First Soul Skill: Blade of Death! (Please Recommend)

Outside Heavenly Radiance Canyon, Zhu Ziyang silently absorbed the Soul Ring.

Surging Soul Power poured from the Soul Ring, rampaging through Zhu Ziyang's meridians. His own Soul Power set up layer upon layer of resistance, intercepting, absorbing, and assimilating it again and again. His widened meridians silently absorbed that power as well, which was then carried by his blood throughout his body, gradually strengthening him.

Along with the surging Soul Power came a special gray energy. It was the Power of Death contained within the White Bone Scythe Demon's bloodline. Under the deliberate guidance of Zhu Ziyang's Martial Soul, it separated from the Soul Power within the Soul Ring and flowed toward his Danzhong Acupoint.

The absorption went smoothly. The Soul Ring was successfully refined, and the bloodline containing the Death Attribute was completely absorbed by the Radiant Scythe within his Danzhong Acupoint. Zhu Ziyang could not help but breathe a sigh of relief before focusing on absorbing and refining the Soul Power.

Meanwhile, outside, Zhu Changhe was astonished to discover that his son, who was absorbing the Soul Ring, was undergoing an unusual change. Zhu Ziyang's body emitted a faint golden glow, yet a ring of gray mist edged that golden light. It was very strange.

Though Zhu Changhe was puzzled, he did not dwell on it. Instead, he eagerly anticipated the changes Zhu Ziyang would undergo once he finished absorbing the Soul Ring.

By the time Zhu Ziyang had absorbed his first Soul Ring, it was already around three or four in the afternoon.

When he opened his eyes, delight flashed through them. He immediately summoned his Martial Soul. A pale yellow Soul Ring flickered behind him, but his attention was entirely fixed on the Martial Soul in his hand.

A brand-new Radiant Scythe appeared in his grasp. Its five-foot-long shaft was pure white, engraved with incomplete pale-gold patterns. At the end of the shaft was an additional pure-white sphere, slightly wider than the shaft itself, with a skull carved onto it.

The blade on the right side of the scythe head had become sharper and brighter. Moreover, in addition to its original inner edge, it now possessed an outer edge as well, greatly expanding its possible combat styles.

The Sub-Blade remained ring-shaped, but it had grown significantly larger. Its sharpened area had expanded from a quarter-circle sector to a semicircle, making it look like a small axe overall.

The spearhead at the scythe head had also become more distinct. What had once merely resembled a spear tip had now truly become a diamond-shaped spearhead. Without the blade, it would have been an imposing silver spear. The pale skull on the spear blade had turned dark, standing out sharply against the War Scythe's overall pure-white body.

"This is..." Zhu Changhe looked over, his eyes filled with astonishment.

"I did it, Dad!" Zhu Ziyang's eyes brimmed with delight as he said excitedly, "I'm a Soul Master now!"

"Very good!" Zhu Changhe was equally delighted. Smiling at the yellow Soul Ring floating behind his son, he felt deeply gratified and even forgot about the strange changes to Zhu Ziyang's Martial Soul. He said, "Quick, try out your Soul Skill and see how it is."

"Mm!" Zhu Ziyang nodded. Setting aside the changes to his Martial Soul for the moment, he closed his eyes and carefully sensed the Soul Skill granted by the Soul Ring.

A moment later.

He opened his eyes and stepped forward. The Radiant Scythe in his hand radiated a desolate aura as the yellow Soul Ring behind him flickered rapidly. Zhu Ziyang swung the Radiant Scythe in a slashing motion, and a grayish-white X-shaped Blade Qi shot forth. It struck a large tree some distance away, instantly splitting the massive trunk—at least four or five people would have been needed to encircle it—into four pieces. The grayish-white Blade Qi finally crashed into the ground, leaving behind an X-shaped crack roughly a meter wide.

First Soul Skill, Blade of Death!

It condensed the Power of Death onto the blade of the Radiant Scythe and unleashed a Blade Qi strike of tremendous destructive force.

As Zhu Ziyang looked at the aftermath of his attack, he silently calculated that it had consumed around one-ninth of his Soul Power. Its power was fairly good, but more importantly, it carried a special effect.

He walked toward the tree that had been cut into four pieces. At the wounds sliced open by the blade light, a faint grayish-white color could be seen. That grayish-white energy was slowly eroding the tree's life! This was the effect carried by Blade of Death: Life Deprivation!

It deprived the struck living being of its Life Force, causing it to gradually age before dying!

This ability, which greatly resembled the methods of an Evil Soul Master, was actually the purest application of the Death Attribute. It was worlds apart from those Evil Soul Masters who crudely devoured vitality, and it was even an ability that countered Evil Soul Masters.

