Just as Lin Mo and Tang San began absorbing their respective Soul Rings, with Yu Xiaogang standing guard nearby,
a rather disheveled figure suddenly vanished from the canopy of a towering ancient tree not far away.
If Tang San had been there at that moment, he would have recognized him as the drunken father from his memories.
Half an hour later, Lin Mo slowly opened his eyes.
Uncontainable delight shone across his face.
"So soon?" A clear look of surprise flashed across Yu Xiaogang's face.
He had been sitting cross-legged on a green stone not far from Lin Mo. The moment he saw Lin Mo open his eyes, he sprang to his feet, his brow furrowing deeply.
Lin Mo and Tang San had begun absorbing their First Soul Rings almost at the same time, and the quality and age of their rings were nearly identical.
The Vajra Ape and Azure Vine were both Hundred-Year Soul Beasts just over four hundred years old. For a Level Ten Soul Master to absorb the Soul Rings they produced was no easy feat.
Yu Xiaogang instinctively glanced back at Tang San.
Tang San still had his eyes closed, his face faintly pale.
He had only just made it through the most perilous initial stage of absorbing a Soul Ring, and Lin Mo had already finished?
Was there really such a huge gap between their physical constitutions? Xiao San had Twin Martial Souls!
"How do you feel?"
Yu Xiaogang rose and walked over to Lin Mo, asking him.
His eyes roved over Lin Mo from head to toe, as though searching for any changes since he had absorbed the Soul Ring.
One thing was certain: Lin Mo, who had already been much taller and sturdier than his peers, had grown a little more under the nourishment of the Soul Ring's power.
He was taller now.
"I feel great."
Lin Mo stood up and nodded, instinctively clenching his fist as he felt the strength surging within it.
Soon, he closed his eyes, and a bright yellow Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath his feet.
With the activation of his Inversion of Three talent, Lin Mo entered the Innate Life State once more.
"What is your First Soul Skill?" Yu Xiaogang asked curiously.
He had always been obsessed with studying Martial Soul Theory and had already made great strides in the field, but he had never heard of anything like what was happening with Lin Mo.
He had not only interacted with Lin Mo personally, but had also observed him up close and experienced his abilities firsthand over the past few days.
Even so, he still had no idea what Lin Mo's Martial Soul was.
"I call it Body-Protecting Qi!"
As the First Soul Ring lit up, a barely perceptible shield suddenly appeared over Lin Mo's skin.
The shield was extremely faint, almost transparent. It was hard to notice unless you looked closely.
It was as though an exceedingly thin film of light had formed over Lin Mo's body.
"My First Soul Skill boosts my defense and gives me a shield that helps me withstand damage!"
"Not bad."
After carefully observing the changes across Lin Mo's body, Yu Xiaogang nodded. "This is an extremely practical Soul Skill. It makes up for one of your weaknesses to some extent!"
"If you'd already mastered this Soul Skill during your earlier fight against the Datura Snake,
you could have killed it much more easily. That Venom Fang of its would have had a hard time breaking through your defense!"
"From what I can tell, this Soul Skill must have been produced when your Martial Soul absorbed the Vajra Ape's Soul Ring and combined with its innate Soul Skill, Vajra Body."
Hearing Yu Xiaogang's words, Lin Mo silently nodded.
The effects of Body-Protecting Qi he had just described were only part of its capabilities. Besides boosting his defense and forming a shield over his body, it had other abilities as well.
The shield it formed also carried a certain amount of damage reflection.
At the same time, while the shield remained active, he was immune to hard crowd-control effects caused by physical impacts.
Knockback or knock-up effects caused by brute-force collisions, like those of the Vajra Ape, no longer worked on Lin Mo.
More defense, damage reflection, and super armor!
That was Lin Mo's extremely versatile First Soul Skill.
None of these three effects was weak on its own. Combined, they made this Soul Ring far more valuable than its age suggested.
And like the Inversion of Three talent, the First Soul Skill consumed very little Soul Power, allowing him to use it for a long time.
If he wanted, he could keep Body-Protecting Qi active throughout a battle.
Lin Mo was extremely satisfied with the First Soul Skill he had gained.
Because his first few Soul Rings were so low in age, Lin Mo had never planned to get offensive Soul Skills from them.
Offensive Soul Skills provided by Soul Rings of the hundred- or thousand-year level would inevitably be phased out later on.
From the very beginning, the Soul Skills Lin Mo had wanted from his first few Soul Rings were utility skills like this.
They would not become obsolete as his level increased.
More defense, damage reflection, super armor—no matter how far his cultivation advanced, these three traits would always be useful.
As for offensive power, Lin Mo in the Innate Life State was not lacking in that. His fists and feet were the best weapons.
Now, the layer of Body-Protecting Qi covering his body had greatly increased his defense and survivability.
Anyone who wanted to hurt him would first have to break through his Body-Protecting Qi, then get past his Qi-flesh Transformation before they could truly harm him.
With two layers of protection combined, he had enough confidence to hold his own even against opponents whose cultivation far surpassed his.
He no longer had to fear being ambushed or shot in the back.
Thinking of this, Lin Mo's lips curled up slightly. This really was an unexpected bonus.
While they waited for Tang San to finish absorbing his Soul Ring, Yu Xiaogang used research as an excuse to help Lin Mo test the exact effects of his First Soul Skill.
Lin Mo stood still while Yu Xiaogang picked up the sword he had used earlier to dissect the Datura Snake.
While the First Soul Skill was active, Yu Xiaogang could not even break Lin Mo's defense with the sword, despite his own physical strength.
Yu Xiaogang tried several more times, slashing from different angles—horizontal, vertical, and diagonal. The result was the same every time.
The blade could not pierce the seemingly fragile shield at all.
What left Yu Xiaogang especially frustrated was that, even after all that testing, he still could not figure out what Lin Mo's Martial Soul was.
Another hour and a half passed before Tang San finished absorbing his Soul Ring and slowly opened his eyes.
Lin Mo also looked at Tang San with interest.
He was just as eager to find out what First Soul Skill Tang San had gained after giving up on the Datura Snake and choosing the Azure Vine instead.
According to Lin Mo's original memories, Tang San's First Soul Skill should have been Bind, which he had obtained from the Datura Snake.
It let him instantly restrain an enemy with Blue Silver Grass and also inflicted a degree of paralysis.
But now that Yu Xiaogang had taken the Datura Snake and replaced it with the Azure Vine, which excelled in vitality, Lin Mo was genuinely curious about what the result would be.