Chen Zhuo had never intended to take Tang San's life.
He knew that this plane really did have so-called children of destiny.
Since he was not certain whether Tang San was this era's chosen darling of fate,
rather than risk the unforeseen consequences of killing him, it was better to keep him under observation and whittle away his fortune.
As for Xiao Wu, he had also considered whether he should make a move against her.
Chen Zhuo wondered: if he regarded hunting Xiao Wu as an "unrighteous" act,
then should he take the Blue Silver Emperor's soul bone or not?
Should he compete for opportunities tied to Tang San or not?
He carefully weighed the matter for one second.
That was how he had come to use Xiao Wu's soul ring as the Dragon Duke's ninth soul ring.
As for him, this trip had netted him two soul bones.
Speaking of which, Xiao Wu, a hundred-thousand-year soul beast-a Soft Bone Rabbit-who had taken human form and begun cultivating anew, was quite a bizarre specimen herself.
Her father had been eaten by a ferocious beast in the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Her mother had been hunted down by people from Spirit Hall and become a soul ring of the current Pope, Bibi Dong.
It would have been one thing if Xiao Wu had merely neglected her cultivation instead of seeking revenge.
But she had also been ruled by an urge to dominate, running off to this little academy in Nuoding City to play the big boss.
She had even fallen in love with a human male.
After all, when soul beasts dispersed their cultivation to begin anew, they had to reach at least level 60 and enter their mature stage before becoming fully human.
Who knew whether Tang San would feel disgusted or become even more excited upon learning that Xiao Wu was a Soft Bone Rabbit wearing human skin?
That was not even the most outrageous part.
Before level 60, a hundred-thousand-year transformed soul beast's disguise could easily be seen through by a Titled Douluo.
Yet in the original timeline, this soul beast had actually run straight into Spirit Hall's headquarters and brazenly participated in the academy tournament.
Setting aside the fact that soul masters hunting soul beasts was a natural law of survival,
with Xiao Wu's logic of a lamb walking into a tiger's jaws and then blaming the tiger for being cruel, she could hardly complain about being hunted down.
By the time Tang San woke up, their attackers had long since cleared out.
He felt over his body. He was unhurt.
On the blood-drenched ground lay only a strange, headless dead rabbit.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Only then did Tang San realize that he was not dreaming. Xiao Wu really was gone.
"Xiao Wu-"
Tang San went mad, his eyes bloodshot, panting like an ox as he screamed with heart-rending anguish.
His Blue Silver Grass martial soul burst out involuntarily, wildly attacking everything around him.
Even the dead rabbit was shredded by the Blue Silver Grass until not a scrap remained.
Tang San never realized that Xiao Wu was that headless Soft Bone Rabbit.
And he had desecrated her corpse with his own hands.
In his frenzy, Tang San did not even notice the slight change in his martial soul as his reason slipped away.
Wisps of black energy began rising from its stalks.
Thanks to Yu Xiaogang's instruction, he had continually added deadly poison, parasitism, and other negative-energy attributes to Tang San's martial soul, which had originally brimmed with vitality.
Now, with Tang San's emotions out of control, his martial soul was affected as well and underwent a mutation.
In terms of offensive power, it became stronger than before.
But the price was that his martial soul had changed from Blue Silver Grass into Dark Blue Silver Grass.
He was sliding irreversibly into the ranks of the fallen.
Or, as they would be called ten thousand years later, evil soul masters.
At Dugu Manor.
Chen Zhuo found a quiet room and had Dugu Bo stand guard outside.
On a yellow rosewood writing desk lay two soul bones, one blue and one pink, both lustrous as jade.
Even ten-thousand-year soul bones were known as Blood River Treasures.
They could make nations fight until blood flowed in rivers.
Let alone Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.
Such things were peerless rarities.
Even the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empire combined could not produce a single Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Chen Zhuo reached out and picked up the soul bone that resembled blue jade.
This soul bone had been left behind after the hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor sacrificed herself to Tang Hao.
