A Pair of Soul Bones, Innate Soul Power Level Twenty?

Dugu Bo's pupils constricted, and he instinctively took half a step back.

He had lived for seventy years and seen many bizarre Martial Souls, but never one like Xing Tian's—steeped in such deathly aura that he looked like an evil Ghost crawled straight out of hell.

The malevolent energy, in particular, was not merely dark, violent, fierce, or cruel; it felt as if it could devour everything.

"This is!"

Dugu Bo was suddenly stunned: "Martial Soul Semi-Mimicry?"

It turned out that Xing Tian had woken up and stood up to stretch his body, but the Mantis Martial Soul behind him had not been retracted, mimicking his movements in perfect synchronization.

Xing Tian asked in confusion: "Martial Soul Semi-Mimicry?"

Dugu Bo explained: "I forgot to mention this to you earlier. Many Beast Soul Masters on the continent cultivate this way. Once they reach the Soul Saint realm, they can switch between the two states at will."

Xing Tian immediately understood; his current state sat between Martial Soul Possession and Martial Soul Mimicry, possessing the advantages of both, but also their respective drawbacks.

Dugu Bo looked at Xing Tian's full-form Martial Soul and said: "Your Martial Soul now possesses the attributes of darkness, evil, and death simultaneously. Why not call it the Dark Evil Spirit Mantis?"

"A fine name. Many thanks, Your Excellency Dugu!"

Dugu Bo walked slowly to the corpse of the Dark Night Fierce Mantis and said to Xing Tian: "Your talent is high, so I will tell you a bit more. After a Soul Master hunts a soul beast, one must always process the carcass."

"Soul beast corpses are treasures. If cooked properly, they can enhance physical fitness, though insects are an exception—hardly any insect-type soul beasts taste good."

"The hide, fur, and scales can be used for armor, while the claws, fangs, and bones can be crafted into weapons. At the very least, they can be sold for Gold Soul Coin."

"But most importantly, check if the soul beast dropped a Soul Bone. That is a treasure every Soul Master dreams of. You will learn the specific uses of Soul Bones once you enroll in school; I won't say more."

"The higher the cultivation and quality of the soul beast, the higher the drop rate for a Soul Bone. Although the Dark Night Fierce Mantis is a top-tier soul beast, this one only had two thousand years of cultivation, so it shouldn't have dropped one. I will demonstrate how to process it for you."

Dugu Bo leaned down and began to carefully process the corpse.

Suddenly, Dugu Bo's body stiffened, his features twisting: "No way..."

Dugu Bo rose abruptly and waved his hand. A thick, ink-green mist spilled out, corroding the corpse of the Dark Night Fierce Mantis into black sludge, leaving behind only two black objects.

Dugu Bo reached out, and they landed in his left and right hands respectively.

Xing Tian looked over to see two bones, roughly the length of a human arm but thinner, pitch-black and translucent like glaze.

These were indeed Soul Bones, a pair of arm bones. Unlike ordinary Soul Bones that radiated light, these seemed to devour the light around them.

Dugu Bo looked thoroughly annoyed, his eye twitching as he shoved the two Soul Bones into Xing Tian's hands: "Take them! This is absurd. A thousand-year soul beast dropping a Soul Bone, and two at once—a matching pair of arm bones! What kind of blind luck is this!"

Xing Tian asked, puzzled: "Didn't Your Excellency Dugu say that Soul Bones are treasures every Soul Master dreams of? Do you not want them? You helped me solve my Martial Soul issue; let these be my payment."

Dugu Bo retorted irritably: "How could I take something from a junior? Besides, I am repaying a favor. If I took your items, it wouldn't be a repayment!"

"Furthermore, I am a Title Douluo and a poison-attribute Soul Master; the age and attribute of these bones are not suitable for me!"

"Besides, a Soul Bone only achieves its maximum effect when absorbed by you, as it is of the same origin as your Soul Ring. However, I must warn you: once a Soul Bone is absorbed, it cannot be removed. These are only thousand-year Soul Bones, and given your talent, the age is a bit low."

Looking at the bones in his hands, Xing Tian thought: These Soul Bones are somewhat like the sarira from my past life. If a soul beast's corpse can be used to forge weapons, then these bones should work too. Perhaps they could be refined into... If that's the case, the idea I had before I died in my past life might actually be achievable.

At this moment, Dugu Bo said: "Soul Bones are also known as the Treasure of the Blood River. Once others know you possess them, it will surely invite trouble and draw the greed of countless people, even if they are only thousand-year bones."

"So, when you return, ask Old Brother Ye for a Storage Soul Tool to keep them in. As for what a Soul Tool is, you will know when the time comes."

"Let's go."

Dugu Bo was about to fly Xing Tian back to the Ye Mansion when Xing Tian interrupted him: "Wait!"

"What is it? You don't want to hunt more for Soul Bones, do you? Forget it. To increase the drop rate, one would have to slaughter soul beasts on a massive scale, which is strictly forbidden across the entire continent."

Xing Tian shook his head: "No, it seems I've hit another bottleneck. I can attach another Soul Ring."

"What!"

Dugu Bo was shocked; he had lost count of how many times he had been surprised today. He immediately grabbed Xing Tian's wrist and probed him thoroughly: "You really are at level twenty!"

But that was not what surprised Dugu Bo the most. He discovered that Xing Tian's body seemed to be guarded by an evil spirit; had he not been a Title Douluo, he would have been unable to probe him at all.

Even more terrifyingly, Xing Tian did not seem like a living person, yet he wasn't dead either. His vitality was exceptionally exuberant, yet simultaneously deathly still. He could not believe these two contradictory states could exist in the same person.

"Even a thousand-year first ring shouldn't boost one by ten levels, especially when part of that essence was used to stabilize the Martial Soul."

Dugu Bo was utterly baffled, until he finally thought of something.

Dugu Bo stared blankly at Xing Tian in disbelief, thinking: That shouldn't be right. Didn't the people at Martial Soul Hall confirm he had Innate Full Soul Power? If he really had more than ten levels, the testing crystal ball would have malfunctioned. Were the people at Martial Soul Hall stupid enough to miss the problem entirely? Or did this kid deliberately hide it? Or did he simply forget to mention it?

Dugu Bo calmed his heart slightly and asked: "When you tested your Innate Soul Power, what was the reaction of the crystal ball?"

"It was full of light."

Could it really be because of his resurrection, causing his Martial Soul to mutate post-birth? But Ghost didn't experience this. Dugu Bo remained completely perplexed.

"Your Excellency Dugu, what is wrong?"

Dugu Bo explained: "Kid, the truth is that the highest Innate Soul Power is not level ten, but level twenty."

"I once heard a legend that the inheritance Martial Soul of the former Pope's lineage in Martial Soul Hall is the Six-Winged Angel. Their ancestors once broke through the limits of a Soul Master and ascended to godhood. Their descendants became the spokespeople of the gods, and thus, blessed by the God Ancestor, their Innate Soul Power is level twenty."