Just imagining his future self covered in nine white Ten-Year Soul Rings, and the dazed look on an opponent's face as they stared at those circles of deathly white, struck Lu Yu as amusing.
No sooner said than done. With a thought, Lu Yu recalled the Great Sage into his body and sat down cross-legged.
His Soul Power, which had been reduced to just one rank, surged back in an instant, returning to rank ten Innate Full Soul Power. Even if he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run. Both the original novel and the animation made it clear that he only needed to use his Soul Power to draw in the Soul Ring. Besides, this was only a Ten-Year Soul Ring, so it probably wouldn't be too difficult.
Lu Yu gathered the Soul Power within him and slowly released it, carefully touching the white Soul Ring in front of him. The moment his Soul Power made contact, the Soul Ring trembled lightly, and a force of resistance rebounded along his Soul Power.
It was only a Ten-Year Soul Ring. He concentrated for a moment and suppressed it. The Soul Ring finally gave up resisting and drifted slowly above his head, circling there.
Immediately afterward, waves of violent Soul Power surged back along the Soul Power he had released, striking with fierce momentum.
Damn it-I got carried away and forgot I haven't learned a meditation method for refining Soul Power... Lu Yu gritted his teeth and cried out inwardly, regretting his moment of impulsiveness. He had forgotten that he had yet to formally cultivate and had no idea how to refine the energy in the Soul Ring.
The violent Soul Power began to rampage through his body, tearing at his meridians and making his entire body tense with pain. If that golden ant had been here, it would surely have laughed at him for failing to absorb even a Ten-Year Soul Ring.
Just as Lu Yu was on the verge of collapse and about to give up, the Taiqing True Qi Manual, which he had secretly practiced through countless days and nights on Blue Star in his previous life, began circulating on its own.
An old fortune-telling Daoist had given him the Taiqing True Qi Manual, saying it could be used to cultivate internal force. His fellow disciples at the martial arts school all knew about it, but everyone had merely laughed it off and said little. Lu Yu, however, had a feeling that the cultivation method was genuine, and he secretly practiced it every night.
The violent Soul Power was gradually guided and put in order, slowly merging into his meridians. As his consciousness faded, Lu Yu sensed that familiar circulation route within his body and was shaken. Not daring to think further, he endured the agony, summoned the last of his concentration, and drove the cultivation method with all his strength.
Ten minutes passed before the Soul Ring finally entered his body. He slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath, his shoulders still trembling slightly. Relief at surviving the ordeal and excitement at possessing extraordinary power intertwined and clashed in his heart.
After resting for quite a while, Lu Yu pushed himself up from the ground. Every movement sent aches through his muscles, but fortunately, they were bearable. He closed his eyes and looked within: his Soul Power had broken through to rank 11. Lu Yu's brow relaxed, and his grin nearly reached his ears.
"Rank 11. Worth it!" He shook out his arms and threw a few punches at the air, enduring the soreness as his fists whistled through it. "This really is a fantasy world. Even after a year or two of hard training at the martial arts school in my previous life, I might not have had this kind of strength."
"Next, let's see what my first Soul Skill is." Lu Yu rubbed his hands together like a child eager to unwrap a cherished gift.
With a thought, a white Soul Ring appeared around his waist, rotating slowly. Lu Yu closed his eyes and sensed the information within the Soul Ring, and the corners of his mouth rose.
"Interesting. Why not call it-Indestructible Golden Body!"
"First Soul Skill-Indestructible Golden Body!" he shouted softly. The Soul Ring flashed twice and entered his body, instantly coating him from head to toe in gold.
He raised an arm and looked at his gleaming golden skin with a satisfied smile. "Not bad. Its age may be low, but it looks high-class. I'm a little golden man, all right."
He turned to the large tree beside him, stepped forward, and punched it. With a dull thump, the bark burst apart, and the back of his hand ached slightly. "The defense is still a bit lacking. Even an ordinary punch hurts. I can't get too reckless early on; I need to watch out for Hidden Weapons and arrows from the shadows."
After testing the Soul Skill's effects, he deactivated it and released the Great Sage. Looking at the golden-furred monkey by his feet, Lu Yu suddenly froze and muttered to himself, "Wait a minute-shouldn't the Soul Skill of an external Martial Soul be applied to the Martial Soul? Why can I use the Soul Skill myself?"
Then he laughed, a hint of ambiguous mischief in his laughter. His only reference for an External Beast Martial Soul was Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao, and the Grandmaster's Soul Skills were farts-two earth-shattering thunder farts.
How could someone who cared so much about his image use Soul Skills like those himself in front of outsiders? Naturally, he dumped the whole embarrassing business on his Martial Soul. Even I, a transmigrator who read the original novel, was led astray by him.
"Hahahaha... Gangzi, oh Gangzi, you really are something. No wonder you managed to hook both Bibi Dong and Liu Erlong and turn them into simps. I really would like to learn your skills with women!"
"If Gangzi taught me cultivation, I'd scoff at him. If Gangzi taught me how to pick up women, I'd turn right around and bow to him!"
Once he had laughed enough, he composed himself and turned his attention back to the Great Sage.
After summoning the Soul Ring, Lu Yu suddenly discovered that although the Soul Ring could appear, the Soul Skill was locked and could not be used.
His Soul Power had originally been at rank 11, but after he released the Great Sage, ten ranks were taken away, leaving him with only one. It seemed his earlier guess was right: that one rank of Soul Power had been left to maintain the initial weight of his Second Martial Soul, the Ruyi Staff.
He continued experimenting and soon discovered something else: the Soul Ring could actually be moved. With a thought, the Soul Ring floating around his waist flew up and settled on the Great Sage. The Soul Skill unlocked instantly, but the Great Sage remained at rank ten and did not break through to rank 11.
Lu Yu froze. He closed his eyes to sense it, then snapped them open-the Soul Ring could be locked in place. Only after it was locked onto the Great Sage could the Great Sage use it to break through in rank, and the Soul Ring would no longer be able to move.
He hurriedly recalled the Soul Ring to himself and found that it could likewise be locked onto him. Once locked, it could no longer be given to the Great Sage. Moreover, when locked onto him, the Soul Ring provided an additional fifty percent defense, with another five percent added for each rank he gained.
"Hahaha..." Lu Yu threw back his head and laughed.
This also confirmed Lu Yu's earlier guess: Lu Yu and the Great Sage could each absorb a separate set of Soul Rings without interfering with one another. In other words, by the time he cultivated to Titled Douluo, he would have a full twenty-seven Soul Rings.
When that time came, he wouldn't even need to fight. Once he released his Soul Rings, the sight alone could scare his opponent to death.
And don't think it was nothing just because it only increased defense. You had to know what characterized defense: hardness.
The harder you were, the higher your defense and the greater your ability to withstand blows.
A noodle and an iron wire-which hurt more when used to hit someone? The iron wire, of course. Why? Because iron wire was hard!
So increasing defense was an indirect way of increasing attack power, only it wasn't as pure as increasing attack power alone.
As long as defense was high enough, it was also an indirect increase to one's own attack power.
Moreover, now that Lu Yu could absorb a set of Soul Rings himself, he could look for Soul Skills that helped keep him alive, such as his current first Soul Skill-Vajra Indestructibility.
In the future, when he fought others and the Great Sage was tied down, Lu Yu would not be killed by an enemy in a single blow and could buy the Great Sage some time to return and defend him.