Douluo: In an extraordinary world, with unparallel understanding!

Join my Patreon to be 30 chapters ahead of the webnovel releases:

patreon.com/ZeroMoney

I would appreciate your help if you could join my Patreon and support me because it would keep me motivated. 

******

However, it wasn't a problem.

Su Yu didn't even furrow his brow.

It was just close to five hundred years old.

The maximum age limit was merely a statistical estimate. It didn't mean all creatures reached their maximum potential at that exact age. Bai Feng's *Star Soul Sword* was a top-tier martial soul with an inherently stronger tolerance.

Soul rings apply pressure to the body as a result of the martial soul bearing the stress.

When a soul master absorbs a soul ring, most of the pressure is carried by the martial soul itself. Only a small fraction of the pressure affects the soul master's physical body.

The greatest challenge for a soul master is when the soul ring's energy flows into the meridians.

This tests the soul master's constitution, and more specifically, the strength of their meridians.

If a soul master has cultivated their soul power to a certain level, their meridians are already strong enough to handle that pressure.

This explains why many support-type soul masters, despite having relatively weaker physical constitutions, are still able to absorb soul rings just as effectively as powerful attack-type soul masters.

When exceeding the maximum age limit, the additional pressure caused by absorbing a higher-level soul ring is primarily borne by the soul master's body. This is one of the key difficulties in absorbing soul rings beyond one's level.

The more the limit is exceeded, the more pressure the body must endure.

For instance, if the maximum limit is four hundred years, and the soul master tries to absorb an eight-hundred-year soul ring, they would need to train their body to match the martial soul's ability to endure the incoming soul energy!

Of course, this is about the body's ability to handle external soul energy, not necessarily an overall measure of physical strength. But there is a strong correlation between constitution and the ability to bear soul ring energy, which is why constitution is typically used as a proxy for the body's capacity to absorb a soul ring.

Bai Feng's martial soul had a higher quality, and thus, its feedback on his body was greater. His physique should be strong enough to withstand the initial impact of the soul power.

Moreover, Su Yu had previously developed techniques for absorbing soul rings, such as the semi-refined starry power assist, along with self-suggestion methods. These techniques would minimize the willpower influence within the soul ring, reducing the pressure experienced during absorption.

Ten-thousand-year soul rings carry remnants of the soul beast's essence from its previous life. This essence creates a spiritual shock to the soul master during absorption. While soul rings under ten thousand years don't contain this residual essence, they still carry the beast's will, which can hinder the soul master's process of refining the soul ring.

The nearly five-hundred-year-old *Star Sword-scaled Dragon*, a creature ten meters long and three meters high, was nothing more than an easy target for Su Yu.

With a casual wave, Su Yu unleashed a stream of sword qi, resembling a torrent of water, sending the dragon flying and severely injuring it.

"Xiao Feng, go ahead."

Su Yu casually waved, creating a river of sword qi that astonished Bai Feng.

So strong!

Is the teacher really this powerful?

While Bai Feng was still in shock, he heard Su Yu's instruction and immediately summoned his martial soul.

The power of the stars and his soul power merged with his martial soul, and he moved forward to slash at the *Star Sword-scaled Dragon's* throat.

Su Yu's mental power tightly suppressed the dragon, leaving it completely immobilized, even as it tried to fight back in its final moments.

A bright yellow circle slowly formed above the *Star Sword-scaled Dragon's* corpse.

Su Yu's gaze sharpened as he sensed something. His mental energy scanned the dragon's body.

"This... Is it condensing a soul bone?"

It was a peculiar sensation, one Su Yu could only recognize due to his understanding of the rules linked to life and death.

Electrolux confirmed Su Yu's guess.

"Teacher, I want to try refining this incomplete soul bone for Xiao Feng."

The process of soul bone condensation was just the beginning. It hadn't even completed a tenth of the entire process before it ceased. However, before the energy dissipated, Su Yu successfully captured it.

"Xiao Feng, when you absorb the soul ring later, pay attention. I'll help you refine this *Star Sword-scaled Dragon's* corpse into your soul ring in the form of a soul bone."

Bai Feng, though confused and not fully understanding, nonetheless took note of Su Yu's words.

He sat cross-legged, beginning the process of absorbing the soul ring.

Su Yu used his mental power to gently extract the energy, beginning its refinement based on Electrolux's instructions.

In essence, this process was the awakening of the energy's spiritual essence.

Once awakened, Su Yu purified and compressed the energy again, guiding it into Bai Feng's body through runic instructions.

"In the future, how much Bai Feng can develop this energy and what kind of weapons he can craft with it depends entirely on him," Su Yu said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Su Yu could inscribe runes on this energy and solidify its form, but it might not align with Bai Feng's intentions. It was better to keep it malleable and integrate it into Bai Feng's soul ring.

From then on, this energy would be like a rare metal. Bai Feng could shape it and use soul-guiding techniques to inscribe runes upon it, constantly refining it.

It might even serve as an additional component for his battle armor in the future.

Since the soul bone condensation process from the *Star Sword-scaled Dragon's* corpse had only reached one-tenth, and the soul skill hadn't yet formed, Su Yu mused that, with future development, Bai Feng might eventually unlock a soul skill from it.

Su Yu couldn't help but admire his disciple's luck.

Although it was highly unlikely that the soul bone would fully condense—due to the *Star Sword-scaled Dragon*'s low cultivation—the fact that Su Yu was present and noticed the energy forming, even in such a small fraction, seemed to be purely luck.

Bai Feng's process of refining the soul ring was smooth, with little danger.

Having just awakened his martial soul, even though the feedback from the *Star Sword* was quite strong, enduring the pressure of over-level absorption proved somewhat difficult.

However, with Su Yu's life energy assistance, Bai Feng successfully completed the absorption of the soul ring.

"How's the soul skill?" Su Yu asked.

Bai Feng closed his eyes to sense it.

Around his body was a bright yellow soul ring, within which were numerous faint, white glowing patterns.

He opened his eyes and, with a tone of mild surprise, said, "My first soul skill is *Unrivaled Sword Qi*! It enhances the power of my sword qi by 30%, and during the skill's activation, I can control the sword qi around my body to form a sword qi shield."

A skill with both offense and defense.

It perfectly inherited the *Star Sword-scaled Dragon's* characteristics.

Moreover, this soul skill passively granted Bai Feng the ability to condense sword qi.

Although his martial soul could release sword qi, he would need to cultivate to increase the strength of the condensed sword qi, which wouldn't be very powerful initially.

"Hmm, as expected of a nearly five-hundred-year-old soul ring. The soul skill from the *Star Sword-scaled Dragon* suits you well, and its effect is impressive," Su Yu commented.

Percentage-based boosts are among the most cost-effective soul skills.

According to Su Yu's research, the soul rings of the Douluo Continent serve as an interface between the soul master and the rules, a means of utilizing these rules.

The percentage-based increase is guaranteed by the rules, ensuring that the boost is significant. As long as Bai Feng doesn't neglect the training of this soul skill, even as his soul power level rises, the effectiveness of this first soul skill is unlikely to diminish.

This was Su Yu's conjecture.

(End of Chapter)