Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Lava Immortal Body, External Soul Bone
The Flame Lord was blinded by rage, its vision a fiery red haze. It failed to notice the abnormal distribution of elements around it, while the lush grass cleverly concealed the evaporation of water vapor, providing excellent cover.
With a splash, the Flame Lord fell into the artificial swamp. Viscous mud coated its body, quickly solidifying and evaporating under its high-temperature surface. The surrounding moisture rushed toward it, and thick white mist immediately filled the pit.
"Release the water!"
Gu La shouted. Tang San and Xiao Wu crouched in the corners of the pit, opening storage soul tools from two directions to flood the pit with water, maintaining the mud's viscosity.
"Hehe."
Gu La smirked mischievously, stowing away the storage tool that had held the feces. He planned to sell it later to some wealthy noble for a hefty price.
"Gravity Enhancement!"
A purple soul ring lit up. After reaching level twenty, Gu La could manipulate gravity within a twenty-meter radius, increasing it twentyfold. By shrinking the range, he could further amplify the effect.
He halved the diameter of the gravity field, pushing the gravitational force to twenty-seven times its normal level, reaching its limit. The compressed soul power consumed ten percent of his reserves with every breath.
Gu La quickly descended, landing on the ground to draw upon the earth's power and replenish his soul energy.
The five-meter radius perfectly encompassed the Flame Lord trapped in the swamp. Within the gravity field, all beings were equal.
Although the Flame Lord boasted immense attack power, as an elemental creature, its unstable structure—despite being immune to physical damage—made it unable to withstand such overwhelming force. Already struggling in the swamp, its movements became even more laborious.
Now submerged in the muddy water, the freshly solidified mud shattered under the intense gravity, mixing with the river water. The Flame Lord's thrashing turned it into a giant stirring rod, continuously churning the sludge and driving itself deeper into the abyss of death.
Gu La sat by the edge of the pit, waiting patiently. After half an hour, the Flame Lord's tenacious life force finally dissipated, leaving behind a black soul ring.
"Success."
Gu La exhaled, stopping his soul skill. He activated his Viridian Power to massage his meridians and used Grassy Terrain to heal any hidden injuries.
From the shadows, Tang Hao's lips twitched. "Just how afraid of death is this guy? Even during regular training, whenever there's an opportunity, he uses Grassy Terrain to heal himself."
Though he thought this silently, a flicker of envy flashed in Tang Hao's eyes. If only he'd learned such techniques when he was younger, he wouldn't have been left with so many lingering injuries.
"Never would I have imagined he'd actually pull it off."
"A one-ring soul master defeating a top-tier ten-thousand-year spirit beast—even with traps, terrain advantage, and absurd recovery abilities—no one would believe it if they heard about it."
Tang Hao sighed deeply. "The younger generation is truly formidable."
"Such an extraordinary talent is even more valuable than a hundred-thousand-year soul bone. If he doesn't meet an untimely end, he might just become the next legendary Douluo. Xiao San forming a sworn brotherhood with him was a brilliant move."
…
"Hunting a ten-thousand-year spirit beast… we really did it!"
Tang San's tightly wound nerves finally relaxed. Ignoring the filth, he collapsed onto the ground to rest.
Xiao Wu gazed at Gu La's radiant smile, lost in thought. "Is this what humans are capable of? Without overwhelming soul power or top-tier bloodlines, relying solely on intelligence and a few soul tools, he managed to slay a ten-thousand-year spirit beast."
Her emotions swirled chaotically, unable to articulate her feelings at this moment. Was it sorrow for the fallen beast, akin to the rabbit mourning the fox's demise, or pride for her sworn older brother?
Both were present, adding to her inner turmoil.
---
Gu La soon recovered and instructed the two to guard him while he fused with the soul ring. In truth, this was also a message to Tang Hao hiding in the shadows.
The soul ring hovered in the center of the swamp, four meters away from solid ground. Gu La tossed in a few rocks, creating a makeshift platform.
Sitting cross-legged on the rocky platform, he circulated Xuantian Gong. Behind him, his Groudon martial soul appeared, drawing the deep black soul ring toward it.
At the same time, a prompt sounded in his ears.
[Detected unknown style technique learning module. Analyzing...]
[Analysis complete!]
Fire Element Control (Gold): Grants control over flames, enhances fire resistance, and specializes in controlling magma. Highly compatible with Groudon.
Earth Element Control (Gold): Grants control over rock and soil. Other details as above.
Lava Immortal Body (Gold~Rainbow): Consumes soul power to elementalize the body, enhancing affinity with fire and earth attributes and boosting related soul skills' potency.
Continuously consumes soul power. During activation, grants immunity to 100% physical damage and 50% elemental damage. Water-attribute damage doubles (can be mitigated with soul power).
Hell Magma Surge (Purple): Harnesses scorching magma to unleash devastating mixed physical and elemental damage in a single direction.
Granite Armor (Purple): Condenses magma essence to forge granite armor, reducing speed but doubling defense. Provides partial immunity to physical damage.
…
At a glance, golden and purple soul skills made up nearly half of the options. Among them, the light representing Lava Immortal Body glowed with a hint of rainbow hues within the gold, highlighting its uniqueness.
"This is quite the dilemma."
Gu La muttered to himself.
"I want both element control skills, but I can only pick one. Lava Immortal Body is incredibly tempting too—elementization skills are rare, especially ones that temporarily enhance affinity with multiple elements. It's like gaining dual-element control for a short period."
Thinking this, Gu La chuckled. Did he really have a choice?
Standing on the earth, his soul power was limitless. He didn't fear the terrifying consumption of elementalization skills. Others might use such abilities sparingly as a trump card, lasting only ten seconds before collapsing, but Gu La had no such concerns.
"Having both fish and bear's paw—if I don't take them, the heavens themselves would not forgive me."
Gu La selected his chosen soul skill and braced himself for the soul shock.
A searing hatred flared in his spiritual sea, threatening to consume his mind as retribution for its death.
But Gu La floated calmly within his spiritual sea. This was his first time seeing it—a vast blue lake, where condensed spiritual energy transformed into telekinetic power, granting him unparalleled precision in controlling his mental strength.
With a single thought, his spiritual power surged like waves, instantly extinguishing the Flame Lord's lingering consciousness. It tried to reignite, but each tiny spark was swallowed by another massive wave until nothing remained.
A sensation of pressure coursed through his body. His spine tingled, his ribs vibrated, and a warm heat spread across his chest, gradually cooling.
Gu La had already prepared for this. He had seen his future gains.
"An external soul bone—an exoskeleton formed from flowing magma. When inactive, it resembles molten scales connected to the spine and ribs."
"It comes with Fire and Earth Element Control skills, along with the ability to absorb both elements to improve cultivation and quality."
"When activated, defense and elemental resistance double. It can reshape freely and flow across the body to protect vital areas."
After a moment of contemplation, Gu La mused, "Though called an external soul bone, it's more like part of the Flame Lord's body. Its dark red flow resembles living lava. Let's call it… Blood of the Fire God? No, the divine realm already has a Fire God. How about… Heart of the Earth?"
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