Self-Produced Soul Rings—Could I Be a Soul Beast Reincarnated?

Choosing a low-year soul ring would undoubtedly drain his future potential, but he had no money to hire anyone to hunt soul beasts for him.

"Ah~ Being broke really makes everything difficult!"

Lost in thought, Yao Shi gradually fell asleep beneath the moonlight.

In the morning, sunlight fell on Yao Shi. He opened his bleary eyes. Over the past few years, in order to earn the money for awakening his martial soul, it had been a long time since he had slept until after sunrise. Every sunrise, he had always seen while catching fish by the river.

"Mm~"

Yao Shi stood up, took a breath of fresh air, and stretched.

"Huh! Why do I feel like my body's getting lighter? And it feels like I'm full of strength."

Yao Shi felt unusually relaxed. The exhaustion of the past few years seemed to have completely vanished. However, he did not pay much attention to it, assuming it was simply one of the benefits brought by awakening his martial soul.

"Oh no, it's already so late! I need to make breakfast!"

Seeing the sun high in the sky, Yao Shi silently cursed. Grandpa must already be hungry at this hour, so he hurriedly lit the fire and cooked a pot of plain congee.

Half an hour later.

Yao Shi carried two bowls of congee into the house and called softly inside, "Grandpa, sorry, I got up late today."

"It's alright, Little Stone. You've worked hard enough these past few years. Now that your martial soul has awakened, you should properly... rest..."

Yao's voice came from inside. But after Yao Shi entered the room, Yao's latter words became halting, and his tone held some shock.

"Y-you're Little Stone?"

As Yao Shi placed the two bowls of congee on the small table by the bed, Yao pointed at him in astonishment and asked.

Yao Shi slowly helped him sit up, utterly baffled and somewhat confused. "If I'm not Little Stone, then who am I? Grandpa, don't tell me there's something wrong with your eyes now too?"

Yao calmed down, though his tone was still somewhat disbelieving. "Little Stone, haven't you noticed any changes in your body?"

"Uh?"

"Yes. When I woke up, my body felt extremely light, and it felt like I had endless strength." Seeing how strangely Grandpa was acting today, Yao Shi froze for a moment before answering honestly.

"Anything else?"

"No."

"Little Stone, go look in the water jar outside." Smiling, Yao had Yao Shi go outside and take a look.

"Grandpa, what's wrong with you today? You're acting so strange." Yao Shi muttered as he obediently went to the water jars outside.

Yao Shi filled both water jars every day. He had used a little from one while making breakfast, so he walked over to the one that was still full.

The water reflected the sky and a wisp of white cloud. But as Yao Shi approached the jar, a fair face suddenly appeared on the water's surface.

Yao Shi was startled.

Th-this is me?

In the water, his skin had become fair, and his originally jet-black hair had turned pale gold. Most notably, his appearance was practically that of a girl. Although he was only seven years old and still had some baby fat on his face, it was not hard to see just how devastatingly beautiful this face would become in the future.

"Th-this... is me?"

The tremendous change left Yao Shi somewhat tongue-tied.

Could a boy really be this beautiful?

"Grandpa, Grandpa, is that really me? I became like this?"

After seeing his transformation, Yao Shi hurried back into the house. Could awakening a martial soul really cause such changes?

Yao merely watched the excited Yao Shi quietly, his face full of kindness, though there was also a faint trace of sorrow in his eyes.

He knew that before Yao Shi turned four, he had been a beautiful child. Even when following him into the fields to work, his skin had remained like that of a porcelain doll. If not for the past few years of rising early and working late, while also taking care of him, his skin would not have gradually become dark and rough, nor would he have ended up half a head shorter than the other children in the village his age. Yao had seen it all, and it pained his heart. In his memories, even at Yao Shi's age, he had never suffered this much.

Now that he saw Yao Shi become like this, though he was shocked, he was even happier.

At that moment, Yao Shi also sensed something unusual within his body.

Whoosh—

With a whoosh, Yao Shi's martial soul appeared naturally, and a yellow soul ring rose beneath his feet.

I-I have a soul ring?

Yesterday, he had still been thinking about how to solve the problem of obtaining a soul ring, yet today one had appeared on its own?

The two stared at the suddenly appearing soul ring and exchanged a glance.

It was a deep-yellow soul ring, seemingly close to reaching the thousand-year level. Faint golden-green light also radiated from it, giving off the feeling that it contained boundless vitality.

"Little Stone, th-this is a soul ring?"

Yao had little knowledge. Although he had seen soul masters before, this was the first time he had ever seen a soul ring from such close range.

"That's right, and it's a hundred-year soul ring."

"But I heard that soul rings require killing soul beasts."

"I don't know either. Maybe my martial soul is special, so it produced one automatically. Grandpa, don't tell anyone about this."

"Don't worry, Little Stone. My lips are sealed."

Yao Shi suddenly came back to his senses. "Wait, self-produced soul rings? Isn't that something only soul beasts do when they reincarnate!"

"But I can tell I'm not a soul beast. Could it really be because my martial soul is special?"

"As expected of the Sky-Reaching Divine Tree. You really deliver."

Yao Shi did not dwell on it any longer and attributed everything to the uniqueness of his martial soul. He then began examining the soul skill granted by his first soul ring. Once he saw it clearly, his expression became increasingly excited, and he could not help shouting aloud.

"Grandpa, I think I found a way to heal you!"

"What! Little Stone, are you telling the truth?"

Yao, lying on the bed, was also stunned by his words.

It turned out that Yao Shi had seen that his first soul skill was called Conceptual Healing, capable of healing all injuries. The moment Yao Shi saw this ability, he believed it could cure Yao's paralysis.

"I never expected my first soul skill to be this overpowered. The Jianmu martial soul really is amazing—not only can it produce soul rings on its own, but the soul skills it gives are powerful too."

Yao Shi immediately went to Yao's side and called out softly.

First soul skill, Healing.

The yellow soul ring lit up faintly. The green leaf on the branch of Yao Shi's martial soul instantly shot out a strand of green light, which slowly flew into Yao's waist.

After a burst of creaking bones, Yao's lower body began to tremble slightly. Not only that, even his originally aged face gradually began to grow younger, his appearance and bodily functions returning to the state of a man in his thirties or forties.

Watching this scene, Yao Shi secretly marveled, Is the healing effect really this incredible? It can even restore youth?

Lying on the bed, Yao felt sensation return to his lower body. He could hardly believe it. Excited, he moved, wanting to get up and test it immediately.

Yao Shi hurried forward to support him. Yao's legs slowly touched the ground, and Yao Shi gradually let go.

Perhaps because he had lain down for too long, Yao still staggered slightly after Yao Shi released him. But at this very moment, he was truly standing again.