Third Soul Skill: Explosive Command

By the time Zhang Yang regained his composure, the emotions of the three had returned to normal.

Although the trio cast occasional, unnatural glances toward Zhang Yang during the journey back, it did not draw his attention.

Standing at the edge of the Star Dou Forest, all four let out a long sigh of relief.

Here, the spirit beasts would not exceed a hundred years in age; with the strength of the four, this meant they were completely safe.

The four slowed their pace, and Xie Yue asked curiously, "Zhang Yang, do you want to test your third spirit ability here?"

Hu Liena chimed in, "That's right, there's no need to worry about disturbing powerful spirit beasts here."

"You want to see it here? Well, alright." Zhang Yang nodded.

With the M14 held in his hands, two yellow and one purple spirit rings appeared beneath Zhang Yang's feet.

Looking at the rings at his feet, Zhang Yang nodded with satisfaction: "This looks much better now."

Two yellow spirit rings were still too monotonous.

After loading a brand-new, full-capacity drum magazine, Zhang Yang first pulled the trigger at a tree 50 meters away.

"Pfft!"

With a soft sound, a piece of bark was blown off, and the impact point erupted with a spray of fine wood chips.

Xie Yue, standing nearby, quickly calculated in his mind: The sound is wrong. I remember the sound wasn't this quiet before. After absorbing the spirit ring, the noise has actually decreased significantly.

Xie Yue was not mistaken, as the accessory slot Zhang Yang had unlocked this time was the muzzle, and his choice for the cosmetic accessory was the Dead Silence Suppressor.

If he were modifying a gun in the game, Zhang Yang would never have equipped the Dead Silence Suppressor, as it would reduce the fire rate of automatic weapons.

However, if it were manifested into the real world, Zhang Yang's logic for choosing it was very clear.

The Dead Silence Suppressor was the muzzle device with the highest level of sound suppression available for the M14.

For the sake of his own ears and to increase his stealth during attacks, the Dead Silence Suppressor was a mandatory choice.

After the basic attack, the second spirit ring at Zhang Yang's feet lit up.

Second Spirit Ability: Armor-Piercing Declaration

Zhang Yang raised his gun again, the red dot sight of the VMX Frameless Sight resting steadily below the previous bullet hole.

"Pfft!"

Another spray of fine wood chips flew out.

From a distance, the effects caused by these two shots were indistinguishable.

Zhang Yang then deactivated the armor-piercing attribute the second spirit ability provided to the next four rounds.

Immediately following that was the third spirit ability Zhang Yang had just acquired.

Third Spirit Ability: Explosive Command

The purple spirit ring at Zhang Yang's feet lit up, and a volatile spirit power instantly enveloped the M14 in his hands.

Zhang Yang aimed the reticle at the tree trunk and gently pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

The gunshot was loud again, a burst of flame erupted from the muzzle, and at the same time, a bullet tore through the air, instantly striking the distant tree trunk.

Subsequently, the four people present saw a flash of fire ignite, sparks flying everywhere, and smoke rising in its wake.

This visual effect was far superior to that of ordinary bullets or armor-piercing rounds.

Lowering the muzzle, Zhang Yang carried the gun and walked forward with Xie Yue and the others.

Upon approaching, a scent of burning smoke mixed with a trace of sulfur rushed into everyone's nostrils, and then an explosion crater the size of a wok became the most eye-catching sight.

This crater was caused by a single bullet from Zhang Yang's third spirit ability.

Around this unfortunate tree, countless sparks fell onto the grass, with wisps of smoke curling upward.

Seeing this, Yan couldn't help but gasp: "This... was this caused by that single strike?"

Zhang Yang nodded: "My third spirit ability is called Explosive Command. Its effect is that while the spirit ability is active, it infuses the subsequent attacks with unstable spirit power."

"This causes my attacks to trigger a violent explosion either inside or on the surface of the target upon impact, dealing area-of-effect damage..."

Just as Zhang Yang was speaking, a faint, rustling sound reached everyone's ears.

The four immediately turned their gaze toward the sound, discovering it was a Datura Snake of about four hundred years.

In the dense grass, the ink-green, triangular head of the Datura Snake stared at Zhang Yang and the others with cold eyes, its tongue flicking out with a "hiss" from time to time.

At that moment, Zhang Yang calmly raised the muzzle of the M14, and his first and third spirit rings lit up simultaneously.

With a single "bang," a crater was blown directly into the spot where the Datura Snake had been.

