Second Soul Skill, Iron Bone

Late at night.

Two in the morning.

Outside the Ice Castle.

The cold wind howled, and snow stretched endlessly in every direction.

Xia Liang proposed going out to summon more and higher-quality Black-Purple Ghost Fire to help search for Soul Beasts.

The Shui Family head wanted to send people along to protect him, but Xia Liang declined the offer on the grounds that the effects of his Second Soul Skill should not be revealed in front of others.

After leaving the Ice Castle, Xia Liang put on his skates and, led by a cluster of Black-Purple Ghost Fire, glided down a path with few Soul Beast tracks toward a mysterious place.

Several clusters of Ghost Fire floated in midair, monitoring every move made by the Shui Family under the pretense of searching for Soul Beasts. This would rule out the possibility of being followed.

Two kilometers from the Ice Castle.

A massive boulder stood upon the Ice Plain.

The boulder had frozen solid, radiating a biting chill.

When he arrived before the boulder, Xia Liang took a sip of Milk Hot Drink to ward off the cold and put away his skates. He then discovered a five-meter-long skeleton lying beneath the boulder.

The skeleton had likewise frozen into a block of ice.

Judging by its shape, it appeared to be the skeleton of some reptilian Soul Beast.

"Is this a Soul Bone?"

Xia Liang clearly saw that on the frozen Soul Beast skeleton, its left foreleg contained an unusually shaped bone-like object that glowed and emitted fluctuations of Soul Power.

A bone-like object on a Soul Beast that carried Soul Power fluctuations should be a Soul Bone.

He released his Skeleton Martial Soul. Unlike before, only the Black-Purple Ribs on the right side covered the right half of Xia Liang's body.

This was the half-released Martial Soul state that could only be mastered after becoming more proficient in using the Skeleton Martial Soul. It could reduce the Soul Power consumed by the Martial Soul.

His First Soul Skill, Netherworld Transformation, activated. A slender, elongated Right Arm Bone grew from the Ribs on his right side.

Xia Liang used his mind to control the Skeleton Right Arm, clenching it into a fist and smashing it down at the frozen Soul Beast skeleton.

Bang—

After a muffled thud, the ice encasing the Soul Beast skeleton showed no sign of breaking.

This showed just how hard the ice condensed from the cold air of the Extreme North Land was.

His Second Soul Ring lit up, and his Second Soul Skill, Iron Bone, activated.

Countless Black-Purple, iron-wire-like strands of energy wrapped around the slender Skeleton Right Arm, filling the entire arm bone with a Flesh and Blood Sensation. Its palm bones and forearm swelled, becoming as powerful and enormous as a scorpion's pincers.

The Iron Wire Energy Body wrapped around the Skeleton Arm was actually condensed from the meridians, blood, and qi of Soul Beasts such as the Iron-backed Demonic Scorpion. It inherited the Iron-backed Demonic Scorpion's steel-like hardness.

Just as Liu Shu had said, the Second Soul Skill, Iron Bone, could not make the Skeleton Martial Soul grow new arms. However, it strengthened the Martial Soul's unyielding aspect, greatly increasing the hardness of its bones. Its greatest enhancement was a massive increase in the Martial Soul's combat power, such as using weapons formed through Iron Bone in battle.

Although he currently possessed only level twenty-three Soul Power, Xia Liang could defeat the level thirty-five Liu Shu by relying on the Giant Bone Hand state enhanced by the combined effects of his First and Second Soul Skills. He even had the strength to fight any three-ring Soul Elder.

If even the Giant Bone Hand could not shatter the ice sealing this Soul Beast skeleton, then the hardness of that ice would be unimaginable.

The Skeleton Right Arm, brimming with a Flesh and Blood Sensation, clenched into a fist again.

With a thought from Xia Liang, the enormous bone fist raised high into the air suddenly crashed down.

Bang—

After another muffled thud, the ice on the Soul Beast skeleton shattered in response.

Yet only the ice broke. The five-meter-long Soul Beast skeleton was almost completely intact. From its incredibly hard bones, it could be concluded that this skeleton had come from a Soul Beast with exceptionally powerful defense, and its cultivation had exceeded a thousand years at the very least.

He withdrew his Martial Soul and Soul Rings into his body. The Skeleton Ribs and arm dissolved into light, and Xia Liang crouched down, preparing to pull off the bone-like object from the Soul Beast skeleton's left foreleg.

When his palm gripped the bone-like object, he clearly felt fluctuations of Soul Power.

