The Flesh Furnace-a Soul Skill? No! A Divine Ability!!

"The so-called Flesh Furnace uses both light and necromantic magic as its Core Flame. It makes the bones of your entire body its walls, your meridians its fire channels, and your heart and Spiritual Origin its twin cores, forging your flesh and blood into a furnace unlike any other."

Electrolux spoke calmly and solemnly, but his words sent towering waves crashing through Huo Yuhao's heart.

"That's this heaven-defying?" Huo Yuhao clicked his tongue. This was no cultivation method—it was refining a person into a human-shaped treasure cauldron. "How exactly do I do it?"

"Temporarily give me control of your body. I'll inscribe the basic Furnace Runes for you."

Huo Yuhao did not hesitate for a moment.

He knew Electrolux's character well from the original story. The Undead Calamity had been proud all his life; he would never stoop to something as despicable as stealing another's body.

Heaven-rank combat technique: Possession, Electrolux edition—activate!

The next instant, the color slowly drained from his pitch-black eyes, leaving them a vast, deep gray. Not a flicker of emotion remained in their depths, only the weary desolation of one who had crossed the boundary between life and death.

The boy's figure had not changed, yet his air shifted abruptly from keen-edged sharpness to the brooding depths of a lonely sea. It was as though the figure standing there was not a new student, but a monument that had stood for ten thousand ages.

Electrolux raised his right hand. A halo of magic, half gold and half gray, curled around his fingertip as he drew in the air. An impossibly intricate six-pointed Magic Formation slowly appeared beneath him, its Formation Runes flowing with intertwined powers of light and undeath.

He sat cross-legged at its center and tapped a fingertip. Dense runes spread across his body along the lines of his skin. Golden light runes and gray necromantic runes flashed in turn, then sank beneath his skin, leaving only the faintest imprints.

A few breaths later, the Furnace Runes were complete!

Electrolux's consciousness quietly withdrew, returning control to Huo Yuhao. At the same time, a solemn message sounded in his Sea of Consciousness:

"Look within yourself. Your skull is the furnace lid, your torso bones its body, and your limb bones its legs. The Twelve Principal Meridians and Eight Extraordinary Meridians form a circuit of fire channels. Light the mortal fire in your heart, fueled by blood and vital energy; light the divine fire in your Sea of Consciousness, guided by Divine Sense. When the two fires resonate, the furnace will take shape."

"Once you bring in a Soul Bone, use Undead Flameflow to dissolve its material shell, reducing the physical bone to pure energy and releasing its origin essence and Soul Skill imprint. Then temper it repeatedly with Holy Light Flame, breaking apart the core laws bound together within it into free particles that can be absorbed. Finally, draw both fires inward and guide the origin particles precisely into the corresponding tissues."

Huo Yuhao held his breath, focused his mind, and closed his eyes to look within.

Sure enough, a thin membrane, half gold and half gray, covered every bone in his body. His connected meridians ran like pipes, forming a cauldron furnace as though born that way.

Following the instructions, he circulated his spiritual energy. A warm red flame of blood and vital energy rose in his heart, golden light blossomed from the Heavenly Eye between his brows, and a brilliant divine fire ignited deep within his Sea of Consciousness. The two flames answered each other across the distance, humming in resonance as warm currents of fire traveled through his meridians and across his entire body.

The Flesh Furnace was officially in operation.

With a thought, he brought the Void Dreamweaver Spirit Sea Skull into the furnace chamber at the center of his skull.

Gray-white flames enveloped it at once. The hard Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone softened and dissolved before his eyes, shedding its entire material shell and the Soul Beast's lingering resentment until only a mass of pure silver-violet energy remained.

Holy Light Flame then wrapped around the mass and tempered it again and again, scattering its condensed laws into countless tiny free particles, pure and utterly without impurities.

"Converge!"

Huo Yuhao gave a low shout, and both fires drew inward at once.

