Douluo Continent: The True Body and Blood Soul, Starting from Blacksmithing

Chapter 111 Petrification, Soul Bone Skill

Tang San opened his eyes as soon as Tang Hao left.

The moment the eyelids opened, traces of the soul bone energy still remained in those pale purple eyes, and the dark green light patterns deep in the pupils were slowly receding, as if being drawn back to the deepest part of the iris.

Tang San did not get up first, but turned his head and glanced behind him.

The woods behind me were utterly quiet. The branches of a few old elm trees swayed gently in the morning breeze, their shadows dappling the ground with irregular patches of light.

Tang San stared at the open space for two seconds, his brow twitching almost imperceptibly. It might be his imagination, but he felt as if his father had been standing right behind him the whole time.

When absorbing the soul bone, he was completely immersed in the struggle between energy and meridians, and his consciousness shut down his perception of the outside world.

But for a moment, he vaguely felt a steady and heavy aura pressing down on him from behind, as if a wall was blocking the wind for him.

He shook his head, temporarily suppressing the inexplicable feeling, and stood up from the ground, supporting himself on his knees.

Upon meeting Lin Yu's gaze, Tang San quickly patted the grass clippings and dirt off his clothes.

"Senior, I've finished absorbing the soul bone." His voice was filled with barely concealed excitement, and his breathing was more rapid than usual, as if he had just stopped from a long-distance run.

"My soul power level has increased by two levels to level twenty-three. In addition to the soul power level, I have also gained two skills related to eye techniques. One is petrification, and the other is purple light."

While Tang San was reporting, Lin Yu was also scrutinizing Tang San's eyes.

The eyes still had a purple hue, but they had indeed changed compared to before absorbing the soul bone. The purple base was still there, but an indescribable texture had appeared in the center of the pupils.

It was as if something had stretched it open from the inside, or as if a very thin layer of stone membrane had been covering the surface of the pupil, carrying a kind of hollowness and numbness that belonged to stone.

The emptiness isn't a lack of focus, but rather a fixed focus that's fixed in a certain position, and the emptiness doesn't disappear when you move your eyes.

However, Lin Yu's attention quickly shifted from the appearance to the content. Hearing Tang San say that he had gained two skills, Lin Yu was genuinely curious.

The petrification ability is easy to understand. It's Medusa's signature skill from her head spirit bone. The Gorgon's gaze can turn living things into stone, so this spirit bone providing the petrification ability was within his expectations.

But what is "Purple Light"? The names of Soul Bone skills are usually related to the characteristics of the Soul Beast itself, so Medusa's skill wouldn't be called Purple Light.

The only explanation is that this skill is a mutated product of the fusion of the petrification ability of the soul bone and Tang San's original Purple Demon Eye.

Lin Yu naturally wanted to see for himself what was unexpected.

He took a step forward, raised his hand and placed it on Tang San's shoulder. A silver light flashed slightly at his fingertips, and a wisp of soul power flowed through Tang San's body.

This soul power did not disperse, but was precisely guided to Tang San's skull, forming an extremely thin sensory membrane on the outer wall of the skull.

After doing all that, Lin Yu took two steps back, casually waved his hand, and gestured "please" with his palm facing up: "Come on, let me see two of your skills."

Lin Yu wasn't interested in Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Skill because his style was completely different from Tang San's.

However, his lack of interest in the Mysterious Heaven Skill does not mean that he is not interested in this skill derived from Tang San's Purple Demon Eye.

What if I could learn something?

Tang San didn't think much of it. He took a deep breath and began to control his soul power to flow into his eyes along the newly opened path of his soul bone.

Lin Yu was also ready, golden scales spreading outwards from her chest, covering her entire body in layers.

Before the rustling sound of scales rubbing together had even stopped, Tang San activated the first skill provided by his soul bone.

Two beams of purple light shot out from Tang San's pupils.

The moment the light left the eyes, two straight purple trails were drawn in the air, with a few wisps of extremely fine purple smoke spilling out from the edges.

This wasn't a light-based skill; he wouldn't have time to react to a true light-speed attack. However, although the energy that shot out of Tang San's eyes spread quickly, it was still far from reaching the speed of light.

The evidence was that he could still raise his hand. Lin Yu stretched out his right arm, his palm covered in golden scales blocking the path of the two purple beams of light.

