The stronger the body, the greater the bursts of soul power it could withstand, and naturally, the older the soul rings it could bear.
Although the Light Unicorn's soul ring put considerable pressure on Ye Qing, it was not powerful enough to make him burst.
Making him feel some discomfort was already its limit. As time passed, Ye Qing would fully absorb this soul ring and turn it into his own strength.
Nor was the pressure from the soul ring any unbearable torment for Ye Qing.
During his previous three months of training, Ye Qing had done plenty of running under Gravity Enhancement and had long since grown accustomed to the feeling of gravity pressing down on his body. Apart from a similar sensation of gravitational pressure, absorbing the soul ring also brought a little swelling pain.
Overall, absorbing the soul ring was still quite easy.
Judging by Ye Qing's current condition, Mu En and Ye Feng's assessment of his physical strength had indeed been correct. His limit could probably be pushed another hundred years or so higher.
Seven hundred-odd years it is, then. According to their theory, a Light Unicorn isn't so easy to come across. The soul ring's strength is more than enough to make up for its shortfall in age.
With that thought, Ye Qing sped up the process of refining the soul ring's soul power, continuously circulating his Meditation Method to turn it into his own strength.
At a certain moment.
A sharp crack, like shattering glass, suddenly rang out in Ye Qing's mind. He felt as though he had broken some sort of shackle, and his physical strength surged.
His soul power grew stronger, and his Martial Soul developed.
As Ye Qing continued refining the soul power, the soul power within him made two more leaps. Each time it suddenly shot up, Ye Qing could feel his strength increase with it.
Six hours slipped quietly by.
Ye Qing refined the final trace of soul power, and the soul ring that had originally floated beside him fully merged into his body.
First soul ring-absorption complete!
Ye Qing snapped his eyes open, a sharp gleam flashing through his golden eyes.
"Roar-"
A resounding tiger roar rose from Ye Qing's throat. Powerful fluctuations of soul power surged from his body, instantly shredding his outer clothes and revealing his sleek, well-built muscles. A pair of pure-white wings of light abruptly unfurled from his back.
If not for that tiger roar, there would have been no sign of any tiger-type Soul Master traits on Ye Qing.
No, wait. A marking resembling the character 王 had appeared on his forehead, though rather than that character, it looked more like three letter Vs stacked together, and it was golden.
"Congratulations, my dear grandson. You've successfully absorbed the first soul ring of your life and become a Soul Master!" Ye Feng nodded in satisfaction, then handed Ye Qing an extremely familiar-looking crystal ball.
"Here, test your soul power level!"
Ye Qing took the crystal ball and poured soul power into it. A small number appeared inside.
13.
"Level thirteen!"
Normally, absorbing a soul ring would only grant the basic increase of one level. Over the previous three months, Ye Qing had consumed a great many treasures of heaven and earth. Besides strengthening his body, those precious resources could naturally also increase his soul power.
Combined with this Light Unicorn soul ring, which exceeded the standard age by three hundred years, they had allowed Ye Qing to make three consecutive leaps, going straight from level ten to level thirteen.
Moreover, Ye Qing had a feeling.
The soul power within him had yet to be fully digested. He only needed to let it settle for a while, and he would break through to level fourteen as naturally as water flowing into a completed channel.
Ye Feng was not surprised by this level. It was both expected and reasonable. He was more interested in what soul skill Ye Qing had obtained from the Light Unicorn.
Was it an offensive soul skill, a defensive soul skill, or a supportive healing ability?
"My dear grandson, what's your soul skill?"
After lowering his head to glance at the soul ring around him, Ye Qing raised his hand and cast a ray of light onto Ye Feng.
Immediately afterward, an oval golden bubble enveloped Ye Feng. Of course, it was not a bubble, but a soul power shield.
"Holy Radiance Protection. It's a defensive soul skill that consumes soul power to form a shield, blocking one attack no more than three times as powerful as the shield," Ye Qing said.
"How much soul power does it consume?" Ye Feng asked.
"That depends on how much soul power I put into it. The most basic shield uses less than one percent of my soul power, while going all out can drain me dry." This demonstrated the advantage of the Douluo Continent's Martial Soul system: once a soul ring was obtained, the skill within it could become a Soul Master's instinct, just like an innate ability.
Naturally, upon obtaining the soul ring, Ye Qing had also understood every function of this soul skill.
Holy Radiance Protection was, of course, not as simple as Ye Qing had described.
His explanation to Ye Feng was indeed accurate. When cast on someone else, it could only form a defensive shield capable of blocking an attack no more than three times as powerful as the soul power he put into it.
But if he cast it on himself, it was no longer a matter of three times his soul power. Instead, it consumed a fixed tenth of his soul power and could block one attack from no more than three ranks above him.
In other words, with his current cultivation as a level-thirteen Soul Master, spending a tenth of his soul power to activate Holy Radiance Protection would allow him to block a Soul Elder's full-force strike. And if an attack did not reach the shield's limit, the shield would not shatter outright. It would merely be depleted, continuing to protect Ye Qing.
It had two entirely different defensive modes, one for others and one for himself.
That was because, besides Holy Radiance Protection, this soul skill had another name.
It was called-Evil God's Protection.
Precisely because its effect on him was so far beyond the norm that it hardly seemed like a soul skill a Soul Beast such as the Light Unicorn could produce, Ye Qing had not mentioned its effect on himself. He had only explained what happened when he used it on others.
That alone was already absurdly powerful.
A single shield of yours required someone else to expend three times as much soul power to break it. Against someone of the same level, spending half your soul power to make a shield meant they could exhaust themselves to death and still fail to break through.
Meanwhile, you could go on an unstoppable killing spree.
Of course, this soul skill also had a weakness: it was vulnerable to being surrounded and attacked.
If all his soul power went into creating a shield, leaving none to fight with, then once his attackers broke the shield, he would essentially have no choice but to wait for death.
Even so, it was still a lifesaving trump card at a critical moment.
"Very good!" Ye Qing had judged correctly. Even just the shield's effect when used on others had already left Ye Feng thoroughly satisfied.
"A divine skill for single combat!"
That was Ye Feng's assessment of this soul skill.
"Since you've successfully absorbed its soul ring, this naturally ought to be yours to absorb as well!" After saying that, Ye Feng took out another item and held it out before Ye Qing.
Before you continue