Absorbing a Soul Ring

As he watched the purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring emerge from the Ice Jade Scorpion before him, a voice seemed to tell him from somewhere in the unseen that he should absorb it.

As if driven by ghosts and gods, Yu Tianshuang really did use his Soul Power to draw the Thousand-Year Soul Ring toward himself.

Watching the Soul Ring drift slowly from the Ice Jade Scorpion's corpse to his side, Yu Tianshuang suddenly froze.

Huh? What had Grandpa said back then? To absorb a captured Soul Ring, I had to use my own Soul Power to draw it to me and bring it onto my body. Then, then... what came next?

I'm attaching the Soul Ring to the Frost Dragon. The Frost Dragon is a Beast Martial Soul, and when I summon it, it possesses me directly. So doesn't that mean I myself am now the Frost Dragon Martial Soul?

Yu Tianshuang had no idea where this wild notion came from, but after pondering it to himself for a moment, he arrived at that conclusion. He then raised his left hand and thrust it into the purple Soul Ring floating beside him.

However, Yu Tianshuang waited for a while, and nothing happened. Just then, a bleak, cold wind happened to blow.

Shui Xinrou and Shui Yue'er were hurrying toward Yu Tianshuang from a distance. Seeing his nonsensical actions, Shui Xinrou could not help pressing a hand to her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Shui Yue'er, on the other hand, burst out laughing.

"Hey, dummy! Yes, I'm talking to you! Are you an idiot? Is that how your elders taught you to absorb a Soul Ring, dummy?"

Seeing Yu Tianshuang in that rather comical scene, Shui Yue'er shouted directly at him.

Shui Yue'er and Shui Xinrou had not been far from Yu Tianshuang to begin with, but the sequence of events-from Yu Tianshuang being frozen and about to be killed to the purple mark appearing and turning the tables on the Ice Jade Scorpion-had happened a little too quickly. On top of that, with the feeling from somewhere in the unseen and his focus on absorbing the Soul Ring, Yu Tianshuang had not noticed the two of them in the distance.

Hearing Shui Yue'er shout at him, Yu Tianshuang turned to look at the pair speeding toward him from not far away. Then he looked back at his left hand, which was stuck through the Soul Ring, and realized he might have gotten the method wrong. He could not help scratching his head awkwardly with his right hand, while discreetly withdrawing his left hand from the Soul Ring.

Seeing Yu Tianshuang's cute attempt to cover up his mistake, even Shui Xinrou, who was usually dignified, elegant, and unsmiling, burst out laughing.

As the two arrived beside him, Yu Tianshuang turned around to face Shui Xinrou and her companion.

"Little fellow, it's a good thing you didn't know the full method for absorbing a Soul Ring, or you would have made a terrible mistake. Do you know that this Soul Ring is about 1,500 years old? You're only a Soul Scholar, not even a Soul Master yet. How dare you absorb a Soul Ring of such a high age? Weren't you afraid your body couldn't withstand its power and would explode, killing you?"

Shui Xinrou spoke with a slightly reproachful look at the youth she had met once before.

"That's right, dummy! It's a good thing you don't know how to absorb a Soul Ring, or your Frost Dragon would have turned into a dead Frost Dragon!"

"Senior, please teach me the correct way to absorb a Soul Ring. As for whether I can absorb this one, I have a feeling that I definitely can. Thank you, Senior."

Yu Tianshuang did not answer Shui Xinrou's question. Instead, he cupped his hands and bowed to her, asking her to teach him how to absorb a Soul Ring.

"You little fellow, honestly..."

Suddenly recalling how Yu Tianshuang had turned the tables and killed the Ice Jade Scorpion, and that dazzling purple light, Shui Xinrou stopped the words she had meant to use to dissuade him just as they reached her lips.

"I know you have your own secrets, and I won't investigate or press you about them. Since you're determined to absorb this Soul Ring, I'll tell you the correct method. The most common way for a Soul Master to absorb a Soul Ring is that only the person who dealt the Soul Beast its final, fatal blow can absorb it. You meet that condition. When absorbing it, you must draw it with your own Soul Power, just as you did earlier. Use your Soul Power to draw the captured Soul Ring, and it will come onto your body. After that, you can meditate and absorb it."

