"AAAAAH!"
"Brother feels awful!"
As soon as Ming Zhao entered the Sea of Consciousness, he heard the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's indignant wails.
"Why? Why are the Soul Skills formed from the Soul Ring I sacrificed to you so powerful? Even Brother doesn't have abilities like these!" The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's plump body wriggled gloomily through the Sea of Consciousness.
"If Brother had any of these four Soul Skills, what the hell would those bastards in the Star Dou Great Forest amount to? Brother could've chopped them into mincemeat in minutes! How could they have bullied me so badly?"
This isn't fair!
"The Soul Skills a Soul Ring grants a Soul Master are born at random by combining with the Martial Soul's characteristics, producing skills suited to it-unless the Soul Beast that produced the ring was powerful enough to override those characteristics." Ming Zhao opened his mouth, then explained it to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm after all.
"In other words, these four Soul Skills were newly generated when my Martial Soul combined with your Soul Skills. The abilities you want were already inherent to my Martial Soul; your characteristics just brought them out."
In short: my awesomeness is none of your business.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's body stiffened for a moment, then he slumped in the Sea of Consciousness like melted ice cream.
He'd taken a blow and didn't feel like talking.
Seeing that, Ming Zhao didn't mock him any further. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had been through enough, and Ming Zhao was the one who'd benefited, so he would let him off for now.
"Oh, right. Why can't I see your memories?"
Just as Ming Zhao was about to leave the Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm couldn't help asking.
"Maybe it's because of my Martial Soul's characteristics." Ming Zhao's expression didn't change.
He didn't know the exact reason either, but with top-tier protection on the narrative level and restrictions set by an Author-realm mighty figure, it was only natural that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm couldn't see them. If he could, something would really be fishy.
"Forget it. If I can't see them, so be it." The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm didn't dwell on it. "Since Brother sacrificed himself to you, there are a few things I should tell you first. I'm the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. You can also call me Brother Sky Dream."
"First, Brother is a Hundred Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. That's why your Second Martial Soul's First Soul Ring has four Soul Skills."
"Second, those bastards in the Star Dou Great Forest sucked Brother's Soul Power dry, so I can't give you a Soul Bone. But because Brother is a Hundred Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, I can open up a blank Martial Soul slot for you. As soon as you absorb an ice-attribute Soul Ring, the blank Martial Soul will take shape, becoming the original form of whatever produced the Soul Ring you absorbed."
"As for that blank Martial Soul slot, Brother already has an idea. I'll find you a powerful Soul Beast no weaker than either of your two Martial Souls. You can rest assured about that."
"My name is Ming Zhao. I'm eighteen years old, a level-eighty Quasi-Soul Douluo. My Twin Martial Souls are the Ghost Bride and the Water Vengeful Spirit." Ming Zhao gave a brief introduction of his own.
"Huh?!" The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's little eyes widened.
"What the hell? You said you're only eighteen? An eighteen-year-old, level-eighty Quasi-Soul Douluo?"
"I have no reason to lie to you about that." There was no pride in Ming Zhao's voice.
As a transmigrator who had taken the path of an Evil Soul Master, he was supposed to be this badass.
He was already an Evil Soul Master. If he wasn't a little stronger, a little overpowered, wouldn't he just be trash? What was the point of being an Evil Soul Master then? He might as well go home and farm.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, meanwhile, was beside himself with joy. I sacrificed myself to a genius! The two of us are invincible under the heavens!
Heavens, everybody celebrate!
All he felt now was relief. Fortunately, he hadn't sacrificed himself to Huo Yuhao over that tiny, insignificant attraction. He'd almost missed out on Ming Zhao, a true prospect with limitless potential!
As the saying went, godhood and eternal life were just around the corner!
Bingbing, I'll be bringing a genius who can help us become gods to see you very soon!
After leaving the Sea of Consciousness,
Ming Zhao glanced at Prisoner Huo, who was still lying unconscious on the ground, and raised a leg to leave.
Then he froze.
After a moment of silence, Ming Zhao realized that something seemed off. He looked up, but the sky was calm and still, without the slightest sign of movement.
He turned back to look in the Sea of Consciousness. There was only the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wriggling excitedly, along with eight suns radiating a gentle light overhead.
There was nothing else.
"Then... where's my little gray ball? Where the fuck is my great big Electrolux?" Ming Zhao looked like an old man squinting at his phone on the subway. Rooted to the spot, he began to question his life.
From the moment the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm began his sacrifice until it ended, Ming Zhao hadn't seen any space tearing open or any powerful figure from another world descending upon the Douluo Continent.
What gives?
They were both fucking sacrifices.
When you, Huo Yuhao, accepted the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's sacrifice, you attracted a portable grandpa like Electrolux.
But when I, Lord Ming Zhao, accepted the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's sacrifice, nothing happened from beginning to end?
Douluo Continent, you really deserve to die!
Ming Zhao left the Star Dou Great Forest with gritted teeth, his understanding of just how rotten his luck was deepening yet again.
No matter how he looked at it, this wasn't his fault. He wasn't wrong; the world was. He would make the Douluo Continent feel pain!
Not long after he left,
two figures traveling together found Huo Yuhao lying unconscious on the ground.
It was simply ridiculous.
Ming Zhao had been gone for a while, yet in the Star Dou Great Forest, where Soul Beasts were everywhere, Huo Yuhao had fallen into a baby's sleep without being eaten like a little biscuit and digested into dung by a passing Soul Beast!
After being rescued, Huo Yuhao awoke from his coma, but he had forgotten what had happened. All he remembered was that after defeating the Wind Baboon, his mind had grown hazy, and then he had inexplicably passed out.
By now, he had also become keenly aware of the Star Dou Great Forest's dangers and no longer dared venture deeper on his own.
He accepted Bei Bei's kindness and joined Bei Bei and Tang Ya's party. With their help, he encountered a rare four-hundred-year-old Medusa and obtained Petrifying Gaze, a rare and powerful spiritual-control-type Soul Skill.
He then joined Shrek with Bei Bei and Tang Ya as a disciple of the Tang Sect, setting foot on the path he was supposed to walk.
Half a month later,
amid a frozen landscape cloaked in silver, Ming Zhao walked through the bitterly cold land in a silvery-white cloak.
After accepting the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's sacrifice, Ming Zhao had spent some time digesting what he had gained, then set out north.
Now that he had intercepted the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, it was time for him to obtain his Eighth Soul Ring.
Ming Zhao had long planned his choice for the Eighth Soul Ring: the mermaid Sea Princess, known as a spirit of the sea in the icy ocean.
The Soul Skills Li Ya produced were very well suited to Ming Zhao. Not only were her Soul Skills useful, but her soul could also become an incarnation of the Water Vengeful Spirit Martial Soul, just like Zhang Lexuan's, strengthening the Martial Soul.
One fish, many dishes-why wouldn't he eat it?