It really was a Soul Bone! Xia Liang released the Skeleton Arm again, then used all three hands to pull. It took him three minutes to wrench the Soul Bone free from the Soul Beast skeleton.

The left foreleg of a reptilian Soul Beast was its left arm. Since the Soul Bone had formed at the left arm position, it should be a Left Arm Bone.

The energy contained within the Soul Bone was even more immense than he had imagined. Perhaps this Left Arm Bone was ten thousand years old? Xia Liang did not care about that anyway, since he had no intention of absorbing it.

However, the Shui Family absolutely could not learn about this Left Arm Bone. Otherwise, not only would his efforts be wasted, but he might even be set up and harmed.

After storing the Left Arm Bone in the Silver Bracelet, Xia Liang removed the Silver Bracelet from his wrist and stuffed it beneath the base of a nearby boulder.

When he was about to leave the Extreme North Land, he could have the Anomalous Skeleton Head retrieve it.

"Hehehe."

A creepy, chilling laugh came from the sky. An Anomalous Skeleton Head burning with Black-Purple Flame flew before Xia Liang with a ring clenched in its mouth.

It was an unusually designed ring, its band engraved with three small squares in red, green, and yellow.

Catching the Three-colored Ring tossed over by the Anomalous Skeleton Head, Xia Liang was overjoyed.

Objects in the Extreme North Land would have a thick layer of ice form on their surfaces, yet this Three-colored Ring was completely unaffected by the cold. Its crafting materials were clearly highly unusual, and together with its exquisite appearance, it was undoubtedly a top-tier item.

Xia Liang tried injecting Soul Power into the Three-colored Ring. Just as expected, it was a Storage Soul Tool in the form of a ring.

The three small red, green, and yellow squares engraved on the ring corresponded to three Storage Spaces with enormous capacity.

After injecting Soul Power into the three squares in turn and inspecting them, Xia Liang discovered that the red square of the Three-colored Ring stored mostly weapons and armor, while the green square contained all sorts of food.

The yellow square contained sleeping bags, bedding, beds, and other daily necessities.

It seemed that this top-tier Three-colored Ring Soul Tool had once belonged to a Soul Master. After enduring who knew how many years of ice and snow, it had ultimately appeared on the Ice Plain and been found by this Anomalous Skeleton Head.

The Anomalous Skeleton Head had been created three years ago from Black-Purple Ghost Fire, shaped into a simple sketch-like skull.

Though it was called a Skull, it resembled more of a small floating ghost. It was only as large as a human head, with a round black head burning with Black-Purple Flame, a pair of large white eyes, small black pupils, and a mouth with two fangs.

Xia Liang had previously felt that the Anomalous Skeleton Head looked familiar. It turned out to be extremely similar to a Pokémon called Gastly.

Naturally, there could not be creatures from the Pokémon world on Douluo Continent. The Anomalous Skeleton Head that resembled Gastly was merely an energy body formed from the combination of the Undead Attribute, Soul Power, and Spiritual Power.

Unlike Black-Purple Ghost Fire, the Anomalous Skeleton Head had eyes and a mouth. Not only could it use soul power to present what it saw in a more vivid form, it could also carry objects in its mouth or bite with it, giving it a certain degree of offensive power.

For convenience, Xia Liang named the Anomalous Skeleton Head Gastly as well.

It could be said that Gastly was the evolved form of Black-Purple Ghost Fire. As long as there was sufficient Soul Power and Spiritual Power, both could be summoned in large numbers.

Besides biting, the Wraith Roar released when numerous Gastly gathered together was like vengeful spirits demanding lives, capable of causing varying degrees of soul shock to targets within its range.

In the future, Gastly could handle tasks such as searching for Soul Beasts, scouting, surveillance, disrupting enemies, and tracking them.

Of course, like Black-Purple Ghost Fire, all of Gastly's actions were limited to nighttime.

There was still no solution to its fear of sunlight.

"Good job. Keep it up."

After patting Gastly on the head, Xia Liang took every item stored in the Three-colored Ring and tossed them onto the ice.

Without the Storage Soul Tool's protection, the bedding, sleeping bags, and other daily necessities were instantly covered in a thick layer of ice the moment they landed on the ground.

Strangely, the Chicken Legs, carrots, and other food tossed onto the ground turned into light and vanished.

Could these foods be Soul Skills created by a Food-type Soul Master?

Had they disappeared because they lost the Storage Soul Tool's protection? Did that mean this Three-colored Ring Soul Tool could preserve food created by a Food-type Soul Master for long periods?