls across the continent. Tang Yuehua's Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul in the original story could also be considered a type of Crippled Martial Soul.

Because of flaws in their structure and function, the potential of such Martial Souls was no different from Waste Martial Souls.

However, Xia Liang did not believe his crippled Skeleton Martial Soul was a Waste Martial Soul.

The original story had mentioned that Innate Soul Power was formed when a Martial Soul absorbed nourishment from the body.

The higher the quality of the Martial Soul, the better it was at absorbing the body's nourishment to form Soul Power.

His malnourished six-year-old body, coupled with the subhealthy constitution of someone from Blue Star, simply could not absorb the body's excess nourishment to form Soul Power.

Therefore, having Innate Level Five Soul Power meant that the rib-shaped Skeleton Martial Soul possessed considerable energy reserves. Its quality should at least be at a middling level.

Since the rib-shaped Skeleton Martial Soul was not a Waste Martial Soul, there was only one possibility.

The ribs were merely the initial form of the Skeleton Martial Soul.

As a Soul Master grew, the Skeleton Martial Soul might evolve arm bones, skull bones, and more in the future, eventually developing into a complete skeleton frame.

At this thought, a flash of delight crossed Xia Liang's eyes.

What delighted him was that the original story had said that each additional Soul Ring would cause a Martial Soul's appearance to undergo greater or lesser changes.

Did that not clearly prove that the rib-shaped Skeleton Martial Soul could indeed grow into a complete skeleton frame?

Even more exciting was that this advancement path, from a rib-shaped form to a complete form, seemed to share the same underlying principle as Susanoo's progression in Naruto.