Rouge Silent Dragon Roar and the Annihilation Crystal Eye

"Xiao Xuan." Ye Renxin spoke up at just the right moment. "How effective are your Third Soul Skill and Soul Bone ability?"

At his words, Lu Xuan moved his palm, and a warm jade flute appeared in his hand.

Rings of light rose beneath his feet. Three Soul Rings lit up in succession—yellow, purple, and dark purple, each distinct from the next. The dark-purple ring, nearly at the ten-thousand-year threshold, was especially dazzling. Lu Xuan said, "Third Soul Skill: Rouge Silent Dragon Roar."

"This skill can nullify enemy attacks and substantially weaken their buffs and skill effects," Lu Xuan explained calmly. "It combines defense, control, and suppression. Overall, it's quite effective."

"Let me try it!" Dugu Xin stepped forward and shouted, "Martial Soul Possession!"

As Soul Power surged through him, his Soul Rings lit up. "First Soul Skill: Strength Amplification!"

Once the buff had taken effect, Dugu Xin looked at Lu Xuan. "Xiao Xuan, use the skill on me. I'll see what it can do."

Lu Xuan did not hesitate. With a thought, he activated his Third Soul Skill.

The sound of the flute spread slowly, carrying the heavy pressure of a dragon. Beneath its lilting melody, the Strength Amplification Dugu Xin had just applied to himself began to fade rapidly.

In an instant, half the buff's effect was stripped away.

"So it really can weaken buffs. Let's try an energy attack next."

Dugu Xin retreated several steps and called out, "Third Soul Skill: Jade Phosphorus Breath!"

A mass of poison-laden Soul Power, green as ink, burst from his mouth and shot into the air.

Lu Xuan played the Jade Flute again. The annihilating power of Rouge Silent Dragon Roar spread with its sound waves and crashed into the Jade Phosphorus Breath.

The violent poison Soul Power dissolved like snow in a raging fire, vanishing completely in moments.

"Haha, excellent! That's incredible!" Dugu Xin could not help praising him. "You're only a Soul Elder, yet you dispelled an attack from a Quasi-Soul Sage like me without breaking a sweat. This skill is far stronger than we expected!"

Dugu Xin already thought of Lu Xuan as his future son-in-law. Seeing the young man grow ever stronger only made him happier.

"It is an exceptional Soul Skill," Dugu Bo said. "If you used that Third Soul Skill at full strength, you might even nullify Xin'er's Fifth Soul Skill."

Lu Xuan considered it, then nodded. "My cultivation is still lacking, but the skill itself is powerful. I should be able to nullify Uncle Dugu's Soul Skill with it."

"What about your External Soul Bone?" Dugu Bo asked curiously. "I'd like to see what an eye-type External Soul Bone, rare as it is, can do."

"I've named the Soul Bone in my left eye the Annihilation Crystal Eye Left Eye Soul Bone," Lu Xuan said. He began with its most basic ability. "First, it directly increases my mental strength by fifty percent."

After a pause, he added, "It also helps me lock on to targets. I can choose who my Soul Skills affect and who they don't."

Everyone considered this in silence. An increase in mental strength was an inherent benefit of most head Soul Bones, so it made sense for an eye bone growing in the skull to have that effect.

But the ability to lock on to and select targets sounded rather limited.

"Finally, my left eye can release a Soul Bone skill: Annihilation Light!"

Lu Xuan turned toward a distant cliff face. A piercing pink-red light flared in his left eye, and a concentrated pink beam shot out.

Boom!

The beam slammed into the rock. Hard stone cracked instantly, fragments spraying in every direction as the entire boulder exploded into rubble.

"This Soul Bone skill is as powerful as an all-out strike from an assault-type Soul King," Lu Xuan explained. "It has considerable destructive force, activates instantly, and travels so fast it's almost impossible to dodge. But its weakness is just as clear: it consumes an enormous amount of Soul Power."

"With advantages like those, what does a little Soul Power consumption matter?" Dugu Bo exclaimed sincerely. "In terms of potential, your left-eye External Soul Bone is at least as good as my head Soul Bone."

At its current level, the bone's power was still somewhat inferior to his Medusa Skull.

But the defining trait of an External Soul Bone was that it could grow and evolve alongside its host.

As Lu Xuan's cultivation advanced, the Soul Bone in his left eye might one day reach the hundred-thousand-year level and unleash even more terrifying power.

Just then, Ye Renxin finished examining the Rouge Dragon's corpse.

Aside from the eye-type External Soul Bone Lu Xuan had absorbed, the Soul Beast had yielded no other Soul Bones.

Ye Renxin looked at the Rouge Dragon's remains and thought for a moment before storing the entire corpse in a storage item.

"I'll extract and refine the annihilation essence still inside it. Taking it should raise the age of your Annihilation Crystal Eye Left Eye Soul Bone a little."

"Sorry for the trouble, Master." Lu Xuan had no reason to refuse such a benefit and quickly thanked him.

Ye Renxin left to refine the Rouge Dragon's essence. Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan immediately crowded around Lu Xuan, their eyes full of wonder.

"Lu Xuan, you actually got a Soul Bone!"

"Brother Lu Xuan, you've left us far behind again."

Lu Xuan looked at the two girls and reassured them gently. "I'm sure opportunities will come your way too. Getting Soul Bones directly would be best, but even if you aren't that lucky, I'll find a way to get some for you one day."

He sounded completely certain. Whether he could actually manage it was another matter, but at least he had made his intentions clear.

Sure enough, much of the girls' envy faded at his words, and their expressions relaxed.

By early the next morning, Lu Xuan had fully familiarized himself with and mastered all the power of his Third Soul Ring.

Ye Renxin then came over and handed him a pill tinged with a faint pink glow.

Lu Xuan asked no questions. He swallowed the pill, sat down cross-legged, and circulated his Soul Power to refine the Rouge Dragon's annihilation essence within it.

Half an hour later, he had completely absorbed the pill's medicinal power.

The age of his eye-type External Soul Bone had risen by a full two thousand years, while his Soul Power climbed all the way to level thirty-seven.

"Good. The results are even better than I expected." Ye Renxin nodded in satisfaction. "Xiao Xuan, you've finished using the various Immortal Herbs to make pills, haven't you?"

"Yes, Master. It's all done."