Soul Skills That Defied All Reason; Looks Like I Lost (Two Chapters in One)

"The Illusory-Eyed Spirit Fox is an exceptionally rare kind of spiritual soul beast, specializing in mental attacks and mental control. An adult has extremely powerful spiritual power. This fox had around five thousand years of cultivation, and produced this frontal soul bone when it was killed."

"An external soul bone falls outside the six main soul bone slots and can attach anywhere on the body. It usually comes from a soul beast's most unusual bone. Spiritual soul bones are even rarer, because spiritual soul beasts are scarce to begin with, and even fewer produce soul bones."

"The location of this soul bone is..." Ye Wenduo turned to the information card at the bottom of the box, glanced at it, then looked up at Ye Zhiqiu.

"Frontal bone, external."

"It attaches to your forehead, the same place it originally came from."

At that, Ye Zhiqiu's eyebrows twitched slightly.

The forehead.

That was a special location. External soul bones were flexible by nature and could attach anywhere on the body, but the forehead was closest to the Sea of Consciousness, making its amplification of spiritual power more direct than at other locations.

Spiritual soul bones were already exceedingly rare, let alone an external one at the five-thousand-year level that also came with a spiritual soul skill.

"What soul skill does it come with?" Ye Zhiqiu asked.

Ye Wenduo lowered his head and checked the information card. His finger paused when he reached the last line.

"...Phantom Eye."

He raised his head, looked at Ye Zhiqiu, and continued, "You'll only know its precise effects after you fuse with it, but according to this description, the skill should involve spiritual detection or mental attacks."

Ye Wenduo closed the box, set it on the desk, and pushed it toward Ye Zhiqiu.

"You should understand the value of this soul bone yourself," Ye Wenduo said, his tone considerably more serious than usual.

"A five-thousand-year spiritual external soul bone would have a starting price no lower than this at auction." He held up one hand and made a gesture.

Ye Zhiqiu glanced at the gesture and understood.

He had researched plenty of Douluo material while writing novels in his previous life. Soul bones had always been exceptionally precious in the original story, and spiritual soul bones were the rarest of the rare.

External soul bones stood another tier above ordinary soul bones.

Ye Wenduo continued, "Shrek offering something like this as a Preliminary Selection prize is partly because they have vast resources, and partly..."

He paused, then said, "Probably because they've recognized your potential."

Ye Zhiqiu nodded. Otherwise, they probably would have given him some other external soul bone rather than a frontal bone.

"All right, take your things." Ye Wenduo pushed the three boxes toward their respective recipients, then said, "The Second Round should take place in about two weeks. A spacecraft will be arranged to take you all to the Home Planet then."

"Arrange these next two weeks yourselves. Cultivate or get yourselves into shape, whatever you need. The school will take care of things on our end."

All three nodded.

Then they left the office.

Dong Qianqiu and Lan Mengqin returned to their dormitory, while Ye Zhiqiu headed toward Nana's quarters alone.

He needed to fuse with the soul bone, and when doing so—especially with a frontal bone so close to the Sea of Consciousness—it was best to have someone standing guard, just in case.

Although he had ample confidence in his spiritual power, a little caution never hurt.

Besides, Nana was strong enough to make the process completely safe. After all, he was the supreme master of playing it safe.

Nana's quarters were at the far end of the faculty apartment complex.

The door opened just as he reached it.

Nana stood inside, her silver-white French braid draped over her shoulder. Her violet eyes visibly softened when she saw him.

"You're here? Come in."

Ye Zhiqiu followed her into the living room and sat on the sofa.

Nana poured him a glass of water, placed it on the coffee table, and sat opposite him.

"I heard you took first place in the Preliminary Selection?"

"Yep, first in the entire Federation. We're still way too overpowered."

Nana smiled helplessly and nodded, showing little surprise. "I've always known how strong you are. That result is no surprise."

Ye Zhiqiu took a sip of water, then placed the ebony box on the coffee table and opened it.

Nana's gaze settled on the dark-purple bone, and her eyes narrowed slightly.

"A soul bone?"

"An external soul bone. Five thousand years, frontal bone," Ye Zhiqiu said, then continued, "It's a spiritual one. I'm planning to fuse with it shortly, and I'd like you to stand guard, Teacher."

Nana reached out, lightly touched the edge of the bone with her fingertips, then withdrew her hand.

"A spiritual frontal bone. That's a very sensitive location. If your spiritual power fluctuates too violently during fusion, it could affect your Sea of Consciousness. But your spiritual power already far exceeds that of ordinary people, so there shouldn't be any problems," Nana said.

"Still, better to be careful," Ye Zhiqiu said.

"Mm." Nana nodded and stood. "Let's go to the cultivation room. It's quiet there, and I'll watch over you."

The cultivation room was on the east side of the third floor, a room of roughly twenty square meters. Dark, soft flooring covered the ground, the walls had been soundproofed, and a low table and several meditation cushions sat in one corner.

