First Soul Skill

Li Manor.

After falling asleep over at the Azure Serpent Emperor clone's side.

Li Chang'an's main body opened his eyes and could not help rubbing the spot between his brows. Splitting his attention and controlling two bodies at the same time really drained his mental energy.

He wondered if it would improve once his realm was higher in the future.

Thinking this, he summoned his Sword Soul again and gently stroked his treasured sword as if caressing a beauty's skin, as if handling fragile porcelain. It was like he was afraid he might accidentally crush it.

After all, in the future, all his wealth, glory, and freedom to roam this world would depend entirely on the sword in his hand.

"This sword shall be called the 'Azure Scale Sword'!"

He settled on a name for his martial soul. Then he began carefully exploring what abilities his martial soul possessed.

After some research, Li Chang'an discovered that this martial soul was mainly a sword in its normal state, but if necessary, it could also transform from a sword into Serpent Form. However, it could not possess his body and alter his form like a beast martial soul. He could only control its movements the same way he controlled a clone, no different from controlling a soul beast.

But that was already very good. Besides, being able to possess the body might not necessarily be a good thing. Wasn't Dugu Bo constantly corroded by the toxins that came with his martial soul precisely because of Martial Soul Possession? This state of his, where it could not possess him, was just fine. It avoided the trouble of toxins invading his body.

At most, he would lose some of the physical boost after Martial Soul Possession. But compared to the threat of being poisoned after possession, that was not worth mentioning at all.

The next day.

The people sent by the emperor arrived at Li Manor.

This was a handsome middle-aged man, and he himself was a Spirit Saint-level Soul Master. The purpose of this trip was to take him to the Soul Beast Forest to hunt soul beasts and obtain his first soul ring.

Although the Heaven Dou Emperor had been moved to recruit him because of his talent of Innate Full Soul Power, the matter of martial soul mutation still carried a certain amount of uncertainty in the end. After all, a martial soul like the "Azure Scale Sword" had never appeared before, and no one knew whether it was strong or weak. It would not be good if it had some flaw.

So to avoid lavishing rewards on him only to discover that this brat was all show and had no real potential, the Heaven Dou Emperor first sent someone to take him to hunt for a soul ring. Through the soul skill possessed by his first soul ring, he would judge his future. Was he worth recruiting? And how much effort should be put into recruiting him?

Everything would depend on his performance after obtaining the soul ring.

If the soul skill possessed by the soul ring Li Chang'an obtained was very good and showed great potential, then the rewards would naturally be generous. But if his potential was not high and did not match that Innate Full Soul Power, then the rewards given to him might just be a token gesture.

Soul Hunting Forest.

It was a place artificially enclosed by the Heaven Dou Empire to raise soul beasts. Compared to wild Soul Beast Forests, it was far less dangerous. But accordingly, the soul beast species inside were not that diverse, and their ages would not be too high either.

However, Li Chang'an was only obtaining his First Soul Ring, so coming to the Soul Hunting Forest was enough. There was no need to go all the way to a great soul beast forest to hunt soul beasts. That place was a high-risk area; even with a Spirit Saint leading the team, they might encounter mortal danger.

The Middle-aged Spirit Saint brought Li Chang'an here. The guards watching the gates of the Soul Hunting Forest clearly recognized him, and they did not even need him to show a token before taking the initiative to open the gate.

This was the benefit of privilege.

"According to the martial soul traits you described, your Sword Soul innately carries poison attributes, as well as the sharpness traits inherent to a Weapon Soul. In that case, the soul beasts suited for hunting are those with poison, and those with sharpness and armor-piercing traits..." The Middle-aged Spirit Saint led Li Chang'an at a slow walk through the Soul Hunting Forest and said calmly, "Whether you lean toward poison or toward the sword, choose for yourself."

"..."

Li Chang'an was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Then can I have both? Find a soul beast that has both poison and sharpness?"

The Middle-aged Spirit Saint was taken aback when he heard this. After thinking for a while, he said, "Generally speaking, if the effects are too scattered, it will cause the soul skill's power to decline. But if you insist, given the uniqueness of your martial soul, it is not impossible to try. Perhaps you really can have both."

Of course, the reason he agreed so easily was mainly because he felt that the First Soul Ring was a transitional soul ring for the early stage. By the later stage, it basically would not have much use. After all, how strong could a Hundred Year Soul Ring be, no matter how strong? So as long as the age was appropriate, and the soul ring's traits did not deviate too far from the martial soul itself, then in his view, it would be acceptable.

The Middle-aged Spirit Saint was clearly very familiar with this Soul Hunting Forest. Based on Li Chang'an's request, he quickly brought him before a dense bamboo grove.

The bamboo in this grove was different from ordinary bamboo. Its entire body was a white jade-like color, while its leaves were shaped like sword blades. In their pale blue color, black patterns were densely spread, swaying with the wind. A fragrant scent rushed toward them.

Anyone who saw it would feel that the bamboo in this grove was rare, precious bamboo.

But in reality, this was a plant soul beast named "Poison Sword Bamboo."

Those sword-blade-like bamboo leaves were incomparably sharp and also carried toxins. Its attack methods generally involved waving its branches and using those dagger-sharp leaves to cut its opponents. When necessary, it could also fire the leaves out like throwing knives.

