Yu Tianming walked up to Ah Zhi and asked, "How many years did your soul ring reach?"
Ah Zhi immediately stood up, her eyes bright with excitement. "My body's a bit stronger than sister's, so my soul ring is a little more advanced—twenty-five thousand years."
Yu Tianming nodded. She had two more fifty-thousand-year soul bones than Ah Zhu, yet her soul ring was only five thousand years stronger. Though she did put in effort absorbing it, her perseverance still couldn't match her sister's.
Still, for an average soul master, a fifth soul ring barely reaching fifteen thousand years would be a struggle. Even with Ah Zhi's powerful martial soul and soul bones, a 25,000-year soul ring wasn't something easily absorbed.
He reached out and pinched her soft cheek, smiling. "Your physique's far better than Ah Zhu's to begin with—absorbing a 25,000-year ring is only natural. What's your fifth soul skill?"
"I got a soul skill called Dragonclaw Shield. It's a weapon-type skill, just like sister's. The shield can release energy-based attacks, absorb incoming energy for defense, and also synergizes with soul bone skills to soak up massive damage."
As she spoke, Ah Zhi summoned two dragon claw-shaped mini shields mounted on her forearms. They were deep-sea blue, glowing occasionally with purple light. She followed up by activating her third soul skill—Blue Crystal Armor—which added a layer of armor to her body alongside the shields.
Ah Zhi looked eagerly at Yu Tianming. "Young master, try hitting me once."
Before her words had even faded, a golden bolt of lightning struck her thigh.
Yet her leg armor showed no damage—on the contrary, the dragonclaw shields on her arms flared with even greater brilliance. She swung her left hand, and three fine streams of water shot from the shield. Her right hand followed with three arcs of purple lightning.
Yu Tianming thought: Looks like Ah Zhi's become primarily water-attributed, with lightning as a secondary.
And with these shields, damage no longer transfers to the armor via soul bone techniques—meaning no more wardrobe malfunctions when armor shatters under heavy hits.
He nodded in satisfaction. "Offense and defense both in one—it raises your damage tolerance significantly. And now you've got a ranged attack, too."
While the two chatted, Dugu Yan, who was also absorbing her soul ring nearby, began to bleed. Dark red blood oozed from the gaps between the obsidian-colored scales on her body, quickly covering her entirely and making her look like a blood-drenched phantom.
Seeing how hard she was pushing herself, Yu Tianming quickly ended his conversation with Ah Zhi and rushed to her side in concern.
Dugu Yan had been pampered since childhood, protected by Dugu Bo and never having suffered hardship. Her desperation this time clearly came from a deeper reason.
Partly, it was to catch up to Yu Tianming, who was growing so quickly and now undergoing divine trials. And partly, it was because of the soul bones he gave Ah Zhi—she needed to prove her worth as his main wife by exceeding the other two in power.
After a while, the black soul ring condensed completely. Covered in blood, Dugu Yan slowly opened her eyes.
Yu Tianming, who had stayed at her side, hurriedly scattered medicinal powder over her. This powder, like Oscar's sausages and Shao Xin's jelly beans, was crafted by a Soul Sage. With potent healing effects, it could be stored for two to three years. He carried it to make up for the team's lack of a healer.
While scattering the powder, he turned to Bo Saixi. "High Priest, could you take us to a healing soul master? Yan needs help."
Bo Saixi smiled gently. "Don't worry. Her body was just overwhelmed by the soul ring's pressure—no serious injuries. I also have healing abilities. I'll treat her right now."
With a wave of her red sleeves, a sea-blue light enveloped Dugu Yan. She sighed in relief and stood up immediately.
Bo Saixi, saying nothing further, turned into a beam of red light and vanished once more.
Feeling her strength return, Dugu Yan smiled at Yu Tianming. "Tianming-gege, my fifth soul ring isn't weak—in fact, it's even higher than yours."
"Oh? Over thirty thousand years?"
Even Ma Hongjun's sixth ring was only forty thousand years, despite having a thirty-thousand-year arm bone. A fifth ring above thirty thousand was practically on par with a normal soul master's seventh.
Dugu Yan lifted her chin proudly. "Not just over thirty—I reached a terrifying thirty-five thousand years. Five thousand more than yours."
Yu Tianming didn't feel jealous. God-gifted soul rings were far easier to absorb than soul beast rings.
They increased in age gradually, allowing the body to adjust. They didn't come with mental backlash, avoiding spiritual strain. And they posed no risk of failure during absorption, letting soul masters push the limit.
When he'd absorbed the Stone Dragon, he hadn't had such favorable conditions. Even Tang San had trouble absorbing the Evil Demon Orca King at level 80 despite having absorbed two hundred-thousand-year rings earlier. God-gifted soul rings really were far easier.
So Dugu Yan obtaining a 30,000+ year soul ring didn't surprise him—he was genuinely excited for her success.
Yu Tianming affectionately ruffled her hair. "What skill did you get?"
Dugu Yan answered with pride, "My fifth soul skill is called Obsidian Serpent Body. It's not a weapon skill, but a state enhancement—boosts defense, strength, and abnormal resistance by 200%. My body also becomes extremely sharp—basically, I become a living weapon."
As she spoke, she took off her bloodstained outer robe and activated her martial soul, but her legs didn't turn into a snake tail—just a few patches of dark green scales appeared on her skin.
When her fifth soul skill flared beneath her feet, the number of scales increased, and even the areas without them began to glow faintly green.
