Book 1: Skydream Iceworm

Chapter 3.3: The Million Year Soul Ring

“Fine.” Huo Yuhao excitedly agreed, “What are my four soul skills?”

The Skydream Iceworm replied, “You’ll have to rely on yourself to comprehend them. Something that you comprehend on your own will always be clearer than something I tell you directly. However, don’t be happy so early. You’re right, I’ve given you four soul skills, and they’re all spiritual-type soul skills; however the energy that I’ve sealed within your body is also very enormous. Thus, you must remember a few things. Firstly, the energy that I’ve sealed inside of your body can only help you increase the age of your soul rings—which is also their might—when your cultivation has reached a sufficient stage. However, it can’t increase the strength of the soulforce that you cultivate. Secondly, the four soul skills that I’ve bestowed you with are, due to the fact that they’re from me, auxiliary soul skills that don’t have much attack power. Because of this, you’re still quite weak right now. You still have a long way to go if you want to become strong, do you understand?”

“I understand. My mother taught me that nobody could reach the heavens in a single step, that one step could only leave a single footprint. The only way for one to become a man above all other men is to rely on one’s own hard work and diligence. Brother Skydream, you can rest assured; I’ll definitely work hard.”

“That’s good. However, your natural aptitude is truly poor. Ai… if there’s a chance in the future, I’ll find some heavenly treasures for you to eat. Your Spirit Eyes martial soul was caused by a mutation, but your potential isn’t bad. However, the mutation process has greatly affected your bodily functions since you were young. Your passageways are now narrow and rough, causing your cultivation to be slightly challenging. Let’s take it slowly, we can’t rush this. Oh right, there’s something I have tell you.

“Can you see that grey ball up there?”

Huo Yuhao said, “I can see it. Is that also your power?”

The Skydream Iceworm said, "No, I don't know either. It happened when I fused with your body. I think your soulforce may have caused this. That grey ball of light seems to be a spirit, and also seems to not belong to our world. I don’t even know where it came from. However, although this spirit was weak, it’s a very high ranked spirit, so I don’t have any methods of dealing with it. However, I can sense that it doesn’t have any evil intentions. Right now, it’s currently in a deep sleep. It might not wake up during your entire lifetime, but if it does, it could be slightly troublesome. Don’t worry, if it doesn’t move, then that’s that; If it truly does do anything harmful to you, I’ll protect you—it won’t be a problem.”

“Alright, you should go back to your body now. The two humans outside have been waiting for you this whole time, and they don’t have any evil intentions towards you.”

“Two humans?” While Huo Yuhao was astonished, the scenery in front of him suddenly turned blurry. He felt like he’d instantly been sucked into an enormous whirlpool, and everything turned dark.

……

“Why haven’t you woken up yet!” Tang Ya patted Huo Yuhao’s face and shot an inquisitive glance towards Bei Bei, who was next to her.

Bei Bei gently smiled and said, “Both his qi and blood are completely smooth, and his body’s soulforce is very normal. Furthermore, it’s very vigorous. If I’m not wrong, he must’ve just broken through the soul Scholar realm, and this is the sign of him entering the Soul Master realm. His body needs to harmonize with this power right now, thus he naturally needs a certain amount of time to get used to the soulforce that he’s obtained after breaking through. Unfortunately, it was only a ten year Wind Baboon.”

Tang Ya humphed and said, “How is that very unfortunate? It’s normal for someone’s first soul ring to be a bit weaker than the rest. The fact that he was able to kill a Wind Baboon by himself is already quite good.”

Bei Bei chuckled and said, “The way to capture a woman’s heart is through her stomach, much less for a person like you, whose heart and stomach are conjoined.”

Tang Ya’s charming face turned slightly red, “Pah, you’re the one who’s heart and stomach are conjoined. You’re impudent; don’t forget that I’m your teacher!”

Bei Bei didn’t retort. He only looked at her and warmly smile.

“Ugh…” Huo Yuhao let out a light groan, and slowly opened his eyes.

