Soul Skill Effects

Heavy breathing, laced with traces of blood.

"I succeeded."

"Good lad. You scared the life out of me; I'm too old to handle such terrifying stunts."

Mu Xuanheng glanced at the flustered Xuan Zi: "Old man, how about that? I told you I could do it."

Mu Xuanheng pointed his right thumb at himself, looking quite confident.

"Fine, fine, you could do it. I nearly didn't make it back to Shrek."

Xuan Zi felt he must have lost his mind to have agreed to let him absorb the soul ring of a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear.

"I'm not coming next time to keep you little brat company while you stir up trouble. I'll get lectured by Elder Mu again when we get back."

He patted Mu Xuanheng twice with his large hand and laughed: "Hahaha, never mind that now. To absorb such a high-quality soul ring as your first is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You truly are the future star of our Shrek."

Mu Xuanheng chuckled along, though he knew that at this point in time, there was indeed another "future star" already present.

Before leaving, he started digging around the corpse of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking to see if there's a soul bone."

Xuan Zi slapped his hand down: "What are you thinking? How could you possibly have all the luck? It's good enough that you could absorb the ring; you still want a soul bone? You could kill a hundred-year soul beast and still not necessarily find one."

"It looks like there actually is one."

"Hm?"

Xuan Zi followed Mu Xuanheng's gaze, and a soul bone appeared right before their eyes.

He was shocked, because this was no ordinary soul bone; it was a claw: "An external soul bone?"

He moved with incredible speed to seal off the surrounding area. "Quick, Xuanheng. Absorb it immediately. This is an external soul bone."

It is a consensus that a soul bone is best absorbed by the same person who obtained the soul ring to achieve the best results.

But consensus aside, the allure of an external soul bone remains.

Even Xuan Zi himself did not possess such a soul bone.

"This is an external soul bone, the item ranked just below a hundred-thousand-year soul ring on the list of things soul masters desire most."

Under Xuan Zi's protection, he began to absorb the external soul bone.

Compared to the agony of absorbing the soul ring just moments ago, this soul bone was much easier to handle. But that was only relative; not a single bit of the expected pain was missing.

Once the soul bone was fully absorbed, Xuan Zi withdrew the surrounding defenses.

"For anything else, we should return to the Sea God Pavilion first."

Although Xuan Zi was confident in his own strength, Mu Xuanheng was simply too important.

On the way back, Xuan Zi began to educate Mu Xuanheng on the scarcity and importance of external soul bones.

Mu Xuanheng could only pretend to be ignorant and listen attentively.

Upon returning to the Sea God Pavilion, Xuan Zi hurried to find Mu En.

This wasn't to seek protection, but to show off.

"A soul ring from a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, and an external soul bone to boot."

Hearing about the external soul bone, a look of surprise appeared on Mu En's face: "Xuanheng, let me see your external soul bone."

Compared to a soul ring, a soul bone was even more significant.

Mu Xuanheng immediately activated the soul bone, and powerful claws appeared on his right hand.

"What is the innate soul skill attached to it?"

Mu Xuanheng felt it carefully: "Sky-Ripping Claw. It's an offensive soul skill, but it consumes a lot of energy."

"Can you use it now?"

"I can."

Mu En said calmly: "Use it on me with all your might; you won't be able to hurt me."

"Old man, be careful." Mu Xuanheng naturally knew he couldn't hurt Mu En; the gap in their strength was too vast.

He channeled the soul bone, and the Sky-Ripping Claw struck Mu En's body directly.

Without any defense, Mu En's expression remained unchanged: "What a powerful attack. It doesn't look like a hundred-year soul bone at all. The attack power of a one-ring soul master, comparable to the full-force strike of a three-ring Soul Elder."

One had to remember that Mu Xuanheng was only level 11.

The effect was powerful, but the cost was also obvious. At this moment, Mu Xuanheng's soul power felt as if it had been completely drained.

"What a damn soul skill."

"Now you've learned your lesson, haven't you?" Xuan Zi took the opportunity to kick him twice.

Mu En helped Mu Xuanheng recover his soul power, wanting to see his first soul skill.

"My first soul skill is Chaofeng Dragon Claw."

"Come, come, it's my turn now." Xuan Zi took the initiative to shoulder the responsibility of being the punching bag.

"In that case, Old Man, I won't hold back."

Mu Xuanheng condensed his hand into a claw, and a swift, fierce strike pierced directly through Xuan Zi's defense, leaving behind a shallow mark.

Mu En beamed with joy: "Ignoring defense, I see."

"Correct." Mu Xuanheng lifted his head confidently: "And it's not over yet."

"Ah, it's not over yet?" As a Super Douluo, Xuan Zi already felt embarrassed enough to be scratched, and now there was more.

Mu Xuanheng: "The Chaofeng Dragon Claw consists of three strikes. The first is a close-range defense-ignoring strike. The second is a long-range forced grab."

A dragon claw imprint flew out from Mu Xuanheng and struck Xuan Zi. However, this one did not cause any damage.

Xuan Zi: "It has a bit of a control effect. Close-range attack, long-range control; what a fine Chaofeng Dragon Claw."

Mu En: "Xuanheng, you just said there are three strikes in total. What about this third strike?"

"The third strike usually hides in the void, and it takes a lot of effort to deploy."

He looked at Xuan Zi; with such a good target, he absolutely had to give it a try: "Old Man, watch out."

In a place where it couldn't be seen, Xuan Zi immediately caught the suddenly emerging dragon claw. His face betrayed unconcealable surprise: "This third strike is truly formidable."

Seeing Mu Xuanheng's surprised expression, he asked: "What, you brat, were you actually hoping to hurt a Title Douluo like me?"

"I was just surprised that the third strike was caught so easily."

Mu En comforted him: "That is because your senior brother was prepared in advance. If it were anyone else, they might not necessarily have been able to stop your move."

Striking from the void—not to mention low-level soul masters, even high-level soul masters might not be able to predict it, let alone react and stop it.

"Although every soul skill is fixed, if the first soul skill is already this powerful, the other soul skills likely won't be bad either." Mu En had initially been somewhat dissatisfied with the fixed soul skills of the Chaofeng, but now he felt it might not be a bad thing after all.

"This can no longer be explained by a top-tier martial soul; it can already be called a god-level martial soul."

Mu Xuanheng nodded repeatedly, for the Chaofeng was originally a first-rank god.

"It seems your future training will need to be specialized."

For an absolutely top-tier genius, Mu En naturally would not treat him the same as the others.

To achieve the best results, he would naturally need additional support.

"Your food will be specially supplied from now on, an absolute nutritional package. But the corresponding training will also increase significantly."

"Ah, I'm still growing. Shouldn't it be reduced instead?"

Mu En: "I have checked the ancient texts; a long time ago, someone already conducted similar experiments. For soul masters, exercise does not affect physical development. What you are talking about applies to commoners without soul power. So, don't worry about your body; on the contrary, exercise also helps your development."

Good news, and also bad news.

From today on, his training would exceed anything he had done before.

As an excellent soul master, he had to learn to find someone to share the burden: "Then, Old Man, are there any training partners?"

"Then let Bei Bei accompany you. It just so happens that he hasn't enrolled yet."

Nine-year-old Bei Bei was still outside running, unaware that he was about to face even more terrifying training.