External Soul Bone, Poison Emperor Possession

External Soul Bone, Poison Emperor Possession

After absorbing the Soul Ring, Chen Ming slowly rose to his feet. Before he could speak, he instinctively sensed that something on the dead scorpion in front of him seemed connected to him.

He walked behind the scorpion, placed a hand on its stiff tail, and subconsciously injected Soul Power into it.

As Chen Ming's Soul Power flowed in, the dead scorpion tail suddenly regained vitality. It began devouring Chen Ming's Soul Power and, strangely, started drawing flesh and blood from the dead Jade Scorpion.

In just a few breaths, the Jade Scorpion's hard shell began to shrivel, its flesh drained away. As though satisfied, the massive scorpion tail gradually shrank, finally detaching from the Jade Scorpion's body and turning into a slender tail that looked as if it had been meticulously carved from emerald-green jade.

"External Soul Bone!"

Chen Shijie cried out. At last, he recognized what this thing was, and his heart finally felt a little more at ease.

Although External Soul Bones were also exceedingly rare, and he had only ever seen them in books in his entire life, compared to the things that had happened to his grandson before—things enough to overturn the history of Soul Masters—an External Soul Bone was honestly far too normal.

Soul Bones were treasures of the Soul Master world. Every appearance brought bloodshed and strife. Once outsiders learned of one, it would definitely invite enormous trouble. But everyone present was from the Chen Family, so Chen Shijie did not need to worry about it being exposed.

Just as he was about to hurry Chen Ming into absorbing the External Soul Bone first, Chen Tianyun stepped forward from the side and quickly nudged Chen Ming's arm.

"Xiaoming, don't say anything else for now. Absorb the External Soul Bone first." Without waiting for Chen Ming's response, Chen Tianyun tugged on Chen Shijie's sleeve, and the two walked off to the side together.

"Dad, let's move farther away and let Xiaoming absorb the Soul Bone."

"Hey, you little bastard, you don't even trust your own father..." Chen Shijie was so angered by Chen Tianyun's reaction that his beard bristled and his eyes widened. He fiercely rapped his unfilial son on the head. Still, he obediently stepped back a few paces and called out instructions to Chen Ming from a distance.

"Xiaoming, your second uncle did the right thing. In the future, you must remember this: when you're out in the world, always keep your guard up. No, not just one guard—keep a hundred. Don't go blundering through things."

"When absorbing a Soul Ring, a Soul Master is at their weakest and most vulnerable. Never expose yourself so easily before outsiders. If you find some treasure, be prepared to strike first. Even if you don't act, you absolutely must not let others see it."

"An External Soul Bone is a legendary treasure second only to a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. It can evolve along with a Soul Master's cultivation, perhaps even reaching the hundred-thousand-year level in the end. Though it cannot be passed down, it is still priceless."

"When you go out and do things, you must be extremely careful!"

There was no threshold for absorbing Soul Bones. Even a level-one Soul Master could absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. Since Chen Ming could absorb a Thousand Year Soul Ring across ranks, there was certainly no chance that he would fail to absorb a mere External Soul Bone. Chen Shijie was not worried about the absorption itself; he was simply using this opportunity to repeatedly remind Chen Ming to be extremely cautious in everything he did.

Looking at the External Soul Bone in his hand, Chen Ming considered for a while whether he should absorb it. After a moment of silence, he ultimately decided to do so.

First, External Soul Bones were simply too precious and too mysterious. Hundreds of ordinary Soul Bones might not yield even one. It seemed the Douluo series had said they only had a one-in-a-thousand chance of appearing. If he did not absorb it now, who knew when he might find a second one?

Second, this External Soul Bone truly suited him. It shared the same origin as his Martial Soul, making it easy to evolve in the future, and its attached ability would certainly suit him as well. It might even allow his Martial Soul to evolve further someday. Even if he managed to seize Tang San's Eight Spider Lances, the benefits might not necessarily surpass those of this Soul Bone.

Third, the same stats meant different things in the early stages and the late stages. This External Soul Bone was itself at the thousand-year level and could provide his current body with a substantial boost, allowing him to snowball his strength sooner. Both his survivability and his endurance when absorbing Soul Rings would improve, and it could evolve further in the future. There was absolutely no way he would lose out.

Its only drawback was that the Bilin Scorpion could not fly, leaving it lacking in mobility...

Of course, as a transmigrator, Chen Ming also knew what could make up for that flaw.

"Grandpa, Second Uncle, I understand. I'll definitely be extremely careful in the future."

Chen Ming nodded and replied before sitting cross-legged again to absorb the thousand-year External Soul Bone.

