Lan Xue rushed forward, her expression full of concern. "Feihuang, are you sure you want to absorb this 1,200-year-old spirit ring? The Earthbound Spirit's attack power may not be strong, but its aura is eerie, filled with malevolent energy. I'm worried it might affect you."
"Mother, don't worry. If there's one thing I'm not afraid of, it's ghosts!" Nan Feihuang chuckled. His natural energies—his lethal killing intent and protective qi—were the bane of spirits.
As a reincarnated war general, Nan Feihuang naturally exuded powerful protective qi, and his Ghost-God physique allowed him to cultivate intense killing intent. The two seemingly opposing forces coexisted harmoniously within him, giving him absolute confidence.
With that assurance, Nan Feihuang guided the spirit ring to merge with his body and sat down cross-legged.
Seeing the process of spirit ring absorption begin, Lan Xue could only set aside her worries and guard him.
Absorbing a thousand-year spirit ring wasn't particularly difficult for Nan Feihuang. The first half-hour passed smoothly, his expression calm and steady. Lan Xue gradually relaxed.
However, halfway through, something strange occurred. Nan Feihuang's complexion started to darken, his physical body showing no signs of distress, but it seemed as if his very soul was under attack. By all accounts, a mere thousand-year spirit ring shouldn't affect his spirit in such a way.
Inside his mind, Nan Feihuang found himself awakening in a mysterious place.
"Is this… my inner world? So, this must be within my own body?" Nan Feihuang muttered, surveying his surroundings. Normally, an inner world would show bones or internal organs, but what he saw was a vast blue expanse. As he stepped, ripples spread across the ground, as if he were walking on water.
Ahead of him, a giant tree appeared out of nowhere.
"Wait, this isn't just an inner world. This is my sea of consciousness. That tree… it's the seed of my soul." Nan Feihuang gently placed a hand on the tree's trunk. He understood now—his soul was under attack.
At that moment, a dark, sinister light descended, covering his once serene sea of consciousness in a shroud of blackness.
Looking up, Nan Feihuang saw a pitch-black orb floating above the tree, attempting to consume his soul seed.
"Hmph, I should've expected this from an Earthbound Spirit. You think you can seize my soul seed? Dream on!" Nan Feihuang summoned his halberd and leaped into the air, striking at the orb with fury.
Blue and black energies clashed violently within his mental space.
Inside his sea of consciousness, Nan Feihuang found his martial soul even more in tune with him, perfectly aligned with his will.
"Single-Handed Eighteen Thrusts!" he roared, executing a precise stab that sent his spinning halberd deep into the orb, disrupting the malevolent energy.
With a swift follow-up strike, he scattered some of the evil spirits that clung to it.
Nan Feihuang soon realized that being in his mental space deepened his understanding of halberd techniques.
Meanwhile, outside, Lan Xue watched as her son's face shifted between shades of black and blue, her heart pounding with anxiety. She had no idea what was happening, nor how to intervene in the middle of the spirit ring absorption.
"Feihuang, you'll be okay. Mother believes in you!" she whispered, clutching her halberd tightly.
But Nan Feihuang was far from worried. In fact, he was enjoying himself as he practiced his techniques on the evil spirit. Within his clear-headed sea of consciousness, he reached new levels of understanding with every move, nearing the state of becoming one with his halberd.
After Nan Feihuang had run through the entire set of Single-Handed Eighteen Thrusts, he realized he had finally mastered the technique to the point of precision.
In terms of mastery, Nan Feihuang categorized proficiency into five stages: Basic, Skilled, Refined, Expert, and Mastery.
Basic was simply learning the technique—entry-level.
Skilled was achieving fluency—small mastery. Nan Feihuang had spent over a year training to reach this stage.
Refined was true mastery—intermediate proficiency.
Expert meant reaching the peak—full mastery.
Mastery was the highest state—perfection, where one becomes one with the weapon.
Once Nan Feihuang reached the fourth stage, learning any future halberd techniques would be far easier. And if he ever reached the fifth stage, he would be able to master any halberd technique just by seeing it, much like the legendary Chu Bawang and the demonic Lü Bu.
Soon, the remnant of the Earthbound Spirit was completely eradicated, and the sea of consciousness returned to its peaceful state. However, the black orb floating above the tree hadn't disappeared—it had merely turned a bluish hue.
"Ghost Howl Pearl." The words left Nan Feihuang's lips instinctively as he stared at the orb.
He knew the name of the orb because it was now part of him.
The Ghost Howl Pearl responded to his call, flying toward his face and fusing with the bones around his left eye, specifically the lacrimal bone—the small, thin bone that houses the tear duct, fitting perfectly into place.
Yes, the Ghost Howl Pearl was a spirit bone, but not a typical skull bone.
Normally, a skull bone would attach itself to the forehead. This, however, had fused into his tear bone, making it an external spirit bone.
Nan Feihuang smiled faintly as he awoke from his sea of consciousness, his body now radiating a surge of pure spirit power.
Two spirit rings—one yellow, one purple—circled around him.
Lan Xue beamed with pride, but her joy quickly turned to surprise when Nan Feihuang opened his eyes, revealing that his left pupil had turned a strange bluish-green color.
"Different-colored eyes? Feihuang, did you successfully absorb the spirit ring? But what's going on with your eye?" Lan Xue asked worriedly.
"Mother, don't worry. I'm fine. My left eye has gained a new tear bone, known as the Ghost Howl Pearl. Because of its proximity to my left eye, whenever I use its power, my pupil will change color," Nan Feihuang explained calmly.
"Tear bone... Could this be... an external spirit bone!?" Lan Xue's voice trembled with excitement.
External spirit bones were ranked second on the list of every spirit master's most coveted treasures, right after ten-thousand-year spirit rings and bones.
External spirit bones had two unique qualities. First, once fully fused, they became inseparable from their host—unlike regular spirit bones, they couldn't be extracted by killing their owner. Second, they could evolve over time, growing stronger alongside the user. The earlier one absorbed an external spirit bone, the better. If the chances of obtaining a regular spirit bone were one in a thousand, the odds of finding an external spirit bone were less than one in ten thousand.
Though the Ghost Howl Pearl currently possessed the power of only a thousand-year spirit bone, it would eventually grow, potentially surpassing even ten-thousand-year spirit bones.
The Ghost Howl Pearl granted Nan Feihuang three abilities.
The first was an overall attribute boost, a feature common to most spirit bones. This meant a thirty-percent increase in mental strength and a ten-percent boost in physical strength and speed—modest gains for now, but ones that would grow as the bone evolved.
The second was Ghost Eye, the ability that turned his left eye blue-green. It allowed him to see the flow of his opponent's spirit power, predict their movements, and pinpoint their weaknesses or fatal flaws.
The third was a spirit bone technique—Soul Shatter, a mental attack that caused the opponent's spirit to tremble violently, inflicting tremendous mental damage.
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