First Soul Skill

When Ling Yi silently absorbed the Soul Ring in his own home and broke through to Soul Master Level, the whole of Shan Hai Village remained peaceful and serene. Aside from the Blue Silver Grass covering the ground having a brief stress response, no one knew a thing.

Even the four little ones playing close by in the Ling Family courtyard, as well as Zhang Xiaoyu and Ling He, who were watching the children while busy with the work in their hands, had no idea that just a dozen meters away underground, their elder brother, son, and nephew had already broken through the Fences that had bound the Ling and Zhang families for generations, and was about to open a new chapter in the Ling Family bloodline.

It was evening. When Ling Xiaoshan returned from the fields with Zhang Lei, Zhang Dahe also came back carrying a Fish Basket full of big fish. Grandfather and Grandmother, Maternal Grandfather and Maternal Grandmother likewise each brought over a basket of vegetables.

Together with the tamed wild chickens, wild rabbits, wild boars, and other livestock and poultry the Ling Family itself raised, Zhang Xiaoyu and Ling He got to work, one slaughtering chickens and the other killing rabbits. Paired with the smoked pork hanging from the kitchen beams, that night's meal was even more sumptuous than lunch. Everyone ate until their mouths were slick with oil and their bellies were round.

At daybreak the next morning, Ling Yi brought Zhang Lei into the Old Forest north of the village, accompanied by A'Huang and Meow Meow.

"First Soul Skill: Full of Vitality—!"

Beneath the Iron Birch Tree, Ling Yi held his Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass, in his hand and softly spoke the name of his first soul skill.

Before his voice had faded, a faint blue-green glow flickered over the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.

Flickering along with it was the bright Yellow Ring spiraling around beneath Ling Yi's feet.

Feeling the Soul Power inside him spontaneously flow along an inexplicable route, completing its circuit in an instant and entering the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul in his right palm, where it all transformed into a mass of active energy brimming with life, Ling Yi's thoughts stirred. That active energy immediately turned into a pale green light and shot toward Zhang Lei two steps away.

At that moment, Zhang Lei had already been stunned senseless by the scene before him, and did not react at all to being struck by the pale green light.

But very quickly, the comfort spreading through his body still brought Zhang Lei back to his senses. While feeling as if his whole body had been soaked in a Hot Spring, he widened his eyes and looked at Ling Yi in front of him.

"A Yi! You... you... you... you became... became a Soul Master...—!!??"

Because he was too shocked, Zhang Lei's voice even turned a little shrill.

"Yeah." Ling Yi nodded, his right hand holding his Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass, while the bright yellow Soul Ring coiled and circled beneath his feet. At that moment, his whole person seemed to be glowing.

The pale green light lasted only seven or eight breaths before it stopped as the mass of active energy inside the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was exhausted.

Just as Zhang Lei opened his mouth, about to ask something, Ling Yi raised his left hand and gestured. Zhang Lei immediately suppressed the curiosity in his heart and stood obediently in place without saying a word, waiting.

Ling Yi, meanwhile, was reviewing the sensations he had felt when using this first soul skill just now.

And because he had mobilized his Mental Strength through the whole process, attaching it to that active energy, Ling Yi had also sensed all sorts of changes in Zhang Lei's body as it was washed by the active energy.

A few minutes later, after every detail had been replayed once, Ling Yi finally spoke under Zhang Lei's impatient gaze and asked, "Lei Ge, tell me what it felt like when you were covered by my first soul skill just now."

"First soul skill..." Zhang Lei muttered, repeating it once, before he raised his head and looked at Ling Yi with a face full of admiration, yearning, and longing. "A Yi, you really did become a Soul Master!"

Faced with Zhang Lei's reaction, Ling Yi did not urge him. He only smiled and nodded, then sighed with feeling. "That's right... I finally became a Soul Master—"

Zhang Lei, equally filled with emotion, only then remembered the question Ling Yi had just asked. After thinking for a moment, he said to Ling Yi, "A Yi, just now, when that light shone on me, I felt really comfortable. At first, it was like being in this forest, and even the air I breathed through my nose had a fresh fragrance..."

"Then..." Zhang Lei continued as he recalled it, "I felt like my body was a dry clump of dirt in the fields, and that Green Light was like water. Soaked in the water, bit by bit, my body turned into fertile mud dug up from the bottom of a Fish Pond..."

"Mm... At the time, it was as comfortable as soaking in a hot bath, but that Green Light wasn't hot. Instead, it was cool and refreshing..."

