"The Five Elements War Bow! Did it really work?" Flender carefully examined Su Ling's new martial soul. It was indeed different from before.
"Su Ling, fire an arrow and let's see."
"Sure!"
He raised the Five Elements War Bow. Unlike before, its weight had noticeably increased, and drawing its string required several times more force.
Fortunately, Su Ling was strong enough to draw the Five Elements War Bow into a full moon, condensing his soul power into an arrow.
He loosed the arrow. It whistled through the air, followed by a boom.
The arrow struck a tree roughly a meter in diameter fifty meters ahead, burying at least half its length in the trunk. Its power was several times greater than that of Su Ling's ordinary shots before.
Only now did Su Ling truly appreciate the gulf between an ordinary martial soul and a top-tier one.
Innate soul power determined the upper and lower limits of soul power cultivation, while the quality of a martial soul determined a Soul Master's combat strength. This was why top-tier martial souls allowed their wielders to fight above their level.
"Boss Su, that shot was incredible!" Ma Hongjun ran over to inspect the hole in the trunk and cried out in amazement.
"Excellent, excellent. Su Ling, everything you did was worth it," Flender remarked.
"Well done, kid. I was wrong about you before," Zhao Wuji added.
Tang San seemed to remember something. He took a book from his Space Soul Tool and began leafing through it.
"Big Brother Su, my teacher's notes mentioned your martial soul, the Five Elements War Bow. Apparently, more than two hundred years ago, a powerful wielder of the Five Elements War Bow appeared. While he was still a Soul Douluo, he shot and killed three Titled Douluos. His martial soul went straight to second place on the tool martial soul rankings of that time."
"The Five Elements War Bow is absolutely a top-tier tool martial soul."
Tang San's explanation gave everyone an entirely new understanding of Su Ling's martial soul.
[Ding... Xiao Wu's affection +3. Obtained White Chest ×1.] [Ding... Ning Rongrong's affection +10. Obtained White Chest +6, Yellow Chest +1.]
Hearing the system, Su Ling unconsciously glanced at Ning Rongrong. This girl's affection had risen so much simply because she had seen the ceiling of his potential rise.
This undoubtedly illustrated society's hard realities. Even Ning Rongrong was no exception.
"Congratulations, Big Brother Su." Seeing Su Ling look her way, Ning Rongrong became a little embarrassed.
Not only had Ning Rongrong's affection increased, but Xiao Wu's had too, though not by much. This showed that both of them valued this aspect.
If you were an ordinary person, they might not even associate with you, leaving you without so much as a chance to become friends.
As for Zhu Zhuqing, her affection had not changed. That suggested that, to her, whether Su Ling's potential was high or low made no difference.
Of course, this might also have been because Zhu Zhuqing's affection was already at 76 points, so this would not raise it any further.
"Su Ling, what about your previous soul skills?" Flender continued asking.
Su Ling said, "After my Martial Soul Evolution, I can switch freely between any of the five types of five-element soul power. That means I can use both my second and third soul skills now. They're no longer chicken ribs-too little meat to enjoy, yet a shame to throw away."
"That's good, that's good. All right, let's hurry back," Flender said.
Three days later, they left the Star Dou Great Forest together and arrived at a nearby Soul Hunting Town.
They found a suitable hotel where everyone could rest for a day or two. After spending so long in the forest, they had managed basic washing, but bathing had been out of the question.
Everyone had developed an odor, and Su Ling could also use this time to absorb the external soul bone dropped by the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon.
He took the soul bone out of his Soul Tool. It looked like a piece of armor formed from golden scales.
There was no way Su Ling would turn down a ten-thousand-year external soul bone. He might have needed to consider an ordinary Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, but even a hundred-year external soul bone would have required no thought at all.
After all, external soul bones could evolve and grow.
He guided it into his body, and the external soul bone began merging into his chest.
Absorbing a soul bone was somewhat simpler than absorbing a soul ring, but it still took around twenty hours to fuse completely with his body.
Inside his hotel room, Su Ling stood and examined his chest. A golden scale-shaped mark had appeared there.
With a thought, the golden scale mark vanished. Then Su Ling activated the external soul bone, and the mark reappeared, manifesting a scale. More scales began spreading across his entire body.
The scales wrapped around his body, covering it tightly.
Apart from his eyes, ears, and mouth, every part of him was completely covered.
Sensing the external soul bone's effects, Su Ling murmured, "Then I'll call you Golden Dragon Armor."
The Golden Dragon Armor primarily provided defense. In addition, using it increased Su Ling's physical toughness and strength by 50%, though its defensive power could not be expressed in a precise numerical value.
After activating the Golden Dragon Armor, Su Ling discovered another special feature: he could barely feel its weight, and it did not restrict his joints in the slightest.
In other words, the Golden Dragon Armor did not reduce his speed. It was an almost perfect external soul bone.
"Now that I have this Golden Dragon Armor, along with my martial soul, I should be able to challenge opponents above my level."
Only now did Su Ling feel that he had finally found the right way to live in the Douluo World.
Besides, he also had the system.
With a thought, the system's screen opened before his eyes.
He had already bound two goddesses, and Xiao Wu's and Ning Rongrong's affection were gradually increasing as well.
Looking at the chests he had accumulated in the system, Su Ling's eyes lit up. Had he really collected this many?
Remaining unopened chests: White ×44, Yellow ×26, Purple ×2
Most of these chests had come from Meng Yiran. Given more time together, he might be able to raise her affection beyond Zhu Zhuqing's.
Two Purple Chests!
Should I open one?
After pondering for quite a while, Su Ling decided to open the Purple Chests.
After all, he could use the things they contained right now. The Record of Immortal Herbs, Five Elements Breath Cultivation Method, and Carefree Journey he had obtained before were all useful to him.
Although Black Chests were better, accumulating enough took far too long. Even after all this time, converting every White Chest into Yellow Chests would still not give him enough for a single Purple Chest.
The Douluo World was not safe, either. Why not use everything available to him first? Increasing his strength as much as possible was what mattered.
As for Black Chests, he would naturally obtain them once he raised the goddesses' affection high enough.
Having figured out this crucial point, Su Ling no longer hesitated. System, open these two Purple Chests.
[Ding... Opened Purple Chest ×2. Congratulations, host. Obtained Mind-Congealing Art, Upper Part ×1, supreme-grade antidote pills ×1 bottle (can neutralize all poisons).]
A cultivation art and pills?
Antidote pills, huh? Looks like I can put a trip to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well on the agenda. These pills should let me overcome the poison formation.
What kind of cultivation art is the Mind-Congealing Art?
Su Ling took it out of the system's storage. After flipping through just a few pages, he discovered its purpose. It was actually a cultivation method for increasing spiritual power.
On the Douluo Continent, spiritual power could not be overlooked either. Above level eighty, it could take tangible form, and some Soul Masters could even launch spiritual attacks.
For instance, Xiao Wu's second soul skill, Charm, could also be considered a spiritual ability.
The Mind-Congealing Art was very useful. His only slight regret was that the system had given him only the upper part rather than the complete text.
Before you continue