Soul Bone Skills, Taking Whale Rubber, Battle the Mountain-Shaking Heavy-Armored Rhino!

He grabbed the Sky-Piercing Spear floating before him. Its edge had become even sharper, the glow around it more pronounced, and it carried a spear intent stronger than ever before.

First Soul Bone Skill, Treading Blades, Soaring Sky: Spear-shaped Soul Power surged from his legs, allowing high-speed flight. While treading through the air, gravity-infused blade energy surrounded his body, increasing the power of all downward strikes and sweeping spear techniques by thirty percent. Soul Power consumption was reduced while flying, and he was unaffected by terrain or airflow restrictions.

The second Soul Bone Skill, Thousand Blades Regeneration, accelerated wound healing after injury. Its effect was not even slower than the Blue Silver Emperor's right leg bone. While repairing wounds, it also condensed metallic blade force, stacking a temporary attack boost.

"This Soul Bone Skill is ridiculously powerful. It isn't affected by flight restrictions—doesn't that mean I can just attack from above?"

This Soul Bone Skill was quite interesting. Yun Tian's face was full of delight.

"Come to think of it, quite some time has passed. It was time to hunt for my second Soul Ring."

Over the past few months, Yun Tian had bought some books related to Soul Beasts. He had read through nearly all of them, after all, the Sky-Piercing Spear was originally a Martial Soul that did not exist in Soul Land I.

As a result, there were very few records of suitable Soul Beasts for it.

He took out the books and flipped through them briefly, seeing whether he could find a suitable Soul Beast.

Before long, the name Mountain-Shaking Heavy-Armored Rhino entered his sight.

True to its name, since it was a four-legged beast, it naturally had no way to deal with enemies in the sky. Besides, Yun Tian's Soul Bone Skill would not be affected by abnormal conditions.

"Mountain-Shaking Heavy-Armored Rhino? This Soul Beast really isn't bad. But before that, I should take the last of the Whale Rubber first."

After making up his mind, he got up and tidied the room, then prepared a bucket of warm purified water.

After stripping off his clothes, he jumped into the bucket and took out the Whale Rubber he had prepared long ago. It had the translucent texture of golden amber, and because it was of excellent quality, it did not look particularly unpleasant. Instead, it glimmered brightly.

The moment he took it out, a faint fishy scent of seawater rushed into Yun Tian's nose.

If consumed directly, it was highly poisonous. Yet no one knew that after processing, it would become a divine item that would make the entire continent green with envy. (Those words are inconvenient to write, so I wrote highly poisonous instead. Those who know, know.)

After consuming it, it could strengthen one's physique and physical constitution, raising the upper limit of the age of the first two Soul Rings one could absorb.

Thus, Gangzi's already laughable Soul Ring theory, which calculated limits down to individual years, was utterly shattered before Whale Rubber.

The processing method was also very simple: use Soul Power or an open flame to roast away the impurities inside.

After some work, a smooth, round lump of paste appeared in Yun Tian's hand. The fishy sea smell had completely dissipated, replaced by a mild, refreshing fragrance that was gentle and not pungent.

He swallowed the entire piece at once. Yun Tian's skin swiftly turned crimson, and heat began spreading through his limbs. Without hesitation, he quickly mobilized the Soul Power within his body to refine the Whale Rubber.

In an instant, the bones and meridians within his body continuously expanded, while a layer of sticky black impurities seeped out from his body.

About two and a half hours later, Yun Tian slowly opened his eyes. The water in the bucket was now full of filth, all of it expelled from his body.

"The effect of Whale Rubber really isn't bad. My physical constitution has improved quite a bit. I should have no problem with a two-thousand- or even three-thousand-year Soul Ring!"

After sensing the changes in his body, Yun Tian could clearly feel that his physical constitution was far stronger than before.

After putting on his clothes, he pushed open the door and prepared to enter the Star Dou Forest.

Since many days had already passed, it was around noon now. Yun Tian ate the dry rations he had brought while heading deeper into the forest.

A hundred-year Mountain-Shaking Heavy-Armored Rhino would be too weak. As for a ten-thousand-year one, setting aside whether Yun Tian could defeat it, he would not be able to absorb it based on its age alone. Therefore, a thousand-year one was naturally the best choice. So far, he had not found any Soul Beast in the books more suitable than it.

Within the Star Dou Forest.

Countless towering ancient trees grew here, their dense leaves even blocking out the sunlight. The air was filled with the fresh scent of earth.

Yun Tian walked through the forest, while the roars of Soul Beasts occasionally sounded around him.

The Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Forest were distributed in distinct zones: hundred-year, thousand-year, and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts each occupied different areas. The thousand-year zone lay deeper within.

Before long, broken ancient trees began appearing nearby. Judging by the breaks, they seemed to have been directly rammed apart by something.

"Looking at this, they seem to have been broken by a horn. It looks like I should be able to find one nearby."

After a brief analysis, Yun Tian continued deeper. Along the way, he did his best to avoid appearing in open areas.

One had to know that the more open an area was, the easier it was for those Soul Beasts to notice him.

"Roar!!"

Suddenly, an enraged roar rang out. Yun Tian's gaze sharpened, gray light flashed beneath his feet, and his entire body flew toward the top of the nearest tree.

Not long after, a Soul Beast nearly five meters long and almost three meters tall charged out. Its body was covered in layered, pale-gray rocky armor plates with faint patterns, and a half-meter-long spiraled horn protruded from its head.

Its eyes were bloodshot, and white mist billowed from its nostrils with every breath.

"Roar!!"

It charged at a large tree not far away. With just one hit, the tree was snapped in half.

"This power and that heavy armor... it's a Mountain-Shaking Heavy-Armored Rhino. And judging by its characteristics, it seems to be more than twenty-four hundred years old. Perfect, you'll do!"

The Sky-Piercing Spear appeared in Yun Tian's hand, and a yellow Soul Ring floated beneath his feet.

The Soul Bone Skill activated, and his entire body flew into the air. Soon, a faint gray layer covered Yun Tian's body—the sign that he had received a buff.

"First Soul Skill, Clouds Hang Low!"

Gray-and-cyan airwaves and spear energy shot straight toward the Mountain-Shaking Heavy-Armored Rhino.

"Bang!!"

As expected, the spear energy only left a deep mark in the heavy armor when it struck the beast. It did not injure its flesh at all.

"Roar! Roar!"

Enraged by Yun Tian's sudden attack, the Mountain-Shaking Heavy-Armored Rhino's eyes became even redder. It charged toward Yun Tian, each step making the ground tremble.

After snapping another large tree in half, Yun Tian watched it from midair, unable to think of a solution for the moment.

The Mountain-Shaking Heavy-Armored Rhino's defining trait was its incredibly strong defense. Although his Sky-Piercing Spear was powerful, he only possessed level twenty Soul Power after all.

"Destiny's Eye!"

He activated Destiny's Eye, hoping to see whether the beast had any weaknesses.

[Gold: Earth Force Bearing Blade], [Purple: Unbreakable Defense], [Purple: Heavy and Difficult to Turn], [Blue: Weak Abdominal Armor]

[Gold: Earth Force Bearing Blade: Its attributes and Soul Ring provide special boosts to certain assault-type Martial Souls or defense-type Martial Souls.]

[Purple: Unbreakable Defense: Its defense is extremely high. Without high-penetration Soul Skills, it is difficult to break through its defenses.]

[Purple: Heavy and Difficult to Turn: Its massive, cumbersome body makes it difficult to attack targets with high movement speed.]

[Blue: Weak Abdominal Armor: Its abdomen lacks the protection of heavy armor and is easily threatened.]