The Reappearance of External Soul Bones

"My second martial soul?"

Xing Tian himself was not entirely sure why his second martial soul had suddenly changed. After a quick assessment, he deactivated his Martial Soul Possession, and his body instantly returned to normal.

"That just now didn't seem like a simple Martial Soul Possession; it felt like some kind of special state of the second martial soul."

Suddenly, Xing Tian realized that despite having just leveled up and absorbed a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, his soul power consumption was immense. Could this special state of the second martial soul be abnormally draining?

Before Xing Tian could be certain, he felt an itch in his eyes.

"I have fully absorbed the medicinal power of the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew and digested the resentment of countless soul beast spirits. My mental power has undergone a qualitative change and is now capable of materialization; my eyes shouldn't be having issues."

"What's wrong, Xiao Tian?" Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan had already experienced too many emotional ups and downs, but as fate would have it, they were destined for one more.

Xing Tian began to rub his eyes. The more he rubbed, the itchier they became, and the more forceful his movements grew.

"What on earth is going on!" Xing Tian decided to go all out, channeling his massive mental power and soul power into his optic nerves.

In that instant, the area around Xing Tian's eyes was covered by a layer of grayish-white bone, as if he were wearing a specialized mask. His original purple eyes seemed to be coated with a gray, translucent protective layer.

Following this, the grayish-white bone continued to spread downward. Two hollows appeared beneath each eye; the ones closer to the bridge of his nose were nearly the size of his eyes, while the other two were only the size of pupils.

Once the bone growth ceased, it resembled a mask covering the upper half of his face, with a gray orb growing within each of the four hollows.

Suddenly, Xing Tian felt as if something were about to burst from his eye sockets.

He subconsciously released his hands from his face, and the gray orbs in the two large hollows split in two, opening and closing to reveal two additional eyes.

The moment all four eyes opened, a cold, eerie gray light erupted, enveloping Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan.

Dugu Bo was fine; his cultivation as a Title Douluo and his mental power were sufficient to withstand the gray light, but Dugu Yan was not so fortunate.

Dugu Yan could see nothing before her. She felt her entire body turn cold and rigid, unable to control her limbs. Her mental power began to fade rapidly, and she grew deathly pale.

Before the situation could deteriorate further, Xing Tian reacted quickly.

The purple hue from his sea of consciousness spread to his eyes. The erupting gray light shifted to a purplish-gray, his six eyes turned the same color, and faint purple patterns appeared on the bone mask.

The light quickly receded and calmed. Dugu Yan was finally able to move, gasping for air, drenched in cold sweat, her eyelids heavy.

But when she saw Xing Tian's appearance, her eyes lit up with adoration, and she blurted out, "So handsome!"

One could hardly blame Dugu Yan for her infatuation; she had even forgotten her physical discomfort.

Xing Tian now looked like a cold, masked heartthrob, radiating a dangerous, mysterious, and highly attractive charm.

Dugu Bo, however, was more concerned with the mask on Xing Tian's face. He asked in surprise, "This is the Necrotic Demon Light of the Necrotic Spider King!"

"In the general sense, the death attribute is used to counter the life attribute; it continuously erodes vitality but does not directly affect mental power."

"It is only because one must face death and the damage to the physical nervous system that mental power is usually compromised."

"But the Necrotic Demon Light of the Necrotic Spider King is different. It integrates the death attribute into mental attacks. It does not act upon the physical body but strikes the sea of consciousness directly."

"It makes the target's mental power wither rapidly, as if life itself were dying, causing mental damage while rendering the target unable to control their body."

"Coupled with the influence of the death force, the target becomes deathly, and their body's recovery speed is significantly reduced."

Dugu Bo stared blankly at the bone mask on Xing Tian's face and stammered, "Could... could it be... another... External Soul Bone?"

Xing Tian touched the bone mask on his face and grinned, "Yes. The six eyes of the Necrotic Spider King combined with the facial bone armor to form this External Soul Bone. I call it the Necrotic Demon Pupil."

"Just like Sister Yan's Eight Spider Lances, because it hadn't fully fused with me and my mental power is so vast, I couldn't control it for a moment, leading to the involuntary use of the Necrotic Demon Light."

"However, precisely because my mental power is vast and has undergone a qualitative change, and because the Necrotic Demon Pupil is an External Soul Bone primarily focused on mental attributes, I have now controlled and fully integrated it. The change in color is proof of that."

Dugu Bo asked, "Your Necrotic Demon Pupil must have other functions, right?"

Xing Tian did not hide anything and nodded, "My Necrotic Demon Pupil inherited the Necrotic Demon Spider's ability to devour spirits through its eyes to break through bottlenecks. After fusing with me, it changed slightly. Once a target's mental defense is broken, I can directly devour their mental power."

"Furthermore, while using the Necrotic Demon Pupil, my mental power intensity increases by two hundred percent, allowing me to see through all manner of strange objects."

"When my gaze is fully focused on a target, I can see the most vulnerable point of anything, striking at the heart of the matter and breaking through everything."

Dugu Yan did not understand mental power and thus did not realize the severity of the situation, but Dugu Bo, as a Title Douluo, gasped, his voice trembling, "That is to say, with the amplification of the Necrotic Demon Pupil, your mental power has reached, or perhaps even surpassed, that of an ordinary Soul Douluo!"

"Surpassed a Soul Douluo!"

Dugu Yan covered her red lips in surprise and said, "Doesn't that mean you could instantly kill any soul master below the Soul Saint level just by using your mental power?"

Dugu Bo added, "It wouldn't go that far, but it would certainly create a long enough opening to land a killing blow."

"Moreover, with this level of mental power, I doubt the soul shock of any soul beast under thirty thousand years could affect him. From now on, he only needs to consider his physical strength when absorbing Soul Rings."

Having said this, Dugu Bo immediately placed his hand on Xiao Tian's shoulder to probe him carefully, his heart filled with shock: It's even more severe than it was back then...

Four years ago, after Xing Tian added his first Soul Ring, he claimed he could add another, leading Dugu Bo to mistakenly believe that Xing Tian had an Innate Soul Power of level twenty.

At that time, Dugu Bo had examined Xing Tian's body and found it to be abnormally contradictory—vibrant with life yet deathly still. Now, that feeling was dozens of times stronger than before.

Dugu Bo said, "Your current physical strength has reached the Soul Emperor level. Your fourth Soul Ring can challenge a soul beast of over forty thousand years. However, if you still want to choose a Dark Spirit Sacred Beast, this expectation will have to be lowered; finding a Dark Spirit Sacred Beast with the perfect age is very difficult."