Although Li Ye had considered that the Titan Giant Ape and Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear might have dropped Soul Bones, he had never expected two External Soul Bones.
External Soul Bones were supreme treasures second only to Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings. Unlike ordinary Soul Bones, these things could continuously evolve as a Soul Master's level rose.
Ordinary Soul Bones also grew stronger with a Soul Master after being absorbed, but this mainly manifested in increases to their age and effects. They could not continuously evolve like External Soul Bones and improve their most fundamental quality.
Ultimately, this was because External Soul Bones did not occupy a Soul Master's six primary locations. They could freely absorb a Soul Master's excess Soul Power and, when the Soul Master absorbed a Soul Ring, draw away the excess berserk energy within it to evolve themselves.
The Soul Bones in the six primary regions could not do this because those regions were too important. Soul Masters instinctively forced berserk energy out of their bodies rather than letting it surge into those six primary regions or the Soul Bones within them.
Over a million years, exceedingly few people had obtained Soul Bones, and no one had dared to boldly experiment. This had left Martial Soul Theory and Soul Power cultivation standards across the entire Douluo Continent unable to improve.
Moreover, the Empire and the Various Great Sects had all but monopolized the top Soul Masters and all kinds of advanced cultivation methods. As a result, it was difficult for a Soul Master to emerge among the common people at the bottom, and harder still for a powerful one to emerge.
For ordinary people who wanted to climb to the continent's summit, there was no other way out besides mutation and hard work.
"Ye Li, take these two Soul Bones. You're not allowed to give them to anyone, not even me! You've absorbed the Titan Giant Ape's and Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's Soul Rings. Only you can bring out the best effects of their Soul Bones by absorbing them. Understand?"
"Yes, I understand. You're the best to me, Long'er. In another two years, I'll definitely marry you and bring you home."
"Then it's a promise. Two years from now, come to Blue Tyrant Academy to marry me. You don't have to make the wedding particularly grand. We just need to bow to heaven and earth, then enter the bridal chamber."
"Don't worry. I always keep my promises. I definitely won't go back on my word!"
The two embraced for a while before Li Ye put the Soul Bones into his Soul Tool.
Come to think of it, Yu Xiaogang had given him this belt so long ago, yet he still had not given it a nice name.
Tang San: Senior Brother, how about calling it Twenty-Four Bridges on a Moonlit Night? If you gave me the belt, that's definitely what I'd name it.
Li Ye: Get lost, you bastard. Now you're coveting your senior brother's things? You're really asking for a beating. Today you dare covet my belt; tomorrow you'll dare covet Xiao Wu!
Tang San: You motherfucker!
So, he would call this belt "Twenty-Four Heavens."
After leaving the forest and passing through the small town, Li Ye parted ways with Liu Erlong in Suotuo City.
On returning this time, Liu Erlong planned to properly decorate her little house so she could bow to heaven and earth with Li Ye and enter the bridal chamber two years later.
Li Ye, meanwhile, planned to absorb these two External Soul Bones first, then visit Shrek Academy to see whether he could pry some spending money out of his dear martial uncle. After all, he really did not have much money left.
Since he had reached level forty, he could no longer collect the Soul Master allowance from Spirit Hall. Boohoo, X﹏X. This was unbearable. How was he supposed to live?!
Was he supposed to go to Tang San or Xiao Wu and ask them to support him? That would be far too embarrassing!
After finding a suitable hotel, Li Ye began absorbing the Soul Bones in his room.
Although Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones gave off powerful light and auras, ordinary Soul Masters could not detect their auras at all unless they were within five meters.
Of course, Suotuo City had no Soul Masters capable of detecting a Soul Bone's aura anyway. After all, Soul Douluo-level powerhouses were not cabbages lying around everywhere, ready to appear in a lower-tier city in a subordinate kingdom.
It took Li Ye roughly four or five hours to finish absorbing the two External Soul Bones.
On this Soul Ring hunt, he had not only obtained two External Soul Bones but also added a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring to each of his two Martial Souls.
