"Little fellow, I admire you more and more," Yue Guan said, taking a belt from his Storage Soul Tool. "I originally intended to give you a little trinket as a first-meeting gift, but I've changed my mind. If you can last more than ten minutes under my pressure, this Storage Soul Tool will be yours."
Looking at the belt in Yue Guan's hand, Tang Mo suddenly wondered whether there had once been a Soul Engineer who loved making storage belts. Otherwise, where had so many belts with similar appearances come from?
The belt in Yue Guan's hand looked very similar to Twenty-Four Bridges Bright Moon Night, the Storage Soul Tool belt Yu Xiaogang had given Tang San. Only the number of inlaid jade stones differed.
Twenty-Four Bridges Bright Moon Night had twenty-four jade stones, while the belt in Yue Guan's hand had eight.
The instant he saw the belt, a passage from Man Jiang Hong flashed through his mind: "Thirty years of fame and merit, dust and earth; eight thousand miles of clouds and moon."
In his previous life, he had cultivated in the Tang Sect for nearly thirty years. If he truly counted his steps from birth, how could the distance he had walked in his lifetime have been a mere eight thousand miles?
But all of that had already turned to dust. Like the ever-changing clouds and moon, none of it mattered anymore.
"Please go easy on me, Your Eminence Chrysanthemum Douluo." After cupping his fist in salute to Yue Guan, Tang Mo took a deep breath and circulated the Five Treasures Body Protection Method, steadily adjusting his condition.
Seeing that Tang Mo had guessed his and Gui Mei's identities, Yue Guan's admiration deepened, and the slight pang he had felt over giving away a Storage Soul Tool vanished like smoke.
In his view, as long as Tang Mo did not die young, he would at least become a Titled Douluo. Investing in him early would be no loss at all.
He simply had not yet realized that once he poured too many resources into Tang Mo, the sunk cost of cutting ties with him would become too high, leaving him unable to sever those ties completely.
In other words, for some time to come, Tang Mo would bear the label of Yue Guan's junior.
Even if Yue Guan himself had never thought of placing such a label on Tang Mo, others would not see it that way.
Even Gui Mei, who was somewhat slow when it came to social dealings, felt at this moment that Yue Guan was acting a little too hastily.
Seeing that Tang Mo had finished adjusting his condition, Yue Guan began gradually releasing his pressure.
Although he had not revealed his Soul Rings or even summoned his Martial Soul, the pressure he released was enough to strike Tang Mo like a club to the head.
Tang Mo immediately felt his body grow heavy, as though extremely heavy weights had suddenly been strapped to every corner of his body.
The immense pressure made his knees feel a little weak, but they did not bend. He maintained his posture with his chest drawn in and his back lifted, bearing Yue Guan's pressure head-on.
Drawing in the chest and lifting the back was a standing posture that imitated a crane. It looked somewhat like hunching, but in truth, the two were worlds apart.
Hunching for too long could deform the spine, whereas drawing in the chest and lifting the back had no negative effects on the body. It could even make the Governing Vessel flow more freely, easing every inhalation and exhalation.
Practicing the horse stance was actually a way of finding this posture-a posture that allowed the body to relax naturally without suddenly collapsing onto the ground. It sought naturalness, relaxation, and harmony, its essence much like following one's heart without overstepping the bounds.
This was a framework that should be established while laying the foundations. Once someone successfully found the feeling even once, they could easily enter that state again, while their body would constantly make minute adjustments, continually seeking the posture best suited to them.
Yue Guan sensed that Tang Mo's state was very peculiar. His body clearly looked extremely loose, yet he seemed capable of turning at any moment into a savage beast ready to pick its prey and devour it.
Looseness and tension should clearly have been two extremes, yet they formed an indescribably harmonious unity within Tang Mo.
Only by being as loose as a sponge and as taut as a bowstring could a person release and withdraw freely, unleashing their greatest strength at any moment and reining it back in within the shortest possible time.
At this sight, Yue Guan could not help increasing his pressure a little. Level forty, level forty-one...
Although he wanted to see where Tang Mo's limit lay, he would not crush him in one go, so he increased the pressure gradually.
The initial pressure had merely been enough to immobilize a level-forty Quasi-Soul Ancestor. Then he began raising it one level at a time.
Only when his pressure could pin a level-fifty Quasi-Soul King in place did Tang Mo's body tremble. He could no longer maintain his previous calm ease, and beads of sweat gradually seeped from his forehead.
Under this pressure, the Dark Gold Dreadclaws, his External Soul Bones, began gradually fusing with his palms. The remnants of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's bloodline power within his first Soul Ring were also gradually merging with him.
Why could a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear contend with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast even when it had only just reached ten thousand years of age?
The reason was simple: bloodline power.
In a certain sense, a Martial Soul was a vessel that carried bloodline power. This was why top-tier Martial Souls such as the Clear Sky Hammer could be passed down through the generations.
Even if someone in the line underwent a Martial Soul Mutation, the influence of bloodline power meant that it would not prevent other descendants from continuing to pass down the Martial Soul.
At this moment, Tang Mo circulated the Five Treasures Body Protection Method, using his Martial Soul to absorb the trace amount of bloodline power belonging to the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
This trace of bloodline power would not cause any obvious mutation and turn him into a half-human, half-bear monster. Instead, it would merge into his bloodline, strengthening his physical constitution and his affinity for the power of the metal element.
Simply put, his physical constitution would improve across the board. His basic attributes, such as strength, speed, and stamina, would all increase to a certain degree.
Beyond that, if he devoted himself to studying the metal element, there might be an extremely slim chance that he could control some of its power.
Yue Guan noticed that Tang Mo's physical constitution differed from that of ordinary people. Under pressure that could firmly suppress a Quasi-Soul King, his body was actually only somewhat stiff, so Yue Guan increased his pressure once more.
Level fifty-one, level fifty-two... When his pressure reached the point where it could pin a level-fifty-seven Soul King in place, unable to advance an inch, Tang Mo's body suddenly began trembling violently, and trickles of cold sweat dampened his forehead.
Before long, sweat had completely soaked his back, but he did not give up. Instead, he continued gritting his teeth and holding on.
It was not because he had masochistic tendencies, but because the Dark Gold Dreadclaws, his External Soul Bones, were about to fuse with him completely.
At this crucial juncture, he absolutely would not give up. Otherwise, once he missed this opportunity, fully fusing with the Dark Gold Dreadclaws might require him to endure torment a thousand times more terrifying than today's.
"More." Tang Mo all but forced the word through his clenched teeth.
Yue Guan had been about to withdraw his pressure, but after giving Tang Mo a thoughtful look, a flash of astonishment crossed his face.
"External Soul Bones? And two of them?" Only at this moment did Yue Guan notice that External Soul Bones had fused with the palms of both Tang Mo's hands.
Upon realizing this, a trace of greed flashed through his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by relief.
External Soul Bones were naturally incomparably precious, but compared with the person who possessed them, their value seemed extremely limited.
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