What was going on?
How did I suddenly absorb a Soul Ring, and a Ten-Year Soul Ring at that?!
At that moment, Tang San stood dumbfounded beneath the moonlight, his head buzzing.
He was utterly bewildered.
It took a long while for Tang San to come to his senses. His face darkened as he crouched down and pulled apart the crushed black sludge beneath his foot.
When he saw clearly that it was a stink bug,
Tang San's face instantly turned green, his nose nearly twisting with rage.
I actually absorbed a stink bug?!
"Where the hell did this stinking bug come from?!"
Tang San clutched his head with both hands, threw his head back, and let out a hysterical roar.
He was on the verge of collapse.
That afternoon, his teacher Yu Xiaogang had solemnly told him that the choice of a Soul Ring was extremely important.
For his First Soul Ring, it was best to absorb a Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
That was the best configuration!
But what had happened?
That very night, he had absorbed the Soul Ring of a ten-year stink bug!
What Soul Skill could a stink bug's Soul Ring possibly give him?!
Farting?!
As Tang San was falling apart,
he suddenly realized that the whole thing was too much of a coincidence!
That afternoon, he had just made a wish on Xu Nuo's Wishing Divine Lamp, hoping to break through the first level of the Mysterious Heaven Skill immediately.
At the time, the wish had not come true.
But that night, he had inexplicably ended up on the back mountain, stepped on a ten-year stink bug, and absorbed its Ten-Year Soul Ring.
At the same time, the Mysterious Heaven Skill had naturally broken through to the second level!
How could there be such a coincidence in this world!
None of this was an accident!
"Xu Nuo, it had to be you!"
Tang San's eyes turned bloodshot. Panting like a bull, he clenched his fists, gnashed his teeth, and roared at the sky.
"How dare you make me absorb a ten-year stink bug's Soul Ring! You already have a way to die!"
His roar echoed through the night sky, startling a flock of birds into flight.
In the darkness,
Tang Hao frowned as he watched, his heart full of doubt.
He could not accept that his son Tang San had absorbed a Ten-Year Soul Ring either.
But what could that Ten-Year Soul Ring possibly have to do with the brat named Xu Nuo?
Although it was indeed all too much of a coincidence,
surely his son Tang San could not have wished to absorb a Ten-Year Soul Ring himself?
Tang Hao was also furious that Tang San had actually absorbed a ten-year stink bug's Soul Ring as his First Soul Ring.
That bastard boy!
He actually absorbed such a trash Soul Ring as his First Soul Ring. How will he become a powerhouse in the future?
How will he avenge your grandfather and the Clear Sky Sect?!
In his rage, Tang Hao wanted nothing more than to charge out and give Tang San several hard slaps.
But in the end, he held himself back.
I mustn't act rashly!
Tang Hao forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, took a deep breath, and made himself calm down.
Although his son had absorbed the wrong First Soul Ring for his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul,
his son still had his Second Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer!
That was the most important Martial Soul!
As long as nothing went wrong with cultivating the Clear Sky Hammer, his son still had hope of becoming a peerless powerhouse!
Meanwhile,
"Aaaah!!!!"
In the woods, Tang San's eyes were bloodshot as he panted like a bull and vented his anger for quite some time.
Only then did he finally manage to regain his composure.
Although there was no evidence that his absorption of the ten-year stink bug's Soul Ring had anything to do with Xu Nuo,
Tang San had already come to hate Xu Nuo.
After he returned to Dorm Seven,
inside the dorm,
Xiao Wu, Wang Sheng, and the other work-study students were still awake, chatting.
Tang San's bed was at the very back.
To get to it, he had to pass the two beds that Xiao Wu and Xu Nuo had pushed together.
Xu Nuo was not there at the moment.
Xiao Wu lay on the bed alone, occupying the entire quilt and feeling thoroughly satisfied.
"Xu Nuo's quilt really is nice!"
Just then, Tang San was walking down the aisle, about to pass by.
But when he reached Xiao Wu's bedside,
Xiao Wu suddenly knitted her dark brows, puffed out her cheeks, and pinched her nose, her voice full of disgust.
"Tang San! Why do you stink so much? Did you step in dog poop?"
Hearing Xiao Wu's words,
the other work-study students also noticed the terrible smell and hurriedly covered their noses.
Tang San's face alternated between red and white. He was so embarrassed he wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
As for the stench on him,
Tang San knew it was most likely left by the ten-year stink bug he had crushed.
But he did not want to say so, and could only leave them with a few words.
"Maybe it's... the smell of sweat. I'm going to take a bath."
With that, Tang San lowered his head and slunk out of Dorm Seven.
Early the next morning,
Tang San got up early and found Yu Xiaogang waiting at the academy gate.
Yu Xiaogang wore a black scholar's robe and stood with his hands behind his back. Beneath his short, flat-topped hair, his stiff face wore a deliberately profound and inscrutable expression.
When he saw Tang San approaching, Yu Xiaogang spoke calmly.
"Xiao San, are you ready?"
