Between the three of them, only Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had thousand year soul rings. It was a huge increase in power when a two-ringed soul grandmaster became a three-ringed soul elder. Besides the obvious increase in soul power, their soul skills would improve qualitatively. The might of thousand year soul skills were far superior to their hundred year counterparts, and their versatility was likewise greater. This would especially be the case for Xiao Xiao, since her soul ring was far more powerful than their initial projections.
Huo Yuhao said, “I think that it will take quite some time for her to fuse with the soul bone. Let’s cultivate while we wait.”
Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao had both experienced the soul bone fusing process. They knew it was very tedious to absorb a soul bone. Especially Huo Yuhao, who still shivered when he recalled his unbearable experiences fusing soul bones.
“Okay,” replied Wang Dong.
They sat down on the spot, palms clasped together, and a gentle white and gold halo emerged and intersected from them as they started to circulate their Haodong power. Since Elder Xuan was here they didn’t need to worry about anything and immediately started cultivating.
Wang Dong’s Golden Light Left Arm Bone once more displayed its full capabilities, causing the aura of light around Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong became more intense as rings of golden light silently engulfed them. The circulation speed of their soul power and their absorption rate of the energy of heavens and earth both increased.
Elder Xuan sat below a tree off to the side and watched over them with a benevolent gaze. He thought to himself, No wonder Elder Mu always watches over the freshmen dormitory. Youth is nice!
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had entered a meditative trance. The positive effect of Haodong Power towards their cultivation only ever increased as their cultivation rose further. Their influence on one another greatly enhanced their soul powers.
Huo Yuhao had reached a bottleneck in soul power, thus he could only start accumulating his soul power now, whereas Wang Dong felt that his own soul power was increasing. Their current cultivation speed was similar to when they individually underwent deep meditation.
Wang Dong believed that reaching Rank 40 would be possible in half a year’s time with a speed like this. Don’t forget that he was the youngest of the Shrek’s Seven Monsters!
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’s situation was going well on one side, but Xiao Xiao had met with troubles on her end.
The fluid converted from the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s Right Palm Bone was flowing into her palm. At first she felt comfortable, as if a warm liquid had coated her hand. But the warmth soon became scorching. Even though her soul power was being rapidly stimulated, she couldn’t interfere with the fusing process in her arm. That scorching feeling was still increasing, and became blazing hot.
Xiao Xiao’s entire right hand had visibly turned dark golden colored. It seemed as if something were crawling out of her palm, and the searing heat caused her to sweat profusely. The experience was torturing her, as she felt like her palm was being grilled. At that moment, only Xiao Xiao’s right palm felt like this, but slowly the same sensation spread up her entire right arm!
She laughed bitterly in her heart. Was this her retribution for eating grilled bear meat earlier? It was her turn to be grilled this time, and it was even from the inside out.
The intense, burning pain caused Xiao Xiao to shiver slightly. Her slight shivering soon became convulsions, and the dark golden radiance on her right hand became brighter.
Elder Xuan opened his eyes wide and rushed to Xiao Xiao’s side. He observed her carefully.
Xiao Xiao was trembling more and more. Elder Xuan could feel a struggling life-force releasing waves of hysteria from her right hand, . It wasn’t struggling to resist being assimilated, but was struggling to break free! It was like some kind of embryonic creature trying to escape from its shell. Xiao Xiao looked like she couldn’t bear it anymore.
Not good! Elder Xuan exclaimed in his heart. He’d been careless. Indeed the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s Right Palm Bone was powerful, but this had blinded him to an important difference between soul bones and soul rings; while the strength of soul rings was determined by age, the soul bone was reliant on quality!
While they both came from the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear, and Xiao Xiao had had no problems fusing with the soul ring, it was a different story for the soul bone! The Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear was too overbearing, and its soul bone manifesting as a right palm bone meant it was the of the highest quality. The dominating power of a Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear came from its fierce lineage, and Xiao Xiao was currently suffering precisely from the strength of this overbearing lineage! Afterall, she was only a young soul elder.