"However, if you're going to absorb a Soul Ring so far above your age limit, you'll have to go through another stage called the Ring Struggle. As the name suggests, you'll struggle against the Soul Ring you're absorbing. Win, and you'll take the ring into your body and break through your realm. Lose, and your body will explode, killing you and leaving you to vanish from this world. And once you begin absorbing a Soul Ring, you can't stop. Little fellow, have you thought this through?"

Although Shui Xinrou could hear the determination and confidence in Yu Tianshuang's voice, she still thought absorbing a 1,500-year-old Soul Ring as his first ring was a little too risky.

"Thank you for your kindness, Senior. I appreciate the thought."

With that, Yu Tianshuang dispensed with further courtesies. He turned around, extended his left hand, and used his Soul Power to draw the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's Soul Ring toward him.

This time, once the Soul Ring came onto his body, Yu Tianshuang made no more awkward moves. Instead, he sat cross-legged where he was and began to meditate.

Such violent power. As soon as the power contained in the Soul Ring entered my body, it began rampaging through me. I have to find a way to stabilize this power before it crashes around any further.

"Frozen Sky Condensing Sea Art!"

Yu Tianshuang brought his hands together, the tips of his thumbs touching, and began circulating the Frozen Sky Condensing Sea Art to channel the Soul Ring's violent power through his body.

Watching Yu Tianshuang's body gradually redden as he absorbed the Soul Ring, Shui Xinrou hurriedly reminded him from the side, "No matter how the Soul Ring's power assaults your body, you must stay conscious and use your own Soul Power to channel it."

At that moment, rings of purple light slowly began to spread from the Qi sea in Yu Tianshuang's dantian. The purple rings grew larger one after another, and wherever they swept over his body, the places being assaulted by the Soul Ring's violent power began to calm.

I did it! The Frozen Sky Condensing Sea Art has broken through to the second level, and my Soul Power Level has risen to level 14. Feeling the power contained in his body, Yu Tianshuang opened his tightly shut eyes. The instant they opened, an icy blue light flashed and vanished.

After stabilizing the power within him, Yu Tianshuang slowly rose to his feet and cupped his fists toward Shui Xinrou. "Thank you for standing guard over me, Senior."

He really succeeded? A purple, 1,500-year-old First Soul Ring?

The entire process of absorbing the Soul Ring had taken only about one hour, almost no different from the time it usually took a One-Ring Soul Master to absorb one. Perhaps he had even been faster than many others.

Shui Xinrou had yet to recover from the shock Yu Tianshuang had given her. Hearing his thanks, she hurriedly waved a hand. "We met once before, and as your senior, I naturally didn't want a genius like you to fall. Standing guard for you was no more than lifting a finger."

"Hey, dummy! I helped stand guard over you too! Why aren't you thanking me?"

With her hands on her slender waist, Shui Yue'er looked at Yu Tianshuang, who had only thanked her aunt, and scolded him indignantly.

Yu Tianshuang turned toward Shui Yue'er and cupped his fists in salute.

"Naturally, I must also thank you for your kindness in standing guard, miss."

"Hmph! That's more like it."

"All right, all right, Yue'er, stop fooling around. Little fellow, can you tell me what your First Soul Skill is? I've never seen a Soul Master whose First Soul Ring gave them a Thousand-Year Soul Skill. Would you let me broaden my horizons?"

"Of course. The Soul Skill attached to my First Soul Ring is the Ice Jade Scorpion's ice wall skill. But perhaps because it's a Thousand-Year Soul Skill, I can create several ice walls at once to defend, block enemies, control opponents, or divide the battlefield. My First Soul Ring has also greatly increased my Martial Soul's strength and defense."

With that, Yu Tianshuang extended his left hand toward an open patch of ground not far away.

"First Soul Skill: Prismatic Barrier Ice Wall!"

"First Soul Skill: Prismatic Barrier Ice Array!"

Light flashed twice in succession in the center of Yu Tianshuang's left palm.

An ice wall one meter thick and about five meters in length, width, and height first appeared in the open space not far away. Three more identical ice walls then appeared, enclosing the open space in a square.

"Impressive. To achieve this much with just your First Soul Skill-it's worthy of a skill bestowed by a Thousand-Year Soul Ring. The only flaw is that you didn't obtain that final freezing attack Soul Skill."

Looking at the square of ice walls in the open space not far away, Shui Xinrou could not help exclaiming in admiration.