Both Break Through to Rank 40

"Brother, what abilities do your first soul skill and soul bone have?" Tang Fu'er asked.

Generally speaking, prying into someone else's soul skills was a major taboo among Soul Masters, but there was naturally no need for such unnecessary scruples among them.

Ming Lunyu chose to demonstrate them directly.

The jade-boned, golden-faced Folding Fan landed in his hand, and a black Soul Ring rose from beneath his feet.

"My first soul skill is called Five Spirits Gang Wind. It can enchant the fan with one of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, or earth—then fan out a Gang Wind of the corresponding element. The consumption is also very low, since it mainly draws elements from heaven and earth. However, only one element can be enchanted at a time."

The Soul Ring flashed, and a layer of red light coated the fan. As Ming Lunyu swung it, a scorching blast of wind howled forth.

With a flick of his wrist, the Folding Fan flipped over and turned watery blue. A cloud of mist was instantly fanned out.

It looked gentle and harmless, and its power truly was not great. Yet Ma Hongjun, who was enveloped by it, only felt her mind clear, and even the circulation of her Soul Power became somewhat smoother.

"This is the water element's support ability. It can clear the mind, calm the heart, and accelerate Soul Power recovery. Of course, it can also launch water blade attacks," Ming Lunyu explained.

Then the tails behind him flicked. Blue and brown light intertwined across the fan, and with another wave, a violent mudslide surged forth, piercing through a massive tree that would have taken three people to encircle.

"Huh? Huh?! Bro, wait, wait, wait! Didn't you say you could only enchant one element at a time? Also, weren't you supposed to fan out wind? What was that just now?"

Ma Hongjun asked with a bewildered expression.

Tang Fu'er guessed, "It should be the work of the External Soul Bone."

Ming Lunyu laughed twice and approvingly rubbed Tang Fu'er's head. "Fu'er is right. I'll call my External Soul Bone the Fox Immortal Tail. The Fox Immortal Tail can balance the five elements. With its help, I can freely fuse the five elements for enchantment."

"Furthermore, each tail can store an amount of its corresponding element equal to all of my Soul Power, which I can directly draw upon in battle. These tails can also directly fire elemental projectiles."

"As for what you just asked about it not being wind... well, the name of the soul skill isn't exactly rigorous. I can fan out more than just wind. But from another perspective, isn't that also useful for confusing enemies?"

"That's amazing." Ma Hongjun's face was full of astonishment. "With that, Brother, your sustained combat ability is downright terrifying."

Tang Fu'er timidly raised her hand. "Brother, Sister Jun, have you noticed that we've completely deviated from the original plan?"

Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun both froze awkwardly.

That was true. The soul skills they had obtained in reality were completely different from what they had planned beforehand.

This was probably what they meant by plans failing to keep up with changes.

Still, as long as the outcome was good, that was all that mattered.

Next, the group discussed matters for a while and roughly planned out the future development directions for Ming Lunyu's and Ma Hongjun's soul skill systems.

Ma Hongjun would acquire soul skills that enhanced defense and recovery while inflicting negative effects, developing toward the path of a heavy armored tank.

Ming Lunyu, on the other hand, would acquire soul skills related to the five elements and develop toward the path of a mage.

This soul-hunting expedition lasted a total of half a month.

Half a month later, Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun had obtained all the Soul Rings they needed, and the soul skills they gained were quite ideal as well.

Moreover, each absorption of a Soul Ring brought a slight increase in level. After consecutively absorbing their first three Soul Rings, both of them broke through Rank 40. After absorbing their fourth Soul Rings, Ming Lunyu even reached Rank 43, while Ma Hongjun reached Rank 42.

Ma Hongjun's current soul skill setup was as follows.

First Soul Ring: Black. Soul Skill: Overlord Flame Heavy Armor.

Second Soul Ring: Black. Soul Skill: Blazing Feather Fire Wings.

Effect: Condenses fiery wings capable of flight. At the same time, covers an area within fifty meters with Cinder Halo. The coverage area increases as Soul Power Level rises. Cinder Halo inflicts a burning effect, stacking one layer per minute for a maximum of ten layers. At ten layers, it detonates and deals explosive damage. Cinder Halo: Hostile units within its range suffer continuous Phoenix flame burns.

Third Soul Ring: Black. Soul Skill: Eternal Flame.

This soul skill has both active and passive effects.

Active: For half an hour, the recovery speed of all conditions, including physical strength, Soul Power, and mental power, is doubled. Cooldown: ten minutes.

Passive: After attacking an enemy, one percent of the damage dealt to the enemy is converted into energy needed by the user. However, it cannot increase the maximum limit and can only replenish what has been depleted.

Fourth Soul Ring: Black. Soul Skill: Phoenix Blessing.

A group shield soul skill. There is no limit on the number of targets, providing allied units within fifty meters of the user with a shield. When the shield is attacked, the amount of shield lost is converted into replenishment for the allied unit's lowest condition. When the shield shatters, it creates a shockwave that knocks back enemies while applying one stack of the burning status to them.

Ming Lunyu's first four Soul Rings were as follows.

First Soul Ring: Black. Soul Skill: Five Spirits Gang Wind.

Second Soul Ring: Black. Soul Skill: Breath of Life Wind.

A wood-element soul skill. It uses the fan to release a life-force whirlwind infused with the breath of nature, healing the injuries, Soul Power, and mental power of the user and allied units. Each use consumes very little, and its cooldown is very short.

Third Soul Ring: Black. Soul Skill: Blazing Wheel Dance.

A fire-element soul skill. Swinging the fan condenses six fan phantoms around the user, which can attack enemies and cause explosions. It is likewise a low-consumption soul skill that can be cast repeatedly within a short period.

Fourth Soul Ring: Black. Soul Skill: Raging Waterfall Tornado.

Summons a water tornado at any location within the range of mental power. Enemies struck by it are subjected to at least half a second of hard crowd control, provided they are not more than thirty levels above the user.

This soul skill consumes slightly more Soul Power, but its cooldown is still very short and it can be used once every two seconds.

Tang Fu'er, who knew what she was looking at, could only call their entire lineup absurdly overpowered. Especially Ming Lunyu's.

Do not assume that his soul skills had weak effects just because they were low-cost and had short cooldowns.

Only after Ming Lunyu demonstrated all his soul skills did they realize that was not the case at all.

Simply put, he was a monster of both stats and mechanics. Low consumption, short cooldowns, high damage, hard crowd control, and sustain—at the four-ring stage, he was monstrously powerful.

Not to mention his secret weapon, the Immortal Fox Tail. This External Soul Bone, which shared the same origin as his first soul skill, truly gave Ming Lunyu an incredibly high skill ceiling. The fusion and combination of five elements could produce countless variations.

Ma Hongjun's series of soul skills was no simpler. On the battlefield, once she activated all her soul skills, she would instantly become a heavily armored tank girl who could endure, fight, and support, tough as a lump of...

Moreover, the threat she posed to enemies would increase over time. If they could not kill her instantly from the start, they could only endure the unending double torment of burns and Cinder Halo.

Thus, this soul-hunting expedition came to a successful conclusion.

"Next, we'll follow this route and cross the entire Sunset Forest to Heaven Dou City."

Pointing at the map, Ming Lunyu finalized their next route of action.

Heaven Dou City was the capital of the Heavenly Dou Empire. Back in Grass Chicken Village, he had heard the village elders say that it was full of prosperity, with gold everywhere—nothing less than a paradise on earth.

Now that he had the strength, he wanted to see for himself this city that had been praised to the heavens.