“Little Yuhao, you’ve finally woken up! You worried me to death.” Tang Ya was immediately exhilarated when she saw Huo Yuhao open his eyes.

Huo Yuhao felt some confusion in his mind, and only became clear-headed after composing himself. He clearly recalled the conversation that he’d previously had with the Skydream Iceworm, causing him to be unable to help but subconsciously mutter to himself, “Was I really not dreaming?”

Tang Ya giggled and pinched Huo Yuhao’s arm for a moment, causing him to immediately cry out in pain. “Sister Xiao Ya, what’re you doing?”

Tang Ya smiled. “I’m helping you check whether or not you were dreaming! How are you? Are you more awake now? You really have some guts, actually daring to travel into the Great Star Dou Forest by yourself.”

Huo Yuhao was slightly embarrassed as he scratched his head. Held only just learned how weak he was, and how much he’d overestimated his capabilities, after meeting the Wind Baboon. However, an eager feeling quickly rose up from his embarrassment. He jumped up from the ground, and roused the soulforce in his body.

A scene that made Huo Yuhao indescribably happy immediately appeared.

His soulforce, which had originally reached a bottleneck, had undergone a qualitative change—even the strength of his body seemed to have slightly increased. Gentle soul power surged out, and everything that he saw with his Spirit Eyes became clearer. Furthermore, many instinctive marks had appeared in his mind, and each and every one of them were skills. Four, there are actually four soul skills! Brother Skydream truly exists! I wasn’t dreaming! Everything’s real, I actually possess a million year soul ring!

Only now did Huo Yuhao believe that everything he’d experienced earlier was real. The ecstasy in his heart surged out unceasingly, and he couldn’t help but let out a loud shout, “I’ve succeeded!”

Bei Bei and Tang Ya saw a jade-white soul ring rise from Huo Yuhao’s feet. It slowly moved upwards, all the way until it reached his head. Then, it slowly moved downwards with a rhythmic pace. It was his first soul ring.

Bei Bei subconsciously thought to himself, “Sure enough, it’s a ten year soul ring.” Only, he had a slight feeling of doubt in his heart. Why did the colour of Huo Yuhao’s ten year soul ring seem to have a sort of sparkling, translucent feeling—as if it were slightly different from an ordinary ten year soul ring? Could it be that the Wind Baboon had had a higher cultivation? However, how could he have known that a million year soul ring was also jade-white?

The change that had occurred to Huo Yuhao wasn’t limited to just his soul ring; a faint gold sheen had also appeared inside of his deep blue eyes. Bei Bei and Tang Ya could both sense undulations of soulforce from his eyes, as well as a spiritual undulation, which caused them to be distracted for an instant.

Previously, the powerful spiritual energy that had been released by the Skydream Iceworm had caused them to temporarily lose the ability to think. However, they had been unable to sense it due to the enormous difference between it and them. However, Huo Yuhao was currently very close to them. He’d changed, and the spiritual undulations that were being released from his eyes caused them to be shocked.

“A spiritual-type martial soul? A spiritual-type martial soul that’s merged with a Wind Baboon as its first soul ring?” Bei Bei, who’d been calm until now, couldn’t help but have his expression slightly change. According to the theory of soul masters that he understood, this seemed to be something impossible! However, the facts were right in front of him.

The faint golden sheen quickly vanished from Huo Yuhao’s eyes. He’d also recovered from his surprise. He excitedly jumped up, “Succeeded, I’ve truly succeeded! I’m a Soul Master now!”

Bei Bei and Tang Ya both looked at each other and saw the shock in the other’s eyes. Tang Ya couldn’t help but ask, “Little Yuhao, is your martial soul a spiritual-type? I sensed a strong spiritual undulation earlier.”

Huo Yuhao finally recovered from his excitement, and he was slightly embarrassed as he said, “Yeah! My martial soul is the Spirit Eyes. It’s a mutated martial soul that has the spiritual attribute.”

Tang Ya’s eyes brightened, “Spirit Eyes? A body soul? Good.”