Double attack power.
That was pretty good.
Especially when unleashing a burst of power in battle.
Although Soul Spirits could also help Soul Masters in battle, they were merely a part of the Soul Master, and the strength they could exert was limited. In battles between low- and mid-ranked Soul Masters, they might help distract opponents, but in battles between high-ranked Soul Masters, they instead became exposed weaknesses and burdens.
"A Soul Bone from a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast with a mental attribute does suit my Martial Soul."
King Yama was a god of the Netherworld. If one had to define his attributes, he certainly possessed a mental attribute.
"Since little Qingjia likes it, absorb it later," Shen Xi said. "It's a token of your grandfather's affection, too."
"It's not as though our Xu Family has none." Xu Ye gave a soft huff, a little displeased with his father-in-law. "Our ancestors passed down quite a few rare Soul Bones as well."
After all, their Xu Family had once been the Sun Moon Imperial Family.
In this era, Soul Bones rarely circulated in the outside world anymore. Even the hundred-year and thousand-year Soul Bones that occasionally appeared mostly came from Sea Soul Beasts. After all, once the Star Dou Great Forest had been "penned in," a major source of Soul Bones had vanished in one stroke. Of course, entering the Star Dou Great Forest was not impossible. The Spirit Pagoda sold admission tickets, but visitors entered at their own risk.
Moreover, Titled Douluos and above were forbidden from entering.
That was one of the agreements made with the Soul Beasts back then.
The greater reason, however, was that none of the major powers wanted precious Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones falling into the hands of other factions. Otherwise, how could a mere agreement hold back the greed in human hearts?
The Sunset Forest had been almost entirely logged and had become the Tang Sect's territory. With the death of the Evil-Eyed Tyrant Ruler, the Evil Demon Forest had vanished completely even before the Star Dou Great Forest, while the Sun Moon Mountains had long since been flattened.
Of the continent's once-large Soul Beast habitats, only the Far North remained relatively intact.
For one thing, its environment was harsh. For another, its inhabitants were mostly ice-attribute Soul Beasts, and for some unknown reason, the Soul Beasts of the Far North were extraordinarily united.
But the main reason was that humans simply had no interest. High-ranked ice-attribute Soul Masters were relatively rare throughout the Federation, and nobody wanted to gnaw on a bone that was so hard and had so little meat.
Soul Bones, however, were rather special.
The person passed on, but the bone remained. A powerful Soul Bone could essentially be passed down indefinitely.
Yet this also meant that top-tier Soul Bones existed only in the hands of the greatest powers. Otherwise, one had to venture into the ocean to hunt powerful Sea Soul Beasts.
"I remember there's a Silver Dragon Head Soul Bone in the family treasury whose age is approaching a hundred thousand years," Xu Ye said. "As a top-tier true dragon that commands multiple elements, its value is no less than the hundred-thousand-year Evil-Eyed Tyrant skull bone your mother possesses, even if it hasn't reached a hundred thousand years."
"Qingjia, are you interested?"
Xu Qingjia shook his head without hesitation.
The Silver Dragon Head Soul Bone? If I absorb that, I'll immediately stand a rung below dragons. If I encounter the Silver Dragon King later, won't she suppress me mercilessly and trample me underfoot?
Xu Qingjia offered all sorts of excuses to decline.
Xu Ye thought his darling son was merely embarrassed. Only when he realized that Xu Qingjia was clearly resisting the idea did he abandon it.
"Why isn't Qingjia interested in such an exceptional mental-type Head Soul Bone at all?" Xu Ye was puzzled.
"There are others in the family treasury." Xu Ye gave him considerable freedom.
"Qingjia, just tell Dad whichever one catches your eye."
"However, in terms of Martial Soul attributes, our family might not have many that suit you."
Ever since Xu Qingjia was little, Xu Ye had wanted to raise his precious son as the family's successor. The precocious intelligence and talent Xu Qingjia displayed from childhood had only strengthened that resolve.
Although the family's current structure differed from that of the imperial family of old, as the family head and a Limit Douluo, he still held its authority firmly in his hands. Now that Xu Qingjia had demonstrated his extraordinary potential during his Martial Soul Awakening, even if Xu Ye named his darling son the Xu Family Heir, he could silence any objections from the family.
As parents, they simply wanted to leave all the best things to their child.
However, most of the Soul Bones passed down through their family suited the sun, Silver Moon, and Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. The Yama Martial Soul, on the other hand, was appearing for the first time not merely in their family, but in all of Douluo history.
"Mm." Xu Qingjia smiled and nodded. Family needed no words of thanks. He had always kept his parents' kindness in giving him life and raising him close to his heart.
"Next, let's talk about your Martial Soul, Qingjia," Xu Ye said.
The moment his words rang out, an immensely powerful surge of spiritual energy enveloped Xu Qingjia's sleeping palace, like a blazing sun descending.
Shen Xi looked at her husband in surprise. They were in the Xu Family estate, right in the heart of Mingdu. Was such caution necessary?
"Qingjia's Martial Soul is no ordinary one." Xu Ye's eyes grew more solemn as he explained why he had done this. "Earlier, I sensed a trace of divinity within Qingjia's Martial Soul."
