Chapter Twelve: The Soul Bone Will Only Defile My Body, Tempered Through Countless Trials!

“I can do anything now!” Ning Wuque raised his hands high, letting out a long, triumphant roar, his face alight with uncontrollable excitement, exhilaration, and joy.

Beside him, Zhang Can, who had guarded Ning Wuque for a long time, also smiled warmly. He gently patted Ning Wuque’s head, genuinely happy for his grandson.

For this day, Ning Wuque had endured over two years of hardship. His grueling, almost self-destructive training regimen and exhausting schedule pained Zhang deeply. Every time he heard Ning Wuque collapse from physical exhaustion, his heart skipped a beat.

How he wished Ning Wuque did not harbor such grand ambitions, that he would simply stay by his side and enjoy a peaceful life.

In this vast sect, as long as Ning Wuque could endure loneliness, Zhang could guarantee him a lifetime of wealth and honor.

But Ning Wuque chose otherwise. He transformed his obsession with power into boundless motivation, turning his dream of reaching the pinnacle into reality.

Now, he had proven it! Innate soul power and martial soul roots meant little. Extraordinary talent combined with unwavering determination could break through countless barriers!

“Wait, Wuque, look at this!” Suddenly, Zhang Can, his guard momentarily relaxed, noticed a different gleam in their view.

He had been too focused, exhausted both physically and mentally from ensuring Ning Wuque’s safety. Always ready to intervene and treat him if he failed to absorb the soul core, he had completely overlooked the unusual coloration on the corpse of the millennium-old dark gold soldier ant.

“What is it, Grandpa?” Ning Wuque asked, puzzled.

Zhang Can swiftly moved to the ant’s remains beside Ning Wuque, reached out, and cracked open its shell, pulling out a piece of dark black-and-gold bone.

A soul bone!

Ning Wuque’s eyes widened. Today, luck seemed to smile on him, as if heaven pitied his talent and admired his effort.

A millennium-old soul bone—rarer even than a ten-thousand-year soul bone—though considered a mere scrap compared to the greatest soul bones, was nonetheless a priceless treasure from the Blood River!

Worth hundreds of thousands, even millions of gold soul coins!

“A soul bone!” Zhang Can exclaimed, “It’s a right arm bone. Wuque, you must absorb it! This soul bone will surely strengthen your arm!”

Without hesitation, he handed the soul bone to Ning Wuque, his kindly old face beaming with joy.

Though he had never possessed a soul bone in all his years, he did not hesitate to give this precious gift to his extraordinary grandson.

Zhang Can knew his days were limited—perhaps thirty years, maybe less.

Better to let Ning Wuque absorb it and help him realize his dream of becoming a powerful soul master than to waste it on himself.

But to Zhang Can’s surprise, Ning Wuque shook his head firmly.

“Sorry, Grandpa, I can’t absorb this soul bone. You know I’m preparing to formally cultivate the ‘Nine Layers of the Yama Gate,’ right?”

“I know, but what does that have to do with absorbing the soul bone?” Zhang Can asked, puzzled.

He understood that Ning Wuque’s intense physical training was to withstand the shock of the soul ring explosion, essential for cultivating his self-created ‘Nine Layers of the Yama Gate.’

Yet he couldn’t grasp why that would prevent him from absorbing the soul bone. Instead of pressing the issue, he carefully stored the soul bone in a soul storage device and gestured for Ning Wuque to explain.

Taking a deep breath, Ning Wuque sat cross-legged and pulled something from the storage device.

It was a book. He handed it to Zhang Can and said, “Grandpa, take a look at this first, then I’ll explain. It’s not that I don’t want to absorb the soul bone—I just can’t.”

“Can’t?” Zhang Can’s confusion deepened. He settled down cross-legged before Ning Wuque and flipped through the book.

There was no table of contents. From the first page onward were Ning Wuque’s notes, detailing his research on the ‘Nine Layers of the Yama Gate’ up to now.

The pages were filled with theories and hypotheses, interspersed with diagrams of human meridians and altered meridian charts showing various beast martial soul soul masters after possession.

Then Zhang Can saw the crucial passages:

“Record 32: Effects of Beast Martial Soul possession on the human body.

According to related illustrations, the stronger the beast martial soul, the more profound the changes to the human body after possession. Similarly, higher-level soul masters experience deeper possession, causing their bodies to approach beast-man forms.

For example, dragon martial soul soul masters beyond the seventh ring can be called ‘dragon men,’ with roughly forty percent of their meridians, blood vessels, and internal organs differing significantly in position from those of ordinary humans.

Some, like fire dragon or ice dragon martial soul soul masters, even develop new organs internally after around the seventh ring of possession.”

“Record 33: Impact of soul ring explosion shock on human meridians.

According to theory [Record 13], the core of the ‘Nine Layers of the Yama Gate’ relies on energy released by the soul ring explosion, fully supplied to the soul master’s body. The soul master must bear the portion of energy the martial soul cannot handle.

This requires the soul master to adapt to the energy flow, controlling it to form a feedback loop within the body, maximizing absorption and utilization of this violent energy.

This method maximizes the ability to withstand the energy shock from the soul ring explosion, transforming the body’s interior into a specialized circuit.

Therefore, any changes to the body itself might cause the ‘Nine Layers of the Yama Gate’ technique to fail, potentially triggering internal energy conflicts and bodily rupture.

Note: Such phenomena occur only when the energy level surpasses the body’s original limit, i.e., when any soul master detonates their fourth soul ring [Record 26].”

“Record 34: Concept of soul and body integration.

To address the issues mentioned in [Record 33] and [Record 32], the beast martial soul must not merely possess the body’s surface but fully integrate into human form.

Hence, the concept of soul and body unification was proposed, allowing deep possession by the beast martial soul without affecting the soul master’s body while retaining roughly 50-70% of the original enhancement.”

“Genius! Wuque, I… I almost harmed you!” Zhang Can exclaimed.

Having read the notes, he understood immediately why Ning Wuque could not absorb the soul bone.

Although Ning Wuque’s notes did not mention any specific effects of soul bones, could Zhang Can risk it?

No! He couldn’t afford that gamble!

While soul masters can absorb soul bones, the cost of removing them is severe—possibly resulting in permanent loss of body parts!

Such a setback would be catastrophic for someone like Ning Wuque, whose cultivation was purely physical; all his hard work would be undone!

“It’s alright, Grandpa. You only wanted what’s best for me, didn’t you?” Ning Wuque smiled gently, shaking his head, unaffected by the situation because he knew Zhang Can’s intentions were sincere and caring.