"Tsk, this poison bath really packs a punch. My Soul Power's gone up two levels in just ten days."
The naked boy lay soaking in the tub, eyes half-closed, utterly at ease.
The water was a lurid green, giving off a pungent, fishy-sweet odor. At first glance, it looked like stagnant water scooped from some poisonous swamp.
A normal person would have suffered rotting skin and blood pouring from every orifice by now, but the boy relished it. Every so often, he even pulled out a Blue Silver Leaf and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing with the satisfied air of someone snacking on chips.
The boy was named Gu Qingshan, and he was a transmigrator.
A month ago, he had awakened his Martial Soul at the Martial Soul Awakening ceremony: Thorn Shield.
The people from Spirit Hall had been dumbstruck on the spot. Shield-type Martial Souls were rare to begin with, and rarer still was one paired with Innate Full Soul Power.
The deacon in charge of the test had pored through every record he could find and still found no mention of anything like it, so he could only report the matter to his superiors.
Gu Qingshan, however, knew exactly what was going on.
Wasn't this shield the divine weapon used by the shield warrior in the game he'd played in his previous life?
Thorn Shield: reflects damage by a percentage, deals true damage, ignores levels, ignores defense, ignores all damage reduction.
The glorious percentage-based damage reflection: the bigger your health bar, the more damage you reflect.
On Douluo Continent, that "health bar" corresponded to vitality.
In other words, all he had to do was pile on as much vitality as possible.
Anyone who hit him would die.
The discovery had left Gu Qingshan excited for three whole days and nights.
On Douluo Continent, other people either competed with talent, connections, or luck.
What about him? He just had to get hit.
So, on a dark and windy night, Gu Qingshan climbed over the wall and slipped into the cave behind the waterfall in the back hills of Holy Soul Village.
At the time, Tang Hao had gone with Tang San to Nuoding Academy, leaving the cave empty.
Gu Qingshan's hands had trembled as he snuck in—not from fear, but excitement.
The Blue Silver Emperor! That was the Blue Silver Emperor!
In the original story, Ah Yin had possessed such abundant vitality that she could nourish half the plants in the Star Dou Great Forest. She was an emperor among plant types.
Other people could only absorb a Soul Ring from the Blue Silver Emperor, but Gu Qingshan was different. His Thorn Shield came with a unique "life conversion" mechanism.
The mechanism was simple and crude: anything with vitality, once it entered his mouth, could be directly converted into an increase to his vitality limit.
Tang Hao still didn't know that a six-year-old had stolen his wife!
Back home, Gu Qingshan planted the Blue Silver Emperor's roots in the yard and used cuttings to propagate all its leaves.
As long as he carefully raised these "Blue Silver saplings," he could keep gaining vitality, becoming a happy tank.
Of course, this mechanism only worked for Gu Qingshan. If anyone else chewed on Blue Silver Emperor leaves, they'd get no more than a bit of Soul Power, with no special effects.
As for the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone...
Gu Qingshan rubbed his right calf, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
He hadn't left the Soul Bone for Tang Hao either. He'd fused with it that very night.
The fusion hadn't been easy. The energy surge from the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone had nearly killed him.
But at the crucial moment, Thorn Shield had come through, neutralizing the entire impact.
The Soul Bone's energy hadn't raised his Soul Power Level. It had all been converted into vitality.
Gu Qingshan's vitality now far exceeded that of an ordinary Soul Master.
He closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink into his body. A pale red number appeared before him: 5,500.
That was his current vitality value.
Yes, he could see his own "health bar," and not just his own. He could see other people's too.
After observing and calculating for a while, he had figured out a pattern: an ordinary Soul Master's vitality value was roughly equal to their Soul Power Level multiplied by a hundred, while a Titled Douluo's was multiplied by a thousand.
Special Martial Souls were exceptions. Plant-type Martial Souls and some top-tier ones received additional bonuses.
But what did 5,500 mean?
It was equivalent to the vitality of a fifty-fifth-level Soul King.
And Gu Qingshan's Soul Power Level was only fifteen.
That was the terrifying part of the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone. All the energy from the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone had been poured into vitality, forcibly boosting the health bar of a mere level-fifteen Soul Master to a Soul King's level.
Even more terrifying was the damage reflection.
Thorn Shield's passive damage reflection rate was determined by vitality. Gu Qingshan's vitality was already far beyond that of anyone at his level, and his reflection rate was a whopping 60%.
Sixty percent true damage reflected.
What did that mean?
Sixty percent of 5,500 was 3,300.
A Soul Elder had around 3,000 vitality. If an ordinary Soul Elder punched him, they'd kill themselves with their own attack.
A Soul Ancestor, at level forty, had around 4,000 vitality. They'd badly injure themselves with a single punch.
And a Soul King...
Gu Qingshan thought it over and decided he'd better keep a low profile.
But he could adjust the reflection rate, lowering it to as little as 10. Otherwise, he might accidentally kill someone.
After all, Douluo Continent wasn't a game. When you died, you stayed dead. He didn't want to land on Spirit Hall's wanted list so soon.
Speaking of Spirit Hall, Gu Qingshan couldn't help smiling again.
He had Innate Full Soul Power.
On the day of his awakening, Spirit Hall had tested his Soul Power Level: ten, the maximum.
The news had reached Spirit City, and even the pope, Bibi Dong, had been alerted.
A genius with a special Martial Soul and Innate Full Soul Power was worth a personal visit.
Bibi Dong had come to Nuoding City herself.
The first time she saw Gu Qingshan's Martial Soul, she had made up her mind: she would take him as her disciple.
Gu Qingshan's feelings at the time had been complicated.
On one hand, getting in Bibi Dong's good graces was certainly great. From then on, he could basically do as he pleased on Douluo Continent.
On the other hand, he felt as if he'd walked straight into a wolf's den. Bibi Dong was, how should he put it—mad, obsessive, and impossible to read. Staying by her side meant keeping his head on a swivel.
But the benefits were real, too.
After learning about his unique cultivation method—how getting hit could rapidly raise his Soul Power—Bibi Dong had people prepare poison water for him.
That was the stuff he was soaking in now.
Green, fishy-sweet, and glowing with an eerie light.
The poison water contained extracts from more than ten highly poisonous plants, mixed with Soul Beast blood and special mineral powder. An ordinary person would die within the time it took to brew a cup of tea.
But when the toxins entered Gu Qingshan's body, they continuously stimulated his Martial Soul. Thorn Shield activated passively and turned that stimulation into increased Soul Power.
Put simply: soaking in poison water was like cultivating passively.
It wasn't as efficient as being attacked directly by a Soul Master, but there was one problem: getting beaten up was too hard on people.
It wasn't that Gu Qingshan couldn't take it. His health bar was thick as could be. The problem was that other people couldn't.
Last time, he'd asked a Soul Ancestor to help test his damage reflection. The poor fellow punched his shield, spat blood, and collapsed on the spot. He'd nearly needed resuscitation.
Since then, Gu Qingshan had obediently stuck to poison baths.
Convenient, safe, and easy on other people.
Just as Gu Qingshan contentedly popped a third Blue Silver Leaf into his mouth and crossed his legs, ready to doze off again,
a series of footsteps sounded outside the yard.
There was more than one person. Four, in fact.
Their steps were light, but Gu Qingshan's senses had become unusually sharp with his greatly increased vitality. He could even tell each person's weight and rhythm from their footsteps.
The person in front walked with steady, soundless steps, their aura unfathomably deep.
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