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Submerged in a river of blue and red blood, Ye Lan found the metallic scent overwhelming and his entire body drenched.
He frowned, immediately manifesting his Perfect Water Shield to push back and isolate the countless streams of blood from the Eris Symbiote.
Afterward, Ye Lan commanded the Slime Water Mass to cleanse his body while simultaneously using his Water Flame to gently descend to the ground below.
With a flick of his will, Ye Lan utilized The Form of the Formless to guide the purple-black spirit ring of the Eris Symbiote down to the earth.
By the time Ye Lan landed, Xiong Er and Da Ju had already carried everyone over to greet him.
The moment the two simple-minded beasts saw Ye Lan, they rushed forward, affectionately rubbing their faces against his legs.
Our master's strength is just too incredible!
That terrifying two-headed monster was instantly slain by our master without any chance to retaliate!
The two oafs, so busy fawning over their master, had completely forgotten about the fresh meat of the Lava Flying Dragon lying on the ground.
Upon seeing the purple-black spirit ring, Dugu Bo remarked with a smile, "This must be the absolute peak of a thousand-year spirit ring on the entire continent, wouldn't you say? It's so dark; I imagine it's just a single step away from reaching the ten-thousand-year mark."
Silver Wolf added excitedly, "This Eris Symbiote spirit ring is perfectly suited for little Lan. The spirit ability it grants will surely be no less powerful than one from a ten-thousand-year ring, and he won't have to endure the spiritual shock that comes from absorbing one of those!"
Ye Lan smiled. "Just a bit of good luck. I never expected this Eris Symbiote was so close to breaking through to the ten-thousand-year level!"
Snake Lance Douluo cast an envious glance at the purple-black spirit ring. If only his Young Master's fourth spirit ring could be of such exceptional quality!
Porpoise Douluo sighed with emotion, "Truly, each new generation surpasses the last. Ye Lan, those black tentacles on your back must be an external spirit bone, correct?"
"That's right, Uncle Ci. It's the external spirit bone that manifested when I acquired my second spirit ring. It has now been completely integrated with my body," Ye Lan explained.
"Excellent, excellent. That spirit bone is simply monstrous."
"Once you advance to the rank of Titled Douluo, your flight speed with the aid of that bone will definitely not be much slower than a Titled Douluo who possesses a dedicated flying-type martial soul," Porpoise Douluo praised, drawing upon his vast knowledge as a Titled Douluo.
After spotting the black tentacles, Dugu Yan stepped forward and began to curiously poke at the Ancient Beast's Touch. It was firm!
This was her first time ever seeing Ye Lan's external spirit bone up close.
Meanwhile, Ye Lengling summoned her Nine Heart Sacred Begonia, and a cascade of white and pink petals began to drift into Ye Lan's body.
An immense wave of life force started to mend Ye Lan's body, which had long been strained from activating his various powerful abilities.
His overloaded body was riddled with hidden injuries. Although Ye Lan could recover from them over time, the process would be accompanied by a period of persistent pain.
Techniques like Flash Step, Sound Shift, the completed Blood Armor, and Meteor were all abilities that placed an excessive strain on his body.
These skills couldn't be used consecutively in a short span of time. In every battle, Ye Lan had to use them in rotation to stagger the recovery periods for different parts of his body.
For instance, he would always alternate between using Flash Step and Sound Shift.
If he were to use Flash Step repeatedly, even with his exceptional physical conditioning, his legs would eventually give out.
Zhu Zhuqing clung to Ye Lan's arm, her eyes sparkling like stars.
"Teacher, you're just too amazing! You truly are the progenitor of all 'speed-type spirit masters'!"
"That final technique that shot straight into the sky was unbelievably fast. If I hadn't activated my Saintly Meow Possession, it would have been completely impossible for me to follow your movements!"
Ye Lan fondly rubbed Zhu Zhuqing's head, his fingers brushing against her soft cat ears.
"Zhuqing, as a 'speed-type spirit master,' I believe you will go even further than I."
Ning Rongrong chimed in, "Teacher is so incredible! I actually thought I would have a chance to contribute this time!"
"Thinking about it now, it seems I've never actually had to support Ye Lan. Our teacher has always fought his battles entirely on his own."
Ye Lan ruffled Ning Rongrong's hair and said, "That day will come. Your martial soul is one of the world's great miracles, after all."
Xiao Xue asked, "Ye Lan, what was that spirit ability where you transformed into a flash of light? It's so powerful!"
"That's a self-created spiritual power technique I call 'Flash.' You weren't at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy yet when I was developing it," Ye Lan answered.
"A spiritual power spirit ability? I don't have a clue! How can you even create a spirit ability from spiritual power?" Xiao Xue said, patting her head in confusion.
Ye Lan was unsure how to explain it himself; after all, awakening The Form of the Formless had been a complete accident.
Ye Lengling asked with genuine concern, "Ye Lan, is your body feeling any better?"