Elder Xuan had thought that, once Xiao Xiao’s cultivation had increased greatly by obtaining her third ring, it and the fierce aura of her Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s soul ring—combined with the enhancements to her body from her previous two soul bones—would allow Xiao Xiao to absorb this two thousand year soul bone without any complications. But reality was cruel; the difficulty of absorbing this soul bone was far beyond his calculations.
“Xiao Xiao, hold on!” Elder Xuan shouted softly. No one could help her at this point; success or failure was in her own hands. Should an outside power intervene, it would simply be sucked in. At that point, unless Elder Xuan could be by her side at all times supplying a steady stream of soul power, the soul bone could explode at any time.
“Teacher, my hand is about to melt. I can’t hold on anymore!” Xiao Xiao screamed in pain and couldn’t maintain her sitting posture anymore, then twisted her body and fell on the ground. Her right hand stabbing into the mud, although this did nothing to alleviate her pain.
The golden radiance had extended from her right hand to her whole arm at this point, which caused Xiao Xiao’s entire body to start spasming tremendously.
“This isn’t good. The soul bone is creating a backlash!” Elder Xuan didn’t care about the ramifications anymore, and rushed to Xiao Xiao’s side before slapping his palm on her right shoulder. This sealed the dark golden radiance in Xiao Xiao’s right arm. However, Xiao Xiao’s right arm started to balloon in size, and the power within was about to break free from its restraint.
A soul bone backlash was the most dire outcome of soul bone absorptions. It could even become a fatal situation should things go wrong. It usually happened because the soul master can’t handle the immense power within the soul bone, which then counterattacks the soul master in retaliation.
Xiao Xiao’s painful screams also jolted Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong awake. Both of them were shocked when they saw Xiao Xiao’s condition.
“Elder Xuan, what’s wrong with Xiao Xiao?!”
Elder Xuan furrowed his brows and said in a somber tone, “The Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s Right Palm Bone contains too much domineering strength; Xiao Xiao can’t bear the current pressure its exerting. She’s experiencing soul bone backlash.”
“What can we do?” Huo Yuhao asked anxiously. He could see that Xiao Xiao’s arm had swollen up like a balloon, and that her shirt was just moments away from ripping.
Elder Xuan bitterly replied, “If this continues, I’m afraid that her arm will…”
“What?!” Wang Dong exclaimed. “Elder Xuan, is there nothing we can do? The soul bone can’t even be suppressed with your soul power?”
Elder Xuan shook his head and said, “No. If I try to forcefully suppress it, her arm will burst. She’ll only lose her arm faster if I do that. If I didn’t already have a right arm soul bone, I could try to guide the soul bone out, but since I do I can’t.”
Xiao Xiao looked extremely pale, and the pain from her right arm made her body spasm violently. Without Elder Xuan’s seal, the power of the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s soul bone would’ve spread its backlash to her entire body, which would leave her life in danger.
“Elder Xuan, let me do it.” Huo Yuhao said decisively.
Even though he immediately made this decision, you could tell how resolved he was from his tone .
Aside from Xiao Xiao, he was the only one left in the group without a right arm soul bone. Meaning he was the only outlet this frightening power could be siphoned to. Not only that, but he couldn’t watch as Xiao Xiao was in danger of losing her right arm.
“You?” Elder Xuan was slightly shocked and said, “Yuhao, your cultivation isn’t even at Rank 30 yet. If Xiao Xiao can’t bear it, I don’t think you can…” Moreover, the soul bone’s power had been fully unleashed now, and it was far more brutal than before.
Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly and replied,”Elder Xuan, believe in me. I hold at least 70% confidence in myself to do it. Elder Mu must have told you what has happened to me so far, and my body is extremely strong. While Xiao Xiao did get a chance to practice our Tang Sect’s Mysterious Jade Hands, she did so long after me. Her mastery of the Mysterious Jade Hands is inferior to my own. Furthermore, my second martial soul’s Ice Empress Pincer increases my palm strength even further. I should be able to bear it better than her.”
Elder Xuan took in a deep breath, and his eyes sparkled as he looked at Huo Yuhao. “Kid, I won’t waste anymore time. If you get hurt because of this, I will help you recover, even if it costs me my life.”
