Back at the Spirit Pagoda's residence, he closed the door.
Chen Zhou took a long, deep breath.
He opened his palm slightly. In his hand was the chest bone taken from the Titan Snow Demon King.
He sensed the terrifying aura unique to a Hundred Thousand Year Ferocious Beast, along with its pure blood energy.
Chen Zhou's eyes flickered faintly. Holding the Soul Bone in both hands, he didn't hesitate for a moment.
He lay down and fell asleep, then entered the Dream World.
A blue protective barrier spread out, and the Soul Bone in his hand vanished.
Since it was morning in the Dream World, Neuvillette should have been occupied with his work.
But after Chen Zhou arrived, Neuvillette appeared just a few minutes later.
"Teacher, I brought the Soul Bone. How should it be modified? Does it also need to be soaked in the Primordial Sea?"
Chen Zhou looked at the Soul Bone in his hand, a hint of curiosity in his voice.
Neuvillette didn't answer him.
He raised his hand slightly, and currents gathered in the Primordial Sea beneath them, slowly flowing toward the Soul Bone.
As the chest bone in his hand was surrounded by water, Chen Zhou promptly let go and allowed it to sink into the Primordial Sea.
But this time, it didn't sink all the way. Neuvillette raised his hand.
A faint blue light flickered in his palm.
Then, it seemed as though he was inscribing a series of strange runes onto the Soul Bone.
Chen Zhou watched without a word, standing quietly to one side.
Who knew how much time had passed?
Neuvillette only stopped once Chen Zhou had begun to grow bored in the Dream World.
"This chest bone should be ice-aligned."
"It may have carried two or three skills, but after my modifications, only two abilities will remain."
"One is an ice ability, and the other is a water ability. I've strengthened them both."
Neuvillette's voice was calm.
When he finished, he raised his hand slightly.
The Soul Bone floated up, emerging from the Primordial Sea and returning to Chen Zhou's hand.
"Go ahead and absorb it here."
"This Soul Bone may put a great deal of strain on your body, but it can also help stabilize your Martial Soul."
As Neuvillette spoke, he looked at Chen Zhou.
Based on his understanding and assessment of Chen Zhou, Chen Zhou was nowhere near strong enough to withstand the power of the Primordial Dragon.
Or rather, he couldn't yet evolve his Martial Soul into the so-called Primordial Dragon.
The problem was that his Water Dragon King Martial Soul was already close to its limit. And with the power of his authority driving it forward, it would only draw him ever nearer to becoming the Primordial Dragon.
"Should I absorb it here, Teacher?"
"Besides putting strain on my body, will this Soul Bone have any other effects?"
Chen Zhou carefully examined the Soul Bone in his hand.
At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary Soul Bone.
But on closer inspection, it was etched with patterns the color of water.
Meeting Chen Zhou's gaze, Neuvillette nodded.
Then he pointed at the Soul Bone.
"After my modifications, this Soul Bone will indeed have some unusual properties."
"For instance, it will slow your cultivation speed—or perhaps 'slow' isn't the right word."
"It will expand your meridians, allowing you to contain more elemental power within your body."
Neuvillette offered a brief explanation. His words were somewhat vague, but Chen Zhou understood.
The principle was simple.
When an ordinary person cultivated and advanced one level in Soul Power, gaining that level during the first stage was very quick.
It wasn't that cultivation slowed down at higher stages. Rather, gaining a level of Soul Power during the first stage was simply easier.
But the amount of Soul Power gained was also much lower.
With this Soul Bone, Chen Zhou would be unlocking his potential ahead of time.
It would let him contain more Soul Power during the first stage.
For him, that was a tremendous boon.
It was somewhat similar to the little Dragon God from ten thousand years in the future.
The other person's circumstances were just more unusual. This would simply let Chen Zhou possess several times as much Soul Power as others at the same stage.
As for the claim that his cultivation speed would slow down, that was a joke.
With a cultivation speed two hundred and forty times faster than normal, even if he needed several times more Soul Power than others to advance a level, he'd still progress far faster than they did.
His cultivation speed was already faster than yours, and his foundation was countless times stronger, too.
With that thought, Chen Zhou didn't hesitate.
He slowly sat cross-legged above the Primordial Sea. As his eyes closed, the Soul Bone of the Titan Snow Demon King trembled slightly.
Then the Soul Bone slowly melded into his body, and a pain that tore at his very soul surged through him.
It was a pain most people couldn't endure.
At this stage, forcibly absorbing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone was ordinarily no different from asking for death.
But the agony that would be fatal to an ordinary person was something Chen Zhou had already grown accustomed to.
It wasn't even as bad as the oppressive sensation he'd experienced when elevating his Soul Power into elemental power.
After all, back then, elevating his Soul Power into elemental power had stripped away his bloodline inch by inch.
Or rather, it had changed his meridians inch by inch, transforming his blood and everything else within him.
That was the most terrifying kind of pain.
This modification of his bones, by comparison, barely registered.
Watching this, Neuvillette raised his hand as well.
A stream of water appeared in his palm and slowly flowed into the Soul Bone.
This eased the strain on both the Soul Bone and Chen Zhou.
The Primordial Sea's currents flowed past them, seemingly imbued with time and the laws of nature.
After an unknown amount of time, Chen Zhou slowly opened his eyes.
The fusion of the Soul Bone had gone even more smoothly than he'd expected—or perhaps there was no reason it should have gone wrong.
After all, Neuvillette had modified it. Whether or not the Soul Bone had matched him before, it was now the one best suited to him.
When Chen Zhou stood, he stared at his hands.
Then he placed one hand on his chest.
His heart beat steadily.
Vigorous blood energy gathered in his heart before spreading outward.
He could clearly feel the changes in his chest.
With this chest bone, his defensive power had increased tremendously.
As he sensed the chest bone's properties, Chen Zhou also understood the two Soul Skills he'd gained—or rather, elemental skills.
The skill bestowed on him by the two-hundred-thousand-year-old Titan Snow Demon King was called Titan Fury.
It was an ice-type ability, or more precisely, a Cryo ability.
Once activated, it would completely freeze everything around him.
It was a large-scale explosive attack, with immense destructive power.
As Chen Zhou grew stronger, he might be able to replace ordinary ice with the Water of Destruction from the Primordial Sea.
Or he could control the Primordial Sea itself. Either way, this ability would become even more powerful.