Because it shared the same origin as his Martial Soul and he had already absorbed its Soul Ring, Chen Ming felt no obstruction whatsoever while absorbing this thousand-year External Soul Bone. In just a few moments, he had completely absorbed it.

Perhaps because the overlap was too great, even after absorbing the External Soul Bone, the scorpion tail behind Chen Ming remained much the same as before. Its material merely looked more realistic, and its patterns had become slightly more intricate.

If one did not look closely, even Chen Ming himself would find it difficult to tell from its appearance exactly what had changed.

However, the Soul Bone's enhancements had not disappeared just because its appearance was inconspicuous. On the contrary, the boosts brought by the External Soul Bone were extremely obvious.

A scorpion's tail actually included its excretory system, so after losing its tail, a scorpion would be killed by its own waste. Of course, Martial Souls on Douluo Continent were clearly not that hardcore. Chen Ming's tail actually protruded from his tailbone and was an external extension of his spine. Both its perception and control were extremely sensitive, with precision no less than that of his ten fingers.

After absorbing this Soul Bone, Chen Ming could feel that, with his spine as the core, the entire skeletal structure of his body had been significantly strengthened. His flesh, bones, and meridians had all improved greatly. Though his Martial Soul had not evolved further, its essence had advanced another step. Perhaps in the future, he could indirectly evolve his Martial Soul by stimulating the growth of the External Soul Bone.

This External Soul Bone strengthened the toughness and power of his tail while also slightly enhancing his toxicity. Most importantly, the Soul Bone came with a Soul Skill called Poison Emperor Possession. Once activated, it increased all his attributes by fifty percent and his poison potency by one hundred percent.

As for passive abilities, none had developed yet. They would likely only begin to manifest after Chen Ming grew a little more.

For an enhancement-type Soul Skill, this was already quite good. Not only did it make up for Chen Ming's lack of enhancement abilities among his two Soul Skills, but more importantly, this Soul Bone Skill could continue improving as Chen Ming grew stronger.

If it had to be said, its drawback was that Poison Emperor Possession consumed an enormous amount of Soul Power. With Chen Ming's current Soul Power at level twenty-two, close to level twenty-three after absorbing the Soul Ring and Soul Bone, he could only maintain Poison Emperor Possession for about half a shichen.

Moreover, his other two Soul Skills were also huge Soul Power drains. In a real fight, even if he went all out, he might only be able to maintain that state for a few minutes.

After Chen Ming finished absorbing the External Soul Bone, Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun finally came over and began talking with him. Chen Ming briefly explained his Second Soul Skill and the abilities attached to the External Soul Bone.

When they learned that Chen Ming's Martial Soul had been completely restored and had undergone a fundamental transformation, Chen Tianyun and Chen Shijie embraced each other. Father and son could not help but shed tears of joy.

However, before they could marvel for long, Chen Tianyun brought up the point about Chen Ming that deserved the most attention.

"The External Soul Bone gives you a considerable boost, but it barely changes your appearance. If we didn't know you had absorbed a Soul Bone, even experts like us would never notice the difference. As long as you don't reveal it yourself, there won't be a problem. But your Second Soul Ring is truly far too conspicuous..."

"There have been precedents on the continent of someone absorbing a Thousand Year Soul Ring as their second ring, but those cases only appear once every few hundred years. The chances are far lower than Innate Full Soul Power. At any rate, there has not been any news of someone absorbing a Soul Ring beyond their limit in the past century. Once it is exposed, people will either fight to recruit you or those jealous of you will want to eliminate you at the root..."

"The atmosphere on Douluo Continent... really makes it hard to know what to say." Chen Ming grumbled.

"It can't be helped. If you don't kill another family's genius, that family may kill yours. If your family has no genius and your talents are cut off, once their genius grows up, they'll swallow you whole. That's why everyone keeps an eye on other families' geniuses, always looking for a chance to kill them."

"Your grandfather and second uncle are considered respectable figures here in Biluo City, but outside Biluo City, there are plenty stronger than us. These old bones of mine can at most trade a few moves with a Soul Saint whose Martial Soul and Soul Ring configuration aren't particularly strong. A true powerhouse could kill me with a few slaps."

"But we use poison, after all. Ambushes are where we perform best. Your poison is currently about seventy percent as potent as mine, and a little stronger than your second uncle's. In an ambush, you may not be able to kill a Soul Saint, but dealing with a Soul Emperor would be no problem."

"Rather than having you hide away for decades and waste your talent, it would be better to use our connections and send you directly to Heaven Dou Royal Academy. With three Soul Douluo Education Committee Members and the Heaven Dou imperial family as backing, it would be far safer than staying at home."

"Then, when you travel the continent, you'll have a background of your own."