Divine Gear

[Previously, you discussed Tang Hao and Ah Yin with Dugu Bo.]

[After hearing your reasoning, Dugu Bo also sensed something was wrong. If he remembered correctly, Tang Hao had already been over level eighty, approaching level 90, when he took a hundred-thousand-year soul beast wandering everywhere. Dugu Bo refused to believe that Tang Hao had failed to sense his wife's soul beast aura.]

[After carefully considering the matter and exchanging some information with you, Dugu Bo arrived at a deeply chilling conclusion.]

[Tang Hao had probably orchestrated his wife's sacrifice himself. After all, why else would Tang Hao keep parading a hundred-thousand-year soul beast in front of Spirit Hall for no reason? He could have found some remote mountain or secluded corner and waited until the child was born before going anywhere. Surely that would have spared them from being chased all over the place by Spirit Hall.]

[Your conversation reached Ah Yin's ears clearly. Perhaps because of Tang Hao's inaction and decline over the years, she also found something suspicious when she carefully recalled their past. But the more she thought, the less she wanted to continue. She feared that pursuing those thoughts would bring her face-to-face with a truth she never wanted to confront.]

[You and Dugu Bo paid Ah Yin no attention and turned toward Xiao Wu. She had already woken up and was lying on the ground playing dead. The two of you exposed her act.]

["Rabbit, sacrifice yourself to me, and I'll help you get revenge. If the opportunity arises in the future, I might even resurrect you and your mother." Your attitude was brazen, backed by your strength as a twelve-year-old Soul Saint. With such an overwhelming advantage, even if Xiao Wu refused to sacrifice herself, you could simply kill the rabbit and take her soul bone and soul ring.]

[Xiao Wu was utterly unwilling. She might have been foolish, but she wasn't so brainless that she would believe someone else's one-sided claims.]

[You told Xiao Wu that she could use any outside assistance to defeat you, provided the battle stayed within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. If you won, she would sacrifice herself to you. If you lost, you would let her go.]

[That was a lie. You had never intended to let Xiao Wu go.]

[Seeing Xiao Wu agree, your astounding wisdom told you it was time to use your super strength. You revealed your Soul Saint cultivation, leaving Ah Yin and Xiao Wu dumbstruck.]

["Y-you can't possibly be! You're actually a Soul Saint! You old monster, pretending to be a child just to bully a defenseless soul beast like me!" Xiao Wu lost her composure. How the hell was she supposed to fight this? She was only a Soul Scholar. What could she possibly use to fight a Soul Saint?]

["Believe it or not, I really am only twelve. If you won't fight, then sacrifice yourself to me. The promises I made earlier still stand." You coaxed Xiao Wu patiently, guiding her little by little toward accepting the idea of sacrificing herself to you.]

[Your words and her circumstances both had some effect, but before dying, Xiao Wu demanded that you swear to the Dragon God that you would fulfill your earlier promises.]

[You were surprised, unable to understand why Xiao Wu knew about the Dragon God. After a moment's thought, you decisively abandoned the question and solemnly swore to the Dragon God.]

[You did not think swearing to the Dragon God would affect you in any way. After all, the Soul Beast Clan's greatest enemy was not humanity, but the Dragon God. Had the Dragon God not left the curse, "Unless the Dragon God returns, soul beasts shall never become gods," before dying, the Soul Beast Clan would not have had to face thunder tribulations when making breakthroughs.]

[After you finished your oath, Xiao Wu remained deeply unwilling, but she had no other choice. She could only sacrifice herself to you.]

[You obtained the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit Soul Ring. The Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit's attributes suited you fairly well, with speed as its primary attribute and mental power as its secondary attribute.]

[You obtained a Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit Left Leg Bone. Together with the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, you now had both leg bones.]

[At first, you had wanted to hide them from Dugu Bo and absorb them all yourself. But with the benefits of the immortal herbs, you felt you had no need for soul bones at present. Meanwhile, with two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones to support him, Dugu Bo would most likely break through to level 97. With a level 97 backer, you would essentially be safe from death as long as you didn't go looking for it.]

[Your choice this time was very wise. Soul bones offered no benefit to your future. Once you reached a certain realm, they would become a burden instead. Unless you could refine them into a complete set of Divine Gear, your progress on the path to godhood would stall.]

[Even if you refined a complete set of basic soul bones into Divine Gear, the help they could provide would still be limited.]

[The core compatibility of Divine Gear came from how its components combined with one another. Divine Gear made by casually refining six basic soul bones would struggle to produce any synergy. At best, its overall effect would be half-baked.]

[Dugu Bo was surprised that you were truly willing to give him a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, and even more surprised that you gave him two at once. He said you could absorb the soul bones yourself, allowing you to break through to Soul Douluo before long.]

[You were pleased with Dugu Bo's attitude, but you still firmly refused. At present, Xiao Wu's and Ah Yin's soul bones were not your only options. Wouldn't either the Titan Giant Ape's or the Sky Azure Bull Python's soul bones be stronger than those of these two useless soul beasts?]

[Dugu Bo was deeply gratified and approved of you even more. He looked forward to you marrying his granddaughter and giving him a great-grandson, allowing four generations of his family to live together before his life ended.]

[However, while Dugu Bo was happily basking in that thought, you added that after he died, you would strip off his soul bones and use them yourself.]

[Dugu Bo merely chuckled at that, without getting angry. After all, stripping off soul bones was hardly unacceptable. Which inherited soul bone in those great sects hadn't been removed from an ancestor's body?]

[After roughly adapting to your current condition, you wanted to fight Dugu Bo to test just how powerful you had become.]

["Little Monster, think this through. This old man doesn't know how to pull his punches," Dugu Bo warned. But you insisted on fighting, leaving him no choice but to accept.]

[Once the battle truly began, Dugu Bo realized how difficult you were to deal with. In your flowing wind state, you merged with the wind and took no actual damage from physical or energy attacks.]

[At first, you used your earlier soul skills to kite Dugu Bo, leaving him able to do nothing but glare helplessly.]

[Later, after activating your Martial Soul Avatar, you transformed into countless strands of wind. As long as even one strand remained, you could revive by continually gathering fresh wind. This made up for the weakness of your flowing wind state, which required you to quickly gather yourself back together after being scattered.]

[After unleashing your Martial Soul Avatar, you could also draw wind-element soul power directly from the air and wind to replenish yourself. You beat Dugu Bo so badly that even his own mother would barely have recognized him.]