Third Soul Skill (Revised)

Since the soul beast had sacrificed itself willingly, Tang Yue absorbed her third soul ring without a hitch. Once the pillar of light faded, she landed steadily on the ground, her skin noticeably fairer than before.

A ten thousand year soul ring-what a truly extraordinary windfall.

Watching Tang Yue, Yue Guan could not help muttering inwardly. He had never seen anyone encounter three extraordinary windfalls in a single day. A Divine Heir truly was a breed apart.

"Yueyue, how do you feel?" Although Qian Daoliu knew a soul beast's sacrifice allowed someone to absorb a soul ring beyond their usual age limit, he still wanted to check on Tang Yue, just to be safe. This child's opportunities far surpassed anyone else's. Her first soul ring and second soul ring could fuse, and her third was ten thousand years old. With a starting point like that, even Xiao Xue would have to step aside.

Tang Yue did not notice Qian Daoliu's expression. After absorbing the Ice Crystal Phoenix's ten thousand year soul ring and ten thousand year external soul bone, she felt that her frail body had become much sturdier. "Grandpa, I feel like my body is brimming with strength!"

"Oh? Good! That's good!" Qian Daoliu laughed heartily, growing curious about Tang Yue's third soul skill. "Yueyue, what's your third soul skill? Tell your grandpas!"

My third soul skill?

Hehe!

Tang Yue smiled and said mysteriously, "Why don't you grandpas guess what it is?"

"Probably a flight skill?" Guang Ling answered first, offering a particularly uninspired guess.

Tang Yue shook her head. "Nope, nope! Next!"

"I'd guess ice spikes that attack a whole group," Yue Guan answered, but Tang Yue shook her head again.

Neither a flight skill nor a group attack-what could it be?

"All right, Yueyue, stop keeping us in suspense. None of us can guess!"

Qian Daoliu and Azure Luan did not bother guessing. It was probably some peculiar soul skill; otherwise, Tang Yue would not have become so playful and made them all guess.

"Exactly! Little Yue, stop making this old man guess. Hurry up and show me your third soul skill!" Guang Ling had found the Ice Crystal Phoenix, so he wanted to know what skill Tang Yue had gained from its soul ring more than anyone else. He had chased that little phoenix for three whole days and nights. In the end, he had only caught it because it was too tired to keep flying. Otherwise, he might not have managed to catch this precious Ice Crystal Phoenix that suited Tang Yue so perfectly.

"All right, all right, I'll stop teasing you, Grandpa Guang Ling." Tang Yue laughed and released her martial soul. A pair of ice-blue phoenix wings appeared behind her, so broad they could wrap around her entire body. Nine beads of ice hovered around the wings, gleaming with a cold, eerie light. With each fluttering whoosh, biting cold spread throughout the cave, instantly dropping its temperature to freezing.

"This is my external soul bone, the Ice Phoenix Wings. It's a very powerful ice-attribute soul bone. When the wings flap, the cold they release can freeze the air, and they can freeze rainwater too, though only within a small area-about ten li around me at most."

The Ice Crystal Phoenix's external soul bone had perfectly inherited the soul beast's attributes. The ice phoenix's attribute ranked among the top five even in the Far North. Its extreme ice power did not even fear ordinary fire-attribute martial souls, making it an exceptionally unusual ice-attribute soul beast.

As expected, the third petal of Tang Yue's Nine-Petal Immortal Lotus martial soul was ice blue. She plucked it, and a gigantic Ice-Blue Holy Sword descended from the sky, piercing straight through the cave's stone ceiling. The Ice-Blue Holy Sword hovered behind her. Had those present not known her martial soul was the Nine-Petal Immortal Lotus, they might have mistaken the holy sword for her martial soul!

The Ice-Blue Holy Sword was long and slender, with a broad blade as smooth as crystal and roughly two meters in length. The two small, pale-blue phoenixes on its hilt looked so lifelike that they seemed ready to break free at any moment and soar through the sky. Runes on the blade flickered with pale-blue light, with faintly visible ripples flowing through them.

"This is my third soul skill, Ice-Blue Holy Sword."

Tang Yue explained, "This holy sword can summon ice and snow and inflict damage over a wide area. The higher my soul power level, the deeper its color and the stronger its destructive power. Right now, its range is only about one kilometer. Once I reach the Titled Douluo realm, it should extend beyond ten kilometers."

