The First Soul Ring

"Come on, my first soul ring in this world."

To prevent Xu Jiujiu from taking the opportunity to raid his base, he first dismembered the ghost leopard and confirmed that no soul bone was found. Then he sat cross-legged directly beneath the black halo of light and summoned his second martial soul, the Divine Sense Orb.

Although the ghost leopard soul ring did not sound very suitable for the Divine Sense Orb, giving it to the Spirit Eyes felt even stranger.

He controlled the Divine Sense Orb to hover steadily in front of him. Under his guidance, the black ten-thousand-year soul ring began to move slowly, and then, as if attracted by a magnet, it appeared directly above the Divine Sense Orb and settled over it.

The moment the two connected, a vast surge of soul power entered his body through the martial soul, flowing into his limbs, bones, and the meridians throughout his entire body. Yet his physical structure was already several times stronger than that of an ordinary genius; not a single shred of this soul power was wasted, and his body absorbed all of it, transforming it into his own pure soul power.

As time slowly passed, the color of the black halo of light on the Divine Sense Orb gradually faded.

"Elder Huang, did you notice anything?" Xu Jiujiu asked, standing not far away and seemingly talking to herself.

Yet the next moment, a bizarre scene unfolded: from a completely empty space in front of her, a voice actually rang out.

"Twin martial souls, and an age definitely under twelve. No wonder this brat is so strong. I've always been completely baffled, but now it finally makes sense."

Huang Jinxu wore a look of sudden realization. After all, everyone had previously assumed that Huo Yuhao had not attached any soul rings, and they had constantly wondered what on earth Huo Yuhao was relying on to be so strong. Now, seeing Huo Yuhao summon a second martial soul, he understood in an instant.

After all, absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring as his very first ring, and being able to fight a ten-thousand-year soul beast without even having a soul ring-just thinking about it felt unbelievable. At the same time, he could not help mocking himself inwardly, never expecting that he would one day make such a foolish mistake.

Xu Jiujiu's eyes shone brightly.

Even Elder Huang was fooled. This fellow definitely has something on him that conceals his cultivation level. Yet at the same time, a trace of shock rose in her heart.

"Under twelve years of age, yet able to crush a ten-thousand-year soul beast. What a terrifying genius."

"Princess, should I capture him and bring him back to serve His Majesty?" A sinister gleam flashed in Huang Jinxu's eyes.

Xu Jiujiu was instantly rendered somewhat speechless. This Elder Huang had joined the empire for so long, yet the sinister streak in him had not diminished in the slightest; whenever he saw something good, he wanted to snatch it back.

"Elder Huang, this is the Star Dou Great Forest section of the empire's border. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao is wearing our Star Luo Empire's attire, and his accent is also the pure accent of our Star Luo Empire. He is bound to be a genius of our empire. Since he is one of our own, what need is there to snatch him?"

Xu Jiujiu said confidently.

"Besides, there is still an agreement between him and me. When he comes to Star Luo City, I will definitely not let him get away."

"Exceedingly true, exceedingly true." Huang Jinxu nodded, thinking inwardly that he had been overly rash.

"Elder Huang, let's go. I reckon he won't be too eager to see me when he wakes up. This fellow has known about your presence all along and has kept his nerves tightly strung the whole time. Once I leave, he'll feel more at ease. Anyway, we will meet again in the future." Xu Jiujiu looked at Huo Yuhao and smiled brilliantly.

She could perceive the shift in Huo Yuhao's attitude toward her-from his initial vigilance to the fact that he now actually felt secure enough to absorb his soul ring completely unguarded in front of her. This touched her somewhat. Taking advantage of the fact that Huo Yuhao was about to finish his absorption, she followed Huang Jinxu out of the Star Dou Great Forest and returned to the empire.

Yet little did she know that Huo Yuhao had been dividing his focus to absorb the soul ring all along. The ten-thousand-year soul shock had not appeared yet, so multitasking for him was a breeze.

Ever since he found out that the person he had captured was Xu Jiujiu, he had cursed his bad luck, simply wanting to casually grab a guide and instead catching a blockbuster bomb. However, Xu Jiujiu's identity also made her exceptionally easy to handle.

