Chapter 36: Another Passive Skill (Please Vote for Me)
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Chapter 36: Another Passive Ability (Please Vote for the Monthly Ticket)
“Crack, crack—”
Crack after crack appeared across the Stone Dragon Lizard’s body after it had been petrified by Celestial Star. Amid the ceaseless cracking, barely two or three seconds passed before fissures covered its entire body. At last, with one muffled thud, the Stone Dragon Lizard crumbled into dust.
Zhong Yan felt a strange sense of delight. He had always found scenes like this pleasing to the eye, no matter how many times he witnessed them.
“Wait a minute.” Zhong Yan suddenly seemed to remember something, and his expression changed. “Where’s my soul ring?”
Fortunately, the instant he finished speaking, countless black particles surfaced from the ground and gathered together, forming a black soul ring that floated in place.
Zhong Yan strode over in just a few steps. Despite having just fought a fierce battle, he did not need to rest or adjust his condition. Within mere seconds of connecting to the ley lines, he had already recovered to his peak.
The moment the soul ring settled around Zhong Yan’s body, he felt a scorching, violent aura flow from it into him.
Strangely, as he absorbed the soul ring, only the energy within the ring itself surged through his body. There was no mental assault from any lingering consciousness of the Stone Dragon Lizard.
“Could it be that Celestial Star completely erased its consciousness when it petrified it? If so, perhaps the upper limit on the age of soul rings I can absorb can be raised even further in the future.”
Absorbing this soul ring was practically a walk in the park. Just think of that poor fellow surnamed Tang—every time he absorbed a soul ring, he seemed to be playing on hard mode. Either his body convulsed, or he sat there with his brows tightly furrowed.
[After looking through the original novel’s descriptions of soul-ring absorption, I realized that the most frequently mentioned details about Tang San were his incessant convulsions and the “Big Brother—” cries from the sidelines. Ah, what a miserable existence. (Wry smile)]
Before long, the absorption was complete. The instant Zhong Yan opened his eyes, he saw Bibi Dong and Xiao Wu standing before him.
Noticing Xiao Wu repeatedly licking her cracked lips, Zhong Yan casually took a bottle of water from his soul tool and handed it to her.
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Bibi Dong did not care about any of that. At that moment, her eyes held only Zhong Yan.
“So? What is your fourth soul skill?”
“It is indeed the soul skill I wanted, though it comes with quite a few limitations.”
“Oh?”
“First, I’ve named the soul skill ‘Jade and Gold, a Gift to Heaven and Earth.’ Its effect is to draw upon various elements from the world around us.”
“Various elements? Are you sure?” Bibi Dong looked somewhat stunned.
“Cough, cough…” Xiao Wu, who was still drinking her water, was so shocked by the skill’s effect that she choked.
“Of course.” Zhong Yan could not hide his delight, nor the faint trace of smugness on his face.
The Lord is the GOAT!
In truth, Zhong Yan had already discovered that his soul skills seemed to be influenced by the God’s Heart. Otherwise, they would not suit him so perfectly. No—that was not quite accurate.
His soul skills seemed almost tailor-made for him, granting him one passive ability after another. All of his combat techniques had been developed from derivative skills based on those abilities.
Most importantly, those soul skills all seemed connected to the authority wielded by the Lord. If that was truly the case…
He had a bold idea. It was only speculation for now, but he believed that one day he would meet the Lord. When that day came, all his questions would be answered.
Bibi Dong was stunned by the effect of this soul skill. She had originally assumed that the Stone Dragon Lizard’s soul ring would merely allow Zhong Yan to obtain control over one additional element, which he could then combine with his various soul skills to create endless variations.
For example, if he gained control over fire, her disciple would be able to use lava to enhance his attacks in the future, or create an environment filled with magma.
A single element could be countered, so it could not truly be called endlessly versatile. There would always be a way to deal with it. But if he could draw upon every element, then that was true versatility—without any obvious weakness whatsoever.
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“Hmm… ‘A Gift to Heaven and Earth’ is quite a good name. But what limitations were you referring to?”
“The limitation is that I can only draw upon one element at a time, and switching between elements requires a certain amount of time.”
Bibi Dong nodded, then said, “Such a limitation is only reasonable. Even so, this soul skill remains an exceedingly rare divine ability. It practically should not exist in this world.”
“Actually, the greater limitation comes from my own strength. The elements of the world are sensed and invoked through the ley lines, and the amount of power the ley lines can withstand is limited. If I become strong enough in the future, I may be able to break through this restriction.”
There was another limitation to the soul skill that Zhong Yan did not mention: his authority over each element was also restricted.
For example, he could invoke the grass element—or, more precisely, the wood element—and unleash something like the Deep Forest Emergence used by Hashirama Senju in a certain ninja series. But he could not create a Wood Golem or Wood Clone, much less the True Several Thousand Hands.
He did not know why this was the case, but he had a vague premonition that if he completely inherited the Lord’s power, he might be able to break through this restriction.
With that thought, Zhong Yan sank his consciousness into his heart and looked at the God’s Heart. Approximately forty-five percent of it had already dimmed and lost its radiance.
As he absorbed more and more power and acquired an increasing number of soul skills, the God’s Heart would eventually be drained dry.
Perhaps, when that day came, all his questions would finally be answered.
End of Chapter