Chapter 102: Absorbing the Soul Ring, Will Intruding into the Soul Ring's Soul skills Space
The purple thousand-year spirit ring enveloped Tang Shan. Domineering and tyrannical Soul Power surged out from it, and then rampaged wantonly through his Meridians.
Waves of sharp pain came from his Meridians, but Tang Shan's expression remained unchanged. Facing the internal pain, he calmly mobilized the Soul Power in his Dantian and began to refine it.
As the Soul Ring was absorbed, he sensed a vague Bottleneck, and the surging Soul Power crashed against the invisible barrier.
Crack!
The sound of shattering echoed within his body, and his Soul Power surged even faster. Utilizing this impact, Tang Shan mobilized the Soul Ring energy that was still continuously pouring into his body, directing it toward the Meridians in his arms.
Crack, crack, crack!
First, the Bottleneck was shattered, and now the Meridians were cleared. Carrying the Aura of breaking through the Great Soul Master Bottleneck, Tang Shan mobilized his Soul Power to break through two more of the twelve primary meridians in one go.
By now, ten of the twelve primary meridians had been opened, with only two remaining to complete a full cycle. He truly wondered what special changes would occur in the circulation of his Soul Power once they were all open.
The Soul Ring's energy was still continuously pouring into his body. Tang Shan only allocated a portion of his mind to refine it, while the other portion prepared to conduct an experiment that only he could perform.
Sitting on a treetop as a Protector, Snake Lance Douluo suddenly noticed that the light purple first Soul Ring on Tang Shan's body flared with light, yet his body underwent no change whatsoever. This couldn't help but make him frown slightly.
Why would he suddenly unleash a Soul skills when he was absorbing the Soul Ring so smoothly? And even though the Soul skills was activated, his body didn't seem to have changed at all?
While absorbing the Soul Power of the Soul Ring, Tang Shan suddenly activated his First Soul Skill, increasing his Self-Control by 20%. Instead of applying this control to other enhancements, he directed all of it to boost his own brain.
With 'Self-Control' fully active, Tang Shan felt as if a flash of inspiration exploded in his mind, and his originally chaotic thoughts instantly became crystal clear. The passage of time seemed to slow down in his perception; every external sound, light, shadow, and even the flow of Soul Power in the air were infinitely magnified and instantly fed back into the depths of his consciousness.
This feeling was not merely one of sharpness, but of ultimate 'control.' He felt as if his brain were an overclocked precision instrument. Past cultivation fragments that had been blurry and impossible to recall now surged from the depths of his memory like a tide. Knowledge that had once been obscure and incomprehensible was instantly dismantled and analyzed under his accelerated thinking, turning into the most basic logical fragments that integrated into his instincts.
However, this was not Tang Shan's true purpose. Or rather, Tang Shan had long known how to use the method of boosting and controlling his brain. Otherwise, as a mere ordinary person in his past life, even with the help of his First Soul Skill, Self-Control, he could not have progressed so rapidly in Internal Martial Arts. This was all thanks to his soaring learning ability after mastering his brain, and later reading a vast number of cultivation-related classics in Heaven Dou City's Spirit Hall, which allowed his Internal Martial Arts to reach the Huajin stage today.
As for why the secret archives of Spirit Hall were willing to open up to Tang Shan...
According to Xue Qinghe, she had gone through a tough struggle with Salas and promised many benefits before she managed to secure this privilege for Tang Shan.
At that time, Tang Shan 'did not doubt in the slightest' Xue Qinghe's words, and expressed absolute loyalty to the 'First Prince of Heaven Dou'.
To get back to the point, Tang Shan's fundamental purpose in activating his brain control was not to gain greater Comprehension Ability or brain processing power, but to elevate his own perception to the absolute limit.
His First Soul Skill, Self-Control, controlled Tang Shan himself. In that case, did his Soul Ring also count as a part of him?
After a period of testing, Tang Shan confirmed his hypothesis: the Soul Ring was indeed a part of himself.
Could it be controlled then?
Yes, but not right now.
He confirmed that a Soul Ring absorbed by a Soul Master was a part of them, but for the time being, they could not control the Soul Ring.
The reason was none other than the temporary inability to sense the Soul Ring.
The release of a Soul skills was an instinctive process that did not require a Soul Master to think about how to trigger it. This actually left Tang Shan somewhat at a loss; after all, if he couldn't even sense the Soul Ring, how could he possibly control it?
At that time, Tang Shan had thought of two solutions. The first was the Clear Sky Sect's Self-Created Soul Skill, Ring Explosion, from the original novel. After all, the premise of exploding a Soul Ring must be sensing it first, right? If he could get his hands on the Ring Explosion secret technique, Tang Shan was confident he could control the Soul Ring through his First Soul Skill.
As for the spirit ring fusion secret technique, Tang Shan had also inquired with Porcupinefish and Snake Lance Douluo. He found that this secret technique directly fused all Soul Rings together through the Martial Soul and then erupted them immediately, leaving no Opportunity for perception at all.
The second method was what Tang Shan was preparing to do now.
Wasn't the Soul Ring supposed to fuse with the Soul Master? If I can't find you after Fusion, I refuse to believe I can't find you during the process of Fusion. By pushing my perception to the absolute limit during the Fusion process, I can look for a connection with the Soul Ring that is currently fusing.
Tang Shan focused his mind, spreading out his infinitely magnified perception like a giant net, and then suddenly retracted it inward, bypassing flesh, blood, and bones to dive directly into the most microscopic level of his body.
Under that extreme probe, he'saw' the Soul Power rushing through his Meridians, and'saw' his cells cheering under the nourishment of the energy. Finally, within that torrent of energy, he detected a faint, threadlike connection that seemed as if it might snap at any moment.