Although he had not directly revealed where he was from, he had silently been signaling to Xu Jiujiu all along that he was a subject of the Star Luo Empire.

Moreover, the fact that someone as powerful as him still had to venture out completely alone to hunt soul beasts was something that could never happen in a major sect, since geniuses were extremely precious to them. Therefore, he was certain that Xu Jiujiu could also guess that he had not joined any faction, which established a demand chain for their relationship.

Coupled with the subsequent hero saving the damsel, it had all been part of his plan; otherwise, why would two people fighting so well suddenly end up dragging Xu Jiujiu into it? Still, the soul bone had truly been an accident, though it was precisely because of this soul bone that he had so easily obtained the Life Blade-the Spirit-Devouring Blood Blade.

Because she was no longer the Child of Destiny, he could not guarantee whether this malevolent blade might be bought by someone else in advance. Getting it sooner also saved him from prolonged nights and many dreams.

Everything that had happened over these past few days left him full of shifting emotions.

Although he had made a fool of himself due to a lack of experience, figuring out how to solve the problem was the crucial part.

Learning to make amends was likewise a form of growth; at the very least, he would absolutely never make such a low-level mistake again in the future.

The pitch-black soul ring was almost completely dissipated. Once Huo Yuhao sensed that the two presences had completely vanished, he also let go of his guard and concentrated his spiritual power to the utmost, fully striving to conquer this soul ring.

Finally, at the instant the soul ring was about to vanish, a pitch-black remnant soul of the ghost leopard appeared within his sea of consciousness, preparing to wreak absolute havoc and thoroughly retaliate against the detestable human in front of him who had killed it.

Yet unfortunately, in the face of his Gold-Level Second Awakening Spirit Eyes, a mere ten-thousand-year remnant soul was nothing more than a paper tiger.

Huo Yuhao condensed a pair of massive and brilliant vertical pupils within his spiritual sea of consciousness, radiating boundless golden light. Several rays of this light directly bombarded the ghost leopard's remnant soul. Having suffered such a violent assault and emitting a wail from the depths of its soul, the remnant soul directly transformed into a wisp of black mist.

"Is that it?"

Huo Yuhao felt somewhat regretful. He had gone to such great lengths to find a guide simply to be cautious, yet absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring had turned out to be so effortless, truly leaving him filled with mixed emotions.

Still, being cautious was always for the best. After all, he had never contacted soul beasts before and did not know their grades; if he had accidentally caught a soul beast over fifty thousand years old, he would not have been certain whether his first soul ring could have withstood it.

Besides, was a ten-thousand-year soul ring really that easy to absorb? The answer was no. Huo Yuhao attributed everything to his Spirit Eyes; ever since his Spirit Eyes martial soul had been strengthened by the Swallowed Star World, it had become completely different.

Once the counter-attack of the ten-thousand-year soul beast's remnant soul concluded, the absorption of the soul ring was basically finished as well. Huo Yuhao accelerated the process, and a quarter of an hour later, his aura gradually stabilized. A circle of pitch-black soul ring also appeared upon his Divine Sense Orb.

Mission accomplished. Feeling the abundant soul power within his body, Huo Yuhao was filled with a sense of satisfaction.

The unique rule shackles of the Douluo Continent were broken. After acquiring the soul ring, his Soul Scholar realm was finally shattered. Upon obtaining the soul ring, his soul power skyrocketed all the way, reaching level twenty within a few breaths.

He was not surprised by this at all. While absorbing the juice of the Millennium Willowwood Heart, his soul power had already reached over level twenty. After all, under the rules of the Douluo Continent, even though a soul master had not acquired a soul ring, soul power could still accumulate.

"My soul power has reached level twenty. I'll continue hunting soul beasts."

Keeping Xu Jiujiu by his side these past few days had not been purely to have her guide him. Giving a man a fish was not as good as teaching him how to fish; Huo Yuhao had basically memorized the general knowledge about soul beasts over these past few days.

He already had a rough outline regarding the ages of soul beasts. Although not entirely precise, he would not fail to distinguish which soul beasts were kings above fifty thousand years old.