The sensation of my palm touching the purple light was peculiar. It wasn't an impact, nor a burning sensation, but rather a kind of penetration.

The energy, as if alive, drilled into his palm and spread rapidly outwards from there. Wherever the energy reached, the originally golden scales began to turn grayish-gold at a visible speed.

The vibrant, flowing golden luster on the surface of the scales was frozen by something, becoming dull, stagnant, and lifeless.

The gray-gold scales no longer feel smooth to the touch, but have a rough, granular texture, just like real stone.

This is Tang San's petrification skill. It doesn't turn the opponent into stone, but rather temporarily changes the material structure of the contact area through energy penetration.

Before Lin Yu could calmly perceive the changes in the scales on her palm, the energy diffusion abruptly stopped. Tang San had stopped.

Lin Yu raised his head and looked at Tang San. Fine beads of sweat had already seeped from the boy's forehead, and a few strands of hair were stuck to his temples after being dampened by the sweat. His breathing rhythm was obviously disordered.

Noticing Lin Yu's gaze, Tang San wiped his forehead with his sleeve and gave an awkward smile: "Senior, when the Petrification Ray landed on your hand, the mental strain this skill took on me exceeded my expectations."

Lin Yu understood. Like other ten-thousand-year soul skills, ten-thousand-year soul bone skills also possess the characteristic of attacking the soul level. This characteristic is extremely valuable in actual combat, but the cost is also very direct: it consumes mental energy.

Tang San's mental strength was not particularly strong to begin with, and my mental strength was more than one level higher than his.

Moreover, although the Golden Armor is still in its growth stage, it has already stepped into the threshold of a divine artifact. It is normal for the consumption to be magnified several times when using the power of a mortal to activate the soul bone skill to shake the defense of a divine artifact.

As for the petrified scale in his palm, Lin Yu lowered his head and sensed it.

The essence of petrification is that an external earth-attribute energy temporarily alters the internal structure of the scales, forcibly twisting the golden scale material into a stone-like state.

This change is not permanent; once the energy dissipates, the scales will return to their original state.

He tried to use his soul power to cleanse that area. Under the cleansing of his soul power, the gray-gold scales regained their luster at a perceptible speed, gradually turning back to gold from the edges.

However, Lin Yu had an even faster method. He activated his second soul skill—Scale Vibration.

At the same time, the golden scales covering its entire body began to vibrate at an extremely high frequency, and the resulting buzzing sound was subtle and dense, like a swarm of bees flapping their wings in its ear.

The gray-gold layer on the surface of the scales was shaken into an extremely fine powder by this high-frequency vibration, which fell from the palm of the hand and refracted a small patch of gray light dust in the air.

Even Bibi Dong's energy attack could be deflected by the vibration of her scales, so dispelling a petrification effect was naturally a piece of cake.

"The soul skill is quite effective." Lin Yu gave an impartial evaluation, his voice steady, without exaggerated praise or deliberate suppression.

"Petrification does not completely petrify the opponent in an instant, but rather spreads outward from the point of contact. This spreading process itself is a deterrent."

"The downside is that it consumes too much energy, and using it against an opponent with stronger mental strength will backfire. However, if the opponent is a powerful offensive Soul Master who is not good at mental strength, this skill can have a surprising effect in battle."

Tang San pursed his lips and nodded, his gaze falling on the golden scale in Lin Yu's palm that had completely regained its normal luster. It would be a lie to say he wasn't shocked.

The opponent dispelled his ten-thousand-year soul bone technique, which he had unleashed with all his might, by merely causing his scales to tremble.

As for Lin Yu's statement about "a powerful offensive soul master who is not good at mental strength",

Tang San couldn't help but think of the scene that day when Lin Yu pinned a Soul Master at the Soul Sect level to the ground and beat him up in the academy's martial arts arena.

The impact of that scene still lingered in his mind, so much so that Tang San couldn't help but mutter to himself: Could it be that you are a powerful attacker who excels in mental strength?

Tang San didn't ask this question aloud, but he figured he could find out more when he tested another skill later.

"Senior," Tang San steadied his breathing, "my other skill can only be activated when you make eye contact with the enemy; it's a soul-targeting attack. Pay attention."

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Seeing that Lin Yu's eyes had met his, Tang San decisively activated his soul bone skill, Purple Light.