Ye Zhiqiu sat cross-legged on a cushion, opened the ebony box, and placed it on his lap.

Nana sat about two meters behind him, her silver-white French braid hanging at her side, her hands resting on her knees. Her violet eyes watched his back calmly.

Ye Zhiqiu took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sank his awareness into his Sea of Consciousness.

Then he reached out with his right hand, took the dark-purple bone from the box, and pressed it against his forehead.

The instant the bone touched his forehead, an icy sensation spread from the point of contact, as though someone had pressed a piece of ice between his brows.

Then that chill began to seep inward, passing through his skin and skull until it touched the outer edge of his Sea of Consciousness.

His Sea of Consciousness suddenly shuddered, ripples spreading outward from its center.

Ye Zhiqiu steadied his breathing and sank his awareness into his Sea of Consciousness to guide that foreign power.

The soul bone's power was like a mass of spiritual energy compressed for five thousand years—surging, dense, and carrying an unfamiliar presence.

It tried to merge with his Sea of Consciousness, yet instinctively rejected everything around it.

Ye Zhiqiu could feel that power rampaging through his Sea of Consciousness.

Rather than rushing to suppress it, he wrapped it in his own spiritual power, sensing its patterns, rhythm, and frequency.

The Illusory-Eyed Spirit Fox's spiritual power had a distinctive trait: its frequency was intermittent, opening and closing, releasing and drawing back.

Ye Zhiqiu slowly adjusted the frequency of his own spiritual power to mimic that rhythm.

At first, it was awkward. His spiritual power was too stable, making those intermittent, pulsing fluctuations difficult to achieve.

But he was in no hurry. He tried again and again.

Nana sat quietly nearby. She could sense Ye Zhiqiu's spiritual power slowly changing, shifting from steady to fluctuating, then from fluctuating to rhythmic.

After about half an hour, the frequency of Ye Zhiqiu's spiritual power finally synchronized with that of the soul bone.

Then the soul bone's power stopped rejecting his spiritual power and instead began actively merging with it.

It felt like two separate rivers meeting, their currents flowing together without conflict, simply merging into one.

His Sea of Consciousness abruptly expanded at that instant.

His spiritual power began climbing from its original 1,561 points, leaping dozens of points at a time.

Sixteen hundred, seventeen hundred, eighteen hundred, nineteen hundred...

Then it stopped at 2,014.

At last, Ye Zhiqiu slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was Nana's face. At some point, she had moved from behind him to his side and was looking down at him with a hint of concern in her eyes.

"How do you feel?"

"Great," Ye Zhiqiu said.

He raised his right hand and touched his forehead.

The area over the frontal bone was flat again, the skin smooth, with nothing unusual visible.

But he could feel that the bone had fused into his skull, resting quietly at the very center of his forehead.

Then he willed it to move.

The frontal bone grew slightly warm, and an extremely fine slit opened in the skin at the center of his forehead. It was about two centimeters long, with smooth, even edges, and a faint violet glow shone from its depths.

It was a vertical eye.

Its pupil was dark purple and vertically slit, exactly the same color as the soul bone.

Ye Zhiqiu glanced into the mirror on the cultivation room wall and froze for a moment.

The vertical eye sat quietly in the center of his forehead, its dark-purple iris gleaming coldly beneath the lights. Looking through that eye, he could see things differently.

His spiritual power projected outward through it, and everything within his perception gained depth.

He could see the pathways of soul power circulating through Nana, see the water molecules slowly moving in a glass on a table in the neighboring room beyond the wall, and sense how far each leaf on the tree outside the living room window trembled in the wind.

This information did not come through his two eyes, but was projected directly into his awareness through the eye on his forehead.

He closed his eyes, and the vertical eye closed as well. The slit in his forehead sealed, leaving smooth skin behind.

He opened his eyes again—two normal eyes.

He closed them again, and the vertical eye opened once more.

It's a little like Yang Jian's heavenly eye, Ye Zhiqiu thought.

Ye Zhiqiu rose from the cushion and rolled his neck, his joints cracking twice.

The vertical eye at the center of his forehead had already closed, leaving his skin as smooth as before, with nothing unusual visible.

Nana looked him up and down and asked, "Want to test it?"

Ye Zhiqiu tilted his head toward her and smiled. "You want to try it, Teacher?"

"Your spiritual power just broke through two thousand, and you've only just fused with the soul bone. We need to see its practical effects." Nana walked to the center of the cultivation room, tossed her silver-white French braid behind her, and let her hands hang naturally at her sides. "Come on."

Ye Zhiqiu did not decline. He walked over and took his position opposite her, about five meters away.

The cultivation room was not particularly large. For two people with ranged attacks, five meters was practically point-blank.

He turned his right hand over, and Absolute Blade emerged from his palm. The long white blade hovered quietly beside his hand, faint silver light flowing along it.

Four soul rings—three purple and one black—rose from beneath his feet and slowly revolved behind him.

Nana summoned no weapon. She maintained the same stance, her center of gravity low and her breathing almost inaudible.