The Datura Snake, which had been hissing just a moment ago, was reduced to nothing but a short segment of its tail, blown more than thirty meters away by the violent explosion.

Shortly after, a yellow spirit ring floated out from the tail.

As the saying goes, a centipede dies but never stiffens; the vitality of snake-type spirit beasts is incredibly tenacious.

Even after they are dead, the bodies of snake-type spirit beasts will continue to twitch for a long time due to nerve activity, and the spirit ring will only appear after a long wait.

Yet, after the Datura Snake took a hit from Zhang Yang's explosive bullet, it immediately manifested its Soul Ring, which was enough to show just how terrifying the area-of-effect damage of this third soul skill could be to living creatures.

As the Soul Ring dimmed, Zhang Yang continued as if nothing had happened: "Where was I? Oh, right, it causes area-of-effect damage."

"Furthermore, because the Soul Ring comes from a Molten Heart Stone-Throwing Ape, it splashes out fine bits of magma after the explosion; the sparks on the ground were ignited by this magma."

"However, this effect can only be described as better than nothing."

Observing the tree trunk closely, Xie Yue said seriously: "To think that a mere Thousand-Year Soul Ring of around 1,200 years could cause such powerful destruction is truly inconceivable."

"Zhang Yang's Martial Soul is enough to be called the strongest tool Martial Soul, surpassing even the Clear Sky Hammer."

Yan and Hu Liena nodded in deep agreement upon hearing this.

Xie Yue's assessment was not an exaggeration.

Although if Yan were to unleash his third soul skill at full power against this tree, he might even blast it in half, which would be far more powerful than Zhang Yang's attack.

But the difference lies in the fact that this was the result of just a single shot from Zhang Yang.

What if Zhang Yang were to hold the trigger down?

The power generated by continuous, violent explosions would absolutely far exceed Yan's third soul skill.

Facing Xie Yue's praise, Zhang Yang, standing to the side, smiled somewhat smugly.

These locals didn't know, but Zhang Yang was well aware that while the power of this shot was strong, it was certainly not the power a 1,200-year Soul Ring should possess.

This was the power of a 2,300-year Soul Ring.

That's right, after successfully absorbing his third Soul Ring, Zhang Yang immediately used the Gun Modification Bench to increase the age of the third Soul Ring to 2,281 years.

This was also the limit of what Zhang Yang could currently withstand.

In fact, it wasn't just the third Soul Ring; Zhang Yang could now even upgrade his first two Hundred-Year Soul Rings to 2,281 years, turning himself into an unprecedented Soul Elder with three purple Soul Rings.

But doing so would be like holding a megaphone and broadcasting to the entire Martial Soul Hall that he had unknown secrets.

Zhang Yang would naturally never do something that had a hundred disadvantages and no benefits.

Therefore, Zhang Yang only slightly increased the age of his two Hundred-Year Soul Rings to 888 years, ensuring that while the power of these two rings increased, their outward appearance remained pure yellow.

One must know that a 900-year yellow Soul Ring would have a faint purple hue to its appearance.

Thus, in order to better play the pig to eat the tiger, Zhang Yang chose to push the limit of perception.

After his reflections, Zhang Yang looked at the two bullet holes above.

The third Soul Ring is a hurdle for any soul master; once this hurdle is crossed, a soul master's strength undergoes a earth-shattering change.

In the topmost bullet hole from the normal attack, the metal projectile was deeply embedded in the trunk, and a straight trajectory was scorched black by the high heat generated from friction, measuring at least 60 centimeters at a rough glance.

As for the bullet hole in the middle caused by the second soul skill, Armor-Piercing Bullet, the visual effect was very similar to that of the normal attack, except the depth of this trajectory had actually quadrupled, reaching a staggering 2.4 meters.

A 2.4-meter deep bullet hole—this power was truly astonishing, after all, the toughness of lignin is no joke.

Moreover, the trunk of a living tree has a high water content and the fibers possess a certain degree of resilience, making it even harder to achieve such an effect than on a dead wooden stump.

Zhang Yang was very satisfied with the results of these few shots.

He believed that if he were to encounter the Rock Mountain Lord from earlier again, even without using his second soul skill, the power of his normal attacks would be enough to pierce through it.

The gap between a level 30 Soul Grand Master and a level 31 Soul Elder is just that vast.

And in a hidden corner that none of them could detect, a ghostly shadow was watching every move of the four of them.