There were at least several dozen Poison Sword Bamboos in this bamboo grove. The one with the highest age was a thousand-year Poison Sword Bamboo, while the lowest was around ten years. Among them, there happened to be the hundred-year Poison Sword Bamboo that Li Chang'an needed.

"Roar!"

After the Middle-aged Spirit Saint arrived here, along with a furious roar, he activated Martial Soul Possession. His entire body instantly grew taller, and slabs of muscle surfaced across him, along with dense bear fur. He had clearly turned into a large humanoid brown bear.

A total of seven soul rings circled around his body. Among them, the second and third soul rings lit up. A layer of Golden Light surfaced over the big brown bear to protect him, while his claws also extended several feet of Golden Light, making them even longer.

Just like that, he roared and charged into the bamboo grove.

The brute bear swung and hacked wildly.

After being attacked, the Poison Sword Bamboos naturally refused to show weakness. They waved their branches one after another and lashed over, only to be blocked by the layer of Golden Light on the other party's body. Their leaves could not cut through the defense at all. Those farther away fired out leaf after leaf like throwing knives, but when they stabbed into the Golden Light, they were likewise blocked.

Li Chang'an watched from far away as the Middle-aged Spirit Saint's big brown bear transformation caused a round of destruction before violently digging out a Poison Sword Bamboo and sprinting back out.

This was the bad part about plant soul beasts. Generally speaking, they could not move from place to place. They could only stay where they were and let others butcher them. Of course, some high-age soul beasts could move freely. But the Poison Sword Bamboos before him, with the highest only around a thousand years, clearly did not possess the ability to move.

After he rushed out of their attack range, they could no longer lash him with their branches. They could only fire leaf throwing knives from where they stood, and the result was naturally completely useless. It was like incompetent fury.

Bang!

The big brown bear casually threw the bamboo he had dug out onto the ground. Once it left the soil, this Poison Sword Bamboo was like a fish out of water, immediately losing its vitality. Its entire body wilted.

"Do it. Aim at the core roots at its base and sever the connections. Then you can kill it." The big brown bear returned to the appearance of a middle-aged man, let out a long breath, and said.

At this moment, most of the bamboo body of this Poison Sword Bamboo, whose age was roughly four hundred years and did not exceed five hundred, had already been broken, and its vitality had been severely damaged. In addition, it had been forcibly dug out of the soil, tearing off many of its roots. It was basically half-dead.

Li Chang'an did not hesitate. He raised his hand and summoned his Azure Scale Sword, aimed the jade-green sword tip at the core area he mentioned, and stabbed down fiercely.

Hiss!

It easily pierced the outer skin. Before it even had time to stab deeper, a surge of green appeared at the wound, then quickly spread.

In the blink of an eye, the entire root of the Poison Sword Bamboo was corroded by poison and completely necrotized.

When the Middle-aged Spirit Saint saw this scene, his pupils shrank. Inwardly, he said in surprise, What a powerful poison! It actually has such great lethality against plants as well. It seems this kid's martial soul really isn't simple!

After the Poison Sword Bamboo's roots were completely necrotized, a yellow soul ring slowly rose from the corpse and floated in the air, waiting for him to absorb it.

Li Chang'an did not rush to absorb it. Instead, he turned his head to look at the Middle-aged Spirit Saint. Before he could speak, the other party gave another guarantee. "Judging from the soul ring's color, the age of this Poison Sword Bamboo is around four hundred-some years. It definitely will not exceed five hundred years. With your aptitude of Innate Full Soul Power, absorbing it may be somewhat difficult, but there will absolutely be no danger to your life!"

The reason he could not determine the exact age of this soul ring was mainly because this thing would not produce a notification sound. Who the hell knew exactly how many years over four hundred it was?

Being able to judge roughly how many years it was through its color was already very impressive. If he was also required to state exactly how many years it was, that would truly be making things difficult.

Normally speaking, as long as the First Soul Ring did not exceed five hundred years, there would not be too much risk in absorbing it. As for someone like Yu Xiaogang, who explicitly stated that the absorption limit for the First Soul Ring was 423 years, anyone with a little common sense would know that it was nonsense.

First of all, how do you know that the soul ring you absorbed was 423 years old, and not 424 years or 425 years? Could it possibly be like a game, popping up a notification sound to tell you?

Under such circumstances, Yu Xiaogang's soul ring absorption age, accurate down to the single digit, seemed very unreasonable.

Leaving aside how this data was obtained, the problem was, how were you supposed to judge exactly how many years the soul ring in front of you had?

Could it be that you, Yu Xiaogang, had a Soul Ring Age scanning system, and could casually scan to find out how many years old the soul ring before your eyes was?

Pure nonsense!

After receiving the Middle-aged Spirit Saint's definite answer, Li Chang'an finally completely relaxed and prepared to absorb the soul ring. After all, he only had one life, so naturally he needed to be a little cautious. Rashly absorbing an extremely high-age soul ring carried enormous risk. Li Chang'an did not have a Cheat, so he did not dare try something like absorbing a thousand-year ring as his First Soul Ring.

Moreover, something like Soul Ring Age could be increased later by participating in a God Exam if necessary. There was simply no need to risk his life absorbing an extremely high-age soul ring.

Li Chang'an sat down cross-legged. Then, with a pull of soul power, that soul ring drifted lightly above his head and slowly merged into his body...