Looking at the blue-glowing blade before him, Qian Daoliu was astonished. Tang Yue's third soul skill was actually this unusual!

"That's my precious little darling!" All the effort Guang Ling had spent finding this Ice Crystal Phoenix had certainly not gone to waste. A soul skill like this could rival someone else's Martial Soul Avatar!

Guang Ling could not stop smiling. He would find the best soul beasts in the world, the ones that suited Tang Yue most. He did not want his little girl to be bullied in the Star Dou Great Forest again.

Having absorbed all three soul rings and gained an external soul bone as well, Tang Yue had truly come away with her bowls and pots overflowing. She happily followed Qian Daoliu and the others home and slept soundly that night.

In her dreams, she saw Guang Ling catching the bird. The Ice Crystal Phoenix flew incredibly fast, and he chased it through three successive nights until both man and beast were exhausted. Seeing that Guang Ling had an ice-attribute martial soul, the Ice Crystal Phoenix had thought he would take what he wanted by force. Who knew he only intended to capture it and bring it back?

The Ice Crystal Phoenix was a soul beast with a backbone. It warned Guang Ling not to take it away, or it would turn itself into ice. Helpless, Guang Ling could only follow its demands and leave it in a cave.

Many days later, the man and beast met again. From its very first glimpse of Tang Yue, the Ice Crystal Phoenix recognized her as its master. Without hesitation, it chose to sacrifice itself, becoming Tang Yue's soul ring and external soul bone.

Several days later, Tang Yue rolled about in utter boredom on the large bed in Guang Ling Hall's main hall. Ever since the Ice Crystal Phoenix's sacrifice, her soul power had mysteriously advanced by leaps and bounds. In just seven or eight days, she had risen from level thirty to level thirty-two, putting her roughly on par with Tang San and the others.

Shrek Academy was currently in a rather bad position, but Tang Yue had never expected the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to step forward and explain matters on Tang San and the others' behalf, leaving the dead shop assistant to swallow the injustice in silence.

Still, Tang Yue could more or less guess the reason. Tang San had simply produced something beneficial to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. The Heaven Dou Imperial Family favored the nobility, and the death of a commoner was not even worth mentioning. Had an enshrined of Spirit Hall not been present, forcing them to make a token investigation, the nobles would not have bothered with it at all.

Moreover, the compensation the shop assistant's family received had reportedly come from the Spirit Hall Branch.

"The ruling class really doesn't care about the people at the bottom. Corrupt, hidebound fools."

Tang Yue kept grumbling.

Just then-

"Xiao Yue'er, you said last time that you wanted to go to Heaven Dou Royal Academy. Do you still want to?"

Guang Ling's long-distance voice transmission reached Tang Yue's ears. She replied, "Of course I do. Why? Have you sorted it out, Grandpa Guang Ling?"

"Pfft! Sorting that out only takes a moment. But Xiao Yue'er, our Spirit Hall has places to study, and its resources are no worse than Heaven Dou Royal Academy's. Why do you want to go there?"

When Tang Yue had first said she wanted to attend Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Guang Ling had been baffled. Their own resources were top-notch, yet she insisted on studying elsewhere. Because of this, he had even made a special trip to the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace to see Qian Renxue, and that was when Qian Renxue learned of Tang Yue's existence.

"Oh, come on. I can use our own resources anytime, but I can't say the same for someone else's. Besides, I don't have any friends. Mostly, I just want to go out and make some. Grandpa Guang Ling, surely you're not going to tell me I'm perfectly fine being all alone?"

Making friends could come later. Tang Yue's main objective was to meet Dugu Bo before Tang San did. Dugu Bo was hardly a good man, but he was not a bad one either. Bringing him into her camp would only add to her fighting strength.

As for the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, she had her own plans.

Even without befriending Dugu Bo, she could seize it using the Worship Hall's strength, but that would make far too much of a commotion. After all, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was within the Heaven Dou Empire's borders. There was really no need to take it by force.

Listening from the other end, Guang Ling fell silent for a moment. Xiao Yue'er had no friends, and her childhood had been miserable. True enough, going out to make friends was better than staying in Spirit Hall, though there were children in Spirit Hall too.

At that thought, Spirit Hall's so-called "Golden Generation" instinctively surfaced in his mind.

A fox, a Moon Blade, and a fire-attribute soul master.

