Ancient Soul Tool

After discussing it, the three unanimously decided to let Huo Yuhao absorb the Soul Bone. It was well suited for a spiritual-type Soul Master to learn, and besides, Dong'er and Qiu'er were rather lazy and did not want to learn...

"I'm starting." Huo Yuhao nodded to Wang Qiu'er and Wang Dong'er. He decided to absorb the Soul Bone inside the Waterfall Veil Secret Cave. It was secluded and quiet here; with a little concealment, there would be no danger.

Soul Lock.

Just like the soul skill it carried, this Soul Bone gave off no strange aura at all unless Soul Power was infused into it. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary yet rather exquisite white bone. Its surface had the texture of jade, as though it had been handled for many years.

A white bone that had been handled for many years? That sounded pretty hellish...

Huo Yuhao cast aside those distracting thoughts and slowly raised his left arm. The Soul Bone lit up with a simple white glow, warm, gentle, and incomparably pure. As strands of white light wound around his left arm, Huo Yuhao felt as though a clear, ethereal breath had been injected into his body, leaving him completely refreshed.

Huo Yuhao had originally prepared himself to endure intense pain, but he had not expected this Soul Bone to be so balanced and peaceful. The absorption process was actually this easy.

Perhaps because the Soul Bone was special, this absorption took a full day and night. When Wang Qiu'er had absorbed the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear's right palm bone before, she had not refined it instantly, but it had not taken much time either.

"Phew—" Huo Yuhao let out a long breath. His temperament had changed greatly. His original resolute, steady aura had become softer and more refined. If he had to put it into words... he was somewhat closer to Mu Ying.

"You're awake. You've turned into a girl now." Wang Qiu'er leaned closer.

Where did she learn that joke from... Ah, right, she learned it from my memories.

After eating some food the two girls handed him, Huo Yuhao continued on his journey. Whenever he had a spare moment along the way, he would read the book on learning to make Ancient Soul Tools.

The book stated that Soul Masters with elemental martial souls were best suited to learning how to make Soul Tools. Later generations had added annotations: because ancient times had little concept of spiritual power, elemental Soul Masters were generally recommended for Soul Tool creation. Looking at it now, spiritual attributes should work as well, but some refining methods required specific elements. The trade-offs still had to be weighed personally.

However, Huo Yuhao did not have that problem. Perhaps because of the Seven-Colored Tear Gu Yuena had given him, although he could not directly control elements, he could use refining methods for all kinds of elements. Combined with his spiritual attribute, it was simply the best of both worlds.

The book recorded several habits of Lock Spirit Beasts. They collected precious materials to build their nests and used their Soul Lock talent to refine those nests.

There had once been a ten-thousand-year Lock Spirit Beast that, relying on its nest and favorable terrain, had fought head-on against three Soul Douluo. Unable to break through after a long assault, the Soul Douluo had gone to find reinforcements. When they returned, the Lock Spirit Beast had already disappeared with its nest.

Under normal circumstances, Lock Spirit Beasts could use their nests to gain the combat ability to challenge opponents above their level, yet they had still gone extinct under humanity's slaughter.

With the disappearance of Lock Spirit Beasts, the method of creating Ancient Soul Tools was destined to be unable to spread widely in this era. Still, it was enough for Huo Yuhao's personal cultivation.

Lock Spirit Beasts themselves had not possessed the ability to refine Soul Tools. It had been a new technique developed by Soul Masters after they hunted Lock Spirit Beasts and absorbed their Soul Rings. However, as Lock Spirit Beasts went extinct, this technique gradually faded away and declined into its current state.

After reading this passage, Huo Yuhao felt conflicted. On one hand, he marveled at the endless wonders of the world; on the other, he felt sorrow for a species that had vanished because of human desire.

Yet that dazzling era had also created refining methods for all kinds of elements. From mainstream elements to every obscure attribute, it had everything—except spiritual attributes...

Of course, now that this had fallen into Huo Yuhao's hands, refining methods for spiritual attributes would probably appear soon enough.

The skeletal senior had also left behind a longsword. Its power was at least comparable to a Level Six close-combat Soul Tool. Though its power was considerable, its conditions for use were harsh as well. At minimum, it required the intensity of Soul Power produced by the fusion of three people to wield it.

The skeletal senior's family had declined long ago. Many Soul Tools had been sold off as the family fell into poverty, and by his generation, only this longsword remained.

The Tultan Family, a Star Luo Empire noble house, had once defiled the skeletal senior's younger sister and slaughtered his entire family. He had happened to be away and thus escaped disaster. After returning to take revenge, he had been pursued into the Star Dou Great Forest. His grievous injuries had proved impossible to heal, and he had died here.

In the book, he begged the descendant who received this inheritance that, if they became strong enough one day, they would help him slaughter the entire Tultan Family, leaving neither man nor beast alive.

"I'll take on this karma." Huo Yuhao was going to deal with the White Tiger Duke anyway, so he did not mind dealing with one more minor noble family.

Huo Yuhao had previously audited Soul Engineering Department classes at Shrek and had gained some understanding of modern Soul Tools. He felt that combining the two kinds of Soul Tools held great promise.

The skeletal senior's storage ring was also an Ancient Soul Tool and had presumably been made by him. Aside from that, it contained a set of unfinished Soul Tool components. Unfortunately, he had died before completing them. Huo Yuhao did not find any more Soul Tools, so presumably they had been made and then sold.

Both kinds of Soul Tools emphasized the fusion of artifacts and Soul Power. The materials they used were largely interchangeable, and even their refining difficulty was more or less the same. Huo Yuhao had encountered two methods of Soul Tool creation at the very beginning of his studies. With such breadth of perspective, he was destined to travel farther on the path of Soul Tools.

Ancient Soul Tools had an enormous advantage over modern Soul Tools in their creation: as long as one possessed a soul skill, one could get started. In other words, from the moment Huo Yuhao finished absorbing the Soul Bone, he already possessed the crafting ability of a Level Two Soul Engineer. Combined with the knowledge he had accumulated from auditing classes at Shrek's Soul Engineering Department and the corroboration of that knowledge with the book, Huo Yuhao was only one Soul Ring away from becoming a Level Two Soul Engineer.

Of course, that applied only to Ancient Soul Tools. If Huo Yuhao were asked to make a Level Two modern Soul Tool right now, he would be completely at a loss. After all, he had never learned forging or inscription. Although Ancient Soul Tools had no rating system, their approximate strength could still be judged through comparison.

As for the materials required for those Soul Tools... setting everything else aside, he still had one of Di Tian's Inverse Scales on him. This was a scale from the eight-hundred-thousand-year Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, an absolutely peerless material. However, he had no intention of using it yet. His Soul Tool skills still needed improvement, and if he wasted it, how heartbreaking would that be?

After walking through the wilderness for several more days and encountering a few travelers, the three finally saw the outline of a town.

"We've finally reached somewhere with people!" Wang Dong'er stretched and walked toward the dawn. "Come on, come on, let's hurry up and look around! Since coming to this world, I haven't really gone out to have fun yet!"