Ye Lingling slowly closed her eyes, concentrating on sensing what was within her.
Only a moment later, her eyes flew open, brimming with barely contained excitement and light.
"I have other Soul Skills now! Yanyan, I can use other Soul Skills!"
"Aunt Lan!" Ye Lingling threw herself into Ye Yilan's arms, her tears instantly bursting through the floodgates as she wept with joy.
Ye Yilan gently stroked her hair, her eyes filled with tenderness and affection.
"Don't forget to thank Ling Yu and Senior Su Yao. Without them, you wouldn't have found such a top-tier Soul Beast," Ye Yilan reminded her softly.
"Mm..." Ye Lingling murmured in response, her cheeks growing slightly hot as she buried herself in her arms in embarrassment.
A moment later, Ye Lingling gently raised her head. Her eyes were still faintly red, but her gaze was tender and bright.
That look held gratitude, dependence, and a few barely perceptible stirrings that struck straight into Ling Yu's heart, making it involuntarily flutter.
She lightly bit her lip, composed herself, and bowed.
"Thank you, Ling Yu."
"Thank you, Senior Su Yao."
Su Yao nodded gently, accepting her bow. Ling Yu also smiled warmly before asking, "What's your Soul Bone Skill? Does it have a fate ability?"
"Soul Bone? Fate?" Ye Lingling tilted her head slightly, a trace of confusion flitting through her eyes. Then, realizing something, she lightly tapped her forehead, touching the blue-green eye Soul Bone.
"So that Soul Skill came from it. What is this? Are there eye Soul Bones?"
"This is an External Soul Bone. It can evolve, and it's rarer than even a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. But you must be careful. You absolutely cannot reveal it before you've completely fused with it. We've all sworn Martial Soul Oaths, so we won't divulge it." Recalling everything that had just happened, Ye Yilan's tone grew a little more solemn.
Ling Yu pondered for a moment, then slowly voiced his conjectures.
"I have a few theories about how External Soul Bones appear. If a Soul Master already has a full set of Soul Bones, then killing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could yield an External Soul Bone."
"The second possibility is that the Soul Beast's own top-tier innate ability hasn't fused with the Soul Master. When the Soul Beast is in some extreme emotional state, it may well appear in the body part that carries its innate ability. So, Lingling, you really are lucky."
Could it be that the Soul Ring absorbed part of the Soul Beast's soul, while the remaining soul power that should have dissipated was sustained by extreme emotions, fused with the bloodline of its innate Soul Skill, and was then drawn into the Soul Ring by the soul of the same origin? A thought stirred in Ling Yu's mind, but he did not voice this part of his speculation.
Only now did Ye Lingling realize how precious her eye Soul Bone was. She felt rather at a loss, especially since they had all sworn Martial Soul Oaths for her sake.
"I... this is too precious. It should go to Ling Yu. Without your scouting, we wouldn't have encountered a Soul Beast like this. Can it be removed?" Ye Lingling's mind instantly went blank, her expression flustered.
"Ling Yu said that forcibly removing it might turn you into an idiot!" Dugu Yan stepped forward and gently embraced her. The warm embrace was like a calming pill, gradually settling Ye Lingling's heart.
"Keep it. How could we possibly take it?"
"All right..." Ye Lingling's gaze trembled slightly, and a few more complicated emotions entered her eyes as she looked at Ling Yu.
"Lingling..." Ye Yilan tugged at Ye Lingling, reminding her that she had yet to answer Ling Yu's question.
Only then did Ye Lingling come to her senses and hurriedly say, "It isn't a fate ability."
As soon as she spoke, a trace of surprise flashed through Ling Yu's eyes.
"It's called Light of Purification. It can purify all kinds of negative presences and calm people down. Looking at it this way, the reason I couldn't bring myself to strike back then was that the Glazed Deer's Power of Purification had purified the malice in my heart."
After hearing this, Ling Yu instinctively turned his gaze toward Dugu Yan, who was also looking at Ye Lingling with a complicated expression.
Seeing Ling Yu look toward Dugu Yan, the other three turned to her as well.
Dugu Yan gave Ling Yu a meaningful look, then asked Ye Lingling, "Would it work... on poison too?"
"Yanyan, you've been poisoned?" Ye Lingling's pupils shifted, her voice trembling slightly, her face filled with disbelief.
"Mm... congenital poison. I was already poisoned before I was born. Almost no one can tell. Ling Yu, how did you know?" Puzzled, Dugu Yan turned her gaze toward Ling Yu.
"Do you remember that time we practiced Ring Fusion? Spiritual Appraisal can appraise people too. The traits I got from you were corrosion and poisoning..."
"What a frightening Soul Skill..." Dugu Yan sighed softly.
"Yanyan, let me try..." Without waiting for Dugu Yan's consent, Ye Lingling immediately focused and activated Light of Purification. In an instant, an emerald-green light enveloped Dugu Yan's entire body, making her feel as though she were a small child back in her mother's arms, filled with warmth, safety, and comfort.
When she opened her eyes again, she found that the green of her fingernails had faded somewhat.
"It really works..." Dugu Yan's voice trembled. Then she looked toward Ye Lingling and saw that Ye Yilan was supporting her, and she looked somewhat weak.
"Lingling, what's wrong?" Dugu Yan took her hand with some urgency, afraid that Light of Purification came at too great a cost.
"I'm fine. It just consumed too much Soul Power. Has your poison been cured?" Ye Lingling rested her hand against Dugu Yan's cheek, her heart aching for her having borne congenital poison for so many years, while also blaming herself for failing to notice her friend's suffering.
"A lot of it is gone. You fool, why did you push yourself so hard?"
"It hurts so much whenever I think of you bearing that congenital poison for so many years, especially when you kept pretending nothing was wrong in front of me. It's wonderful that this can help you."
"I have to recover quickly so I can completely cure you sooner."
"Mm..." Dugu Yan did not say thank you. There was no need for that between them. She buried her head in Ye Lingling's embrace.
Joy welled up in Dugu Yan's heart. The shadow of death that had tormented her for years was finally about to dissipate. Then she thought of her grandfather and immediately grew troubled. Her Martial Soul Oath forbade her from revealing what had happened today, and she did not know how to tell him.
Forget it. Lingling's level is still too low. I'll tell him once her level is higher and she's completely fused with the Soul Bone. Later, I'll tell him it's Ye Lingling's innate ability, but that she needs to reach a high level before she can treat him. Dugu Yan made up her mind.
"Then what about your Soul Ring?" Ling Yu was truly curious. An Auspicious Beast's Soul Ring could be called the very best of Soul Rings, especially since it suited Ye Lingling's Nine Heart Begonia so well. It should have mutated into an exclusive Soul Skill similar to a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
With a thought, Ye Lingling activated Martial Soul Possession and revealed her Soul Rings. Yet a peculiar green pattern was inlaid in her purple third ring.
"It's still a healing ability, but the consumption is especially low. It can even heal broken bones quickly. The strangest thing is..."
"Somehow, something seems to be telling me that if I get another Soul Ring with this attribute, the Nine Heart Begonia will undergo an even more wondrous transformation." Ye Lingling's long eyelashes trembled gently, and her once-clear blue eyes seemed veiled in a thin mist.