After leaving the Soul Beast Forest, the carriage traveled for half a day before returning to the academy.
They handed the special Soul Hunting permit they had obtained earlier to the Soul Master guards at the checkpoint, saving them another trip to Heaven Dou City.
Fang Lin followed Qin Ming to the training ground, intending to get a clear understanding of his third Soul Skill.
He curled his hand slightly, and a long saber appeared in his grasp. Three Soul Rings-yellow, yellow, and purple-slowly rose beneath his feet and circled him. Aside from the difference in color, the purple Soul Ring was far more solid than the two Yellow Soul Rings.
"You got lucky. The quality of your Martial Soul seems to have improved a great deal." Qin Ming noticed that Fang Lin's long saber was entwined with fine, flowing red and blue patterns, while its originally silver blade had turned a faint dark gold. "The Mysterious Nether Gold-Entwining Tree has both extreme yin and metal attributes, but this red pattern..."
Qin Ming raised his eyebrows, then knitted them into a small knot. "The red pattern should represent the yang attribute. By rights, it shouldn't be there. Could it have mutated before it died...?"
"Ahem." Fang Lin cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Teacher Qin, let's take a look at my third Soul Skill."
As he spoke, Fang Lin's Third Soul Ring lit up. A layer of dark golden light surfaced on the blade, flowing along it like water until it reached both his shoulders and enveloped his upper body.
Fang Lin lowered his head and studied the dark golden light flowing over his hand. Its surface looked fluid, but when he pressed his fingers into it, he felt a layer of resistance. It was as though he had donned a suit of flowing armor.
"Third Soul Skill, Profound Nether Overlord Body Saber. It provides a 100% boost to all attributes and puts me in an overlord body state."
He casually swung the saber forward. Its edge sliced through the air, and a half-height stone training post instantly snapped apart. The break was smooth and even, forming a wedge as though a sharp giant axe had split it open. Fang Lin had barely put any strength into the strike, relying only on the momentum of the long saber's weight.
Qin Ming looked slightly startled. He stepped forward and held out an arm. "Let me test the weight of your Tool Martial Soul."
A Tool Soul Master manifested his Martial Soul using Soul Power. Others could not take it away, but they could touch it briefly.
Qin Ming took it in one hand, and the arm holding the hilt plunged downward. A strange look crossed his face, and his eyes instantly turned yellow as he entered the Martial Soul Possession state. Only then did he hold it steady.
"What astonishing weight," Qin Ming remarked. Then he said to Fang Lin, "Now deactivate your third Soul Skill."
Fang Lin withdrew his Soul Power, and the dark golden light faded from the blade.
After testing it for a moment, Qin Ming handed the long saber back.
"I once fought a Soul King whose Martial Soul was a heavy hammer. Although his Martial Soul couldn't compare to the Clear Sky Hammer, it was close to the ranks of top-tier Tool Martial Souls. With your third Soul Skill enhancing it, your Iron Saber Martial Soul weighs no less than that heavy hammer Soul King's tool soul itself."
"I suspect your Martial Soul is no longer an ordinary-quality Iron Saber, but an entirely new Tool Martial Soul of at least high quality. I really didn't expect this four-thousand-year Soul Ring to bring you such great benefits."
The weight of a Martial Soul itself changed as its owner's Soul Power Level rose. To a certain extent, its weight also corresponded to its quality.
In battles between high-level Tool Soul Masters, the quality of a Martial Soul was especially important. With a high-quality Martial Soul, even an ordinary move could have the effect of breaking through a thousand soldiers with sheer force.
When Fang Lin had fought Niu Heng and Yu Tianheng, he had needed to rely on the armor-breaking effect of his second Soul Skill to deal effective damage. That was due to the difference between their Martial Souls themselves.
Fang Lin chuckled, and for some reason, his father's face came to mind.
Martial Souls could be passed down through the bloodline. When Fang Lin eventually spread his branches and leaves, he would raise the Fang family's starting point by an entire major grade. Who knew? The Fang family might even have to give him a page of his own in their genealogy.
After testing the effects of the third Soul Skill, Qin Ming suggested that Fang Lin continue choosing a metal-attribute Soul Beast for his fourth Soul Ring. It might allow his Martial Soul to evolve further and leap fully into the ranks of top-tier Martial Souls.
Fang Lin did not commit himself. He suspected the ice and fire Immortal Herbs had probably played the greater part.
After ice and fire tempered his golden body, Fang Lin had suspected that the quality of his Tool Martial Soul had changed. The quality of a Martial Soul corresponded to Soul Power aptitude, and his ability to cultivate from rank twenty-eight to rank thirty in half a year supported that.
