Absorbing the Hundred Thousand Year Soft Bone Charm Rabbit Soul Bone

With Bibi Dong backing Yu Xiaorou, no one should come looking for trouble in the short term. But what about him?

A Soul Master with Twin Martial Souls whose first soul ring was already a thousand-year one had revealed himself before the Pope today. Keeping a low profile would be difficult from now on.

So his top priority was not rushing out into the world, but thoroughly digesting every resource he currently had.

Xiao Wu's favorability had already reached seventy-five. Although he could not see Yu Xiaorou's exact number, judging by her willingness to stay up late and recopy the cultivation method for him tonight, it had to be above sixty at the very least.

One of them could drop a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, while the other was filled with theoretical treasures. Either one was capital for turning his life around. The more Su Yang thought about it, the more he felt that raising favorability was the most profitable business in the world.

He turned over and glanced at the bed beside his. Xiao Wu was sprawled out asleep, having kicked his blanket aside and exposed his round belly. Su Yang smacked his lips as Xiao Wu mumbled groggily:

"Boss... carrots... hehehe..." Then he rolled over and went right back to sleeping like the dead.

Su Yang smiled silently, then carefully slipped out of bed. He put on his coat, pushed open the window, and flipped outside.

The moon was bright, its silver light spilling across the small woods behind Nording Academy and washing every leaf until it gleamed. Su Yang chose an open patch beneath an old locust tree, sat down cross-legged, and sank into the system space with a thought.

The Soul Bone floated quietly at the center of the space. It was pale moon-white, with a gentle sheen flowing across its surface. The left leg bone of a Soft Bone Charm Rabbit, one hundred thousand years old.

Su Yang took a deep breath and summoned it out. The instant he caught the Soul Bone, a warm current of energy crawled from his fingertips up his wrist, carrying the tremor of something alive. Without hesitation, he pressed the Soul Bone against his left leg.

Pain exploded instantly.

It was like someone had used a red-hot dagger to split open his leg bone, then forcibly shoved that piece of bone inside.

The tearing sensation was even fiercer than when he had absorbed the 999-year soul ring. Like a burst dam, it crashed through every meridian in his body. Su Yang clenched his teeth, a low groan escaping his throat.

Veins bulged at his temples. Sweat streamed down his face and struck the soil, leaving dark spots behind.

Fortunately, the Lovesick Heartbreak Red within him had already acknowledged him as its master. Red light surged forth on its own, like a pair of gentle hands, slowly pressing down the violent Soul Bone power, grinding it apart, dissolving it, and guiding it through his meridians to every corner of his body.

The pain receded like the tide. Su Yang panted heavily, his fingers digging into the dirt and leaving ten deep marks.

He lowered his head toward his left leg. The Soul Bone had completely fused into his body, leaving only a faint silver-white pattern on his skin, like an exquisite mark.

He closed his eyes and examined his Soul Power.

Level fifteen.

He had jumped from level twelve to level fifteen, a full three-level increase. This was only the initial fusion; the Soul Bone's later enhancements and attached skills had not even fully manifested, yet it already had such an effect.

The value of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone truly lived up to its reputation.

As he marveled at it, insights into two soul skills naturally surfaced in his mind.

Teleportation—use Soul Power as a catalyst to instantly move a short distance. It could pass through obstacles and ignore most control effects.

Invincible Golden Body—upon activation, the body entered an invincible state, immune to all damage. Its duration was tied to Soul Power Level.

Information about the two soul skills seemed carved into his muscles. A single thought was enough to activate them.

Su Yang opened his eyes and could not help muttering, "Is this Soft Bone Charm Rabbit ridiculously overpowered or what? Teleportation plus Invincible Golden Body—who the hell could kill her?"

As he cursed, however, the corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably. He suddenly changed his tune. "No, this thing belongs to me now. Hah... it really is damn good."

He got to his feet and moved his left leg. It felt light as air, as though it had no weight at all, yet when his foot touched the ground, he could feel explosive force ready to burst forth.

With a casual lift of his hand and a thought, he vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was already beneath another tree several yards away.

Only two trails of footprints remained in the grass. Su Yang looked down at his clothes, completely untouched by the branches, and clapped his hands in satisfaction. For saving his life, this move was simply perfect.

He followed the moonlight back to the dormitory, climbed in through the window, and quietly lay down again. Xiao Wu, sleeping in the upper bunk, rolled over and mumbled, "Boss... eat more..."

Then he drifted back into dreamland. Su Yang smiled and closed his eyes. He slept exceptionally soundly that night.

Yet beneath that same moonlight, someone in another dormitory at Nording Academy could not fall asleep no matter what.

Tang San lay on his side in bed, staring at the wall opposite him with wide-open eyes.

A patch of plaster had peeled from the wall, revealing yellowed mud beneath. He had stared at that irregular shape for half the night, while his mind kept turning over all the information he had gathered during this time.

It had been nearly a month since his rebirth. What he had done most was not cultivate, but desperately absorb information about this world like a dry sponge.

He had searched every bookshop, teahouse, and tavern in Notting City, stuffing everything he could hear, find, or ask about into his head. Yet the more he learned, the more he felt that something was wrong with this world.

The Pope of Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong, was a man. That alone was absurd enough.

But later, he had listened to a storyteller in a teahouse spend half the day recounting Spirit Hall's "palace secrets." Supposedly, Bibi Dong had fallen out with her teacher, Qian Xunji, while fighting for power, and the two of them had somehow even ended up having a daughter named Qian Renxue.

And Qian Xunji, in this world, happened to be a woman. When Tang San heard that line, the tea in his mouth shot straight out of his nose.

In his previous life, Qian Xunji had clearly been a man, while Bibi Dong had been the pitiable woman whose life Qian Xunji had ruined. How had their roles been completely reversed in this life?

There was also Qian Daoliu. That woman—no, that... no, Qian Daoliu was a woman in this life.

Tang San remembered that Spirit Hall's Grand Worshipper in his previous life had been a dignified old man with white hair and beard. Yet in this life, the legendary Grand Worshipper was a woman of peerless beauty and terrifying strength, and her relationship with Bibi Dong was equally unfathomable.

Some said she was the true power behind Spirit Hall, while Bibi Dong was merely a pawn she had pushed to the forefront. Others said they had long since fallen out, only maintaining a facade of civility.

No matter how the rumors went, they sounded like a tangled mess to Tang San. He remembered that two days ago, while lining up for food in the cafeteria, two older students ahead of him had been whispering to each other.

"Did you hear? Her Holiness the Pope came to our academy and spent half an hour alone with Teacher Yu!"

"Of course. Someone saw that Her Holiness looked pretty upset when she came out, and Teacher Yu did not even see her off."

"Heh, but Teacher Yu is so pretty, and Her Holiness the Pope..." Tang San had carried his bowl past the two of them with a blank expression. He truly could not bear listening any longer.