First Soul Skill!

Level eleven... level twelve... His Soul Power kept climbing until it finally slowed to a stop at level fourteen.

A yellow Soul Ring appeared beneath his feet, hovering steadily.

Ye Tianming slowly opened his eyes and felt out his first Soul Skill.

Seeing that Ye Tianming had finished absorbing the Soul Ring, Dai Hao walked over and asked, "Well? What's your first Soul Skill?"

Ye Tianming broke into a grin. The Hundred-Year Soul Ring beneath his feet lit up.

"First Soul Skill: Azure Dragon Hundred-Crack Claw!"

Vast draconic pressure surged from Ye Tianming. His hands transformed into dragon claws once more, and he raked them across a tree nearly half a meter thick.

Crack!

Ye Tianming tore straight through the trunk, snapping the massive tree in half.

"Not bad, not bad. All right, let's head back. You're injured too. We need to get you treated as soon as possible."

Dai Hao turned and retraced their path as he spoke.

"Okay, Godfather!"

Ye Tianming followed behind him, shaking his head inwardly.

If you're worried about me, just say so. Why act so tough?

Still, that Jade-Scaled Python Dragon had really put him through the wringer.

Its tail had struck him square in the waist, then sent him flying into trees twice.

He was black and blue all over, and the scab at the corner of his mouth had even split open after forming.

At the gates of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.

Dai Yutong had clearly been waiting a long time. When she saw Ye Tianming and the others return, she hurried down the steps.

But halfway down, she spotted the scab at the corner of Ye Tianming's mouth. She froze, her eyes instantly turning red.

"Brother Tianming!"

Dai Yutong rushed over, but she didn't dare touch him. Her hand hovered beside his arm, unsure where to rest.

"Why are you crying? I'm fine, aren't I?"

Ye Tianming tried to grin, only to pull the injury at his waist. He sucked in a sharp breath.

"You're hurt this badly, and you still say you're fine..."

Biting her lip, Dai Yutong carefully supported his other arm.

Huo Yun'er came out as well. After more than a year of steady medicinal treatment, some color had finally returned to her face.

She spotted Ye Tianming and was about to go see what had happened, but Dai Hao stepped up beside her and blocked her path.

Facing the broad-shouldered Dai Hao, Huo Yun'er blushed, then asked nervously, "Um... Tianming's all right, isn't he?"

"He's fine. I'll have the mansion's healing Soul Master and a physician treat him."

Dai Hao looked at Huo Yun'er, his expression complicated.

"Tianming isn't badly hurt. Let the children talk among themselves."

"Could... could we talk?"

As soon as Dai Hao finished speaking, he took Huo Yun'er's hand and led her back into the courtyard.

At his sudden touch, Huo Yun'er's face flushed bright red.

Forgetting about her daughter, she lowered her head and followed Dai Hao away.

That night, a lamp burned in the small house at Cloud Creek Garden.

Dai Yutong sat on the edge of the bed behind Ye Tianming, applying the ointment the physician had prescribed to his waist.

"If it hurts, just say so."

"It doesn't. Didn't a healing Soul Master treat me earlier today?"

"That's different. Besides, you flinched just now when I applied the ointment, didn't you?"

"That was because it was cold..."

Dai Yutong fell silent. Head lowered, she smoothed the ointment over his skin, stroke by stroke.

As she worked, Ye Tianming felt something wet against his back.

He turned to look.

"Hey, why are you crying again?"

Dai Yutong sniffled.

"I just... I just think Brother Tianming got hurt because he wanted to grow stronger and protect us."

Ye Tianming fell silent for a moment, then reached out and rubbed her head.

"Silly girl. What Soul Master goes hunting for a Soul Ring without getting hurt?"

"Besides, it hit me with its tail today. Tomorrow, I could hit it back ten times over. And I already killed that Soul Beast. Anyway..."

Ye Tianming sat up and raised a hand. Azure light flashed across his palm, and a layer of fine azure scales spread over the back of his hand. His arm gradually took the shape of a dragon claw.

A yellow Soul Ring slowly appeared beneath his feet.

"See? A Hundred-Year Soul Ring. I'm a proper One-Ring Soul Master now!"

Dai Yutong's eyes widened, though tears still clung to her lashes.

She couldn't help leaning closer. She extended a finger, then stopped an inch from the scales on Ye Tianming's palm, afraid to touch them.

"That's amazing..."

"If you want to touch them, go ahead. I won't bite."

"What? Are you afraid I'll eat you?"

At that, Dai Yutong's face flushed. Who knew what had crossed her mind? She rubbed her cheeks and muttered something under her breath.

Then she lightly touched the scales with her fingertip and said, "When I get a Soul Ring someday, I'll show Brother Tianming too!"

"Good. I'll be waiting. But promise me one thing."

"What is it?"

"Whenever you go hunting for a Soul Ring, no matter which one it is, I have to come with you. You're not allowed to go anywhere alone."

Dai Yutong nodded, not quite understanding.

"Okay. Pinky promise!"

Their little fingers hooked together. Lamplight cast their shadows on the wall, where they gradually overlapped.

The days stretched ahead like the mansion's bluestone path, laid down one after another.

Ye Tianming's cultivation speed stunned everyone in the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.

He had Innate Full Soul Power as his foundation, trained as though his life depended on it, and received a steady stream of resources Dai Hao sent from the border.

Ye Tianming's Soul Power climbed another rung each year.

Stranger still, absorbing a Soul Ring above one's level was a death wish for anyone else. For him, it was like an extra helping at dinner.

When he was nine, Dai Hao took him to the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest again and stood guard while he hunted.

For his Second Soul Ring, Ye Tianming chose a 1,300-year-old Azure Wind Flood Dragon.

It was a wind-attributed lesser dragon, so fast it moved like a wisp of azure smoke. An ordinary Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster couldn't even touch its shadow.

Ye Tianming battled it through the forest for two full hours. Relying on the pressure of his Azure Dragon Martial Soul and the Hundred-Crack Claw he had practiced to mastery, he wore it down to exhaustion and smashed its head with one punch.

The Thousand-Year Soul Ring entered his body, and he lay in the tent for a day and a night.

When he woke, two Soul Rings hovered beneath his feet: one yellow, one purple.

Second Soul Skill: Azure Dragon Cloud Soar.

Azure clouds formed beneath his feet. With one movement, he could cover dozens of yards, change direction in midair, and glide short distances. He could even leave a string of wind-dragon afterimages trailing behind him.

At ten years old, he hunted his third Soul Ring.

This time, Ye Tianming specifically requested a 2,800-year-old Azure Dragon Green Flood Dragon, a lightning-attributed lesser dragon nearing the 3,000-year threshold.

Ye Tianming absorbed its Soul Ring all the same. Rain fell over the Thunder Marsh that day as he fought the Azure Thunder Green Flood Dragon head-on through the entire night.

He used Azure Dragon Cloud Soar to dodge the lightning and Azure Dragon Hundred-Crack Claw to break through its armor. In the end, drenched in blood, he pinned the flood dragon in the mud and viciously tore out its throat.

The instant the purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring rose, every Soul Beast in the Thunder Marsh scattered in a thunderous rush.

Third Soul Skill: Azure Dragon Thunderclap Claw!