Releasing his control, an invisible channel of connection was quietly established. Tang Shan's heart fluttered slightly, but he immediately suppressed it with his will, forcing himself back to calmness.
The first step of the experiment was successful, allowing him to breathe a slight sigh of relief, but he froze at the next step.
The connection was clear now, but what next? What should he do?
Not knowing how to proceed, Tang Shan could only tentatively split off a strand of Soul Power, intending to transmit it through the connection.
However, the attempt failed. In the end, this connection was an invisible channel, not a real energy pathway. Tang Shan was only able to control it through his First Soul Skill because it was a rule-based Soul skills.
Sensing the energy flowing out of the Soul Ring gradually thinning, Tang Shan had a gut feeling that if he failed to find a way to enter before the Soul Ring completely fused, that faint connection would inevitably vanish once the Soul Ring was fully integrated with him.
Even now, the consumption of Soul Power within Tang Shan's body was accelerating.
Ideas flashed through his brain one by one, only to be rapidly eliminated under Tang Shan's calculations.
Suddenly, an idea came to mind.
Since this connection is invisible, can an equally invisible existence like my will enter through this connection?
Once this thought arose, Tang Shan hesitated no longer. Following his vague intuition, his will crashed violently into that invisible channel.
At that moment, it felt as if he had passed through a membrane woven from countless rules.
There was no special feeling, but when Tang Shan's consciousness cleared again, a stream of information uncontrollably flooded into his mind. At the same time, the Soul Power consumed by activating his First Soul Skill within his body suddenly surged dramatically.
Because the increase was so rapid, Tang Shan was forced to mobilize the not-yet-fully-refined Soul Ring energy to help sustain the Soul skills.
In the treetop opposite Snake Lance Douluo, a black-haired young girl, who had been curiously watching Tang Shan's entire process of absorbing the Soul Ring, suddenly had a slight change in expression the moment Tang Shan's consciousness crashed into the Soul Ring.
At that moment, Tang Shan radiated a subtle fluctuation of rules. This kind of fluctuation was something only powerhouses at the Super Douluo level could faintly sense, and only a Limit Douluo could clearly detect.
"How could there be fluctuations of rules? Isn't he just an ordinary Soul Master? His Soul Power feels about the same as a hundred-year Soul Beast."
Her ethereal and pleasing voice carried an unmistakable trace of surprise and confusion. The shock that the subtle rule fluctuations on Tang Shan's body brought to the young girl was no less than if she had detected the presence of the Power Of Faith in an ordinary Soul Master. It was simply unfathomable.
Tang Shan had absolutely no idea that his experiment this time had drawn the attention of a certain silver dragon fish, who originally only wanted to freeload food and drinks. At this moment, the vast majority of his consciousness was in a mysterious space.
This space was without light or color, formless and shapeless. Since he had entered with his consciousness, there was no such thing as visual observation.
However, the information that flooded into his mind upon entering gave him a rough guess about the space he was currently in.
['Crushing Kill': Boosts leg strength, leaps into the air, and then uses the body's weight to crush and attack the enemy]
This seems like the effect description of a Soul skills. Could I have entered the interior of the Soul Ring?
As this thought arose, Tang Shan's heart couldn't help but beat wildly with excitement.
Previously, when he absorbed his first Soul Ring, he had altered the Soul Ring's effect through an extremely intense and highly focused consciousness. Now, as he absorbed his second Soul Ring, by a stroke of luck, he could actually directly enter a space that was suspected to be the Soul Ring's Soul skills space.
Recalling Su Haichao's Heaven-Defying Teleportation skill that increased in movement distance as his Soul Power grew, Tang Shan couldn't help but feel his heart race.
His previous interference with the Soul skills was also out of necessity. After all, uncontrolled Soul skills effects really wouldn't be of much use in the Late Stage. Rather than having an uncontrolled but powerful ability, it was better to have a controlled but slightly weaker one.
But now, it seemed he could directly choose from these Martial Soul Abilities, and perhaps even select a growth-type skill like his father's. How could he not be tempted?
Instinctively, his consciousness moved through this space.
['Elephant Roar': Emits an extremely resonant elephant trumpet, deterring opponents and causing a certain amount of sonic damage]
['Earthquake Trample': Infuses power into the ground to generate seismic waves within a ten-meter radius, stunning enemies for at least one second]
['Super Armor': Increases strength by 100% and grants a super armor state, granting immunity to shockwaves and knockbacks; movement can be stopped, but one will not be forced back]
['Surging Earth Waves': Manipulates the ground like flowing water as easily as one's own limbs, allowing the user to directly control the earth to submerge opponents]
One wondrous Soul skills after another flooded into his consciousness as information, which Tang Shan then learned of.
As expected, I must have entered the Soul skills space of this Diamond Mammoth's Soul Ring. Many of the earth-attribute skills among them were likely possessed by its ancestors.
Constantly navigating through the various Martial Soul Abilities, Tang Shan's consciousness was like a mouse that had fallen into a vat of oil, rapidly absorbing the information within. His horizon and thinking also became increasingly broad under the influence of these Martial Soul Abilities.
Indeed, there was a Domain Soul skills: the Earth Domain. It boosted all of one's own attributes by 30%, weakened opponents by 20%, and greatly increased the ability to control the earth element.
Sensing the information received in his consciousness, Tang Shan's thoughts spun rapidly.
Last time, his father didn't obtain a Domain Soul skills, either because indirect conscious interference with this Soul skills space didn't work very well, or because there were certain conditions to acquire a Domain Soul skills. It was also possible that both reasons applied.