Most importantly, Zhu Ziyang could freely control the effect of Life Deprivation. If he wanted the blade light of Blade of Death to have the Life Deprivation effect, it would have it. If he did not, then it could not deprive anything of Life Force.

"Mm, not bad!" Zhu Ziyang smiled and muttered to himself, "This first Soul Ring was such a huge gain. Not only did I obtain such a powerful Soul Skill, but it also restored the Radiant Scythe's Death Attribute, turning it into a true Martial Soul where light and death coexist!"

Zhu Ziyang's face was full of excitement and exhilaration. The Radiant Scythe, possessing the two higher attributes of light and death, was bound to be stronger than a Radiant Scythe with only the Light Attribute! Still, would people mistake him for an Evil Soul Master because he possessed the Death Attribute?

An unusual glint flashed in his eyes.

"What powerful destructive force!" Zhu Changhe walked to his side, his face full of amazement. "Is this your first Soul Skill, Yangyang?"

"That's right. Isn't it awesome?" Zhu Ziyang asked, looking at Zhu Changhe with a showy expression.

"It really is impressive, but why is it a Blade Qi-type Soul Skill? A Scythe Bone Demon-type Soul Beast shouldn't possess this kind of Soul Skill, should it?" Zhu Changhe looked confused and deeply puzzled.

"An ordinary Scythe Bone Demon naturally couldn't, but this one was different." After thinking for a moment, Zhu Ziyang said, "It was a Mutated Scythe Bone Demon. I read about it in a book. This type of Mutated Scythe Bone Demon has the Death Attribute and can unleash death-slash-type Soul Skills. That's why I was able to obtain a Blade Qi-type Soul Skill after absorbing its Soul Ring."

"Death Attribute?!" Upon hearing Zhu Ziyang's explanation, Zhu Changhe was utterly shocked. Then he looked at Zhu Ziyang with a face full of confusion and worry and asked, "You mean you absorbed a Soul Ring with the Death Attribute?! Are you all right?"

"Come on, Dad, relax." Seeing Zhu Changhe's anxious expression, Zhu Ziyang reassured him, "Listen to my explanation."

"Fine, then explain." Zhu Changhe barely calmed down, staring fixedly at Zhu Ziyang.

"Actually, my Radiant Scythe Martial Soul possesses both the Light and Death Attributes," Zhu Ziyang said. "That's why I was able to absorb that White Bone Scythe Demon's Soul Ring."

"What!" Zhu Changhe's expression became extremely complicated. Rather than the shock Zhu Ziyang had expected, there was instead a trace of relief. He muttered, "I never thought Grandpa's words were actually true. It's unbelievable!"

"Huh?" Now it was Zhu Ziyang's turn to be bewildered. He looked at Zhu Changhe curiously.

"My grandfather once told me that his grandfather—the first Soul Master of our Zhu Family—had a Martial Soul that possessed both the Light and Death Attributes. I thought he was joking, but I never expected it to be true," Zhu Changhe said.

"So that's how it is!" Zhu Ziyang suddenly understood.

"That's right." Zhu Changhe grew somewhat excited. "Yangyang, your Martial Soul has undergone an ancestral reversion. This means our old Zhu Family is really going to rise!"

"Don't worry, Dad. With me here, our Zhu Family will definitely become the strongest family on the continent!" Zhu Ziyang declared, his little face brimming with overconfident self-assurance.

"Very good!" Naturally, Zhu Changhe would not dampen his son's confidence. A gratified smile appeared on his face as he said, "Our task has been completed perfectly. Let's hurry home and tell your mother the good news so she can be happy too!"

"We're going home!" Zhu Ziyang cried happily.

The father and son set off for home.

Since Zhu Ziyang had officially become a Soul Master, their traveling speed increased considerably. Most noticeably, the journey there had taken three days, while the return trip took only two.

Thus, on the evening of the sixth day after leaving home, they returned to Beihe Village.

"Wife, we're back!"

As soon as he entered the house, Zhu Changhe called out.

"Ah—Yangyang, how did it go? What kind of Soul Ring and Soul Skill did you get?" Hearing his voice, Liang Ying rushed out of the room and immediately hugged Zhu Ziyang, asking excitedly.

"Ugh—let Dad tell you. I need to take a bath. I haven't bathed in six days, and I'm dying of discomfort," Zhu Ziyang said, his face full of impatience.

"All right, then." Though Liang Ying was somewhat disappointed, she did not stop Zhu Ziyang and let him leave. But this left Zhu Changhe in misery. Liang Ying grabbed his arm to keep him from escaping and said in a voice that was seven parts forceful and three parts coquettish, "You tell me!"

Zhu Changhe could only agree helplessly.