Soul Ring Absorption: Terrifying on Closer Thought

"Damn, such a cool Blade Martial Soul, yet his Innate Soul Power is only rank 3? There's no justice in this."

After the earlier hunt, the sun had completely set. With the towering ancient trees all around blocking the light, the ground was already pitch-black. The Martial Soul Lin Manshan manifested while absorbing the Soul Ring was not large—one could even call it miniature, only palm-length. But illuminated by the yellow Soul Ring and Lin Manshan's Gleaming Green Soul Power, Xiao Zizai and the others could still make out its outline.

It really was cool!

But why was A'man's Soul Power green? That color seemed a little inappropriate...

"It's fine. Being handsome is for life; a lower Innate Soul Power is no big deal." Brother Dog offered the crucial assessment.

"Also, brothers, take a look for me. Am I seeing things wrong?" Brother Dog turned to the others and pointed at Lin Manshan. "The Soul Ring A'man is absorbing... doesn't its color seem to be gradually fading? And when a Spirit Master absorbs a Soul Ring, shouldn't it slowly slip over the body first, then tighten around the waist, then enter the body, and finally manifest on the Martial Soul?"

"But A'man's Soul Ring seems to have just hung around his waist without moving at all?"

The group subconsciously tilted their heads and looked over. Ten seconds later, they exchanged glances.

"Seems like it's true! What's going on?"

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

"."

While everyone sank into a discussion of don't ask me, I didn't study much, Lin Manshan was having profound realizations of his own.

Just as he could sense the spiders controlled by the Netherworld Technique Beast Taming Technique, he could also sense his Martial Soul, which was also his Life Weapon and had already been infused with Soul Power. At the same time, he could sense the changes in his physical body.

At that moment, Lin Manshan could clearly feel a vast stream of energy continuously pouring into his Martial Soul, then feeding back into his body through the Martial Soul. It was as though the Martial Soul were a transfer station with a filtering effect.

As the energy entered, he could also sense his Martial Soul being strengthened by a peculiar force, becoming increasingly harder, while his body was constantly being remolded as well. The muscles, bones, and meridians throughout his body seemed to have suddenly been stimulated, all becoming unusually active. As the energy continued to flow in, he gradually felt a faint soreness, numbness, and swelling.

Moreover, as time passed, Lin Manshan discovered in surprise that after the Soul Ring's energy entered his Martial Soul, most of it remained within the Martial Soul. Only the smaller remainder flowed into his body, with one portion entering his meridians and another seeping into his muscles and bones.

What felt even stranger was that within the energy flowing from the Soul Ring toward his Martial Soul, he actually sensed a faint soul fluctuation. Yet it was blocked outside by his Martial Soul and was not absorbed.

He understood this point. Only a pure soul could produce pure Soul Power after burning, and it was precisely for this reason that a Nether Race Person's Soul Power could be transferred to another person through the Netherworld Technique Reincarnation Technique without harming the recipient's soul. Unless one actively devoured an external soul, Soul Power would instinctively reject foreign souls from entering the body for self-protection.

After all, if the soul became tainted, the Soul Power it produced would no longer be pure. It would then contaminate the body, twisting and deforming it, before further contaminating the soul as the body fed back into it, thereby affecting one's mind.

This was also why almost no one within the Nether Race cultivated by devouring souls.

After all, becoming mentally crippled was a trivial matter. Becoming ugly was absolutely unacceptable.

"But where did this soul fluctuation come from?" Lin Manshan could not help sinking into thought. "I'm currently absorbing a Soul Ring, and this soul fluctuation came during that process. In other words, its source should be the Soul Ring."

"A Soul Ring is a special energy body condensed after a Spirit Beast dies. After a Spirit Master absorbs it, it can not only increase cultivation and strengthen the body and Martial Soul, but also grant the absorber a soul skill? A soul skill..." Lin Manshan could not help recalling the Explosive Kill Eight-Stage Throw produced when Xiao Wu sacrificed herself to Tang San. It was a soul skill that required Xiao Wu's soul to materialize in order to be used. "So as an energy body, a Soul Ring is both a vessel carrying soul skills and a vessel for storing souls. Could the formation of soul skills originate from the soul?"

"When absorbing a Soul Ring from a Ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast after its death, one has to withstand Soul Shock. From this, it can be seen that a Spirit Beast's soul does not immediately dissipate after death. Instead, it remains in the Soul Ring as so-called resentment—no, perhaps the essence of resentment is a remnant of the soul or consciousness. It remains in the Soul Ring? Only in varying amounts? Then could the essence of soul skills also be a remnant of soul or consciousness?"

"Otherwise, why do Spirit Masters not need to comprehend anything at all after gaining a soul skill? Why can they activate it merely by injecting Soul Power?"

"If that is really the case, then it makes sense that after a Spirit Master absorbs the energy of a Soul Ring, the Soul Ring can still remain attached to the Martial Soul. Because energy is needed to sustain the existence of soul skills!" Thinking of this, Lin Manshan could not help recalling Tang Hao. "So after Tang Hao used Explode Ring and the Soul Rings turned into energy that entered his body, the soul skills disappeared along with them."

"Then after the Soul Rings exploded, where did the consciousness remnants storing the soul skills go?"

"After Tang Hao exploded his Soul Rings, he did not take the opportunity created by their destruction to hunt Spirit Beasts with higher cultivation and replace them with higher-quality Soul Rings." Lin Manshan sighed inwardly. "Perhaps it was not that he did not want to, but that he simply could not."

"Because the consciousness remnants storing the soul skills remained within the Martial Soul. They merely needed to be recharged afterward, restoring the Soul Ring energy before the soul skills could be used again."

"And Tang San transferred the first few Soul Rings in their entirety to the resurrected Xiao Wu, including the consciousness remnants within them that stored the soul skills?"

"During the process of the Soul Rings merging with Xiao Wu, those fragments were either replaced, shattered, or transformed, ultimately becoming Xiao Wu's original soul skills. At the same time, they lost the possibility of being replaced with Soul Rings of higher cultivation." At this thought, Lin Manshan could not help thinking, I wonder whether Tang San knows the secret behind this. If he does, then it's truly terrifying to think about.

Xiao Wu truly was a tool.

"So after a Soul Ring is absorbed, its energy is mainly divided into three portions and goes to three places. The first flows into the meridians, widening and strengthening their resilience while increasing cultivation. The second merges into flesh and bones, strengthening the physical body. That is why Spirit Masters suddenly grow taller and sturdier in a short time after absorbing Soul Rings. The third remains within the Soul Ring to sustain the soul skill's existence, hanging on the Martial Soul."

"Mm, so... fuck."

Lin Manshan was suddenly startled inwardly.

"I've cultivated Soul Power, and my Martial Soul has also been infused with Soul Power. It rejects all foreign souls, naturally including soul remnants and consciousness remnants."

"Doesn't that mean that when I absorb Soul Rings, I can only absorb their energy and cannot even gain soul skills?"

He could tangibly feel himself absorbing the Soul Ring's energy.

As for soul skills...

Seeing was believing. Practice was the sole criterion for testing truth.

No longer dwelling on it, Lin Manshan hurriedly calmed his mind and focused entirely on absorbing the Soul Ring.