Vast Sea City

Grandpa Old Gavin clasped Jiang Che's hand. "Go pursue your studies without worrying. Everyone will look after your house and fields in the village. We guarantee they'll be just as you left them when you come back."

Jiang Che's throat shifted slightly, and he nodded firmly. Finally, he reminded him, "Grandpa, make sure everyone keeps the pills I gave you a secret. You mustn't let outsiders find out. I'll send some pills back every year to give these children a better chance of awakening innate soul power."

The day passed amid the villagers' cheerful laughter.

Tall reeds surrounded the rock by the riverbank.

During the six years before he awakened his martial soul, Jiang Che had often come here to bask in the sun and listen to the murmuring river. This spot was well hidden and rarely visited, and it was nighttime now.

Just in case, Jiang Che had also told Grandpa Old Gavin that he would be cultivating here tonight and asked him not to let anyone approach and disturb him.

Jiang Che took the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone out of System Space.

The next instant, an exceptionally rich aura of life swept over him like an ocean wave.

Immediately afterward, blue-gold light burst from the box like the first light of dawn. Without the tall reeds concealing it, the villagers would certainly have noticed the commotion.

"The Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone is extremely compatible with my martial soul. The benefits to me will undoubtedly be enormous."

On the Douluo Continent, soul bones were more precious than soul rings not only because a soul beast had to harbor immense resentment before death for there to be a chance of producing a soul bone, but also for another important reason: absorbing soul bones had no level restriction. Even a small fry with only level-one innate soul power could absorb one.

Jiang Che took the Blue Silver Grass out of System Space, removed it from its flowerpot, and washed it clean in the river.

Without a second thought, he swallowed it.

Bitter juices burst in his mouth, carrying a strong grassy, woody flavor that was intensely bitter.

At that moment, the hundred-thousand-year soul beast, the Blue Silver Emperor, also died completely.

"I actually didn't get any skill points?"

With that, Jiang Che hesitated no longer and pressed the soul bone against his right leg.

At the very instant of contact.

Powerful fluctuations of soul power swept outward.

Jiang Che's body jolted violently, and blue-gold light rose in the depths of his pupils.

He felt an immensely vast power burrow into his right leg. It was as though his leg had been placed beneath gentle sunlight, an exceptionally comfortable sensation.

At the same time, he also absorbed the vitality within the Blue Silver Grass.

Although the vitality within the Blue Silver Grass was extremely faint, it was already considerable for a one-ring soul master like him.

The soul power within Jiang Che also surged wildly at that moment, boiling!

Several hours later, the riverbank gradually returned to tranquility.

Jiang Che slowly opened his eyes. A gleam of blue-gold light rose in his pupils, then sank into their depths, leaving them calm again.

He closed his eyes and directed his spiritual power inward to examine his body.

That examination shook him to his core.

He discovered that his body had undergone tremendous changes.

Golden patterns wound around every meridian, and the soul power flowing through them was no longer ordinary white, but brilliant gold.

Moreover, the vortex gathering true qi within him had expanded considerably. He estimated that it could let him maintain the Qi Condensation Shield at full strength for two minutes.

His soul power had also risen a full five levels, reaching level 17.

The Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone had granted him two skills in total.

Wildfire cannot burn it all away; the spring breeze blows, and it grows again: this was an exceptionally powerful self-repair skill. Even grievous injuries such as severed limbs could be rapidly repaired. In places where Blue Silver Grass grew thickly, its restorative effect would become even stronger, giving him nearly undying staying power.

Of course, with Jiang Che's current soul power reserves, he could only use this skill once.

"Once is enough. A skill this outrageously powerful is enough to turn defeat into victory in a battle!"

Flight was the second skill the hundred-thousand-year right leg bone had granted him.

Jiang Che extended his right hand, and the Blue Silver Emperor slowly appeared. Compared with Blue Silver Grass, the Blue Silver Emperor's stems and roots were covered in pale golden patterns.

His first soul skill, Profusion, had also been strengthened.

Profusion: (Single-target healing skill. Rapidly stimulates the growth of Blue Silver Grass to entwine the target, continuously healing injuries over a short period. Also restores 15% soul power and purifies negative conditions.)]

In the days that followed, Jiang Che enjoyed a rare spell of leisure.

At daybreak, Jiang Che sat cross-legged by the river, cultivating his soul power. His gleaming yellow soul ring shone dazzlingly in the sunlight.

Once the sun climbed overhead, he rolled up his sleeves and went to help in the fields.

He carried grain sacks weighing over a hundred jin with one hand. With a swing of his hoe, he turned half a mu of soil soft and loose in the blink of an eye.

The chores that left the village's burly men groaning with exhaustion were like child's play to Jiang Che.

"Little Che, that sack..." Before Auntie Liao could finish, she looked up, and goodness, Jiang Che had already lifted the burlap sack with one hand.

"Auntie, where should I put it?" Jiang Che asked with an easy smile.

At first, everyone in the village was utterly astonished. Later, they still could not hide their mixture of envy and pride.

Jiang Che was happy to do it too. Fetching water, chopping firewood, turning the soil-work that a whole group once huffed and puffed over for ages without finishing, he handled all by himself at a leisurely pace. It was also a way of using his abilities to repay the villagers' kindness.

As sunset approached, he settled beneath the old locust tree at the village entrance, watching cooking smoke rise from each household.

Jiang Che knew very well that once he set foot on the path of a soul master, he would probably never be able to return to such comfortable days.

A month passed in the blink of an eye, and Lanhe Village's dirt road filled with villagers who had come to see him off.

"Be careful on the road, and keep your wits about you out there." Grandpa Old Gavin leaned on his cane, his voice slightly choked.

"Come back and visit when you have time," Auntie Li said, waving.

For this journey, Jiang Che already had an answer in mind.

Vast Sea City!

He had not spent the past month doing nothing.

He had learned that Vast Sea City had an illicit underground dueling arena. Death matches-stepping into the ring meant staking one's fortune and life. It was a good place to earn skill points.

Not only that, heading north from Vast Sea City led to the Far North, while the nearby Tianyun Mountain Range to the south was a good place to hunt soul beasts.

After a week of travel, he finally arrived at the Heaven Dou Empire's most sprawling coastal city-Vast Sea City.

Looking up, he was awed by the blue that filled his vision.

The sea spread toward the horizon, vast and boundless. Wave crests and the bottoms of clouds merged along the skyline, making it impossible to tell whether the sea had dyed the sky blue or the sky had cast its blue upon the sea.

Vast Sea City stood majestically atop a cliff. The entire city stretched across terrain that rose in the west and fell in the east, like a giant beast lying along the coastline.

Jiang Che climbed from the foot of the mountain on the eastern side. The stone steps were steep, and the sea wind whipped fiercely.

As he looked up, what had been only an outline from afar revealed its full appearance as he drew closer.

Massive dark-blue stones formed towering city walls, their surfaces carved with layer upon layer of rolling ocean waves.

At the city gate, the soldiers looked him up and down. Seeing that Jiang Che carried himself with distinction despite his plain clothes, they asked a couple of simple questions before letting him through.

The instant he stepped through the gate, Jiang Che immediately noticed the difference from Nuoding City.