"If you're ready, let's set off!"
But Tang San's face stiffened, and he forced a smile uglier than a crying face.
"Teacher... we don't need to go to the Soul Hunting Forest."
"What?"
Yu Xiaogang froze.
"I've already absorbed my First Soul Ring."
"What?!"
Yu Xiaogang was completely stunned. His eyes filled with disbelief as he cried out,
"You've already absorbed your First Soul Ring?!"
It had only been one night. Where had Tang San gone to absorb a Soul Ring?
Could His Excellency Haotian have taken Xiao San to hunt a Soul Beast that night?
"You... you've already absorbed your First Soul Ring?"
"Where did you get it? What kind of Soul Beast did the Soul Ring come from?"
Yu Xiaogang hurriedly pressed him in a deep voice.
Tang San's face flushed red with shame.
But he could only grit his teeth, extend his right hand, and summon his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.
A white Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath his feet.
White! A Ten-Year Soul Ring!
At the sight of the white Soul Ring, Yu Xiaogang froze again, finding it hard to believe.
"A Ten-Year Soul Ring? What kind of Soul Beast did that Soul Ring come from?!"
Tang San clenched his fists, his face so red it looked as though it might drip blood. After a long silence, he finally forced a few words through his teeth.
"Teacher, it's... the Soul Ring of a ten-year stink bug."
For a moment, the air seemed to freeze.
Yu Xiaogang could barely keep his composure, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably.
A ten-year stink bug Soul Ring?
Instead of absorbing a Hundred-Year Soul Ring as your First Soul Ring, you went and absorbed a ten-year stink bug's?
Wait!
Are you deliberately mocking me, brat?!
In the inner region of the Star Dou Great Forest,
Golden Crocodile Douluo had brought Xu Nuo into the Star Dou Great Forest. After some searching, they had finally found a suitable target Soul Beast.
"Haha! We finally found one!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo laughed heartily, his gaze fixed ahead.
On the rocky shore of a lake ahead,
a giant turtle-type Soul Beast, golden from head to toe, lay on the ground.
It was shaped like a turtle, but its four limbs ended in sharp dragon claws. Its thick shell was covered with densely packed dragon scales, and its head was that of a majestic dragon.
A Golden Dragon Turtle!
A top-tier turtle-type Soul Beast with dragon blood.
"Golden Crocodile King, possess me!"
The next moment, Golden Crocodile Douluo let out a thunderous shout and summoned his Martial Soul, the Golden Crocodile King, to possess him.
As the Golden Crocodile King possessed him,
Golden Crocodile Douluo's figure shot up, his muscles swelled, and a layer of brilliant golden scales covered his body like a rising tide. His eyes became golden beast pupils, and his hands turned into sharp claws.
Nine Soul Rings-two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red-rose one after another from beneath his feet and circled his body.
A vast pressure erupted in an instant, sweeping out in all directions as though it had substance.
"Sixth Soul Skill: Fierce Golden Crocodile!"
With a roar, Golden Crocodile Douluo's Sixth Soul Ring blazed to life behind him.
Amid a burst of dazzling golden light,
a gigantic Golden Crocodile King appeared behind him and took form. It opened its bloody maw and lunged fiercely at the Golden Dragon Turtle with a monstrous, savage might.
With a single bite, it shattered the Golden Dragon Turtle's shell, severely wounding it and leaving it on the ground.
"All right, Xiao Nuo, it's your turn!"
After severely wounding the Golden Dragon Turtle,
Golden Crocodile Douluo descended from the air, turned to Xu Nuo, and spoke with a smile.
"All right, Grandpa Golden Crocodile!"
Xu Nuo took a deep breath, drew a sharp sword from his Storage Soul Tool, and strode forward. With a swift thrust, he pierced the Golden Dragon Turtle's skull through its eye.
Then Xu Nuo sat down cross-legged, reached out to summon his Wishing Divine Lamp Martial Soul, and closed his eyes to circulate his Soul Power. He drew over the Hundred-Year Soul Ring that had formed above the Golden Dragon Turtle's corpse and placed it around himself.
But Xu Nuo did not absorb it immediately.
Instead, he secretly activated the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit origin within his body and began transforming the Golden Dragon Turtle's Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
According to the information provided by the Wishing Divine Lamp Martial Soul,
the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit origin did not need to become a complete Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring all at once.
It could first become a Hundred-Year Soul Ring and then gradually upgrade.
It could also be layered over another Soul Ring to transform it.
As for the Soul Skill, he could still choose freely from the skills that came with the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit origin.
Xu Nuo did not hesitate. He chose Invincible Golden Body at once.
Although Teleportation was powerful and Intangibility was also absurdly strong among Xiao Wu's array of Soul Skills,
they still fell far short of Invincible Golden Body, which granted absolute invincibility against anything below the god level for several seconds!
It was a true monster of a skill!
As for the choice of Soul Skill for his First Soul Ring,
in Xu Nuo's view, even a second of hesitation would be disrespectful to Invincible Golden Body.