Li Ye named the fourth Soul Skill of his Demonic Flame Spear, currently his primary Martial Soul, "Dark Gold Divine Power."
Using this Soul Skill not only granted Li Ye the blessing of the Ultimate Metal attribute but also gave an additional fifty-percent boost to all his attributes other than attack and defense, while attack and defense received an additional two-hundred-percent boost. It was truly terrifying, though each use lasted only an hour and consumed quite a lot of power.
Of course, after absorbing the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's Soul Ring, the piercing effect and other attributes of Li Ye's Demonic Flame Spear had also improved enormously, effectively giving the Martial Soul itself an upgrade.
As for Li Ye's secondary Martial Soul, the Ghost-Cold Sword, its very first Soul Ring came from a Titan Giant Ape over thirty thousand years old. It was receiving almost excessively good treatment.
Li Ye called its Soul Skill Sword Domain.
This did not mean Li Ye had obtained a domain. Rather, after activating the Soul Skill, he could create a gravitational field centered on the Ghost-Cold Sword. Every target within the field would be subjected to extremely powerful gravitational suppression, with its intensity controlled by Li Ye himself. However, its upper limit could not exceed the Titan Giant Ape's own weight, which was over a hundred tonnes, or roughly over two hundred thousand jin.
Of course, Li Ye's current Soul Power was still insufficient to unleash gravitational suppression that powerful. Otherwise, he could casually crush most powerhouses to death.
Still, that was something of a joke. Many powerhouses could easily withstand that weight without dying.
Take Tang Hao, for example. His Clear Sky Hammer weighed at least tens of thousands of jin, yet he could swing it freely. That did not mean his hammer became lighter in his hands; his own strength was simply that great. Lifting something weighing two hundred thousand jin with his bare hands would be nothing to him.
The reason Bo Saixi could not lift the Sea God Trident despite being a Peerless Douluo was, first, that she was not a strength-type Soul Master and lacked that much physical strength, and second, that the Sea God Trident carried Sea God Divine Power. Anyone other than the Sea God's inheritor would be suppressed by that divine power, greatly increasing the difficulty of lifting the Sea God Trident without changing its actual weight.
Put Tang Chen in her place, and see whether he could lift the Sea God Trident or send the Titan Giant Ape flying with a smack.
As for Soul Bone Skills, the Titan Giant Ape Left Palm Bone gave Li Ye a skill called Tai Tan's Grip. As its name suggested, this skill could manifest a Titan Giant Ape's hand to seize whatever target Li Ye wanted to grab. Meanwhile, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's right palm bone gave Li Ye Dark Gold Dreadclaw, one of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's main means of attack. The skills could not be called particularly good, but their killing power was absolutely rock-solid.
After absorbing the two External Soul Bones, Li Ye planned to look for Flender at his little shop.
He had previously visited Flender's little shop with Yu Xiaogang, so it was not particularly difficult to find. He arrived inside before long.
"Look around yourself if you want to buy anything. Come pay once you've chosen. Don't ask whether I can lower the price. If you ask, the answer's no."
"Martial Uncle, it's me. I'm not here to buy anything."
Seeing Flender reclining in a Grand Tutor's Chair with a book covering his face, looking as though he could not be bothered to move, Li Ye shook his head helplessly.
With that attitude toward doing business, it was no wonder he had no customers at all. Unless people were blind, they probably would not even want to step inside his shop.
"Ah, it's Xiao Ye! Hahaha, you've caught me looking ridiculous. Honestly, child, you could have let your martial uncle know you were coming. I could've given you a proper welcome and washed away the dust of your journey."
"I just got back from obtaining my fourth Soul Ring in Star Dou Forest. I happened to be passing through Suotuo City, so I thought I'd come visit you, Martial Uncle. Money's been a little tight lately, so I didn't buy you any gifts. I'm really sorry."
"Oh, child, your martial uncle is already an old man. Why would I need a little youngster like you to buy me gifts? Here, this Gold Card has ten thousand Gold Soul Coins in it. Take it and spend it. If it's not enough, just tell your martial uncle."
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