After several long howls in succession, Nan Zhuliu gradually calmed down, and the bloodthirsty light deep in his eyes slowly receded.
What followed was an intense sense of weakness from overdrawing his Soul Power and mental power, yet it could not overcome his excitement at that moment.
After giving his wounds some basic treatment, Nan Zhuliu rummaged through the scattered remains for their storage soul tools, finding in one of them the ten-thousand-year Soul Bone this soul master team had obtained earlier.
The corner of Nan Zhuliu's mouth twitched.
With this Soul Bone to improve his father's constitution, he believed his father could reach rank sixty within a few years.
If his father then absorbed a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, he would still have a chance of reaching the threshold of Titled Douluo.
Nan Zhuliu searched some more, then discovered to his surprise a small, exquisite dark-golden bone emitting Soul Power fluctuations no weaker than those of the ten-thousand-year Soul Bone he had found.
Soul Bones could indeed be complete or incomplete; a complete arm bone, for example, included both the forearm and upper arm, while an incomplete one contained only one of those parts.
But this dark-golden Soul Bone was entirely different from the Soul Bones of the six conventional body parts. It looked more like a palm bone, with five long, narrow, blade-like bone blades at its front, dark-golden light rippling over their sharp edges like water.
The instant he saw this dark-golden Soul Bone, a name immediately sprang into Nan Zhuliu's mind: the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear External Palm Bone!
Nan Zhuliu had never expected this encounter to yield such an unexpected windfall.
Leaving aside the fact that this was a Soul Bone produced by a super Soul Bone like the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear, an External Soul Bone that occupied none of the conventional slots was already an enormous gain.
Once completely fused, an External Soul Bone could no longer be removed by severing a limb like an ordinary Soul Bone; it would become fully integrated with the soul master.
Presumably, these people either had not decided how to distribute this Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear External Soul Bone or had been unable to fuse with it, allowing him to reap an enormous bargain.
After all, even Huo Yuhao, who had fused with a four-hundred-thousand-year Ice Jade Empress Scorpion Soul Ring and torso bone, a Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone... and enjoyed one fortuitous opportunity after another, had suffered between life and death while absorbing a thousand-year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear External Right Palm Bone. How much worse would it have been for ordinary soul masters like them, most of whom did not even have the optimal Soul Ring configuration?
The truth was indeed much as Nan Zhuliu had guessed.
What he did not know was that this soul master team had originally consisted of seven people.
The reason he had encountered only six was that, while fusing with this thousand-year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear External Left Palm Bone, the seventh had been unable to withstand the domineering Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear bloodline and Darkgolden Terrorclaw Soul Skill within the Soul Bone, suffering a backlash and dying on the spot.
With that precedent before them, the remaining six had not dared to attempt fusing with this Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear External Left Palm Bone lightly. They had planned to discuss how to handle it after returning, never expecting to meet their end at Nan Zhuliu's hands.
Of everything this soul master team had left behind, nothing was more valuable than these two Soul Bones. The other miscellaneous items were worth around two hundred thousand gold soul coins altogether.
Two hundred thousand gold soul coins was not much to a soul master, but it was enough to live comfortably for quite some time.
Only after putting a considerable distance between himself and the Star Dou Great Forest did the physically and mentally exhausted Nan Zhuliu finally seem to shed a heavy burden, slowly sitting down against a roadside tree.
His dried-out meridians resembled cracked earth baked beneath a blazing sun.
Only after circulating his cultivation method for quite a while did he manage to generate a few threads of Soul Power. Like sweet dew, they nourished his parched meridians and battered body little by little.
An unknown amount of time passed before faint footsteps sounded.
Nan Zhuliu lifted his eyes slightly and saw a girl walking toward him. She looked about his age, with a slender figure, long black hair cascading down her back like a waterfall, and delicate, cute features.
Most striking of all were her deep-blue eyes, as clear and bright as sapphires, with a faint sheen flowing through them.
Just then, she seemed to notice him too. As though frightened, she froze on the spot, her hands unconsciously tightening around the straps of her bundle.
Nan Zhuliu gave her only a glance before paying her no further attention, closing his eyes and continuing to circulate his Soul Power to recover.
Given the Soul Power fluctuations coming from her, so weak as to be almost negligible compared with his own, and her instinctive, worldly-inexperienced reaction, he did not think this girl would risk attacking him.
Even if she did attack, injured as he was, he could still kill her effortlessly with the slightest lift of his hand.
Even without looking, Nan Zhuliu could still sense the girl's conflicted gaze lingering on him for a long time, as though she could not steel herself to make some decision.
Looking at Nan Zhuliu sitting beneath the tree with his head drooping, a pair of blade-like golden horns on his forehead, broad patches of scales on his forearms, and his entire body bathed in blood, the girl tightened her grip on the bundle's straps over her shoulders, unable to bear the sight.
Stepping beyond that tiny patch of land for the first time, the girl had come to the Star Dou Great Forest hoping to obtain her first Soul Ring, become a soul master, and rise in the world. At first, the sight had truly terrified her.
But with eyesight more than twice as keen as an ordinary person's, she made out that Nan Zhuliu looked little different in age from herself, yet he was covered in blood, sitting all alone by the roadside.
He looked so much like her back then, when she could only watch helplessly as her gravely ill mother lay in bed and gradually withered away, that a trace of compassion rose within the girl for no apparent reason.
After struggling with herself for a while, the girl moved.
The footsteps drew closer and closer, finally stopping before Nan Zhuliu.
"Are you all right?"
The girl's voice was very gentle, with a soft sweetness to it, like a fluffy, downy feather brushing lightly across the tip of his heart.
Nan Zhuliu kept his eyes closed and said nothing.
Seeing that Nan Zhuliu ignored her, the girl thought he had lost consciousness.
Then Nan Zhuliu heard several ripping sounds beside his ear, the sound of cloth being torn.
He opened his eyes and saw the girl tearing the clothes in her bundle into strips, then carefully bandaging the wounds on his arm.
Apparently, the wounds he had given basic treatment had begun seeping blood again at some point.
Nan Zhuliu had not expected this girl to be so bold. Leaving aside his dragon horns, he was covered in blood; anyone else would have kept a respectful distance long ago.
She did not even know who he was, yet she dared to stay and bandage his wounds. Moreover, judging by her clothes, her family was clearly not well-off.
"You don't even know who I am, or whether I'm good or bad, yet you dare to help me. Aren't you afraid I'm black-hearted and will repay your kindness with malice?"
Without stopping her bandaging, the girl answered softly, "If you were a bad person, you wouldn't talk to me like this."
Nan Zhuliu could not help laughing. "Thanks."