The silver-violet origin particles slowly seeped through the seams of his skull, entered the marrow cavities, and flowed into his Sea of Consciousness.

A warm pressure spread from between his brows through his entire head. As though fed by fresh water, his Sea of Consciousness widened and deepened at an astonishing rate, finally becoming a boundless violet sea of stars veiled in mist.

At the same time, pure energy coursed through his body. His bones crackled softly, his physical strength climbed steadily, and as the vortex in his spiritual sea turned, the barrier holding back his Soul Power broke with a snap.

Level seventeen—the peak of a one-ring Soul Grandmaster!

After an unknown length of time, Huo Yuhao's eyes flew open.

His once-black pupils had turned an unfathomable dark violet, as though they held endless starry seas and dreams. Only after he blinked did they slowly return to black.

He clenched a fist. Abundant strength filled his limbs—his physical strength had fully doubled, his Sea of Consciousness had expanded by half again, and the Heavenly Eye's detection range had leapt from one thousand meters to two thousand five hundred.

So this is the Flesh Furnace... Huo Yuhao marveled inwardly. This was no mere Soul Bone fusion. It was a complete remaking of flesh and bone.

At a thought, an illusory mental wave spread silently outward.

The air within ten meters of him warped slightly, quietly turning into a hazy dreamscape.

Anyone caught inside would have their five senses silently altered, and even their Soul Power would circulate sluggishly. It was leagues beyond an ordinary mental illusion!

Divine Ability: Illusory Sea Dream.

The words surfaced in his mind in a flash of insight.

"A Divine Ability awakened after birth?!" the Howling Celestial Dog cried, his voice exploding with disbelief. "Young Master, that's absurd! Divine Abilities are innate gifts carried in a Living Being's origin. You're born with them! Who ever heard of drawing one out later by fusing with a beast bone?"

Huo Yuhao sucked in a sharp breath too.

He knew perfectly well the difference between a Divine Ability and a Soul Skill. A Soul Skill was an external power granted by a Soul Ring, with limits and a cost to use. A Divine Ability was an instinct etched into one's blood and soul, part of one's own origin. Its power would only grow as its wielder grew stronger. The two were not on the same level at all.

"Elder Yi, you..." Huo Yuhao struggled for words before finally blurting out, "You're freaking awesome!"

He silently added, That's Elder Yi for you. The Undead Calamity is a legend forever.

A faint smile colored Electrolux's voice. "It was merely a fortunate shortcut. This Soul Bone's origin happened to suit your Mental Attribute, and the Flesh Furnace refined it perfectly. Only then did this opportunity arise. You have a long road ahead; don't grow complacent."

Huo Yuhao stretched mightily, his bones crackling in a long series of pops, then rose and left the cultivation cubicle.

The Lionheart Club's structure was in place, the Point System was about to be introduced, and the three shops were being renovated. For now, there was little that needed his decision.

Since he had time to spare, he might as well visit the Soul Tool Department and tinker with a few low-level civilian Soul Tools. He could sell them as specialty products in the shops later and bring in another steady stream of income.

The Soul Tool Department stood across the lake from the Martial Soul Department. Its buildings had a metallic look, and intricate Magic Formations and forging platforms could be seen everywhere.

Huo Yuhao had just reached the entrance when a figure emerged from the shade of a nearby tree and stretched out an arm to block his path.

The newcomer was a tall young man around twenty, with meticulously arranged blond hair, handsome features, and eyes of two different colors. He bore some resemblance to Dai Huabin, but looked far steadier and more reserved.

He wore the red uniform of the Inner Court. He had deliberately restrained his Soul Emperor-level Soul Power, giving off no pressure at all, though exhaustion was plain between his brows.

"Junior, could we discuss Dai Huabin?" the young man asked in a low voice, getting straight to the point.

Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow. He had expected this, but his tone turned cold as he replied flatly, "Who are you? What could you and I possibly have to discuss?"

"Dai Yueheng." The young man met his gaze and gave his name. "Dai Huabin's older brother."