Douro Continent

Chapter 44 First Soul Ring Skill (Part 1)

The next moment, he seemed to hear a crisp cracking sound, followed by the heat spreading out wildly and then merging again, merging into a milky white stream. The original winding stream instantly became a river, flowing gently, and wherever it passed, the burning pain disappeared, leaving only a soothing comfort.

Success! Overjoyed once again, Tang San was all too familiar with that feeling of shattering. It was clearly the feeling when the first bottleneck of the Mysterious Heaven Skill was broken. His internal energy and the power of his soul ring merged together, becoming an even more powerful force. In a very short time, it rapidly spun around his meridians several times before slowly flowing into his dantian.

Just as Tang San had guessed, upon arriving in this world, his Mysterious Heaven Skill had unconsciously formed a strange synergy with the soul power of a soul master. Each level of the Mysterious Heaven Skill corresponds to a title for a soul master. Having obtained this first soul ring, he finally broke through the bottleneck of the first level of the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Of course, his current power is not just about entering the second level of the Mysterious Heaven Skill. He also possesses a martial soul power that the Tang Sect does not have, as well as the skills brought by his first soul ring.

The exhilarating feeling after absorbing the spirit ring was indescribable, as if floating on clouds, effortless, or reaching the pinnacle of bliss. Every one of his 36,000 pores opened, greedily inhaling the wonderful air. The qualitative change was causing strange transformations in Tang San's body.

Tang San tried his best to calm his inner excitement. The breakthrough in his Xuan Tian Gong, aided by his spirit rings, told him his future direction. He knew that, no matter what, his life in this world would likely be inseparable from his spirit. Spirit power was the internal force of the Xuan Tian Gong, and internal force was spirit power. He was destined to walk the path of a spirit master. Of course, he was a spirit master belonging to the Tang Sect.

When Tang San slowly opened his eyes, it was already bright daylight, and the vibrant life brought by the new day seemed to be calling to his body.

Tang San looked down at himself and found that his body seemed to have changed because of the spirit ring. His originally thin figure seemed to have grown a little taller, his shoulders had broadened a bit, and his skin had a more lustrous glow.

With every movement, he felt a powerful lightness that was so comfortable. Without needing to deliberately test it, he knew that not only had his internal strength broken through the bottleneck, but all aspects of his physical functions had also been greatly enhanced under the influence of the hundred-year-old Mandragora Serpent's soul ring.

"Teacher." Upon regaining consciousness, Tang San's first thought was of Grandmaster. He was eager to tell Grandmaster that his theory of soul beast mimicry was successful. Although he endured considerable pain during the entire fusion process, he felt no conflict whatsoever.

When his gaze fell upon the master, he was taken aback.

The master lay motionless on the ground, his body seemingly stiff. A circle of sulfur powder, just like in the previous camp, surrounded him and the master.

"Teacher, what's wrong?" Tang San was very anxious. He quickly turned over and went to the master's side, helping him up.

Upon seeing the master's face, Tang San blurted out, "Poison."

The master's originally stiff face was surrounded by black mist, and he was breathing more air than he could exhale. His body was stiff and he had lost all feeling.

"How could the teacher be poisoned?" With this question in mind, Tang San suddenly sensed that something was wrong with the master's body and quickly pulled open the sleeve on his right arm.

The master's right arm was swollen to three times its normal size, the skin stretched to a bright purple. Fortunately, a bandage was tightly tied around the base of his upper arm, clearly an emergency measure taken after he realized he had been poisoned. Despite this, he remained unconscious, even though most of the toxins had not spread, demonstrating just how potent the poison was.

A sudden realization dawned on Tang San, and he understood why his master had been poisoned. Earlier, when he and his master were being chased by the Mandragora Serpent, the serpent had bitten his master's spirit, Luo Sanpao, on its right foreleg, but Tang San quickly withdrew it. Beast spirits and their hosts are one, even if Tang San's spirit was mutated. Spirit poisoning is equivalent to the host being poisoned as well. However, Tang San was so focused on helping him absorb the spirit ring that he disregarded his own safety. Once Tang San entered a cultivation state, his spirit power couldn't control the poison, leading to its onset.

Comparatively speaking, weapon spirits have an advantage in this regard, as the poison will not affect the host if the weapon spirit is contaminated.

"Fortunately, Master stopped the spread of the poison, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to help." Tang San felt the pulse in Master's left hand and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The poison hadn't reached his heart yet, and there was still time to save him.

Born into the Tang Clan, Tang San knew exactly how to treat poison wounds. At this moment, he didn't care whether the flames would summon spirit beasts. He quickly gathered some dry branches and leaves from the surroundings, lit a fire with a fire poker, tore off the sleeve of the Master's right arm, dug a hole in the ground with the short sword the Master had given him, and then took out clean water to wash the sword clean.

The campfire gradually grew stronger. Tang San repeatedly heated the short sword over the fire before dragging the master's body to the side of the pit, letting his right hand dangle in the pit.

Taking a deep breath, Tang San flipped his wrist and unleashed three consecutive sword strikes, slashing at the master's pulse point, the back of his arm, and his armpit.

Instantly, three streams of purplish-black blood, carrying a strong fishy smell and a faint tea fragrance, shot out and flowed into the pre-dug pit like three small rivers.

(End of this chapter)