Breaking the Limit, External Soul Bone

"Xiao Yan, are you truly certain?"

Dugu Bo's pupils contracted slightly, his voice filled with incredulous alarm:

"This is no trivial matter.

Even if you have refined Ice-Fire Immortal Herbs and your physique surpasses others of the same realm by far,

the limit for a normal Spirit Master's Third Soul Ring is only a little over seventeen hundred years."

A three-ring Soul Elder absorbing a six- or seven-thousand-year Soul Ring.

Its age even surpassed that of a Fourth Soul Ring. It was simply horrifying.

"Grandpa, take one punch from me and you'll know."

Lu Yan said no more.

With a slight movement, he threw a punch, its force fierce and biting.

Bang!

Dugu Bo instantly understood his intent. He met it with one palm, and two pure forces collided head-on with a muffled boom.

This...?!

Dugu Bo could clearly feel that the punch contained not the slightest trace of Soul Power. It was purely the strength of Lu Yan's physical body.

Its ferocity and dominance were even several degrees stronger than when he had been a four-ring Soul Ancestor back then.

"Grandpa, do you think I'm qualified to give it a try?"

Lu Yan withdrew his fist and stood calmly, utterly composed.

Facts spoke louder than words.

"You really are... a little monster."

Dugu Bo froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"With that brute strength of yours, you really might have a chance of challenging a six- or seven-thousand-year Soul Ring."

Looking at the youth's confident, soaring gaze, as though it could cut through every obstacle in its path,

a thought suddenly arose in Dugu Bo's heart—

Perhaps he was witnessing an unprecedented monster take his first step toward shaking the world.

However, Spirit-type Soul Beasts were simply too rare.

Even with a Titled Douluo like Dugu Bo personally taking action,

several days passed.

Although they encountered several Spirit-type Soul Beasts, their ages were all too low to meet Lu Yan's needs.

Until the fifth day.

A dazzling streak of color fluttered through the forest, drawing their attention.

"It's a Heart-Bewitching Butterfly. Its aura... is nearly eight thousand years old." Dugu Bo accurately judged its age, then revealed a regretful expression. "What a pity, what a pity.

"This beast perfectly suits your requirements, but its age... has already far exceeded the limit."

"No." Lu Yan locked his gaze onto the Heart-Bewitching Butterfly, blazing light bursting from his eyes. "I want to try."

"Nonsense." Dugu Bo's face darkened as he sternly said,

"Eight thousand years has completely exceeded what you can withstand.

Forcefully absorbing it means nine chances of death and one of survival.

If you fail, your cultivation will be crippled at best; at worst, your body will explode and you will die.

I absolutely cannot watch you take such a risk."

With that said,

Soul Power circulated around Dugu Bo, emerald light flashing as he prepared to strike and completely kill the Heart-Bewitching Butterfly.

He intended to crush Lu Yan's foolish notion at its root.

"Grandpa, wait." Lu Yan hurriedly stopped him and explained with clear reasoning,

"Bring it back to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

With the Ice-Fire Immortal Herbs as my foundation, I can absorb the Soul Ring within the spring.

By using the power of heaven and earth there to suppress the Soul Ring's rampage, surpassing the limit by less than a thousand years may not be impossible."

He remembered from the original story—

Tang San had relied on the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye to absorb a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring beyond his level for his Fourth Soul Ring.

He could use this method as well.

One step ahead, every step ahead.

He had to seize every opportunity that could make him supremely powerful.

"Xiao Yan, you..." Seeing the unquestionable resolve in his eyes, Dugu Bo finally let out a long sigh.

"Fine. This old man will go mad with you this once.

Let me see with my own eyes just how a true monster is born."

Dugu Bo dispersed his Soul Power, then subdued the Heart-Bewitching Butterfly with lightning-fast methods and brought it back to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

He then precisely wounded the Heart-Bewitching Butterfly until it was on the verge of death.

Lu Yan did not hesitate.

A Soul Impact shot forth, completely ending its life.

The next moment,

a Purple Soul Ring slowly emerged from the Heart-Bewitching Butterfly's corpse, emitting palpitating Soul Power Fluctuations.

"Kid, don't forget.

Yanyan is still waiting for you to return in Heaven Dou City."

Dugu Bo reminded him in a deep voice, his tone grave.

"I won't die."

Lu Yan turned back and gave him a resolute look.

Then he leaped forward, plunging once more into the spring where ice and fire intertwined.

The Dream Butterfly Martial Soul bloomed proudly behind him.

Lu Yan circulated his Soul Power and actively drew in the eight-thousand-year Soul Ring.

Boom—!

The instant the Soul Ring settled onto him, it was as though a volcano erupted within his body.

An unimaginably vast torrent of Soul Power transformed into a searing, burning-hot flood that brutally crashed into his meridians, madly tearing and battering them.

Pfft!

Lu Yan spat out a mouthful of blood.

His entire body was slammed by the immense energy, completely sinking beneath the spring water.

But at that moment, the miraculous effect of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye manifested.

Two streams of Heaven and Earth Vitality, one frigid and one scorching, poured into his body.

They clashed and restrained the violent power of the Soul Ring, forcibly suppressing the speed of its rampage.

Yet even so,

the meridians throughout Lu Yan's body bulged like coiling dragons, while terrifying blood vessels covered the surface of his skin.

He looked like a porcelain doll on the verge of shattering.

Mysterious Heaven Skill, circulate with all your might!

Lu Yan roared inwardly.

The Cultivation Method he had practiced for years began circulating through his body at an unprecedented speed.

It continuously sorted through and refined that vast, unruly Soul Power.

At the same time, an unfamiliar yet powerful Spiritual Power surged like a tide against his Sea of Consciousness.

But it was merely a futile effort.

Lu Yan was already a Spirit Master with a deep foundation, and he had also been tempered by the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.

After half a year of arduous cultivation, his Spiritual Power had long since risen to another level.

Though the Heart-Bewitching Butterfly's spiritual assault was powerful, it could not shake his impregnable Sea of Consciousness.

Instead, it was gradually devoured and absorbed, becoming nourishment for his Sea of Consciousness.

On the shore,

Dugu Bo stared intently at Lu Yan within the spring.

Though Lu Yan's condition looked terrifying, it did not continue worsening and instead showed signs of gradually stabilizing. Only then did Dugu Bo's suspended heart ease slightly.

Just then, another change occurred.

A dazzling stream of light suddenly shot from the Heart-Bewitching Butterfly's corpse.

With speed too swift to react to, it plunged fiercely into the center of Lu Yan's forehead.

"What is that?!" Dugu Bo was startled.

A strange glowing pattern emerged beneath the skin between Lu Yan's brows.

It slowly formed the outline of a closed vertical eye, bewitching and magnificent.

"This... this is... an External Soul Bone?!"

As a Titled Douluo, Dugu Bo was vastly knowledgeable.

He instantly recognized the External Soul Bone—an invaluable treasure capable of rivaling a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

It could continuously evolve as its Spirit Master grew.

For an instant, even Dugu Bo could not suppress the instinctive flicker of greed in his heart.

But he immediately crushed that greed without mercy.

This kid was his grandson-in-law, the future hope of the Dugu Family.

"Good kid."

Dugu Bo looked complicatedly at Lu Yan struggling within the spring and muttered,

"You really are about to soar into the heavens and become an unprecedented monster on this continent."

At that moment, Lu Yan had no attention to spare for anything else.

He was pouring all his strength into guiding the Mysterious Heaven Skill and the Ice-Fire Power, attacking from within and without as he gradually subdued the violent Soul Ring Energy inside his body.