Second Soul Ring

Yang Xiong sat cross-legged beside the yellow soul ring, preparing to absorb it. Everyone around him wore deeply worried expressions. After all, this was a soul ring extremely close to the thousand-year level. No one had ever reached such an age limit for a second soul ring. If Yang Xiong had not repeatedly insisted and guaranteed that he could absorb it successfully, no one would have agreed.

But Yang Xiong had long since made up his mind. He summoned his Body Martial Soul and used his Soul Power to guide the soul ring gradually toward his body.

Once the soul ring settled around his body, a familiar yet unfamiliar power surged rapidly into Yang Xiong's body, making him feel as though his entire body were about to explode.

Yet this power was completely different from that of his First Soul Ring. If the previous power had been mysterious, unpredictable, and intensely scorching, this one felt instead like boundless vitality pouring into his body. However, that vitality was also filled with violent force, as if every drop of blood and every cell in his body were about to burst apart.

Only after a full three hours did Yang Xiong's expression gradually return to calm. The people around him finally breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, he had successfully absorbed this soul ring that exceeded the usual age limit.

Seeing Yang Xiong open his eyes, Yang Lin hurriedly asked, "Little Xiong, how does your body feel now? Do you feel any discomfort?"

A smile appeared on Yang Xiong's face. "Dad, Mom, I feel great right now. It feels like my body has become a lot stronger."

Yang Xiong carefully sensed the changes in his body. After absorbing this exceptionally powerful Wood Attribute soul ring, his entire body seemed to have grown taller. More importantly, he felt that his body now possessed a certain life energy, and even his recovery ability seemed to have improved considerably.

Moreover, after absorbing the soul ring, Yang Xiong's Soul Power had reached an astonishing level twenty-three. In other words, a single soul ring had raised his Soul Power by three full levels. Normally, a soul master could only gain one level of Soul Power after absorbing a soul ring. The fact that he had gained three levels showed just how powerful the Golden Spirit Cypress's vitality and Soul Power were—perhaps even its bloodline.

Only after returning home did Yang Xiong carefully examine the soul ring skill he had obtained this time.

His Second Soul Skill was called Golden Heart. After using it, he could rapidly recover from his injuries and dispel negative conditions affecting his body, restoring himself to peak condition. For a certain period of time, he would also possess the recovery ability of the Golden Spirit Cypress.

This soul skill looked like a healing-type skill, but it was far more than simple healing. When activated, the soul ring injected a massive amount of vitality into the body. The more severe the injury, the more Soul Power it consumed.

In particular, its ability to dispel negative conditions and grant the Golden Spirit Cypress's recovery ability meant that, for a certain period, he would be as hard to kill as a cockroach.

Yang Xiong even tested it himself. Whether it was ice, fire, or poison, their harmful effects on his body could all be dispelled. As expected of a top-grade plant-type soul beast.

Especially after absorbing this soul ring, Yang Xiong felt that his strength had increased by a full thirty percent. This already surpassed what he would have gained from absorbing an ordinary strength-type soul ring.

Yang Xiong was extremely satisfied with this soul skill. Whether in battle or in terms of survival, his abilities had greatly improved. More importantly, this skill would not become useless once he reached the level of a high-ranking soul master. It was possible that its effects would become even better once he reached that stage.

After absorbing his Second Soul Ring and becoming a Soul Grandmaster, Yang Xiong felt that his Soul Power had increased greatly once more, and he could continue developing his Rasengan.

Bone Douluo, who had secretly observed Yang Xiong's absorption of the Second Soul Ring, was also astonished. He had not expected Yang Xiong to actually succeed.

After hearing Bone Douluo's account, Ning Fengzhi was equally shocked. "Uncle Bone, what do you think Yang Xiong is trying to do? According to you, he did not suffer much during the absorption process. Doesn't that mean that, with his physical constitution, he might even be able to absorb an ordinary thousand-year soul ring?"

"We have also conducted many experiments with Whale Rubber, but the results were generally nowhere near as good as Yang Xiong's. Even Rong Rong's Second Soul Ring was only eight hundred years old. Could he be hiding something? But that should not be possible."

Bone Douluo thought carefully for a while before speaking. "Fengzhi, it seems we have both underestimated Yang Xiong's martial soul. Although a body as a martial soul is extremely rare, I have looked into it recently. In terms of Soul Power, Yang Xiong is already quite outstanding in Class One, and he can basically rank among the top five. You have to remember that he spends a great deal of time training his body, while Rong Rong and the others spend more of their time meditating at home."

Ning Fengzhi could not help sighing. "It seems I did underestimate Yang Xiong somewhat. Perhaps he truly can forge a path of cultivation with his body as his martial soul."

A little over a month later, Yang Xiong was cultivating alone at home one afternoon.

Yang Xiong used his Soul Power with his right hand to suspend a Rubber Ball in the air. Countless streams of energy poured into the Rubber Ball, and all the energy seemed to be spinning.

Under the influence of that force, the Rubber Ball spun rapidly. It seemed to begin expanding slightly, and as its rotation grew faster and faster, it looked as though it had been filled with air. If one looked closely, the surface of the Rubber Ball continuously caved in and rapidly returned to normal under the force.

As Yang Xiong injected more and more Soul Power into it, the Rubber Ball finally seemed unable to withstand the force expanding from within. Just before his Soul Power ran dry, it exploded.

Yang Xiong was overjoyed. "It worked! The third step is finally complete. It looks like it is only a matter of time before I truly develop the Rasengan."

The successful phased development of the Rasengan greatly bolstered Yang Xiong's confidence. This Self-Created Soul Skill had finally seen the dawn of ultimate success.

But Yang Xiong also knew clearly that the truly hardest part of the Rasengan was the final step: making Soul Power truly take form and giving it genuine destructive force.

The Rasengan was not merely a simple Soul Power attack. It involved rapidly circulating Soul Power to form a hurricane-like sphere in one's hand, ultimately inflicting devastating damage upon the enemy.

And this was only the basic Rasengan. If energy with soul ring attributes were infused into it, its power could nearly double. Unfortunately, Yang Xiong had only absorbed a Wood Attribute soul ring and a space-attribute soul ring so far, and neither attribute was particularly suited for fighting with the Rasengan.

Cultivating Heart Separation Control was the foundation of everything. Only by truly mastering Heart Separation Control could he gain extremely precise control over his Soul Power, truly multitask, and infuse soul ring energy into the Rasengan.

The Body Martial Soul also had another major advantage: after absorbing a soul ring of a certain attribute, one could gain a degree of control over that attribute's power. Furthermore, the Body Martial Soul's versatility allowed various types of attribute energy to coexist within his body without rejecting one another.

If others wanted to learn the Rasengan, they would probably only be able to learn the most basic version. Or rather, they would not have as many variations or as much potential for development as Yang Xiong, because soul masters generally did not possess many attributes after absorbing soul rings.