Listening to Zhang Lei's simple, straightforward description, Ling Yi fell into thought, extracting the key information within it.

"Anything else?" Ling Yi asked again. At the same time, he raised his hand and pointed at Zhang Lei's left arm and the side of his waist. "I sensed just now that more energy from my first soul skill gathered in these two places..."

"Hm?" Zhang Lei was startled when he heard this. He immediately rolled up the sleeve on his left arm, then lifted the hem of his clothes at his waist.

With just one look, Zhang Lei let out an "Eh?" and raised his head to look at Ling Yi, his face full of surprise. "A Yi, the injuries here... they're healed—"

When Ling Yi heard this, concern and inquiry immediately appeared on his face. "Injuries?"

Seeing the concern on Ling Yi's face, Zhang Lei explained to him, "It's nothing. A few days ago, I was hoeing in the fields when I suddenly dug up a Local Viper. When I chopped the thing to death with one Hoe, I accidentally twisted my waist..."

"As for my arm..." Zhang Lei exposed the outer side of the upper part of his left arm to Ling Yi and continued, "Two days ago, when I was digging lotus roots in my old man's Fish Pond, I got stabbed by a bone spur on the back of a big fish..."

Ling Yi looked at the wound, which had already healed and left only a scar in the form of a broad-bean-sized white mark. Recalling the gathering of active energy there earlier, he understood that it had been accelerating the recovery of the injury.

At the same time, under Ling Yi's attention, he discovered that most of that active energy had gathered around Zhang Lei's lower back, both arms, calves, and similar areas.

Ling Yi was very familiar with these areas.

Because they were basically all the parts that exerted force when performing the Farmer Three Forms and the Basic Body Tempering Exercise!

Clearly, years of practicing the Farmer Three Forms and the Basic Body Tempering Exercise had trained and strengthened the muscles in these areas, but it had also inevitably caused strain.

Next, calculating the Soul Power consumption within his body, Ling Yi cast First Soul Skill: Full of Vitality on Zhang Lei three more times at intervals.

These three times, he had Zhang Lei perform the Hoeing Form, Scything Form, and Axing Form of the Farmer Three Forms respectively.

The result was just as Ling Yi expected. Whenever strain appeared in Zhang Lei's body, the active energy produced by the soul skill would spontaneously gather there, carrying out the passive effect of repair and healing.

After completing the verification of the soul skill's effect on the human body, Ling Yi had Zhang Lei go to the side and, while the soul skill's buff had not yet faded, seize the time to practice the Hoeing Form a few more times.

Facts proved that among the Farmer Three Forms, the one Zhang Lei had cultivated to the best result was the Hoeing Form, and the one from which he gained the greatest benefit was also the Hoeing Form.

Ling Yi himself sat leaning beneath the Iron Birch Tree, closed his eyes to rest, and instantly entered a Deep Sleep state.

A dozen minutes later, Ling Yi opened his eyes, looking full of energy and spirit. Whether it was his mental state or the Soul Power inside his body, both had now recovered to their peak.

Although he had used his first soul skill at intervals earlier, it had still truly consumed roughly one-third of the Soul Power in his body. And now, in only a dozen minutes, the one-third of Soul Power Ling Yi had consumed had been fully replenished in one go. The upper limit of the Soul Power within his body had even faintly increased by a trace!

When Ling Yi got up, Zhang Lei was already standing guard in the clearing not far away, holding his Hoe Martial Soul beside prey strewn across the ground.

The prey on the ground consisted of three wild rabbits, four wild chickens, and one half-grown Reeve's Muntjac. All of them had been hunted earlier by A'Huang and Meow Meow within a radius of four or five li.

At this moment, the necks of the four wild chickens were already broken, and they had no breath left, so they could only serve as lunch later. Of the three wild rabbits, one likewise had its head tilted to the side and lay motionless. The other two were a little better off, only each having injuries on their front or hind legs where pale white, bloody bone stubble showed.

The last half-grown Reeve's Muntjac had the lightest injuries. There was merely a deep wound sliced open by a sharp blade at the joint of its hind hoof. At this moment, under its own licking, the bleeding had already stopped.

Now, it was time to verify once again just what level the healing effect of his first soul skill had reached.

Likewise, Ling Yi also wanted to know whether, apart from the active energy transformed from the Soul Power inside his own body, he could draw some life force from the outside world... from the Blue Silver Grass covering the ground all around him.