First Soul Skill, Laser Eye! Encountering Huo Yuhao!

Luan Shi Valley, before a cave.

A faint smell of blood hung in the air. The severed corpse of a Three-Eyed Demon Wolf lay quietly to one side.

Liu Yuan sat cross-legged before the corpse, his eyes tightly shut and his breathing steady and deep.

Above his head, the dark yellow hundred-year soul ring pulsed as it transformed into threads of pure energy that flowed endlessly into his body through his pores and meridians.

During the absorption process, the Three-Eyed Demon Wolf's lingering resentment condensed into one final mental assault, attempting to wreak havoc within Liu Yuan's Spirit Sea of Consciousness.

It was a miniature Ghost Wolf, baring its fangs and claws as it tried to tear apart Liu Yuan's consciousness.

"Hmph. I could kill you with a single glare when you were alive, and you still want to cause trouble after death?"

Within the Spirit Sea of Consciousness, Liu Yuan's consciousness snorted coldly.

In the void, a pair of enormous Double Pupils slowly opened, carrying boundless majesty and indifference. With merely a single glance, the rampant Wraith Wolf Soul melted away like snow meeting boiling water, vanishing without a trace.

"Refine...!"

With the resentment suppressed, absorbing the remaining Soul Power became effortless.

Who knew how much time passed.

"Hah—"

Liu Yuan slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. The stream of breath actually formed a white streak in the air that lingered for a long time.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Within his originally profound Double Pupils, a faint ghostly glow now flowed subtly, making them appear even more mysterious and unfathomable.

"Success."

Liu Yuan rose to his feet and felt the surging Soul Power within him, a satisfied curve appearing on his lips.

That feeling of being filled with power was intoxicating.

"My Soul Power Level broke through the threshold of level twenty in one go and reached level twenty-one!"

"Next, let's see what this soul skill can do."

With a thought, Liu Yuan calmed himself and began sensing the new yellow imprint in his mind.

"First Soul Skill... Spirit Ray?"

According to the feedback in his mind, activating this soul skill was extremely simple:

Compress and fuse his spiritual power and Soul Power within his eyes, then release them in the form of rays through the unique structure of his Double Pupils.

It was a form of hybrid damage.

It possessed both the physical destructive force of Soul Power and the penetrating, intimidating properties of spiritual power.

"Isn't this... just Laser Eye?"

Liu Yuan could not help grumbling.

"Whether it is or not, I'll test its power first."

Liu Yuan turned around and fixed his gaze on a piece of hard granite standing nearly half a person's height tall.

He took a deep breath, mobilizing the level twenty-one Soul Power he had just attained while concentrating his mind.

"First Soul Skill, Spirit Ray!"

Buzz!

With a faint hum, Liu Yuan's originally pitch-black pupils suddenly lit up.

The next second.

Ssssh—!!!

Two crimson beams, each no thicker than a finger yet condensed to the utmost extreme, burst from his Double Pupils!

The beams instantly struck the granite.

There was no explosion and no scattering rubble.

The crimson beams were like hot knives cutting through butter, sinking into the rock without the slightest resistance.

As Liu Yuan turned his head, his gaze swept sideways.

Ssssh, ssssh, ssssh...

A smooth, mirror-like cut instantly appeared across the hard granite.

"Break!"

The light in Liu Yuan's eyes vanished.

Crack.

The upper half of the half-person-tall granite slowly slid off and crashed to the ground with a boom. Its cut surface was so smooth that it could even reflect light!

"Hiss..."

Looking at his handiwork, even Liu Yuan could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

"What terrifying power!"

"This isn't merely physical cutting. The instant the ray makes contact, I can feel the material structure in that small area being destroyed. If it hit a person..."

Liu Yuan narrowed his eyes.

No matter how high their physical defense was, they likely would not be able to withstand this penetrating attack infused with spiritual attributes.

Moreover, the intimidation effect carried by spiritual power would cause an enemy to stiffen the instant they were hit, leaving them unable to make any follow-up reaction.

Most importantly—

Liu Yuan closed his eyes and sensed the consumption within his body.

"The consumption is tiny!"

That roughly two-second burst of continuous fire had consumed only the slightest amount of Soul Power and spiritual power!

What did that mean?

It meant that this move, Spirit Ray, could completely serve as his regular basic attack!

By comparison, the Double Pupils' innate Distortion and Insight consumed a terrifying amount.

Distortion in particular could drain more than half his energy with a full-force strike, and it also had a considerable casting windup.