Xu Ye was even beginning to regret the gathering he had arranged earlier. It had originally been a routine little gathering between the major families, both to strengthen their relationships and to build momentum for their younger generations. He had never expected his darling son's Martial Soul to be so much stronger than he had anticipated.
Fortunately, no other Limit Douluo had been present at the time. And only a Limit Douluo like him, who had truly experienced the realm of gods before, could sense divinity.
Shen Xi looked at her son in astonishment, only to find Xu Qingjia still perfectly calm, his little legs swinging gently in the air. It was as though Xu Ye was discussing what to eat for their next meal rather than gods beyond mortal understanding.
"What about now?" Xu Qingjia said.
Martial Soul Possession.
An inky aura that seemed capable of devouring all light surged from Xu Qingjia's body, roaming the boundary between life and death and clustering around its sovereign as though alive. As he sat there, an absolute majesty transcending worldly authority washed over them. His indifferent expression held not a trace of emotion, like that of a god seated high above.
Xu Ye gently shook his head.
"Does little Qingjia know why that divinity exists?" Curiosity shone in Shen Xi's beautiful eyes.
"Yes." Xu Qingjia began to explain, inhuman serenity and divine indifference mingling in his clear, youthful voice. "I was also very surprised when I awakened."
"Yama-or rather, King Yama-is not a being of the Douluo Continent, but a god from the world all living beings enter after death, a place called the Netherworld!"
Having enjoyed six years of familial affection, Xu Qingjia
trusted his parents deeply. Naturally, there were things he did not need to hide from them as he would from others.
Besides, he was not the only person who possessed a god as his Martial Soul.
For example, Bo Saixi, the final divine emissary of the First Generation Sea God, had the Sea God as her Martial Soul.
Xu Qingjia described a sequence of events he had partially adapted from the truth. "On the night before my Martial Soul Awakening, my soul unconsciously entered the Netherworld, where I encountered a being who called himself the Underworld King's divine emissary. He told me that I had received the divine inheritance left behind by the former king of the Netherworld, and one part of it was the King Yama Martial Soul."
"The Netherworld? The Underworld King's divine emissary?" Xu Ye and Shen Xi exchanged a glance, each seeing the gravity in the other's eyes.
Their darling son's words reminded them of an infamous individual.
Xu Ye placed his hand on Xu Qingjia's shoulder and carefully examined his meridians and soul once more.
"It probably isn't him." Shen Xi looked at Xu Ye and gently shook her head. "According to Qingjia, the Yama Martial Soul was bestowed by a god. And when Qingjia awakened his Martial Soul earlier, he did indeed awaken the Silver Moon Martial Soul first. Then it shattered and was replaced by the Yama Martial Soul."
"That fellow doesn't have that kind of ability."
"Besides, Qingjia's sleeping palace is right next to ours. He couldn't possibly sneak in here without a sound."
"True." Xu Ye nodded gently. "Ha Luosa was severely wounded back then. Even if he survived, he would still be within the bounds of humanity. If he had become a god, he would have washed the Douluo Continent in blood long ago."
"Mom, Dad." A hint of childish confusion appeared in Xu Qingjia's eyes, which were filled with divine indifference. "Who is Ha Luosa?"
"He's an infamous Evil Soul Master," Xu Ye said.
"He has not a shred of humanity. Throughout his life, he stopped at nothing to become stronger."
"When he was six, he awakened his Martial Soul without any awakening ceremony, along with its accompanying Netherworld Rebirth Domain, and slaughtered every child and adult in his orphanage. The city defense troops who arrived afterward killed him, yet some time later, he miraculously returned to life. After that, he specifically targeted remote villages for his massacres."
"When he was nineteen, he slaughtered an entire small city of sixty thousand people and proclaimed himself the Underworld King."
"While still a Super Douluo, he escaped from the previous Sea God Pavilion Master, who was already a Limit Douluo. Later, he even attacked Shrek Academy for revenge, but was killed by the previous Sea God Pavilion Master, the Former Spirit Pagoda Master, and Light and Darkness Douluo Long Yeyue."
"Rumor has it that heaven sent him to punish humanity for destroying the environment."
"A bastard through and through." Even the divine indifference in Xu Qingjia's eyes gave way to deep disgust.
A fellow like that ought to be thrown into the Eighteen Levels of Hell.
That rumor is even more ridiculous.
It was like someone exploited by capitalists shouting slogans about overthrowing them, then taking an axe into a factory and hacking down the workers, the people speaking up for those workers, and the capitalists alike.
If heaven allowed Ha Luosa to slaughter humans at will because humanity had damaged the environment, what about the innocent people who protected it? If the mistakes of some were forcibly pinned on the whole, how was such a foolish, incompetent heaven any different from the humans destroying the environment?
Still, in the original story, that fellow really was a Plane Favored One. Most likely, Tang Hao or the Plane Spirit had created him for some reason.
"An Evil Soul Master is an Evil Soul Master. Once one, always one. No lofty-sounding excuse can change their crime of slaughtering innocent people at will."
This was a matter of human morality and conscience.
Besides, a mere Ha Luosa dared call himself the Underworld King?
An Underworld King did indeed exist in the Douluo Universe. In another work, for instance, Death God A Dai's father was the Underworld King, a being on the same level as a God King.
Pluto Douluo?
God King Douluo!
Wasn't that a little too arrogant?