Rebirth Through Fire

"Boom..."

On the Golden Lion Plains, the moment the Inferno Demon Lion's Soul Ring settled around Yan's palm, a blaze erupted.

Flames surged from Yan's right hand and swept across his entire body. The Flame Commander martial soul manifested and possessed him, and his body began to change. His skin became as tough as granite, covered in crimson patterns. As the power of the hundred-year Soul Ring flowed into him, the flames covering his body also began to transform.

The originally crimson flames evolved further, gaining traces of reddish-gold fire. Their temperature rose continuously, gradually approaching the dark-red Lava Force from before. The benefits brought by the Inferno Demon Lion Soul Ring were undoubtedly immense, but completely absorbing and refining it was also extraordinarily difficult.

Yan felt as though his right hand had been plunged into lava. Scorching energy flooded madly into his body, and a blazing torrent rampaged endlessly through him, as though his organs were being incinerated, making his body tremble uncontrollably.

Fortunately, he had prepared himself for this. Sitting cross-legged with his palms, soles, and crown facing the heavens, he steadied himself and painstakingly focused his mind. He guided this foreign Soul Power through his body according to a suitable meditation technique he had derived through study and deduction, circulating it through a complete cycle while using the energy to open up his Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

Yan closed his eyes. At this moment, there was neither outside nor self. Though he was surrounded by soul beasts in a dangerous situation, with Feng Lin standing guard, he had no worries about his safety. He threw himself wholeheartedly into refining the Soul Ring, his consciousness completely immersed in that scorching ocean of Soul Power.

Yan struggled to guide the current of heat throughout his body. After this cleansing, the violence within the Soul Power gradually dissipated. In the end, all the energy gathered at the center of Yan's sea of consciousness, where his martial soul resided.

A sudden change occurred within Yan's consciousness. He entered the martial soul space once more and saw, within a sea of fire, the illusory flaming figure that continuously rose, sank, and evolved—his Flame Commander martial soul.

This sea of fire, formed from the source energy of the Inferno Demon Lion Soul Ring, was exceptionally strange. The dancing flames were actually reddish-gold, filled with an extraordinary aura. As threads of reddish-gold true fire merged into the martial soul, the Flame Commander martial soul began to change.

The ordinary crimson flames gradually took on hints of gold, as did the patterns on the martial soul's body. The surrounding temperature steadily rose, its aura continuously evolving as it gradually approached the Flame Lord martial soul from before.

The martial soul is another reflection of the heart. Refining a Soul Ring to gain a Soul Skill is not only related to the soul beast being refined, but also to myself. What kind of Soul Skill do I need?

A certain realization arose in Yan's heart. He then looked toward a point within the sea of fire. In the next instant, a speck of light from the endless flames merged into the center of the Flame Commander martial soul's brow, whereupon brilliant golden flames burst forth.

The instant Yan determined the skill of his First Soul Ring in his heart, his outer body also underwent an obvious change. As a bright yellow Soul Ring pulsed around him, it shone intensely, and a firestorm sprang into existence.

At this moment, Yan was like a Black Hole, devouring endless flames and forming an enormous vortex of fire within the sea of flames.

Before long, an immense pillar of fire rose from the center of the flaming vortex. Yan, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, rose to his feet. Flames flowed over his body, making him seem like an incomparably massive blaze. His aura surged explosively, as though his strength had suddenly risen by a great deal.

"So this is my First Soul Skill. It feels pretty good."

Just as Liya was worrying that Yan might have lost himself to the backlash from the immense energy of the hundred-year Inferno Demon Lion Soul Ring, the enormous flames suddenly drew back. Yan slowly opened his eyes as he spoke. Looking at his powerful hands, he could not help clenching his fists and smiling.

"Little Yan, you succeeded."

Only after observing Yan and finding nothing wrong did Liya cautiously speak.

"Sister Liya, don't worry. I succeeded."

Yan smiled faintly at Liya, then clenched his palm. A golden fireball formed in his hand, and with a swing of his arm, he sent it flying. The golden fireball swiftly arced through the air before accurately striking a huge rock ten meters away.

In the next instant, sparks scattered everywhere. Under the extreme heat, even the boulder began to burn. After more than ten minutes, the flames finally died out, but a charred pit over half a meter wide had been left behind.

"Whoosh!"

Yan launched another palm strike. This time, the fireball again streaked through the sky, but after ten meters, it gradually began to fade and shrink. After traveling more than twenty meters, it burst apart with a pop and completely dissipated.

"So twenty meters is the limit? As expected, it can't compare to a specialized long-range Soul Skill."

Yan shook his head in slight disappointment. The flames surrounding him gradually receded, and his aura began to fall as well, eventually returning to calm.

At this time, Liya also walked to Yan's side and asked curiously, "Little Yan, is this the ability you gained from your First Soul Ring? Wasn't the Inferno Demon Lion's most powerful area-of-effect skill the Repelling Flame Ring?"

Liya found it rather strange. Yan's attack just now looked quite powerful, but it did not deserve the might of a hundred-year Soul Skill at all. For fire-attributed Soul Masters, most First Soul Skills were things like Flame Ray, capable of reaching hundreds of meters and possessing considerable power.

Even compared to a long-range attack like Flame Ray, an area attack such as the Repelling Flame Ring, which combined offense and defense, was quite good. Moreover, the Inferno Demon Lion's Repelling Flame Ring was extremely famous and far more powerful than similar skills. She had thought Yan would choose that skill.

"It's not the Repelling Flame Ring. It isn't even an offensive Soul Skill, but a percentage-based enhancement Soul Skill. I call it Rebirth Through Fire, or it can also be called Inferno Demon Lion Transformation."

Yan shook his head. He had given considerable thought to this First Soul Skill. Sister Liya's idea was not wrong. Whether it was Flame Ray or the Repelling Flame Ring, both were Soul Skills that could provide combat power the fastest. However, such Soul Skills would basically become useless in the later stages, so Yan did not approve of them.

He did not want to waste any of his Soul Ring slots. He hoped that even his first few Soul Rings would remain useful in the far later stages, rather than becoming as worthless as chicken ribs.

Yan had studied the Douluo world. In this world, the power of Soul Ring skills was closely tied to their age. As a Soul Master's Soul Power cultivation increased, the power of hundred-year Soul Skills would gradually diminish.

Especially after reaching the Soul Sage stage in the later phases, a Soul Master could casually draw upon the energy of heaven and earth with a single strike. A Soul Skill like Flame Ray would be completely useless, perhaps not even as strong as a Soul Sage's casual punch.

However, there were also overpowered exceptions among Douluo's skills: percentage-based enhancement Soul Skills.

These auxiliary-type Soul Skills could temporarily increase a Soul Master's strength. Percentage-based enhancements in particular scaled according to the Soul Master's own strength rather than the Soul Ring's age. That was simply too overpowered.