Ten-Thousand-Year Third Soul Ring, Blue Silver Wood Clone!

The Withered Wood Dragon Python had long been tortured to its last breath by Dugu Bo's Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison. It could not muster any strength to defend itself.

But Xia Yuan had not merely thrown the Blue Silver Tyrant Spear.

Violet-gold light gathered in his eyes. At the same moment, he used his Purple Demon Eye, which had already reached the third realm, to violently shake the Withered Wood Dragon Python's mind!

At once, the Withered Wood Dragon Python's body thrashed and struggled violently again, as though in a stress response.

At that moment, Xia Yuan's Blue Silver Tyrant Spear pierced straight through its head before violently exploding.

When a Soul Master absorbed the Soul Ring of a Soul Beast more than ten thousand years old after its death, it would cause a spiritual shock.

However, if one used the Purple Demon Eye to first shake its spirit and soul before its death, the spiritual shock within the Soul Ring could be weakened or even eliminated.

This was also Tang San's solution in the original story.

Of course, Tang San had also borrowed the power of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to weaken it further.

However, he had been searching for Soul Beasts in Sunset Forest at the time, so the distance was short and bringing it back was very convenient.

For Xia Yuan and Dugu Bo, though, dragging a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast across such a great distance back to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well before absorbing it would simply be making trouble for themselves.

It was about to die, not already dead.

And even if it were dead, the Soul Ring could not be moved.

There was no advanced Soul Tool technology at this time, nor were there Soul Ring storage devices from ten thousand years later.

However, Xia Yuan's situation differed from that of ordinary Soul Masters. He had long been mentally prepared to absorb the Soul Ring of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, raised his right hand, released his Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul, and summoned the Soul Ring from the Withered Wood Dragon Python's corpse.

Guided by Soul Power, the black Soul Ring flowed from Xia Yuan's right hand into his body.

In an instant, Xia Yuan felt as though he had been cast into darkness, unable to see any light.

At that moment, the Blue Silver Grass on the surrounding ground emitted faint glimmers. Specks of blue light gathered upon Xia Yuan as he absorbed the Soul Ring.

Dugu Bo watched the scene with considerable surprise.

Within Xia Yuan's spiritual world, a point of blue light seemed to emerge from the endless darkness.

At the same time, a point of light burst forth from within his body.

It was the power of life, the power of light.

The Golden Sacred Dragon Origin, the life origin of the Blue Silver Emperor, and even his second Martial Soul, the Six-Winged Angel, were all playing their part in helping Xia Yuan absorb this Soul Ring.

In Dugu Bo's eyes, Xia Yuan seemed to suddenly light up, blooming with jade-green radiance as his life force circulated without end.

Crackling sounds had originally been coming from his bones, while beads of blood seeped from the surface of his skin.

Yet under the circulation of that life force, those symptoms gradually eased.

Xia Yuan had already undergone the body-tempering process of the Ice and Fire Body Tempering. The Withered Wood Dragon Python's effects on his body were greatly reduced, and that naturally included its danger.

Even so, Xia Yuan still wrestled with the Withered Wood Dragon Python's energy for several hours before fully taming it and beginning to transform it.

As Xia Yuan began absorbing that energy, a black Soul Ring gradually formed around his body.

Dugu Bo had long since returned to human form and stood guard over Xia Yuan's surroundings.

Because of this, he did not see that the instant Xia Yuan opened his eyes, his second Soul Ring changed directly from deep purple to black!

Then, after a blur of shifting light and shadow, Xia Yuan's second and third black Soul Rings actually turned into two purple Thousand-Year Soul Rings!

Xia Yuan rose to his feet. Hearing the movement, Dugu Bo turned to look at him as well.

"Eh? You clearly absorbed the Soul Ring of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast..." Dugu Bo looked at Xia Yuan's Soul Rings in confusion.

Compared with Tang San's astonishing Ten-Thousand-Year fourth Soul Ring in the original story, Xia Yuan's Ten-Thousand-Year third Soul Ring was even more shocking.

Xia Yuan explained, "Senior Dugu, this is one of the abilities granted by my third Soul Ring. It can directly change the color of my Soul Rings and even hide them."

"Oh, then it's no surprise. No surprise at all." Dugu Bo nodded.

After all, it was a Withered Wood Dragon Python. It excelled at illusion and camouflage, so gaining such an ability was not strange.

"Wait," Dugu Bo abruptly froze. "What did you just say? An additional ability?"

"That's right." Xia Yuan nodded. "It's merely an additional ability brought by the third Soul Ring, not the third Soul Ring's Soul Skill."

Although he said that, the change in Soul Ring colors was not entirely caused by the third Soul Ring.

It also included the Blue Silver Domain's ability.

It could be said that the Withered Wood Dragon Python's abilities had served as the trigger, allowing Xia Yuan to unlock the camouflage ability of the Blue Silver Domain ahead of time.

With this camouflage ability, Xia Yuan no longer had to worry that his Ten-Thousand-Year second and third Soul Rings would be too conspicuous.

Of course, he still had to retain the appearance of a Thousand-Year second Soul Ring. After all, he had revealed his Soul Rings during his earlier battle with Yu Tianheng.

There was no need for him to expose his camouflage ability merely to turn the second Soul Ring yellow and let others know about it.

Aside from the camouflage ability Xia Yuan had unlocked early through the combination of the Withered Wood Dragon Python's abilities and the Blue Silver Domain, his true third Soul Skill was also extremely practical.

Xia Yuan's third Soul Skill was called Blue Silver Wood Clone. It could create a clone transformed from the Blue Silver Emperor.

Whether others observed it with their naked eyes or spiritual power, as long as they lacked a specialized ability to see through illusions, they would be unable to distinguish the original body from the clone.

The clone possessed eighty percent of Xia Yuan's pure Martial Soul strength. It could even use all of Xia Yuan's Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul's Soul Ring skills other than the third Soul Skill.

However, since it was a clone formed from the Blue Silver Emperor, its body was far more fragile than Xia Yuan's original body.

When the clone was broken by an enemy or Xia Yuan dismissed it himself, it would instantly transform into Blue Silver Emperor vines to bind or attack the enemy.

To Xia Yuan, this was an exceptionally practical combat ability. It could even be said to have established the foundation of his combat approach.

Even if that eighty percent was merely eighty percent of the Blue Silver Emperor's pure Martial Soul strength, without the addition of his other abilities and physique, its combat power was still quite impressive.

But it was not without flaws.

The Blue Silver Wood Clone had no consciousness of its own and required Xia Yuan to control it personally, which meant he had to divide his attention in two.

At the same time, creating the clone consumed a great deal of Soul Power, since the clone could also use the Soul Skills of Xia Yuan's Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul.

Overall, however, Xia Yuan was quite satisfied.

Dugu Bo did not ask about the specific effects of Xia Yuan's Soul Skill.

To a Soul Master, the specific effects of their Soul Skills were as important as their life and fortune. They would only explain them to people they were close to and trusted, or under special circumstances.

Ordinary people would not be so rude as to directly ask about the effects of someone's Soul Skills.