All of them belonged to Bibi Dong.

Pfft!

She'd be better off without friends like those!

"Mm, I think you're right. Going to Heaven Dou Royal Academy to make friends is a good choice. You have my support!"

"Mm, all right. Thanks for supporting me, Grandpa Guang Ling." Tang Yue offered a few casual replies, unsure how the old man had suddenly come around.

She got out of bed, changed into a white dress, and prepared to take a stroll through Spirit Hall.

Since returning to Spirit Hall that day, Yue Guan had been unable to stop thinking about Tang Yue-not because of the girl herself, but because of her martial soul and soul skills.

Over the past few days, Gui Mei had noticed his distraction as well. Assuming Yue Guan had fallen for someone, he kept dropping hints, whenever the chance arose, that their positions made them unsuited to starting families.

Yue Guan found it strange too. What had gotten into his Old Ghost lately? He kept saying all sorts of rambling, senseless things.

The two left the Papal Hall together after work and happened to run into Tang Yue, who had come out to explore Spirit Hall.

"Hi, Elder Yue Guan~"

Tang Yue spotted Yue Guan first and waved to him, her little face bearing a sweet, lovely smile.

"Little girl."

Without another word, Yue Guan flashed over to Tang Yue. "What brings you over to the Papal Hall?"

After speaking, he made sure to glance behind Tang Yue to see whether one of the Seven Enshrined was following her.

"I came out alone. No one's with me." Tang Yue smiled. "I've been here for so many days, but I still don't even know what Spirit Hall looks like as a whole, so I came out to explore!"

"I see." Yue Guan nodded. "Then how about I show you around?"

"Sure!" Tang Yue agreed. She instinctively glanced at Gui Mei nearby, then looked back at Yue Guan. "Elder Yue Guan, is that your colleague?"

Yue Guan turned around, only then remembering that he had left his Old Ghost behind. "He is. He's also an elder of the Papal Hall. His name is Gui Mei."

"Oh~ Elder Gui Mei~"

Tang Yue answered meaningfully. Having watched the animation, how could she not know what sort of relationship these two had? If either one of them had been a woman, they would have been an unquestionable match made in heaven.

"Old Ghost." Yue Guan waved to Gui Mei. Gui Mei pursed his lips, somewhat annoyed. Only now did Yue Guan remember him? Wasn't that a little too late?

Still...

Gui Mei's gaze settled on Tang Yue. "This child is much stronger than when I saw her a few days ago..."

"Old Ghost, what are you spacing out for? Hurry up!" Yue Guan could not help urging him. Lingering here was hardly a good idea.

Gui Mei was a little displeased but said nothing. He followed Yue Guan and Tang Yue, walking roughly five meters behind them.

He looked just like a security guard.

Yue Guan led Tang Yue around Spirit Hall, stopping here and there while perfectly avoiding both the Papal Hall and the Saintess Hall.

Tang Yue understood that Yue Guan was doing it deliberately, but she did not mind. After all, she was not particularly eager to come face-to-face with Bibi Dong either.

"Grandpa Gui!"

A sweet girl's voice rang out nearby. A lovely young woman with short blond hair was waving to Gui Mei. Standing behind Tang Yue and Yue Guan, Gui Mei raised his hand and smiled back.

Hmph, it's just a child. As if I don't have one too!

"Nana."

The young woman with short blond hair was Hu Liena. Eight years older than Tang Yue, she was only eighteen, yet she was already a level-forty Soul Ancestor.

Although that fell far short of Tang Yue, Tang Yue possessed a divine inheritance, so the two could not be compared.

Among ordinary soul masters, Hu Liena's talent was already exceptional. Moreover, she was the only member of the Golden Generation with any hope of becoming a Soul Saint by thirty.

Hu Liena jogged over to Gui Mei. As soon as they met, they clasped hands, clearly sharing a close relationship.

Tang Yue looked Hu Liena up and down. A trace of regret flickered through her eyes, vast as a sea of stars. Finally, she shook her head and sighed softly.

Hu Liena noticed Tang Yue's gaze as well. Looking over, she saw the girl repeatedly shaking her head and sighing incessantly. Displeasure appeared on Hu Liena's face, but she was an adult, after all. She did her best to suppress her impatience and asked with a hint of hostility, "Who are you, and why are you looking at me like that?"