Faced with such a prodigy, one either befriended him from the outset or could only wipe him out before he had grown.
Beyond that, there was simply no other choice. After all, fickle petty men were unwelcome wherever they went.
And Yue Guan had intended to befriend Tang Mo from the very beginning. The depth of potential Tang Mo now displayed only strengthened that intention.
"You little rascal, scheming to use even me?" Yue Guan chuckled, then continued increasing the pressure he released.
Level fifty-eight, level fifty-nine, level sixty, level sixty-one.
Only when the pressure he released could restrain a Soul Master who had just broken through to Soul Emperor did Tang Mo begin showing signs of buckling.
Even as he did everything he could to steady himself, his knees bent little by little against his will. At that moment, he felt as though every bone in his body was wailing.
The most horrifying wails naturally came from his hands. Although the original owner of these external soul bones, the Thousand-Year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, was already dead, the pride carved into its bones still drove them to resist the pressure from outside.
Tang Mo's palms were now making constant cracking sounds, as though they might shatter into countless fragments at any moment.
He gritted his teeth and circulated the Guan Zizai Heart Method. The Guan Zizai Heart Method had little to do with Buddhism; it was simply that the main purpose of practicing this method was to attain freedom within.
People had two systems of thought. One belonged entirely to themselves, while the other was a system formed under the influences of the outside world and the self.
It was like how someone who was very hungry would be drawn to street food.
This pattern of thought did not mean they were drawn to it because they wanted to eat it.
Rather, they were drawn to it only after smelling its aroma and being influenced by their own hunger.
This was not a thought that arose entirely from their own hearts, but a reaction made after being influenced by external factors and then taking their own circumstances into account.
Under the influence of this system of thought, people experienced outward emotional fluctuations such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
Although ordinary people had difficulty sensing the emotional fluctuations of others, for an assassin, revealing one's emotions was tantamount to exposing oneself before the assassination target.
True assassination was not about meticulous planning, approaching the target through all manner of means, and then striking to kill.
On the contrary, true assassination should take place without a sound or a trace.
Imagine an ordinary afternoon, with someone walking down the street surrounded by an entourage, merely exchanging a glance with a passerby or passing them with some distance in between.
That person would silently lose their life. Those gathered around them would not know what had happened, and even the person themselves would not know what had happened. A vibrant life would simply fade away.
To accomplish this, one needed to suppress one's emotions, forget one's purpose, and seek an opportunity to kill with a single strike. Whether the assassination succeeded or not, one had to be able to disappear naturally into the crowd.
Tang San's understanding of the Tang Sect Assassin's Way was only superficial. He thought that as long as he used hidden weapons and poison well, he could become an assassin.
An assassin needed to suppress their emotions and even be able to conceal themselves perfectly within a crowd.
When necessary, they could sacrifice themselves to complete the mission objective, or even kill the target in a way no one could imagine without relying on poison or hidden weapons.
Tang Mo reined in his emotions and circulated the Guan Zizai Heart Method, placing his consciousness above his bodily instincts, forgetting the pressure, forgetting the Dark Gold Dreadclaw...
At that moment, he watched like a bystander as his own body, like windblown catkins, helplessly suffered beneath the pressure.
The pain in his body was receding, and his consciousness grew ever clearer. In this state, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw gradually fused with him completely, moving step by step toward becoming inseparable from him.
He broke apart and ground down the bloodline power hidden within the Soul Ring, incorporating it into himself bit by bit.
Seeing this, Yue Guan increased the pressure once again, but this time Tang Mo stood where he was as though nothing were happening, without any reaction.
Startled by this sight, Yue Guan began carefully examining Tang Mo's current state.
"The body is a lone boat upon the sea; the mind is the old boatman at its helm." Gui Mei suddenly spoke, describing Tang Mo's current state with a rather remarkable analogy.
Gui Mei's eyes remained fixed on Tang Mo. At that moment, he felt as though he had found the path ahead.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei, these two old partners, shared one painful problem: they had taken the wrong path.
Yue Guan's Martial Soul was the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, a type of immortal herb. Consuming it allowed energy to flow through all four limbs and could forge an indestructible body of diamond.
Yet Yue Guan had developed the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum entirely as an ordinary plant-type Martial Soul, without developing its own inherent characteristics at all.
Gui Mei's Martial Soul was even more unusual. He had originally died, but through a chance coincidence, his soul had attached itself to his own body. Thus, his Martial Soul was a ghost, his own self, and in a certain sense belonged to a special category of body Martial Soul.
Since the Body Sect did not currently exist, most Soul Masters who awakened body Martial Souls could only cultivate by drawing on the cultivation experience of other Martial Souls.
Gui Mei had cultivated his own Martial Soul as an ordinary agility attack system Martial Soul.
The fact that these two had managed to cultivate to level ninety-five despite practicing in entirely the wrong way was purely due to their extraordinary talent, rather than any accurate development of their Martial Souls.
Before long, Tang Mo's body shuddered. A phantom of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear flashed over his hands and vanished, after which the external soul bones on both hands, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw, sprang out uncontrollably.
He clenched his fists. He could feel that, from this moment onward, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw had completely fused with him, becoming inseparable from him.
Even if someone cut off his hands, they would be unable to strip the Dark Gold Dreadclaw from them.
Beyond that, he also felt an unprecedented lightness, as though he had shed a set of shackles fastened around him. He felt that with just a gentle leap, his whole body could briefly rise into the air.
"Kid, catch." Seeing that Tang Mo seemed to have gotten what he wanted, Yue Guan made no further mention of their original agreement and tossed the storage belt straight to him.
Tang Mo retracted his external soul bones and raised a hand to catch the storage belt. After naming the belt Eight Thousand Miles of Clouds and Moon in his mind, he fastened it directly around his waist.
The belt seemed to have an innate ability to fit its wearer. While he held it in his hands, it had clearly looked large enough to easily encircle the waists of two grown men, yet after he fastened it around his waist, it fit extremely snugly, as though it had automatically adjusted to his build.
He poured Soul Power into it and discovered that its storage space was unexpectedly large.
Each piece of jade amounted to eight cubic meters of storage space, and there were a full eight pieces of jade on the belt, which meant sixty-four cubic meters of storage space.
After putting his personal belongings inside, he began considering the idea of recreating the Devouring Pouch on the Douluo Continent.
The Tang Sect in his previous world possessed a complete artifact refiner inheritance, though the work artifact refiners did was actually rather like making a brick fly through sheer force.
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