Full-Power Strike, External Spirit Bone

"Snatch how much? What did you say, how much?"

Ling Yuan's voice abruptly rose by more than an octave. Her hands clamped onto Ye Xunhuan's shoulders like iron pincers, shaking him back and forth.

"What did you say? A fifty percent boost to strength, defense, attack, and soul power? And armor penetration doubled???"

Ye Xunhuan's head buzzed from the shaking. He barely managed to squeeze out, "S-Sis, my neck... it's going to break... And doesn't this have side effects?"

Ling Yuan turned a deaf ear. After releasing him, she folded her arms across her chest and paced back and forth, muttering under her breath.

"My second soul skill, Flame Feather Garment, boosts attack, soul power, strength, and flame intensity by twenty percent. That's already considered top-tier among soul skills of the same level. But you? Your first Spirit Ring gives you fifty percent, plus doubled armor penetration..."

She stopped walking and stared at Ye Xunhuan gloomily, her eyes filled with utter disbelief.

"Are Behemoths really this absurd?"

Ye Xunhuan gave an awkward smile, unsure how to respond.

He couldn't exactly say that he was the chosen one.

In truth, he was quite surprised himself.

Based on his analysis, the soul skill produced by the Bloodcrazed War Bear should have been a purely enhancement-type soul skill.

Yet the skill he had actually awakened not only provided far greater boosts than expected, but also came with an additional layer of muscle armor and doubled armor penetration.

It was probably a mutation caused by the resonance between the Behemoth's Primordial Bloodline and the Bloodcrazed War Bear's Berserk Bloodline.

That only made him look forward to fusing with the Bronze Bloodline even more.

"Come on, stop standing around." Ling Yuan suddenly clapped her hands, a competitive glint rising in her eyes. "I'll feed you some moves. Let me see what your first soul skill is really worth."

Ye Xunhuan composed himself and nodded.

"Berserk Blood Battle Physique!"

The soul skill activated once more. Dark-red muscle armor covered his entire body, his frame grew to over two meters tall, and his claws shot out with a flash of icy light. A dark-golden aura flowed across his body as though it were tangible.

Ling Yuan did not summon her martial soul, instead suppressing her soul power to the level of a level thirty-one, three-ring Soul Grandmaster.

"Take this." She intended to test Ye Xunhuan's defenses first.

Her figure blurred, closing in as swiftly as an afterimage. She struck toward Ye Xunhuan's chest with her palm.

Ye Xunhuan's pupils contracted. So fast.

He barely caught Ling Yuan's movement trajectory and crossed his claws in defense.

"Bang!"

A dull collision rang out. Ye Xunhuan's feet plowed two deep furrows through the mud, and he staggered back five or six steps before steadying himself.

"Not bad. You can take fifty percent of a Soul Grandmaster's palm strength." Ling Yuan nodded slightly.

She attacked again, raising the force of her palm strike to seventy percent.

Ye Xunhuan gritted his teeth as soul power surged through him.

Rather than passively endure it, he thrust both claws forward as though embracing the moon, meeting Ling Yuan's second palm strike head-on.

"Boom!"

This time, he only retreated three steps.

Ling Yuan's lips twitched as a numbing metallic tremor ran through both her palms.

"Again!"

For the third palm strike, the Soul Grandmaster attacked with her full strength.

Ye Xunhuan let out a low roar, overlapped his claws, and simultaneously pushed his unused bloodline power to its limit. Surging blood and qi flooded through his limbs and bones as he faced the strike head-on.

"Boom!!"

This time, he only took one step back.

Ling Yuan froze in place, maintaining her striking posture. The expression on her face shifted from shock to blankness, then from blankness to an indescribable dejection.

A crushing sense of defeat swept through her entire body.

Full strength.

The all-out strike of a three-ring Soul Grandmaster had been blocked by a level thirteen soul master who had only just absorbed his first Spirit Ring.

And...

She looked at the faint white mark on her right hand.

If her physical body had not been far stronger than that of an ordinary Soul Grandmaster, that strike would definitely have injured her.

In other words, Ye Xunhuan's killing move, which had just combined his soul skill and bloodline power, was enough to threaten Soul Grandmasters and even Soul Elders.

At that thought, Ling Yuan felt lightheaded. What kind of monster had she picked up on this trip?

Fortunately...

He belonged to Spirit Hall now, and he was also her sworn little brother.

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Ling Yuan turned without a word and walked toward the Bloodcrazed War Bear's corpse.

Ye Xunhuan had a bad feeling about this.

Sure enough, Ling Yuan took a short blade from her Storage Soul Tool and crouched beside the Bloodcrazed War Bear's corpse, muttering as she chopped at its paws.

"I'm a mighty Soul Douluo. I cultivated bitterly for over sixty years, yet my enhancement soul skill only gives twenty percent. You, a little brat who just awakened his martial soul, get fifty percent from your first soul skill..."

"Crack."

The left paw was severed.

"And it comes with doubled armor penetration, muscle armor, and destructive power close to that of a four-ring Soul Elder..."

"Crack."

Just as she began cutting into the right paw, Ling Yuan's wrist suddenly paused.

When the blade cut into the base of the right paw, it stopped dead. An unusual resistance came from deep within the bone, as though she had struck something far tougher than ordinary bone.

Ling Yuan's brows furrowed slightly. She poured soul power into the short blade and slowly deepened the cut.

Ye Xunhuan also noticed that something was wrong and moved closer.

"What is it?"

"Inside this Bloodcrazed War Bear's right paw bone... there's something." Ling Yuan's expression turned grave.

She carefully peeled away the surrounding flesh. As the final layer of skin and meat was torn open, a paw bone surrounded by a faint bloody glow, as long as a forearm, was revealed before them.

Ling Yuan's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints.

"This... this is..."

Her voice trembled, not from fear, but from uncontrollable excitement.

"An External Spirit Bone!"

Ye Xunhuan's heart skipped a beat.

An External Spirit Bone!

In the soul master system, Spirit Bones were the most precious treasures, and External Spirit Bones were the most special and rarest among them.

Ordinary Spirit Bones could only be equipped in six fixed locations: the torso, four limbs, and skull. External Spirit Bones, however, attached to the body's surface without affecting the equipment of other Spirit Bones, effectively granting an additional Spirit Bone slot.

More importantly, External Spirit Bones could evolve as a soul master's cultivation improved, their potential nearly limitless.

In the original story, Tang San's first External Spirit Bone, the Eight Spider Lances, came from a two-thousand-four-hundred-year Human-Faced Demon Spider.

The Eight Spider Lances could be said to have accompanied him throughout the early and middle stages of combat. Their contribution to defeating Spirit Hall's Golden Generation had been immense.

During the divine trials, they even transformed into Sea God's Wings, letting Tang San obtain a divine artifact for free.

And the paw bone before them was unmistakably an External Spirit Bone produced by the Bloodcrazed War Bear.

"Ding!"

The system prompt sounded in his mind.

[External Spirit Bone detected: Bloodcrazed War Bear Palm Bone (External)]

[Quality: Rare] [Current age: 800 years]

[Predicted ability: Attaches to both hands, greatly enhancing claw hardness and sharpness. When activated, it can condense phantom blood-colored claws in the palms, extending attack range.]

[Special effect: Berserk Resonance—resonates with the first soul skill, "Berserk Blood Battle Physique." When activated, claw enhancement increases by an additional 30%.] [Absorption recommendation: Strongly recommended. This Spirit Bone is highly compatible with the host's martial soul and first soul skill.]

After reading the system information, Ye Xunhuan forcibly suppressed his surging excitement, though a perfectly timed look of confusion appeared on his face.