Night fell, and the stars dotted the sky.
Fang Lin returned to his dormitory to rest, but just as he stepped through the door, he remembered something he had overlooked.
On the way back, Fang Lin had told Qin Ming that his third Soul Skill had a strange characteristic he had yet to quite figure out.
"Third Soul Skill, Profound Nether Overlord Body Saber."
Fang Lin returned to the training ground alone and summoned his Martial Soul. Dark golden light appeared once more.
Unlike during the earlier demonstration, Fang Lin continued injecting Soul Power after using his third Soul Skill. The long saber in his hand blazed with light, growing from a little over a meter long to two meters, then three...
By the time Fang Lin had injected nearly seventy percent of his Soul Power, the long saber had grown to nearly five meters, and its tip was as large as an axe head.
As the long saber grew in size, its weight also increased sharply. Fang Lin eventually could no longer bear it and dismissed his Martial Soul.
"So the third Soul Skill's effect gets even stronger as I inject Soul Power. If I had enough Soul Power, couldn't I just use a low-end version of the Tool Soul Avatar?"
Fang Lin exhaled, his face pale.
He had only ever heard of a Tool Martial Soul growing to such enormous size in connection with a Tool Soul Master's Seventh Soul Skill, Tool Soul Avatar. The Tool Soul Avatar was also the dividing line at which a Tool Soul Master's combat power could catch up to and surpass a Beast Soul Master's.
The four-thousand-year Limit Soul Ring had not given Fang Lin the External Soul Bone he wanted most, but it had provided him with a trump card powerful enough to defeat opponents above his level.
Having cleared up his question, Fang Lin returned to the dormitory. His Soul Power had suddenly risen three ranks that day, so it was best to meditate and consolidate it promptly.
The next day, after Fang Lin finished exercising, he ran into Yu Feng and the others in the cafeteria as usual.
"Brother Lin, what's your third Soul Skill?"
Yu Feng, Yu Tianheng, and the others were all curious about Fang Lin's third Soul Skill.
The Soul Elder rank was a dividing line for Soul Masters. The most important reason was that, starting with the third ring, Soul Skills transformed from hundred-year to thousand-year skills, becoming far more powerful than the first two.
Fang Lin smiled mysteriously. "During group training later, I'll let you see my big saber."
Yu Feng shrank back. "Better not. I'm just an unremarkable rank twenty-six Soul Grandmaster. If you want an opponent, find Brother Tian and Sister Yan instead."
Yu Tianheng's gaze, however, did not waver. He was very curious about how strong Fang Lin had become.
Everyone gathered on the bluestone grounds. The rising morning sun cast an orange-red glow over their shoulders.
Qin Ming stood at the front, sweeping his gaze over everyone before finally settling on Fang Lin.
"The first stage of training involves working together and getting familiar with one another through combat training. Everyone except you completed it three months ago. So the training from here on will focus mainly on you, with group matchups of one against many, two against two, two against three, and two against many."
"We'll start with two against many. Dugu Yan, Shi Mo, Shi Mo, Ye Lingling, step forward."
The four who had been called stepped forward. Qin Ming then called Yu Feng and assigned him to Fang Lin's team.
The opposing lineup was similar to the one Yu Feng and Yu Tianheng had faced when attacking the Shi Mo Brothers and Ye Lingling, except that it now included Dugu Yan, a Control System Soul Elder.
"In a seven-person soul battle, if you want to break through the opposing line, you won't just encounter resistance from Defense System Soul Masters. Control System Soul Masters will fall back to defend as well." Qin Ming spoke to Fang Lin and Yu Feng in a calm, even voice. "There's no time limit this time. Knock down your opponents to win."
The six took their positions. Yu Tianheng, the only one not taking part, kept his gaze fixed on Fang Lin, whether deliberately or not.
Over the past six months, Yu Tianheng had persisted in following Fang Lin's exercise regimen, tempering his body and taking medicinal baths over a long period. His physical strength had increased by a large margin. If Fang Lin had not broken through to Soul Elder, Yu Tianheng would have long since wanted to fight him and see how he measured up.
Yu Feng stood beside Fang Lin. He glanced at the lineup opposite them and swallowed. "Brother Lin, you weren't bragging this morning, were you? We'll be counting on your big saber in a moment! Those two stone shields are thick and hard. I can't break through them, so all I can do is keep Sister Yan's attention occupied for you."
Fang Lin snorted with amusement and patted Yu Feng twice on the shoulder. "We'll stick to that plan. Just keep Dugu Yan occupied. Once I've chopped those two down, I'll come back you up."