Chapter 197 Three Great Soul Skills! Long Aotian's Gratitude!
On the clearing of the Star Dou Great Forest, the shrunken spirit of the Earth-Splitting Rhinoceros was affectionately rubbing against Long Aotian's neck.
Poison Immortal stood to the side, his emerald green double pupils fixed on the semi-transparent little guy, his heart filled with waves of shock.
"Organizing soul power... It can actually actively assist the host in organizing soul power?" Poison Undying muttered to himself.
"Aotian, you just said you can sense its thoughts. Does that mean that in battle it can be like a part of your body, without you even needing to consciously control it?"
Long Aotian nodded heavily, his eyes filled with ecstatic joy: "Yes, Master, this feeling is wonderful."
"It now resides in my sea of consciousness. I can feel its dependence on me, and its instinct to use its own energy seems to have also been integrated into my subconscious."
Poison Undying took a deep breath to calm his agitated emotions, then asked seriously, "Leaving aside these auxiliary functions, what level of skills has this ten-thousand-year-old Earth-Splitting Rhinoceros spirit brought you?"
"According to the rules of spirit rings, a spirit beast that is 28,000 years old should only be given one sixth spirit skill."
Long Aotian closed his eyes and communicated with the soul through his sea of consciousness for a moment. When he opened his eyes again, his tone was filled with a shock that even he found absurd: "Master... it gave me a total of three soul skills."
"What?!"
Poison Undying's voice suddenly rose, and the aura belonging to a level 98 Super Douluo almost leaked out due to emotional outburst.
"Three soul skills? That's impossible! The common knowledge in the soul master world is that a ten-thousand-year soul ring has a single skill, and only a one-hundred-thousand-year soul ring can have two skills."
"You're just a soul that's over 20,000 years old, what makes you think you can give me three?"
Liu Yuan, who was sitting to the side, stood up, brushed the grass clippings off his robe, and explained calmly, "Master, this is the biggest difference between the Soul Spirit system and the traditional Soul Ring system."
"Traditional spirit rings are solidified energy after a spirit beast dies. Its intelligence dissipates, so the abilities that can be extracted are naturally limited."
"But a soul spirit is a living spiritual entity that retains the original essence of a soul beast in its lifetime. According to my previous research, the number of soul skills provided by a soul spirit is linked to its age."
"A maximum of two ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts can be provided, a maximum of three thousand-year soul beasts can be provided, and a maximum of four soul skills can be directly granted to the host by a ten-thousand-year or higher soul beast."
"Ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts... can you give up to four at most?" Du Busi felt as if Liu Yuan was dismantling his worldview word by word.
Liu Yuan nodded and added, "However, fusing more and higher-quality soul spirits requires extremely high mental strength from the soul master."
"If an ordinary Soul Master lacks sufficient spiritual power, forcibly fusing with it will only lead to the collapse of their sea of consciousness."
"But there's no rush, Senior Brother. You can wait until you become a Title Douluo before absorbing it."
"Given his current condition, the combat power boost provided by this soul spirit is enough to allow him to level up smoothly before breaking through to the Title Douluo level."
Du Busi and Long Aotian exchanged a glance and fell into a long silence once again.
"Let me calculate..." Du Busi started counting on his fingers, his eyes growing brighter and brighter as he calculated.
"Ao Tian is now a six-ring Soul Emperor. Normally, a Soul Emperor only has six Soul Skills, but Ao Tian originally had five, and now this Soul Spirit has given him three more."
"So, although Ao Tian is currently at the sixth ring, he actually possesses eight soul skills?"
"That's right," Liu Yuan said with a smile. "Moreover, because these three soul skills are guided autonomously by the soul spirit, their release speed and energy consumption are much faster and more economical than ours."
"If a Soul Master of the same level encounters Senior Brother, before they can even finish exchanging Soul Skills, they'll probably be riddled with holes by Senior Brother's two extra powerful Soul Skills."
"A monster... truly a monster's system." Poison Undying exclaimed, then looked at Long Aotian, "Quick, Aotian, stop talking and start doing, let this old man see what these three skills are all about."
Long Aotian laughed heartily, then leaped backward dozens of meters, landing in the center of the wrecked open space.
"Master, watch closely! First Soul Skill, Vajra Wrath!"
Long Aotian let out a low roar, and the spirit of the Earth-Splitting Rhinoceros behind him shone brightly.
In an instant, Long Aotian's already muscular body swelled up even more, dark golden patterns spreading from his neck to his entire body, and an extremely violent surge of blood energy burst forth from his body.
"This skill can instantly increase my strength and speed by up to 50%. More importantly, it has no side effects."
Long Aotian flashed across the open space, his speed leaving afterimages.
Immediately afterward, his attack continued, and he suddenly swung his left arm horizontally.
"Second Soul Skill, Earth-Splitting Horn!"
With the violent fluctuations of his soul power, a piercing friction sound came from the front of Long Aotian's arms.
Beneath that dark golden skin, spiraling, snow-white drill bits rapidly grew, each as thick as an adult's arm, gleaming with an extremely sharp, cold light, and spinning wildly.
Long Aotian punched a giant rock beside him, and the black cloud rock, which was strong enough to withstand a Soul King's full-force attack, was instantly reduced to dust by the drill.
"Finally, it's due to the mutated abilities that arose after it completely merged into my body. Third Soul Skill, Martial Soul True Body!"
Long Aotian clasped his hands together, and his entire body rapidly grew larger amidst a dazzling dark golden light.
His original 1.9-meter frame grew to nearly 5 meters in just a few seconds, and his skin was covered with a layer of bluish-black armor like that of a rhinoceros splitting the earth, making him look like a war behemoth forged in dark gold.
"In this state, my strength and defense are tripled, and all my attacks have a crushing effect." Long Aotian's muffled, thunderous voice came from high above, causing the surrounding leaves to rustle.
Du Busi stared at Long Aotian, who had finished demonstrating his soul skills and was gradually shrinking back to his original size. His mouth hung open for a long time before he finally exclaimed in admiration, "Eight soul skills... a combination of offense and defense, plus amplification and transformation. Aotian, you've really made something of yourself!"
Long Aotian withdrew his soul power and strode up to Liu Yuan.
The senior disciple of the Body Sect looked at Liu Yuan with admiration and an indescribable gratitude.
"Junior brother, I, Long Aotian, will remember this life-saving grace. In the future, in this Douluo Continent, if anyone dares to mess with you, I will make them taste the power of my eight soul skills!" Long Aotian solemnly clasped his fists at Liu Yuan.
Liu Yuan smiled and took his arm, saying, "Senior brother, you flatter me. We are fellow disciples, and it is only natural that we should help each other. Moreover, this is just the beginning. As long as this system is passed back to the sect, our Body Sect will eventually become the only truth on this continent."
Having said that, Liu Yuan turned his gaze to the shadows deeper into the forest. His purplish-gold double pupils flickered slightly, revealing an unprecedented anticipation.
"However... we've already got my senior brother's soul. Now it's my turn."
Poisonous Undying laughed loudly, his emerald green soul power once again engulfing the two of them: "Good! Now that the feasibility of soul spirits has been verified, I will turn this entire Star Dou Great Forest upside down to find that hidden beast for you! Let's go!"
Three streaks of light rose from the ground once more, heading straight for the dark and deep core area of the star.
(End of chapter)