Tang Hao had not absorbed it because he already possessed a complete set of soul bones at the time.
That was why this soul bone had been fortunate enough to survive until now.
Hundred-thousand-year soul rings and soul bones would usually grant a soul master two skills.
The Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone was no exception.
After fusing with this soul bone, Chen Zhuo gained the abilities of "flight" and "severed limb regeneration."
The soul bone resembling pink crystal was Xiao Wu's hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit right arm bone.
In terms of survival abilities and the rarity of its skills, this soul bone surpassed even the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone.
It granted teleportation, allowing him to move instantly at will within a hundred meters, with no cooldown.
And Invincible Golden Body, a divine survival skill that granted immunity to damage below the divine level three times a day.
An ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul beast's cultivation was only equivalent to that of a level 90-94 Titled Douluo.
Soft Bone Rabbits were also low-ranking soul beasts found everywhere in the Star Dou Great Forest.
That one could produce such a soul bone was truly astonishing.
Once extremely weak soul beasts such as Blue Silver Grass and Soft Bone Rabbits reached the top of the soul beast food chain, they were often more terrifying than those born with noble bloodlines.
Soul bones were unlike soul rings, except in extremely unusual cases where a martial soul with an ultimate attribute might be selective about the soul master.
Otherwise, even someone with only level 1 soul power could absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Moreover, after a soul master died,
their soul bones would not disappear and could be passed down to their descendants.
That was why people would fight tooth and nail even over a Thousand-Year Soul Bone, let alone a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Chen Zhuo's soul power had already reached level 39.
Now, after absorbing two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones, his soul power had shot straight to the level 40 threshold.
He had also gained four Hundred Thousand Year Soul Skills.
Every one of them was extremely useful in combination with his close-range fist techniques.
The risk he had taken this time was worth it.
One windfall had made him rich. He had taken flight in a single leap!
Chen Zhuo examined himself and was extremely satisfied with his current condition.
Brimming with confidence, he felt that he could now beat ten of his former self.
Even if Tang Hao came knocking now, he would not be afraid.
Unless a true god intervened, no one could kill him in a single strike.
Besides, Tang Hao himself was a dog with a broken spine.
He was probably scouring the world for a Titled Douluo-level healing system soul master to suppress his injuries.
That was also why Tang Hao had left without saying goodbye.
The permanent hidden injuries he had sustained while fighting Qian Xunji, Spirit Hall's former Pope,
had never been able to heal.
In the original timeline, if Tang San had not healed Tang Hao using a god's legacy,
then after a few more years,
no one would have needed to lift a finger. Tang Hao would have died on his own.
Of course, Tang Hao deserved ten thousand deaths as well.
For the sake of his so-called love, he had disregarded his sect's safety.
He had recklessly and willfully taken a soul beast as his partner, causing the deaths of countless clansmen.
Moreover, as one of the very few soul masters on the entire continent to possess a complete set of soul bones,
assuming a soul bone drop rate of one in ten thousand,
that meant that, apart from the two soul bones passed down by the Clear Sky Sect, Tang Hao had probably killed no fewer than four hundred ten-thousand-year soul beasts himself!
Hunting purely for his own selfish desires, rather than for soul rings to advance in rank.
In the eyes of soul beasts, he was an executioner, no different from a demon.
Yet Tang San's mother, Ah Yin, a hundred-thousand-year plant-type soul beast, had actually fallen in love with a human steeped in slaughter and blood.
Calling her a traitor to soul beasts would hardly be going too far.
That was why Chen Zhuo had also had Dugu Bo uproot and take away the Blue Silver Grass left behind after the hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor's sacrifice.
Because he had no intention of sparing Ah Yin either.
Now, it was time to obtain his fourth soul ring!
Chen Zhuo already had someone in mind for this soul ring.
It was She Long, Snake Lance Douluo, one of Spirit Hall's direct elders, whose soul power was level 92!
And this man was currently hidden within the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
For more than a decade,
he had been serving as a bodyguard to Qian Renxue, the daughter of the current Pope, Bibi Dong.
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