Wang Dong didn’t try to talk Huo Yuhao out of it, but he tugged at his shirt from behind.
They were friends, even close to seeming like relatives, Huo Yuhao was undoubtedly the closest person to Wang Dong at Shrek Academy. He wasn’t willing to see Huo Yuhao take this risk.
Huo Yuhao didn’t seem to understand Wang Dong’s intention. As he stepped forward, he shook his left hand behind his back slightly and removed Wang Dong’s grip on his shirt, while his right hand also grabbed onto Xiao Xiao’s right hand firmly.
Huo Yuhao’s body jerked as their hands contacted. He didn’t feel a scorching heat at first, but instead a wave of hysterical will that instantly surged from Xiao Xiao’s right palm into his body.
However, he wasn’t afraid to compete against the thousand year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear in terms of spiritual power and will, even if it was still alive.
Elder Xuan said in a deep voice, “I’m about to start.”
“Okay.” Huo Yuhao’s reply was very short. He adjusted his breathing, and readied himself.
He was a little stunned that, while the Skydream Iceworm and Ice Empress were awake, they didn’t try to stop him. They didn’t even warn him, as if they were completely ignorant of current events.
An intense undulation of soul power circulated around his entire body rapidly, as the Mysterious Heaven Technique was focused on his right arm.
Elder Xuan unleashed his pure power to suppress the Darkgolden Terrorclaw’s tyrannical strength. Without Huo Yuhao being there, this power would be used to support Xiao Xiao’s arm and delay it reaching the limit of what it could bear. But instead it forced the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s strength into Huo Yuhao’s right arm.
Once it entered Huo Yuhao’s right arm, he immediately understood the pain that Xiao Xiao was experiencing.
The burning power surged maniacally. Like a raging inferno had transformed into countless tiny blades furiously cutting at his palm. This tyrannical strength caused Huo Yuhao to tremble, but he quickly stabilized himself.
He couldn’t bother to think of the consequences earlier. He found it clear that even if he and Xiao Xiao couldn’t take it, Elder Xuan was still around. At most his right palm would be crippled, but Xiao Xiao would have herr entire right arm crippled. He balanced the repercussions for the both of them. As her team leader and friend, he didn’t hesitate to help Xiao Xiao resolve this problem, when he was the only one that could.
He was also confident in himself. He was convinced that the power of the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear soul bone couldn’t be compared to the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s soul bone, even after it was sealed. After experiencing such frightful pain once, what was a measly Darkgolden Terrorclaw soul bone to him? Besides, even if he really couldn’t take it, the Ice Empress would help him. This was why he was so confident.
It turned out that Huo Yuhao’s previous conjectures were absolutely right. His Mysterious Jade Hands’ proved far more effective than Xiao Xiao’s. When the strength of the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear came into his right palm, his right arm emitted a faint glow, resembling a gem. This glow suppressed the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s power in his palm, and kept it from spreading further.
Huo Yuhao also switched his martial soul to the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. His soul bones also emitted a turquoise radiance. The radiance was so intense that it penetrated outwards from inside his body, and became visible on the outside from beneath his skin.
The aura assaulting him came from a Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear, which, while they are very powerful, they aren’t up to the standards of the Ice Jade Scorpions. Let alone the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion that Huo Yuhao possessed. Its aura would not lose out to a simple Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s. Huo Yuhao also activated his first soul skill, the Ice Empress’ Pincer, without any delay.
Xiao Xiao was completely unprepared for the aura’s assault, and she didn’t have any soul skills to strengthen her palms. Huo Yuhao on the other hand, had such a skill at his disposal. Upon activating the Ice Empress’ Pincer, Huo Yuhao could feel an immediate effect on the pressure facing him. So even though his palm was still feeling the full force of the pain, it was solely in his palm, and didn’t spread past his wrists. As the dark golden radiance shone, a diamond radiance that belonged to his Ice Empress’ Pincer appeared.
The diamond radiance was colorless and transparent. Under the Darkgolden Terrorclaw’s radiance, Huo Yuhao’s entire palm shone with intense light.
Elder Xuan was very sharp, and his eyes brightened. He thought to himself that there was hope!