Battle Against the Celestial Spirit Ape, a New Extraordinary Skill

A blade formed from chrysanthemums flew into the dense forest, followed by several massive boulders. Scattered around them were a few ropes. Yue Guan felt them and found the workmanship extremely crude.

"It should be nearby."

Aside from Celestial Spirit Apes, Yue Guan truly could not think of any other creature in the Star Dou Great Forest that would make traps.

Yue Guan and Mo Lin searched forward in silence, afraid of alerting the nearby soul beasts and causing their operation to fail.

"There."

Yue Guan stopped and gestured for Mo Lin to look up at a tree.

It was a colossal tree, its trunk so thick that it would likely take ten people joining hands to barely encircle it. More than a dozen Celestial Spirit Apes occupied its branches. One was noticeably more robust than the others and was likely their leader.

Mo Lin asked, "Elder Ju, can you restrain the other Celestial Spirit Apes without killing them? I think that while the leader is alive, the soul ring it produces will be of higher quality."

"I can."

Before Yue Guan had even finished speaking, he unleashed his third soul skill, Aura Barrier. Within a fifty-meter radius centered on Yue Guan, no object could move.

However, after a second, Mo Lin regained his ability to move. It seemed this technique was not indiscriminate.

Other than him, the Celestial Spirit Ape leader also regained its mobility. Watching its subordinates, who had been playing around moments ago, suddenly freeze in place—and having itself been immobilized for a second—it immediately began warily scanning its surroundings.

Unfortunately, the Celestial Spirit Ape reacted a little too slowly. Mo Lin suddenly shot out from the bushes, his fist aimed straight at its face.

Though it failed to dodge and was struck directly, it adjusted its posture in midair and landed steadily on the ground.

The Celestial Spirit Ape looked at Mo Lin, who stood in a tree looking down at it, and actually turned to run. But after only a few steps, it felt as though something was about to pin it in place. It backed up and found that nothing happened, then turned back to look at Mo Lin.

Mo Lin pointed at it, then at himself, and finally pointed outward.

The Celestial Spirit Ape understood what Mo Lin meant. Only by defeating Mo Lin could it leave this place. It immediately leaped up and threw a punch at him.

Mo Lin also jumped down from the tree toward the Celestial Spirit Ape, choosing to meet its fist head-on.

Although Mo Lin had the advantage of attacking from above, he was at a disadvantage in strength. After their fists collided, he was sent flying backward. He flipped himself over in midair and barely landed steadily.

The Celestial Spirit Ape gave Mo Lin no chance to catch his breath. It rushed before him and launched a straight punch wrapped in purple soul power. Mo Lin bent backward to evade, then planted both hands on the ground and kicked up with both legs in a Wild Horse Kick, sending it flying.

Mo Lin quickly rose and pressed his advantage, driving a fist toward the Celestial Spirit Ape's chest.

The Celestial Spirit Ape reacted in time and seized Mo Lin's right hand just before the blow landed.

The immense strength made it impossible for Mo Lin to break free.

"Looks like it's time to use it—Qi Body Origin Flow!"

The soul power Mo Lin released suddenly surged. Empowered by it, he pulled his right hand free and struck the Celestial Spirit Ape's abdomen with his left fist.

If a person's dantian was compared to a container and qi to water, then one function of Qi Body Origin Flow was to constantly and imperceptibly expand that container, allowing it to hold more water over time. This gave that extra strand of Primordial Qi enough nourishment to absorb and become a true Nascent Soul. Its other function was to instantly generate a vast amount of water inside the container. Yet this water not only exceeded the container's limits, but was also filled with "vitality," crashing about within it. Thus, while generating it, one had to pour the water out to prevent the container from exploding. That was Qi Body Origin Flow's application in battle.

Mo Lin did not stop attacking. After landing with his left fist, he followed with a forward stance palm thrust that struck the Celestial Spirit Ape squarely beneath the chin. The sound of bones shattering was clearly audible.

The injured Celestial Spirit Ape flew into a rage, changing its fist into a claw and swiping at Mo Lin.

Mo Lin directly deflected the attack with Cloud Hands, then rammed into the Celestial Spirit Ape from a horse stance, completing a defensive counterattack. The Celestial Spirit Ape lost its balance, leaving its back completely exposed.

Mo Lin jabbed a finger into roughly the area of the Lung Shu acupoint, sending force through the third rib to disturb its veins and nerves, shock its heart and lungs, and disrupt its qi flow.

The Celestial Spirit Ape spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed, though it did not die.

At that moment, the Celestial Spirit Ape's heart and lungs had been severely injured, and it had completely lost its ability to fight. It lay on the ground, gasping for breath as it glared sideways at Mo Lin, its eyes filled with resentment and rage.

Mo Lin closed his eyes and adjusted his state of mind. When he opened them again, there was not the slightest emotion in them.

When Yue Guan saw Mo Lin's eyes, the only thing he could see within them was "indifference." Those were absolutely not the eyes a child untouched by the world should possess.

Mo Lin crouched before the Celestial Spirit Ape and snapped one of its fingers. The ape let out an extraordinarily miserable scream.

"I'm sorry. I'm not someone who enjoys torture, but I have to ensure that every one of my soul rings can be absorbed perfectly. There can't be the slightest mistake. I know you would never willingly sacrifice yourself, so the sooner you despair, the sooner you break down, the less pain you'll suffer..."

As Mo Lin spoke, he continued breaking the Celestial Spirit Ape's bones. Its shrill cries spread endlessly through the forest.

After Mo Lin had broken every bone in the Celestial Spirit Ape's arm, nothing but boundless terror remained in its eyes. It had never wanted to die so badly!

Seeing the look in the Celestial Spirit Ape's eyes, Mo Lin stopped. Then, with one punch, he smashed its head apart. A purple soul ring floated out. Mo Lin did not immediately summon his martial soul. Instead, he recited the Soul-Soothing and Spirit-Stabilizing Incantation over the Celestial Spirit Ape's corpse, then sat cross-legged and recited the Spirit-Purifying Incantation and Body-Purifying Incantation before beginning to absorb the soul ring.

Having witnessed everything, Yue Guan, the Chrysanthemum Douluo, was actually covered in cold sweat. From Mo Lin, he sensed a certain aura—an aura that seemed to belong only to someone who had died once.

Perhaps because the Celestial Spirit Ape was so humanlike, Yue Guan kept wondering what the outcome would have been if this had happened to him. After being a soul master for so many years, he certainly could not claim to be without sin, but what Mo Lin had done today was something he had truly never done.

Mo Lin entered his inner vision and watched as the vortex before him changed once again. This time, it shifted through many forms—treasure pearls, dolls, armor, and all manner of things—before finally returning to its original vortex form.

A heartfelt smile appeared on Mo Lin's face. Just as he had predicted, based on the characteristics of the soul beast he hunted, he would gain the Extraordinary Skill closest to its nature.

Like Qi Body Origin Flow, this Extraordinary Skill was one whose power became more apparent the earlier it was acquired—Divine Machine Craft.