Seeing that, Ye Zhiqiu held nothing back. He stepped forward with his right foot and shot toward her.

He covered the five meters in just a step and a half. Absolute Blade swept diagonally upward, its edge heading straight for Nana's left shoulder.

Nana turned sideways to evade it and reached out with her right hand, aiming her fingertips at his wrist.

Ye Zhiqiu rolled his wrist, changing the blade's direction midair from an upward sweep to a horizontal cut. But Nana's fingertips had already touched the outside of his forearm. The force was slight, the angle precise, catching him exactly as he shifted his strength.

His blade was nudged half an inch off course and brushed past Nana's waist.

Ye Zhiqiu did not withdraw his blade and retreat. Using the guiding force, he slid half a step diagonally forward and raised his left hand. A silver-gray sphere of light appeared, and his first soul ring flashed!

Absolute Gravity!

The floor beneath Nana's feet sank slightly, and her body was pressed down a little as well.

But she reacted with extreme speed, bending her knees slightly to shed the pressure before restoring her balance. The entire process took less than a breath.

Ye Zhiqiu used that opening to readjust his stance, holding Absolute Blade horizontally before him.

Nana looked at him. "That gravity just now was stronger than before."

"After my spiritual power broke through, my soul skills grew stronger too," Ye Zhiqiu said.

"Again."

Nana took the initiative, stepping forward and reaching out with her right hand to strike his shoulder.

Her hand was not particularly fast, but its angle was viciously tricky, slipping in through Ye Zhiqiu's blind spot.

Ye Zhiqiu had no time to block it head-on, so he simply stepped back while turning his right hand over.

His second soul ring lit up.

Absolute Slash.

The blade traced an arc through the air. It did not cut toward Nana's body, but toward the space in front of her outstretched hand.

The next instant, an extremely fine white mark appeared out of nowhere on the back of Nana's hand.

Her movement paused. She glanced down at the mark, which vanished completely with a thought.

But leaving a white mark on a True God's body spoke volumes about the power of Ye Zhiqiu's second soul skill.

"Its power has improved. Again," Nana said with a smile.

"Then watch closely, Teacher," Ye Zhiqiu said, smiling.

His first and second soul skills lit up simultaneously!

Concept Cutting + Absolute Slash!

Nana's eyes narrowed slightly. She saw the path of Ye Zhiqiu's blade as it swept toward her. The movement itself was not fast—almost casual, even—slanting upward toward a small patch of space outside her right shoulder rather than her body.

But she knew this strike could not be handled by ordinary logic.

During their four months of sparring, she had already experienced the formidable power of Concept Severance. She still vividly remembered that sense of disconnection, which had already reached a full second.

So she chose the safest response: retreat.

Nana shifted her feet, moved her weight backward, and lightly slid back half a step.

But Ye Zhiqiu's Absolute Slash had already arrived.

The instant his second soul ring lit up, the blade neither changed direction nor accelerated. It merely extended another inch forward.

Then a white blade mark appeared out of nowhere in the small patch of space outside Nana's right shoulder that she had just retreated into.

The blade mark was extremely fine and thin, extending from her shoulder to the outside of her upper arm before leaving a shallow mark on her skin.

Nana paused. She looked down at the white mark on her right arm, then raised her gaze to Ye Zhiqiu.

"That really does defy reason a little."

"There's something even more unreasonable."

Before Ye Zhiqiu finished speaking, the silver-gray sphere in his left hand lit up again.

The second purple soul ring rose. Gravity Anchor!

He had already left an invisible Gravity Anchor on the floor beneath Nana's feet. Then he turned his right hand over, spinning Absolute Blade once in his palm.

With his next strike, he targeted the "connection" between the space beside Nana and her body.

His first soul ring lit up again. Concept Severance!

The instant the blade fell, Nana felt it.

She could not describe the sensation. Something had been stripped away from her.

The circulation of soul power within her vanished completely at that moment, turning her from a powerful soul master into an ordinary person in an instant.

She lowered her head and looked at her hands. Her fingers could move, her muscles could exert force, and her physical strength remained, but the channels through which she used soul power, her martial soul, and spiritual power had all been severed.

And at that very moment, Ye Zhiqiu had already charged right up to her.

He thrust out his left hand and activated Gravity Anchor. The invisible anchor beneath Nana's feet abruptly tightened, and an unseen gravitational force yanked her whole body forward, forcibly pulling her center of gravity back as she retreated.

At the same time, the Absolute Blade in Ye Zhiqiu's right hand was already poised beside her neck, its edge less than an inch from her skin.

The entire sequence took less than two seconds.

The Soul Power within Nana's body reconnected at that instant. Concept Severance's duration had elapsed—roughly a second and a half had passed.

And a second and a half had been enough for Ye Zhiqiu to bring his blade to her throat.

Nana looked at the long white blade beside her neck and fell silent for a moment. Then she turned her head toward Ye Zhiqiu and said with a smile:

"Looks like I lost."