Spirit Ray, meanwhile, was instantaneous, dealt continuous damage, consumed little, and had great range.

"So this is what they call a superior replacement..."

Liu Yuan nodded in satisfaction. "With this move, my combat system has taken initial shape."

At long range, he could kite opponents with Spirit Ray. If an enemy got close, he could use Insight to evade, then pull away again...

Not bad.

After absorbing the soul ring and cleaning up the traces at the scene, Liu Yuan did not rush to leave the Star Dou Great Forest.

Since he was already here, and since he had reached level twenty-one, he planned to obtain his Second Soul Skill as well.

"A truly powerful soul master cannot have any weaknesses."

Liu Yuan sat on the branch of a large tree, resting while considering the choice for his second soul ring.

"Right now, I have offensive methods and scouting methods."

"But what is my greatest weakness?"

"Survivability. In other words, fault tolerance."

On the dangerous Douluo Continent, getting injured was commonplace.

Moreover, given his current setup, if he suffered severe injuries in battle, he would be finished.

Unless he could find a fixed healing-type soul master to team up with, but that was impossible.

"I remember that in other settings, when Double Pupils were cultivated to the extreme, they could even release life essence and possess the heaven-defying ability to revive the dead and regrow flesh from bones."

Liu Yuan rubbed his chin. "Although I'm still unimaginably far from that realm, I can simulate the process through soul rings."

"As long as my second soul ring can provide a skill for self-recovery or life-force absorption, my sustained combat ability will rise exponentially."

If he could not win, he could run. If he could not run, he could wear them down. If he was worn down and injured, he could heal.

That was perfect combat logic.

"Target confirmed: a spiritual-attribute soul beast with healing abilities or abundant life force."

"However, the only ones I can think of right now are soul beasts such as Spirit Flowers and Soul Butterflies..."

"Those soul beasts are incredibly rare..."

"I can only try my luck."

Liu Yuan set off once more.

However.

This time, it seemed his luck had truly run out.

Over the next half month.

Liu Yuan wandered countless times around the border between the outer region and the mixed region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Yet he never found his target soul beast.

On the evening of the fifteenth day.

Liu Yuan irritably pushed aside the bushes before him. The level-one Soul Tool dagger in his hand was stained with the green blood of some unknown soul beast.

"This is far too hard to find."

Just as he was planning to find a place to start a fire and cook.

Suddenly.

"Sniff..."

Liu Yuan's nose twitched slightly.

An extremely enticing fragrance drifted into his nostrils on the evening breeze.

It was a complex scent mixed with the charred aroma of oil, cumin, perilla, and some special seasoning.

That was...

The smell of grilled fish!

Grrr.

Liu Yuan's stomach growled rather unhelpfully.

After eating dry rations and flavorless roasted meat for over a month, this scent was practically a fatal temptation to him.

But the next moment, Liu Yuan's eyes instantly turned sharp.

"How could there be grilled fish this professionally made in the Star Dou Great Forest?"

"Unless..."

A flash of inspiration struck Liu Yuan, and he instantly thought of someone—or rather, a plot point.

"Grilled fish... Star Dou Great Forest... Huo Yuhao?"

"Could it be Huo Yuhao?"

"Let's take a look."

Without hesitation, he immediately lowered his body and stealthily moved in the direction from which the fragrance drifted.

His Double Pupils activated, and Insight operated at full force. His entire body seemed to blend into the surrounding environment, making not the slightest sound.

After passing through a dense patch of shrubbery.

A clear stream appeared ahead.

By then, dusk was approaching. A bonfire had been lit beside the stream, and its orange-red glow dispersed the darkness around it.

Liu Yuan hid behind a large tree and looked over through the gaps in its branches and leaves.

He saw three people seated around the bonfire.

On the left was a youth who looked fifteen or sixteen. He was slender and handsome, with short dark-blue hair that appeared especially refined beneath the firelight. He was smiling as he spoke about something.

On the right was a girl dressed in light purple fitted clothes. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, her skin was as white as snow, and her large eyes were exceptionally lively. At the moment, she was staring at the food over the fire without a shred of decorum, practically drooling.

Between them, the one responsible for grilling the fish was a boy who appeared to be only eleven or twelve.

His clothing was plain, even somewhat shabby, and his body was thin, but that did not affect the skilled way he turned the fish in his hands.

At that moment, he was focused on sprinkling seasoning over the grilled fish in his hand. That enticing aroma was coming from it.

Seeing that iconic group of three.

The corner of Liu Yuan's mouth lifted slightly as he silently mouthed three words:

"As expected, it's them..."