First Soul Ring

Mu Tian'en paid no attention to Golden Crocodile Douluo's words.

Looking at the sandy waters, which had completely collapsed when the water pressed in again, Mu Tian'en still felt a lingering fear.

But when his pounding heart finally calmed and he turned his gaze to the Sinking Sand Water Turtle he had killed with his own hands, his eyes sharpened.

A yellow Soul Ring slowly appeared above the corpse. It could hardly be called enormous; it was only about the same size as Mu Tian'en.

Sensing Mu Tian'en's gaze, the Soul Ring came straight to him.

Fuse!

Absorb!

In an instant, Mu Tian'en's body went rigid.

The essence that came from the Soul Beast instinctively stirred Mu Tian'en's already terrifying Martial Soul.

The Black Hole Whale, a Martial Soul that could be called extraordinary, had separated itself from Mu Tian'en's body.

Although only half of it had separated, leaving most of its power inside Mu Tian'en, his condition still deteriorated in an instant as he left the so-called Martial Soul Possession state.

Bubbles!

Breathing!

Mu Tian'en's body was approaching the brink of death at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The fearsome whale Martial Soul appeared brazenly before Golden Crocodile Douluo. Its twelve pairs of eyes paid no attention to the harm its departure had caused its master, focusing instead on the Soul Ring floating before it.

Only then did it return to Mu Tian'en's body.

After a stream of bubbles poured from Mu Tian'en's mouth, he returned to his previous state, able to move freely underwater even while holding his breath.

He sat cross-legged in the water.

Buoyed by the water, he began to make contact with the so-called Soul Ring before him.

As the Soul Ring came into contact with Mu Tian'en's flesh, the essence of the Sinking Sand Water Turtle began pouring into his body.

With the aid of the Soul Beast's immensely abundant essence, the whale with twelve pairs of eyes inside Mu Tian'en gave a low cry and shrank. Then, from the little puddle in his lower abdomen, it leaped straight up.

Then it fell.

The Soul Ring's essence that had crashed into Mu Tian'en's body broke apart almost instantly under the impact.

But through the combined efforts of Mu Tian'en and the Black Hole Whale Martial Soul, more essence was drawn from the Soul Ring.

Then~

Mu Tian'en heard a high-pitched whale song.

Joy?

Liberation?

Or comfort~

Mu Tian'en didn't know, but he watched as the Soul Power inside him, which had been no more than a little puddle, began to expand.

It was still a puddle, but compared with the one that had barely held the Black Hole Whale before, it had expanded by a full twofold.

At the same time, the pattern that had emerged in his Martial Soul began to flicker with each surge and fall of Mu Tian'en's Soul Power.

Mu Tian'en's chest rose and fell.

Waste gas produced by the workings within his body gushed from his mouth and nostrils.

Bubbles formed around his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

And burst there.

The Soul Ring, which had been floating behind Mu Tian'en, began to rotate around his body.

Yet although Mu Tian'en's Soul Power was growing steadier, he did not awaken from his meditation.

"Strange~"

Golden Crocodile Douluo's figure drifted about.

After circling Mu Tian'en several times, he too sat cross-legged in the water, watching the little fellow whose breathing alone made the newly formed Soul Ring flicker.

"The Martial Soul keeps flickering, which means the little fellow is activating his Soul Skill."

And yet, even Golden Crocodile Douluo had detected no change in the world around them.

"Was the Soul Ring the little fellow obtained not the one I wanted?" A trace of obscurity flashed in Golden Crocodile Douluo's eyes.

He didn't even know how to comfort the little fellow, who might have drawn a less-than-ideal Soul Ring skill.

But the next moment, ripples born of Mu Tian'en's Soul Power fluctuations, now at least thirty percent stronger, reached Golden Crocodile Douluo.

The vast, surging waves paid no heed to Golden Crocodile Douluo's presence.

They passed him and spread toward the more distant world.

Then~

Golden Crocodile Douluo looked at the arm that had just touched the ripples, at the fine hairs on it moving of their own accord against his will, and narrowed his eyes.

At some point, grains of sand had begun to cling to the little fellow.

Had he succeeded?

Golden Crocodile Douluo didn't know.

He was probably not far off the mark.

But he was eager for the little fellow to open his eyes.

Moreover, Golden Crocodile Douluo looked at Mu Tian'en with growing wonder.

"This little fellow's Soul Power cultivation method and Soul Ring are working together."

Golden Crocodile Douluo's eyes shone brightly.

He seemed to have discerned a tiny difference between the little fellow's Soul Power cultivation method and those used by old fellows like them.

But it was only a tiny difference.

A flash of inspiration appeared before Golden Crocodile Douluo and vanished, so quickly that he himself failed to notice that the insight which might have decided whether he became a Peerless Douluo had slipped away before him.

But Golden Crocodile Douluo's troubles could not stop Mu Tian'en from opening his eyes.

In a mere instant, Mu Tian'en had finished refining himself.

With his first Soul Ring and the limit-breaking Soul Power brought by the removal of a shackle, accomplished with the life of a Soul Beast, Mu Tian'en slowly raised his arm.

Amid a series of cracks and pops, Mu Tian'en, who was already taller than his peers, grew once again.

But since Mu Tian'en was still in his Martial Soul Possession state, the change in his height was not particularly conspicuous.

He was still over two meters tall.

But~

As Mu Tian'en merely stood there, the water around him, which had begun to clear after the loss of the Sinking Sand Water Turtle, took on a layer of black with his breathing.

At that moment, Golden Crocodile Douluo noticed the change and reached Mu Tian'en's side almost instantly.

After confirming that Mu Tian'en had finished absorbing the so-called Soul Ring, he did not gesture for them to surface.

"Little fellow, use your First Soul Skill on me."

"I want to see what that so-called Unfalling Sandcastle is like."

Golden Crocodile Douluo had already grown curious about a powerful Soul Skill like Unfalling Sandcastle when he heard Ma Chengyuan describe it.

Now, certain that Mu Tian'en should have obtained this powerful Soul Skill, Golden Crocodile Douluo naturally would not pass up the chance to experience it for himself.

As for getting hurt?

That never even entered Golden Crocodile Douluo's thoughts.

When younger members of his own family acquired new Soul Skills, he would test them with his own body whenever the mood struck him.

He had even tested the Soul Skills of those younger Soul Douluos with his own body.

How could he possibly give up the chance to sample a little fellow's First Soul Skill for fear of getting hurt~

Of course, this was also part of Golden Crocodile Douluo's planning.

If the little fellow ever turned against Spirit Hall, to which he was loyal, and he was still alive, then at least, knowing the little fellow's Soul Skill, he could personally step in and clean house rather than let Spirit Hall suffer needless casualties.