An hour later, Lin Mo slowly opened his eyes. The Soul Power that had been surging violently around him had finally settled completely.
He exhaled a long breath of stale air. It condensed into a white stream before him, then vanished without a trace.
A glint flashed in Lin Mo's eyes, and his entire bearing seemed to have changed somewhat.
The next moment, as he activated his Innate Life State, the Soul Rings beneath his feet abruptly changed to one yellow and one purple.
The yellow and purple Soul Rings reflected one another as they slowly revolved beneath Lin Mo.
The Hundred-Year Soul Ring glowed with a warm yellow light, while the Thousand-Year Soul Ring was not only deep in color but also carried an air of mystery.
The two Soul Rings complemented each other, creating a powerful visual impact.
"Lin Mo, you succeeded?" Flender asked from beside him, his voice full of delight.
He had believed Lin Mo could succeed from the very beginning, but seeing the yellow and purple Soul Rings for himself still left him unable to suppress his shock.
This was a Thousand-Year Second Soul Ring!
He!
Flender!
Had personally witnessed a miracle come to life!
"It went very smoothly." Lin Mo nodded.
But the moment Lin Mo had just gotten to his feet, Flender had already taken a crystal-clear blue orb from his Storage Soul Tool and tossed it to him.
Lin Mo caught it instinctively. Feeling the pull emanating from it, he instinctively channeled his Soul Power into the orb.
The blue orb felt warm in his hand, its surface smooth as a mirror.
The instant his Soul Power entered it, layers of light began to glow within.
The next moment, the blue orb suddenly burst into a dazzling radiance.
The light was so brilliant that it bathed the surrounding woods in blue.
Flender peered closely through his black-rimmed glasses, then clicked his tongue in admiration.
"Not bad. The quality of your Thousand-Year Second Soul Ring is quite impressive. No wonder—it came from a top-tier Soul Beast like the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
Your Soul Power Level has gone straight to twenty-three!"
Three levels at once!
That was an extremely rare occurrence in the entire Soul Master World.
Normally, after a level-twenty quasi-Soul Grandmaster absorbed a Hundred-Year Soul Ring, even one that was six or seven hundred years old, his cultivation would most likely only reach level twenty-one.
Even if he managed to break through by chance, he would reach level twenty-two at most. Few were like Lin Mo, who had absorbed a Soul Ring and broken through straight to level twenty-three.
"What's your Soul Skill?" Flender asked, his eyes shining as he looked at Lin Mo.
He had been looking forward to this for a long time.
A top-tier Soul Beast like the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was nearly impossible to encounter and hunt unless he and Lin Mo were lucky.
He was intensely curious: what kind of Soul Skill would the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, so highly praised by Zhao Wuji, grant Lin Mo?
Flender looked at Lin Mo with eager anticipation. Though he was already an old man, at that moment he looked just like a child waiting to unwrap a present.
Seeing Flender like this, Lin Mo couldn't help smiling.
"Rainbow Piercing Qi!" Lin Mo said after sensing it for a moment.
After saying this, Lin Mo instinctively lit up the Second Soul Ring beneath his feet.
As the Second Soul Ring lit up, Lin Mo's aura abruptly grew stronger.
A domineering presence radiated from him.
Lin Mo took a deep breath. He could clearly feel the power within his body growing at a terrifying rate.
An unprecedented sense of strength filled his entire body.
With a flash, Lin Mo appeared beside a nearby tree and struck it with his palm.
The tree was as thick around as an adult's waist, its bark coarse and thick.
Crack!
The instant Lin Mo's pale hand touched the tree, it snapped cleanly in half.
The crisp sound of breaking wood echoed through the forest.
The thick tree split down the middle. Its upper half slowly toppled over, crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom.
Branches and leaves scattered, and dirt flew everywhere.
Yet the break showed no signs of tearing. It looked as if some incredibly sharp object had sliced straight through it.
Lin Mo drew back his hand and looked at the scene before him, a satisfied glint in his eyes.
Seeing Flender's gaze fall upon him, Lin Mo explained, "This is my Second Soul Skill, Rainbow Piercing Qi.
It's a transformation-type enhancement skill. It enhances my attacks, strength, and penetration, and the boosts are all quite substantial.
Once I activate my Second Soul Skill, it's as if I can transform into a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear."
"An excellent Soul Skill."
Flender nodded and remarked, "An enhancement-type Soul Skill like this won't become obsolete even when your cultivation reaches the Soul Saint level, or even the higher Titled Douluo stage. It'll still give you a very substantial boost."
Flender's voice brimmed with approval.
He had seen far too many Soul Masters obtain Soul Skills that seemed flashy but were actually useless when absorbing Soul Rings.
Those skills might be of some use at low levels, but as one's cultivation increased, they quickly became dead weight.
Enhancement-type Soul Skills were entirely different.
They became more effective as the Soul Master grew stronger.
The higher the level and the stronger the base strength, the more terrifying the boost they provided.
But by the end of his remarks, a hint of envy had crept into Flender's voice.
Everyone knew how precious transformation-type enhancement Soul Skills were. Unfortunately, finding one depended almost entirely on luck.
Or else, one needed a family like Dai Mubai's, which had long established a set system for choosing Martial Souls and Soul Rings.
Which Soul Beast to hunt at each level, what kind of Soul Ring to obtain, and what Soul Skill it would grant—
They knew it all by heart.
Flender pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at Lin Mo, his heart full of emotion.
The boy's luck really was extraordinary.
First, he had awakened an incredibly powerful, unknown Mutated Martial Soul. Now, he had obtained such a top-tier Soul Skill.
His future achievements would be limitless.
"That's right, Dean. This bear's given me a pretty substantial boost. It makes up for my lack of attack power."
Lin Mo glanced at the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's corpse and spoke with a beaming smile, clasping his hands behind his back, his excitement unmistakable.
He couldn't hide the smile on his face.
This hunt for the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear had yielded far more than he had expected.
Not only had his Soul Power risen by three levels, but he had also gained such a powerful Soul Skill.
Rainbow Piercing Qi.
With the threefold boosts to attack, strength, and penetration stacked together, Lin Mo's attack power had increased beyond measure.
Where Flender couldn't see, five sharp, dark-gold claws had silently emerged from the fingertips of Lin Mo's hands, which were still clasped behind his back.
If anyone had been able to see them, they would have noticed that the blades extending more than ten centimeters from Lin Mo's fingertips looked exactly like the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's claws nearby, only several times smaller.
The instant he realized what they were, Lin Mo's heart suddenly began to pound faster.
External Soul Bone!
No matter how composed Lin Mo usually was, a storm still surged in his heart!