Using the Skeleton Martial Soul

"That white ring is called a Soul Ring. Doesn't Master Su Yuntao have one too? And there's also a yellow ring. That means Master Su Yuntao is a Two-Ring Great Soul Master."

The Old Village Chief said with a smile, "You have Innate Level Five Soul Power, so you can cultivate. In the future, you'll have a white ring like that too. When that time comes, you can call yourself a Soul Master!"

"A Liang, do you want to go to a specialized academy and learn about Soul Masters?"

"I do." Xia Liang felt a little embarrassed as he said this. "But I don't have money for school."

The Old Village Chief laughed heartily. "The villages around here share one Work-Study Student spot. I heard none of the children in those villages have Soul Power. A Liang, after discussing it, we decided to give that spot to you. If you can cultivate to Master Su Yuntao's level, you'll bring honor to all our villages."

Xia Liang immediately rose from his chair and bowed slightly to the Old Village Chief. In a childlike voice, he said, "Village Chief Grandpa, thank you. And thank everyone from the other villages too."

"Good, good. Hurry and eat breakfast. Once you're done, go cultivate." The Old Village Chief rubbed Xia Liang's head and instructed him, "Nuoding Elementary Soul Master Academy won't begin classes for another three months. Until then, stay at Grandpa's house and cultivate properly. Grandpa is hoping you'll become a Soul Master soon."

"I'll work hard!" Xia Liang answered, hurriedly finished a bowl of porridge, wiped his mouth, and ran out the door.

At a small hill several hundred meters from Guowan Village, a new day of cultivation began.

After cultivating the previous night, Xia Liang had gained a general understanding of the Meditation Method Su Yuntao had mentioned.

The so-called Meditation Method was actually using one's Martial Soul during meditation to absorb natural energy from the outside world and convert it into the Soul Master's own Soul Power.

There were many kinds of natural energy in the outside world.

For example, there was wood-element energy contained in forests, fire-element energy contained in volcanoes, wind-element energy contained in the wind, lightning-element energy contained in thunder and lightning, and even light energy contained in sunlight.

According to Su Yuntao, because Martial Souls came in different types, some Soul Master clans on the continent had developed advanced Meditation Methods unique to their own families based on the ordinary Meditation Method.

As for what those advanced Meditation Methods were like, no one knew.

However, based on his knowledge of the original work, Xia Liang could roughly guess a thing or two.

For instance, the Soul Masters of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan possessed top-tier lightning attributes in their Martial Souls. If they were adept at using lightning-element energy from nature during meditation, they should have been able to develop some kind of Lightning Meditation Method.

Then there were Soul Masters with dark Martial Souls, who could use darkness's Devouring Attribute to strengthen their Martial Souls' absorption of natural energy from the outside world, thereby creating an even more advanced Dark Meditation Method.

What disappointed Xia Liang was that his Skeleton Martial Soul did not possess the Dark Attribute. Although he could see wandering undead nearby, he could not devour them to aid his cultivation.

For now, he could not find a cultivation method better suited to the Skeleton Martial Soul, so he could only use the ordinary Meditation Method first and find another path once he became familiar with it.

Two hours passed quickly.

It was now noon, and the sun blazed fiercely.

After ending his meditation, Xia Liang opened his eyes, stood up, and gazed at the sun overhead.

He remembered that ghosts were creatures of utmost yin, while sunlight was an object of utmost heat and utmost yang. That was why ghosts feared sunlight.

Having died once, he was a Living Dead like Ghost Douluo, yet he showed none of the signs of ghosts fearing sunlight.

Moreover, when he accidentally cut his finger while cooking that morning, it still bled like a normal person's.

Feeling the sunlight shining on him, Xia Liang no longer knew whether he was human or ghost.

Could it be that the existence of a Martial Soul had placed him between the two, making him both human and ghost? Recalling the original plot where Ghost Douluo had been killed by Sea God Tang San, Xia Liang seemed to understand something. The sun's rays posed no threat to him.

But if it were light imbued with a sacred attribute, it might completely restrain him.

In the original work, the Sea God's Light that killed Ghost Douluo happened to be enhanced by the purifying effect of sacred power.

"I should get more familiar with using the Skeleton Martial Soul first."

Thinking this, Xia Liang walked over to a large tree.

He released his Skeleton Martial Soul, and a Black-Purple aura condensed around his body into a set of Black-Purple Ribs that covered his entire body.

Grasping one of the ribs with both hands, Xia Liang tried to pull it off. Yet he discovered that with his current strength, he could not budge the Black-Purple Ribs in the slightest. This showed that the joints connecting each rib were extremely sturdy and that the ribs possessed a certain degree of hardness.

When the entire set of ribs protected his body, it should be able to block most attacks.

However, gaps existed between each rib. If an attack passed through those gaps, it could not be defended against.

Xia Liang used Iron Mountain Lean on the tree in front of him twice.

Black-Purple Ribs separated his right shoulder from the tree, so when he rammed into it, it was the Black-Purple Ribs and the tree that collided first.

Bang! Bang!

After taking two Iron Mountain Lean impacts, the tree shook violently twice. A few leaves slowly drifted down to the ground, but the tree itself suffered no damage at all.

For every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction.

When he struck the tree, the Black-Purple Ribs also endured the damage from both collisions.

During this process, Xia Liang discovered that the ribs within his body had not suffered any backlash. It seemed that the ribs forming the Skeleton Martial Soul were not connected to his physical body.

Another question arose in his mind. Every bone came from an animal, yet they could be used like an object.

Then was the Skeleton Martial Soul a Beast Martial Soul or a Tool Martial Soul? Walking over to a massive boulder two meters tall, Xia Liang used Iron Mountain Lean against it. This time, he exerted more force than before.

After using Iron Mountain Lean twenty times in a row, the boulder had endured twenty impacts from the Black-Purple Ribs.

Xia Liang's body suffered no backlash whatsoever, but cracks appeared where the boulder had been struck. Clearly, the Black-Purple Ribs were even harder than the boulder.

With this degree of hardness, Xia Liang wondered whether the Skeleton Martial Soul's ribs could keep him safe if he fell from a great height.

After looking around, Xia Liang found that the tallest rocks nearby were only two meters high.

He tried jumping down from a two-meter-tall rock while covering his entire body with the Skeleton Martial Soul's ribs. As a result, his body was completely unharmed, and the Skeleton Martial Soul's ribs were undamaged as well. It seemed the Skeleton Martial Soul's hardness and defensive power were stronger than he had imagined.

After returning to the Old Village Chief's home for lunch and waking from his afternoon nap, Xia Liang once again came to the foot of the hill, sat cross-legged, and meditated to cultivate his Soul Power.

That morning, he had already tested the Skeleton Martial Soul's hardness and defensive power through falls from different heights and impacts of varying strength.

The conclusion was that if the Skeleton Martial Soul followed a defensive path, then upon reaching the realm of a Titled Douluo, its defensive power might not be inferior to that of Gu Rong, Bone Douluo of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.