They thought she was about to demonstrate the skill, but unexpectedly, under the gaze of Yu Tianming and the two sisters, she removed the last two pieces of her armor and stood completely naked before them.
"My soul skill covers all vital areas with scaled armor. It protects my organs and doubles as clothing—perfect for combat."
As she claimed, Yu Tianming saw that her body was now covered in a layer of obsidian-like armor, stretching from her neck to just above her knees, like a sleek one-piece swimsuit.
Unlike her earlier armor or martial soul scales, this armor had real thickness—it concealed her body's shape rather than revealing it.
After the demonstration, Dugu Yan walked to a small tree near the base of Seagod Mountain. Her fingertip glowed a deeper green.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, she lightly brushed the tree's trunk.
A bizarre scene unfolded.
Her finger sliced into the tree like it was soap, leaving a deep dent. Then the tree rapidly withered, turned black, and crumbled into charcoal.
Dugu Yan explained, "The dent's from the soul skill—this tree was as fragile as foam to me. And the withering is from poison—my skin now passively secretes toxins. That's what killed it."
Ah Zhu and Ah Zhi stared at her in shock. Though her fifth soul skill wasn't a weapon, it had turned her entire body into one.
They weren't stupid—they immediately realized the gap between their strength and hers. Dugu Yan had space skills. She could easily one-shot Ah Zhu. Ah Zhi's speed couldn't match her, nor could she fully resist her poison.
Even Yu Tianming was stunned. Her poison-coated skin made this skill ridiculously powerful.
Could it be that although her martial soul hadn't visibly changed, it had evolved internally to allow for poison resistance?
Her first, third, and fourth skills were all types of poison—nerve, berserk, and decay toxins—all passively fused into her Bichromatic Snake Poison. Now she could secrete large amounts by contact, meaning anyone she touched was basically dead.
Yu Tianming steadied himself and activated his martial soul, beginning partial dragon transformation. After reaching Soul Emperor, only his legs hadn't changed—he'd need to reach Soul Sage for full transformation.
He looked at Dugu Yan seriously. "Yan Yan, let's have a match. I want to see how strong you've truly become."
"The poison's real—don't blame me if it hurts."
With that, she vanished, appearing by his side and striking his shoulder—a non-lethal spot covered in scale armor.
This teleportation was her 80,000-year soul bone's ability: Spatial Warp.
A normal soul master wouldn't have reacted in time and would've been struck, but Yu Tianming's omnidirectional electromagnetic sense had long detected her. He raised his arm and easily blocked her strike with the back of his hand.
Dugu Yan didn't linger. She vanished again, appearing dozens of meters away with a smile. "How was that strike, Tianming-gege?"
Yu Tianming looked at his hand. The scales had tiny cracks, their surface dimmed by corrosion. And this was despite his body being immune to toxins through water and fire tempering.
He couldn't help but say, "That strike would've half-killed any Soul Sage. But too bad it's me—it didn't even break through."
With that, the cracked scales turned to ash, and new ones grew in instantly.
Still unconvinced, Dugu Yan called out, "Then try my Venom Arrow Rain!"
Dozens of black arrows appeared before her—the active attack skill of her 4,000-year soul bone.
With a wave, the arrow storm flew toward Yu Tianming.
But it couldn't match his lightning-fast reflexes and sensing. He easily dodged with a sidestep and reappeared beside her.
The toxic arrows hit where he'd stood, corroding the ground into a shallow half-foot pit, influenced by Seagod's power.
"Yan Yan, don't focus your attack on one spot like that—it's too easy to miss."
She didn't answer—instead, she activated her second soul skill, Toxic Barrier, and blinked away.
Just then, the barrier exploded into a mist of toxic droplets. But possibly due to Seagod's protection, the poison didn't even mark the stone.
Yu Tianming thought: With spatial blink and venom arrows alone, she could tear through crowds like a god of war.
Seeing her skills exhausted, he activated his sixth skill—Anti-Magic Pulse. A wave of light erupted outward. It spread too fast for Dugu Yan to react, and she was struck before she could teleport away.
With her soul power several levels below Yu Tianming, she couldn't resist. Her energy froze up, and she couldn't activate another skill.
"I give up," she said quickly. "But I was just careless—if I had blinked earlier, I could've fought another fifteen minutes."
Yu Tianming chuckled. "If I'd opened with a thousand-meter lightning field, you wouldn't have had time to blink."
Still, the battle left him seriously considering countermeasures for spatial skills—he lacked ways to handle them.
Before she could retort, he added, "Yan Yan, in the Slaughter City, you can't use soul skills—but soul bone abilities still work. With these two alone, you could survive a hundred battles and win the Killing God Domain."
Dugu Yan had heard of the Slaughter City and remembered Yu Tianming's two-year stay vividly.
She wrapped her arms around him and said coyly, "I don't like that place, and I don't want the Killing God Domain. I just want to stay by your side."
Yu Tianming coaxed gently, "But the Killing God Domain could lead to inheriting the position of the Asura God. Then you'd become a god yourself."
At that, her eyes lit up. She leaned into his arms and looked at Ah Zhu and Ah Zhi. "I don't want to leave you, Tianming-gege, but if becoming a god means I can always be with you—then I'll go to the Slaughter City."
Yu Tianming understood her intentions and knew inheriting the Asura God's power wouldn't be easy. But he didn't want to dampen her resolve.
"When you become a god, you'll naturally gain eternal life."
(End of Chapter)
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