Riiip!
At a thought, half the Soul Power in Gao Shang's body immediately drained away like floodwater through an opened sluice, and his clothes tore open at the back.
A pair of crimson wings blazing with fierce flames abruptly unfurled from his back, spanning a full five or six meters.
With a gentle flap of the wings, Gao Shang's feet left the ground, and he hovered half a meter in the air.
Waves of heat spread outward from him, blowing dust all over the courtyard.
"Flames."
Gao Shang raised a finger. Wisps of flame gathered at his fingertip, condensing into a crimson fireball the size of a human head in the blink of an eye.
Tongues of flame danced over the fireball's surface, and the surrounding air warped from the heat.
Gao Shang stared at the fireball for a moment, then swept his arm downward.
"Go!"
The fireball shot from his hand, heading straight for the stone table in the center of the courtyard.
Boom!
The roar of an explosion rang through the courtyard.
The marble table offered not the slightest resistance. It instantly exploded into pieces, sending shattered stone hurtling in every direction.
Facing the flying fragments, Gao Shang made no move to dodge. With just a thought, one of the flaming wings behind him swept across, shielding his entire body.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The fragments struck the wing one after another, but its flaming feathers remained completely unscathed. Instead, the stones glowed red all over the instant they touched it.
Gao Shang turned to glance at the beautiful yet deadly wing, then checked the nearly depleted Soul Power inside his body.
"This is even stronger than the Great Fireball Technique I used at full power before."
His toes gently touched the ground, and the Fire Phoenix Wings withdrew into his body.
"It's just a little too draining. I'll have to save it for critical moments."
After buying a pill that restored Soul Power, Gao Shang closed his eyes and began regulating his breathing.
Suddenly, his entire body jolted. A moment later, he opened his eyes in bewilderment and looked down at his hands.
"Did I just... break through?"
He knew Soul Bones contained Soul Power, but although the Fire Phoenix Wings were a growth-type External Soul Bone with boundless potential, they were currently only a hundred years old.
Besides, remodeling his meridians had consumed a great deal of energy.
So Gao Shang had not minded at all when absorbing the Soul Bone failed to raise his level.
Who would have thought that absorbing the Soul Bone would not raise his level, yet simply restoring his Soul Power would bring a breakthrough as naturally as water flowing into a channel?
He truly did not know whether to laugh or cry.
"Forget it. A breakthrough is a good thing, no matter what."
"Now that my Soul Power has reached level fourteen, I should be able to keep using the Soul Bone a little longer."
Summoning the Fire Phoenix Wings again, Gao Shang did not attack with the enormously draining Ultimate Fire this time. Instead, he slowly experimented with different flying postures at low altitude, honing his control over the Soul Bone.
Fortunately, Soul Bones truly were miraculous. Once absorbed, they felt as though they had grown from his own body and were not difficult to control.
About fifteen minutes later, his Soul Power bottomed out again, but he had gained a basic grasp of flying. At least he no longer had to worry about falling out of the air midflight.
Retracting the Fire Phoenix Wings, Gao Shang called over the maid on night duty to fetch water and took a bath.
Only when changing clothes did he discover a red wing tattoo on his back, its lines sharp and both wings raised. It even felt faintly warm to the touch, like real wings.
Gao Shang tried connecting with it through his Soul Power and immediately felt an additional wisp of fire-attribute Soul Power inside him. At a thought, a small flame sprang from his fingertip.
"So that's how it works. I can use fire without summoning the Fire Phoenix Wings."
Although this flame's temperature and power were somewhat reduced, it still barely reached the threshold of Ultimate Fire.
It was more than sufficient for fighting enemies under ordinary circumstances, and it would also let him keep the External Soul Bone hidden.
After all, he and the External Soul Bone had only just begun to fuse. If someone killed him, they could still get the Soul Bone to drop.
Recklessly revealing his wings in front of outsiders would be extremely dangerous.
Having figured out the tattoo's function, Gao Shang dressed and returned to the courtyard.
He still had three hundred and ninety thousand Gold Soul Coins left. It was time to deal with Zhou Qi, who coveted him.
Three days earlier, Su Yuntao had come to see him with the results of Spirit Hall's investigation into Zhou Qi.
Zhou Qi was neither a Fallen Soul Master nor a spy from the Star Luo Empire. He seemed to have simply offended someone in another city and fled to a small place like Nuoding City.
Of course, Gao Shang did not care about Zhou Qi's identity. He was more concerned about the man's strength.
The trouble was that, according to Spirit Hall's investigation, Zhou Qi had not merely surpassed Soul Elder-he was a level forty-six Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
Over the past two days, the investigators from the Martial Soul Sub-Hall had withdrawn. Presumably, Zhou Qi would soon be unable to hold back from making his move.
After all, with Zhou Qi's well-informed sources, he had most likely already discovered that Gao Shang had reported him. Even if he could not find out, he could still guess it had been Gao Shang.
Given his ruthless nature, he could not possibly allow a genius like Gao Shang, who bore a grudge against him, to remain alive.
So rather than wait for Zhou Qi to finish his preparations and come for revenge, Gao Shang felt it would be better to strike first.
Zhou Qi would never imagine that a mere One-Ring Soul Master like him would dare assassinate a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
Opening the System Shop, Gao Shang began searching for offensive Soul Tools.
"To be safe, I'd better go with a Class 5 Soul Tool."
Quite a few of the Class 4 offensive Soul Tools in the shop were also labeled as capable of killing a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.
But that was under normal circumstances. Zhou Qi was still alive and kicking after offending someone, so there was no way he lacked means to preserve his life.
In the end, Gao Shang decided to spend a little more and buy a Class 5 one.
It would also let Zhou Qi die more swiftly.
"Ah, I'm just too kindhearted."
With a quiet sigh, Gao Shang tapped an item in the highest price bracket among the Class 5 offensive Soul Tools.
"System, I want to use the 90% Off Item Card to buy the Thunder Hand Cannon."
[Ding, 90% Off Item Card successfully used.] [Original item price: 100,000 Gold Soul Coins. Discounted cost: 10,000 Gold Soul Coins.]
Gao Shang nodded in satisfaction. Saving ninety thousand in one go meant he had gotten the most out of this 90% Off Item Card.
As the card that had sat in his inventory for half a month vanished along with ten thousand Gold Soul Coins, an enormous hand cannon about half a meter long appeared in Gao Shang's hands.
"This thing is pretty big."
Gao Shang hefted the lump of iron, which weighed at least fifteen kilograms, and opened the system's detailed description.
He had to see how to use it first. Although he knew a little about offensive Soul Tools, he had never actually used one.
[Thunder Hand Cannon (Class 5 long-range offensive Soul Tool)] [Description: Soul Power can be injected to store an energy shell in advance, allowing instantaneous firing when attacking. Can also be used to fire Class 6 or lower Fixed Soul Cannon Shells. (Energy shells can be stored for a maximum of twenty-four hours.)] [Operating instructions: ...]
After carefully reading the instructions, Gao Shang found the device for injecting Soul Power on the hand cannon's grip.
Taking a deep breath, Gao Shang mobilized all the Soul Power in his body and began channeling it into the device.
But a Class 5 Soul Tool was still far too advanced for him. Gao Shang spent the entire night that followed in the courtyard, continuously injecting Soul Power into the Thunder Hand Cannon.
During that time, to prevent an interruption in Soul Power from causing the energy shell to dissipate prematurely, he could only slow his output while constantly popping pills.
For an entire night, he practically became a Soul Power converter.
Finally, after swallowing his twentieth Soul Power recovery pill.
The energy shell inside the Thunder Hand Cannon successfully condensed.