Controlled Sacrifice

Controlled Sacrifice

"A Soul Master should revere death, but not fear it."

Chen Ming shook his head. There was no way to explain any further.

In truth, over these years of cultivation, Chen Ming had vaguely sensed that he really did possess some kind of special cheat ability. Yet it seemed far too abstract, to the point that he still had not figured out what it was. He only knew that it appeared to be some trait of the soul. That was why he had paid particular attention to such "spirituality" over the years.

He had indeed taken a liking to this Bilin Seven Absolute Flower at first sight. Back then, it had not even been a Soul Beast, merely a plant with Soul Power Fluctuation. During his cultivation breaks, Chen Ming had watered its roots with his blood and nourished it bit by bit with Soul Power, transforming it into a Soul Beast only a few months ago. Its age was probably around five hundred years.

Because he had infused it with Soul Power and watered it with his blood, Chen Ming could sense that this plant already bore his imprint to some extent. Though he did not know what effect this imprint might have, at the very least, it would not produce any negative consequences.

Chen Ming believed that he could absorb its Soul Ring.

Seeing that persuasion was useless, Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun said nothing more. They merely clenched their fists, their bodies trembling slightly as they looked at Chen Ming with pleading eyes, hoping he would change his mind.

Chen Ming had no weapon capable of dealing with the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower. Even after Martial Soul Possession, he would be unable to inflict fatal damage upon it.

And that was assuming his actions would not provoke a retaliatory chain reaction from this Bilin Seven Absolute Flower, or even the other Bilin Seven Absolute Flowers in the cave.

The Bilin Seven Absolute Flower had an extensive root system. Even if its leaves were destroyed, it could not be completely killed. It was not something an ordinary Soul Master could easily handle.

Yet Chen Ming closed his eyes at that moment and summoned his Martial Soul. As though he had sensed something, his Spiritual Power and Soul Power merged within him, transmitting a certain trait into the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower.

A force came from the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower, resonating with Chen Ming's Martial Soul and bloodline. Within just a few breaths, the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower rapidly bloomed, and its previously tranquil Soul Power was completely ignited in an instant.

Sacrifice—this special ability that could originally only be voluntarily initiated by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast—was forcibly activated at this moment through a method that even Chen Ming himself did not understand.

The Bilin Seven Absolute Flower began devouring its surrounding kind. The Bilin Seven Absolute Flowers that had already become Soul Beasts could barely resist through instinct, while those that had not yet become Soul Beasts could only obediently transfer all the energy they had accumulated to it.

If that energy had been absorbed and stored as a foundation, this Bilin Seven Absolute Flower could likely have broken through to a thousand years in a short time. But not a trace of that power remained. In the blink of an eye, it was completely set ablaze.

The flower bloomed as Life Force and Soul Power surged. Between the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower, burning at its limit, and Chen Ming, a visible emerald-green pillar of Soul Power appeared, linking them together.

Just as Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun were too stunned to think, the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower finally bloomed to its utmost limit, producing an illusory eighth petal that should never have existed.

Then, as though all its Life Force had been drained away, the massive plant turned to ash in an instant. The Soul Power within the flower gathered together and poured into Chen Ming's body. Chen Ming instinctively sat cross-legged and began meditating, while a deep yellow Soul Ring emerged beside him.

"A sacrifice? Isn't that something only..."

Chen Shijie's mouth hung open. He barely managed to force out a few words, but even with every ounce of thought he had in his life, he could not continue.

It was said that Sacrifice was a special ability possessed only by Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, and it could only occur when such a Soul Beast willingly gave everything it had to someone.

On Douluo Continent, such a thing was practically mythological. It had occurred even fewer times than the Angel God's manifestations. If not for Douluo Continent's long-standing belief that ancestral laws could not be changed, something like Sacrifice, which no one had ever seen, would have long been removed from books as a rumor.

But what had they witnessed today?

A hundred-year plant-type Soul Beast had performed a Sacrifice for a Quasi Soul Master who had yet to absorb his First Soul Ring?

This could no longer be described as merely having something wrong with it...

This was a hundred, a thousand, even ten billion times more absurd than the Angel God descending and bestowing a Soul Ring!

But Chen Ming had no time to care about their thoughts. At that moment, under the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower's Sacrifice, he had entered a deep meditation that ordinary Soul Masters would find difficult to encounter.

If the previous Chen Ming had been bound by a lock, then the instant this Soul Ring appeared, he could feel one layer of the shackles restraining him break through because of it.

At that moment, enlightenment arose within his heart.

Soul Masters and Soul Rings were laws of the Douluo World. Every advancement of a Soul Master was equivalent to using a Soul Ring as a medium to connect with the laws of Douluo Continent, completing a transformation.

A Martial Soul was a manifestation of the world's essence, a path of the Douluo World. Soul Rings were derivatives of that path.

Both were flawed. Only by combining with each other could they achieve perfection and obtain a true derivative of the world.

Using the Soul Ring as a medium, Chen Ming's consciousness entered a profoundly mysterious realm. He could sense that he could actively obtain something.

At the movement of his consciousness, scene after scene unfolded before him. They were the laws hidden within the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower, the imprints carved into the most fundamental origin of the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower race.

Soul Masters with different Martial Souls could see different things, and no two people would see the same thing. Yet strictly speaking, from beginning to end, Chen Ming was the only one capable of seeing such abstract concepts.

"Poison Arrow Technique... Poison Light Technique... Vicious Poison Entanglement... Vicious Poison Shot... Vicious Poison Enhancement... Vicious Poison Pincers..."

"These... these aren't enough. They're merely transformations of Soul Power. They aren't fundamental enough..."

After absorbing a Soul Ring, other Soul Masters could only randomly obtain one suitable Soul Skill from several possible choices. Chen Ming, however, had now opened every skill within the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower that could possibly become a Soul Skill. He browsed through them one by one and modified them to a certain extent, making them better suit his wishes.

Chen Ming only glanced once or twice at Soul Skills such as entanglement and growth, which did not suit his Martial Soul, before ignoring them. Instead, he turned his attention to something more important.

Soul Rings and Soul Skills were like spell slots or skill slots. Soul Masters could use them, but most people would never understand how they were being used in their entire lives, much less approach the essence of a Soul Ring.

Skills such as fireballs and fire streams were essentially the same, yet most people could not alter them in any way. Some Soul Skills with simple principles could actually be acquired by Soul Masters through later training, without wasting a precious Soul Ring slot.

Chen Ming explored the essence of the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower within its Soul Ring. In the end, scene after scene overlapped before him, and a Soul Skill appeared—one that, in theory, only a Soul Master with the Bilin Seven Absolute Flower Martial Soul could possibly obtain after absorbing a Bilin Seven Absolute Flower.

"Poison Cloud Technique..."