Determination to Absorb a Soul Ring

"Good, you've got guts!"

Tian Meng said no more and immediately began preparing for the ritual to absorb the soul power. At this moment, Huo Yuhao called out to Wang Hong.

"What is it, Lord Huo Yuhao? Do you have some other plan?" Wang Hong asked. Over by Tang Ya's side, she had already relocated the century-old Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine and was just waiting for Huo Yuhao.

"Brother Wang Hong, I want to try absorbing this soul ring—or to be precise, I want to absorb the soul skill contained within this soul ring."

Huo Yuhao's tone was extremely calm, but to Wang Hong's ears, these words undoubtedly stirred up a massive storm.

He simply could not believe what he had just heard. Absorbing a soul ring... but only absorbing the soul skill it contained? Was there even such a concept when it came to absorbing soul rings?

"Lord Huo Yuhao, are you certain you know what you just said? Absorbing only the soul skill from a ring—why would you suddenly come up with such a strange idea?" Wang Hong didn't even know if he had misheard or not; regardless, everything Huo Yuhao was proposing sounded like groundless nonsense.

"Furthermore, a soul ring can only be absorbed by the person who dealt the final blow to the soul beast. That is something you should have been taught in your very first lesson at the academy..."

"Brother Wang Hong, listen to me first." Huo Yuhao cleared his throat, cutting Wang Hong off.

"When I was absorbing the soul ring of the Dream Silkworm, I actually had a strange feeling that I didn't tell you or Brother Bei Bei about. I have always felt that something was missing from the Dream Silkworm's soul ring."

"Something was missing?"

Wang Hong repeated the words, and Huo Yuhao nodded.

"That's right. And through my own exploration during this time, I have discovered that what is missing from my first soul ring is... a soul skill."

Huo Yuhao once again uttered a statement that left Wang Hong stunned. Missing a soul skill?

On the Douluo Continent, the rule that one soul ring corresponds to one soul skill had always been an ironclad law. It could be said there had never been an exception; even the Sea God and the Pope from ten thousand years ago, both of whom had soul rings that all reached the hundred-thousand-year level, had never recorded a single soul ring providing more than one soul skill.

However, since Huo Yuhao had said this, it certainly couldn't be without basis.

Wang Hong crouched down directly, meeting Huo Yuhao's eyes.

"Lord Huo Yuhao, I need to confirm one thing: can you be certain your intuition is entirely correct?" Wang Hong's tone was unprecedentedly serious. He had to be sure that Huo Yuhao wasn't just having these thoughts because he had seen the soul skill of the Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine; after all, children of this age often had wild, imaginative fantasies.

However, Huo Yuhao's next sentence shattered Wang Hong's worldview once again.

"Actually... there is something I have been keeping from you, Brother Wang Hong. The Dream Silkworm's first soul ring didn't just give me one soul skill. It gave me three: Spirit Detection, Spirit Acceleration, and Spirit Deceleration. In my perception, there has always been an empty slot in that ring, and that is the reason I came up with this idea."

That was right; Huo Yuhao chose to tell Wang Hong the truth about his first soul ring containing three soul skills.

The functionality of this soul skill was simply too powerful, and one must not forget that Huo Yuhao still held his most powerful trump card: the Soul Spirit.

Moreover, while in the God Realm, he had been researching the system of Soul Spirits. During his research, he discovered that Soul Spirits possessed a special property:

They could increase their own age through certain special, yet-to-be-confirmed means.

Although the specific method for increasing a Soul Spirit's age remained unconfirmed, Huo Yuhao was certain that factors capable of achieving this did exist.

If he could obtain the Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine's soul skill through the Soul Spirit method, Huo Yuhao was confident he could evolve it from a thousand-year-level skill into a ten-thousand-year or even hundred-thousand-year-level skill!

Furthermore, according to what Tian Meng had said, he could attach the soul skill to his first soul ring. In other words, if Tian Meng succeeded, Huo Yuhao could even evolve this skill into a million-year-level soul skill!

A thousand-year-level illusion could already affect a Soul Saint. If it were a ten-thousand-year, hundred-thousand-year, or even million-year-level illusion, let alone a Titled Douluo, was it not possible to make even the supreme gods sink into it?

In other words, the risk of obtaining this soul skill was immense, but the potential rewards were equally massive.

Therefore, he was willing to expose the true nature of his first soul skill to gain Wang Hong's trust and have him agree to let him absorb this ring.

Back in the present, hearing Huo Yuhao's words, Wang Hong fell into deep thought. After all, having four soul skills attached to a single ring wasn't just inconceivable—it was impossible by every definition.

But thinking carefully, when Huo Yuhao had used his soul skill on him earlier, it had indeed displayed several completely different effects. Looking at that alone, it was hard to imagine one soul skill having so many effects, but if it were a combination of multiple soul skills, it actually seemed more reasonable.

Wang Hong had to admit that the evidence Huo Yuhao provided was indeed logical and sound.

"Hoo..." Wang Hong felt his body trembling, but within that trembling was excitement.

Rationally speaking, he absolutely did not want to see Huo Yuhao take this risk, but emotionally, he was willing to believe the idea Huo Yuhao had proposed. Besides, one had to remember that the Dream Silkworm was a soul beast that existed only in legends; it was not entirely incomprehensible that it would possess such legendary effects. To witness this scene with his own eyes was, for Wang Hong, absolutely thrilling.

"Lord Huo Yuhao... no, Yuhao. I can act as your protector, and I can explain things to Miss Tang Ya, but you must guarantee that you aren't just messing around, and that you aren't saying this because you think I'm easy to deceive with a fabricated argument."

Wang Hong had changed his form of address, from "Lord" to just "Yuhao." The current Huo Yuhao was no longer his benefactor, but a junior about to embark on an unprecedented adventure before his eyes—a novice soul master who had just stepped into the world of soul masters.

"I am certain, Brother Wang Hong. I am very certain of what I am saying, and I am very certain of what I want to do."

Huo Yuhao's eyes were filled with determination—a look that could not be faked with a simple lie.

"Yuhao, the ritual is ready. When are we starting?" Tian Meng's voice echoed in Huo Yuhao's mind, urging him on, but Huo Yuhao did not answer him, waiting only for Wang Hong's response.

"Very well, I will protect you. But if any accident occurs, I will use every means necessary to cut off your absorption process. My Avatar of the Martial Soul can ignore and block all negative states for a certain period of time; it will not cause any additional harm to either of us."

Finally, Wang Hong led Huo Yuhao to the corpse of the Soul-Pulling Ghost Vine, which was already completely dead, and used his soul power to draw the soul ring toward Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged, and with Wang Hong's help, the soul ring floated behind his head, just as it did when Huo Yuhao normally released his soul rings.

The next moment, pale blue soul power extended from behind Huo Yuhao's head, grabbing onto the soul ring like countless hands. Immediately, the soul ring began to tremble violently, as if resisting the soul power of a killer that did not belong to it.

However, the next instant, the spiritual power of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Huo Yuhao's own spiritual power merged, mixing into that soul power and forcibly stopping the soul ring's trembling.

"Don't struggle, little soul ring. Big Brother doesn't need to absorb you; I just need you to store a portion of your soul skill!" The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm coaxed the soul ring as if it were a small child, even though neither the soul ring nor the soul within it could hear a word it said.

Wang Hong watched this scene quietly. He truly could not have imagined that Huo Yuhao would actually be able to do this.

Meanwhile, high above, obscured by golden auspicious clouds, a pair of eyes watched Huo Yuhao's unprecedented and unparalleled operation.

"Roar... as expected of the youth I chose. He truly dares to struggle and dares to dream."