As the mirror shattered, a tremendous force, as though space itself were being torn apart, was about to descend on Su Yu.
Yet after the mirror broke, those ripping forces were absorbed by the black vortex above Su Yu's head.
Su Yu's gaze grew grave.
His essence, energy, and spirit united, his consciousness had already delved into his inner landscape, absorbing all the black and silver substances he had gathered while traveling in search of this Evil Spirit Orca.
The black substance could be used in tandem with this soul skill of his.
As he absorbed the black substance, this soul skill also grew stronger. Meanwhile, the silver substance possessed spatial properties. Besides helping him expand the space within his dantian, it now actually acted on the black vortex alongside the black substance, allowing his vortex to swallow even spatial tearing forces!
Without a doubt, such devouring power was terrifying!
After all, Su Yu was currently only using this skill as a defensive soul skill.
The soul power the Evil Spirit Orca had expended on its Evil Spirit Orca's Whale Annihilation already exceeded Su Yu's own soul power.
Yet it still failed to shake Su Yu's Whale Swallows All Things.
The reason was simple: the power swallowed by Whale Swallows All Things could also be used by the skill to resist subsequent attacks.
And once that swallowed power was exhausted, Whale Swallows All Things could continue devouring.
Without a doubt, this soul skill's underlying mechanism was already incredibly frightening.
It used Su Yu's total soul power as a lever to move an enormous amount of incoming damage.
If you can't exceed my total soul power, my Whale Swallows All Things will devour you.
If you can't exceed twice my total soul power, my Whale Swallows All Things will absorb the greater part of your attack, then use that greater part to cancel out the smaller remainder.
As for soul skills that exceeded twice his total soul power, an instantaneous burst might directly destroy the black vortex created by Su Yu's Whale Swallows All Things. But a sustained release might still fail to have any real effect.
After experiencing the effects of Whale Swallows All Things in actual combat, Su Yu could not help remarking, "Absorbing a soul ring beyond your level really does bring extraordinary rewards."
A ten-thousand-year second ring-its soul skill's effects were absolutely worth it!
After all, this soul ring and its skill represented more than just a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring and a ten-thousand-year soul skill.
They represented a mechanism gained when a martial soul, at what should have been its two-ring stage, underwent transformation from a soul ring far beyond what it should have absorbed at that stage.
This soul skill could offer only a mechanism, with no numerical boost.
Unfortunately for his enemies, Su Yu was no ordinary person, and this soul skill itself depended heavily on his total soul power.
That was an extremely crucial numerical value.
And Su Yu happened to be especially outstanding in that particular value. In the future, that strength would even have opportunities to improve further.
Beyond that, Su Yu's cultivation speed supplied the raw numbers this mechanism-only soul skill did not directly grant, allowing it to escape its initial period of weakness.
Yes, even if another soul master obtained such a soul skill with two rings, he would have to grow to at least four rings, or even five, before he could bring out the slightest bit of its usefulness.
But Su Yu did not need to.
He had only just absorbed his second soul ring, yet his soul power had already reached rank 29.
He was only one step away from rank 30!
He had clearly only just absorbed his second soul ring.
Yet he already had to start worrying about his third.
Without a doubt, this was not a worry just any soul master could have.
Despite being only rank 29, he ranked among the soul masters with particularly large reserves of soul power.
After all, his martial soul was his dantian itself, and its capacity for soul power exceeded that of ordinary people.
Moreover, his second soul ring had come from the Heavenly Abyss Whale.
Every soul ring a soul master absorbed provided a passive improvement, whether to physical fitness or various other aspects.
When soul engineers of the Sun Moon Empire chose soul rings and soul skills, they often selected skills that boosted soul power. After absorbing a soul ring, if they obtained a skill on the same level as White Tiger Vajra Transformation, their soul power might stand at 10 points. But if they absorbed a soul-power-enhancing skill, their soul power might reach 13 or even 14 points. When they actively used that soul-power-enhancing skill, their total soul power could even soar to 17 or 18 points.
That was the significance of acquiring soul rings with a single direction in mind.
Soul engineers of the Sun Moon Empire routinely controlled dozens or even hundreds of Soul Cannons at once, perhaps along with Flying Soul Tools and other Soul Tools. Their demand for soul power was truly immense.
Yet Su Yu, now at rank 29, definitely possessed total soul power no less than that of a Three-Ring Soul Engineer of the Sun Moon Empire.
Compared with ordinary soul masters, he might even approach a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
At that moment, the Evil Spirit Orca before Su Yu let out an enraged roar.
Clearly, it had not expected Su Yu, a two-ring Soul Grandmaster, to emerge unscathed from its soul skills time after time.
Du Busi had finally witnessed the effects of Su Yu's second soul skill as well.
"That's a little ridiculous!"
Du Busi muttered, raising his right hand to rub his chin.
Judging by the current situation, he would not need to intervene.
Du Busi had only just decided to sit back and watch when Su Yu called out to him.
"Sect Master, I've finished testing my soul skill's effects. It's your turn to act."
Du Busi froze for a moment.
As though he had guessed what Du Busi was thinking, Su Yu said helplessly, "You can't seriously expect me to kill a ten-thousand-year soul beast on my own."
"My second soul skill isn't suited for direct assaults."
Although it could also serve as an offensive method by forcibly devouring enemies, that kind of direct attack was really only useful when crushing weaklings.
Besides, just because Whale Swallows All Things had withstood two of the Evil Spirit Orca's soul skill attacks did not mean it could keep defending forever.
No matter how evil, how demonic, or how tiger-like an Evil Spirit Orca might be, it was still a whale-type sea soul beast, with an enormous body and abundant soul power.
Its total soul power far exceeded that of ordinary soul beasts.
The whale had no confidence in taking every soul skill the Evil Spirit Orca could unleash.
If it powered one of its soul skills with a large amount of soul power instead of the bare minimum, Su Yu's Whale Swallows All Things would struggle to withstand it too.
Upon hearing this, Du Busi stepped in after all.
Since he did not need to leave this Evil Spirit Orca alive for Su Yu to take its soul ring, he killed it with a single strike.
A dark green pillar of light pierced heaven and earth, punching straight through the Evil Spirit Orca's head.
Ignoring the pitch-black soul ring slowly rising into the air, Du Busi roughly pried open the Evil Spirit Orca's skull and extracted the whale rubber inside.
Suddenly, he detected a peculiar fluctuation.
"Hm?"
In a flash, Du Busi appeared beside the Evil Spirit Orca's tail. He tore open the flesh and skin, revealing a soul bone within that radiated an eerie glow.
Even Su Yu had not expected an Evil Spirit Orca chosen at random to drop a soul bone after being killed.
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