Ye Lan nodded. "Yes, thank you, Lengling. I feel much better now. If it weren't for you, my body would have remained strained for a very long time."
"It's what I ought to do! This way, absorbing the spirit ring will be much safer for you. I'll continue to use the Nine Heart Sacred Begonia to heal you throughout the process," Ye Lengling said with determination.
A warmth spread through Ye Lan's chest. He patted Ye Lengling's head reassuringly. "Don't worry, it's not a ten-thousand-year spirit ring, so there won't be any major issues. If I take too long to absorb it, please don't exhaust your spirit power. That would put too great a strain on your own body."
"Okay!" Ye Lengling nodded obediently.
Dugu Bo declared, "Little Lan, you can absorb it without any worries. With our protection, even if a one-hundred-thousand-year spirit beast were to show up, it wouldn't be able to get away unscathed!"
Silver Wolf, Snake Lance Douluo, and Porpoise Douluo all nodded in agreement.
Ye Lan smiled gratefully, then sat cross-legged on the ground and reached out to touch the purple-black spirit ring.
The moment he made contact, a deluge of information flooded his mind.
Spirit Ability Name: Blizzard
Passive Effect: The Blue Silver Grass absorbs the ice-attribute core of the Eris Symbiote, transforming the Ultimate Water attribute into the Ultimate Ice attribute. The final attack power of the Blue Silver Grass is increased by 100%!
Active Ability: Based on your spirit power, create a blizzard. Within this blizzard, all ice-attribute energy damage is increased by 100%, the freezing effect is increased by 100%, and your spirit power is increased by 50%!
This was a very distinctive ability, a core skill for any ice-type spirit master. It could convert his Ultimate Water into Ultimate Ice. While the attack power of Ultimate Ice was significantly greater than Ultimate Water, and it would also boost the Blue Silver Grass's attack, there was a major drawback.
His Ultimate Water provided him with a crucial final life force bonus.
Furthermore, both the second form of his external spirit bone, the Ancient Beast's Touch, and his Perfect Water Shield relied on the Ultimate Water attribute.
Therefore, Ye Lan was unwilling to sacrifice his Ultimate Water just to enhance his ice-attribute offensive capabilities.
Ye Lan continued to examine the other potential spirit abilities.
Spirit Ability Name: Volcanic Eruption
Passive Effect: The Blue Silver Grass absorbs the lava-attribute core of the Eris Symbiote, transforming the Ultimate Light attribute into the Ultimate Fire (Lava) attribute. The Blue Silver Grass - Radiant Creature will be permanently altered into the Blue Silver Grass - Lava Creature. The final bonus to fire-attribute energy attacks is increased by 200%!
Active Ability: Command all of your Blue Silver Grass to burrow into the ground and transform into magma. The magma then condenses into a colossal energy sphere, which erupts from the surface after a few seconds.
Ye Lan swallowed involuntarily the moment he saw this skill. This ability was utterly monstrous!
This was a literal volcanic eruption—the raw power of nature itself!
It also came with a 200% bonus to fire-attribute attacks. For comparison, even after consuming an immortal herb, Xiao Xue's fire-attribute attack bonus was only 30%.
With this single ability, Ye Lan could instantly claim the title of possessing the most powerful attack-type martial soul on the entire continent.
The Seven Kill Sword? He had never heard of it.
Although Ye Lan was incredibly tempted by this spirit ability, he remained hesitant about converting his Ultimate Light into Ultimate Fire (Lava).
The reason was his martial soul fusion skill with Xiao Xue, the 'Twelve-Winged Origin Angel,' a God-King level technique that required four ultimate attributes. If he converted his Ultimate Light into Ultimate Fire, it was uncertain whether their martial souls could even fuse anymore.
And even if they could, it would likely no longer reach the intensity of a 'God-King level' martial soul.
Ye Lan had no choice but to set it aside for now.
Spirit Ability Name: Clone
Passive Effect: The Blue Silver Grass absorbs the symbiotic properties of the Eris Symbiote, converting the Ultimate Light and Ultimate Water attributes into an Ultimate Light Core and an Ultimate Water Core. As long as these cores exist, their corresponding attribute bonuses are increased by 100%.
The cores can detach from the martial soul and inhabit a living unit. Hosts of the cores can teleport to each other's locations.
The health of each core is equivalent to the health of the Blue Silver Grass.
The cores can be shattered. When a core is destroyed, the Blue Silver Grass loses that attribute's bonus.
The cores can regenerate. A shattered core will be reborn within one minute.
If both cores are shattered simultaneously, they cannot be restored.
Active Ability: Using the Ultimate Light and Ultimate Water Cores, create two tangible, attribute-based clones. These clones inherit 80% of the main body's complete attributes.
Note: Summoned units qualify as living units.
This was yet another outrageous spirit ability.
The active ability essentially provided two full-stat clones for free. He knew that most clone-type skills produced fragile illusions that shattered upon contact.
However, the 'Clone' from the Eris Symbiote seemed more akin to the Blademaster's Mirror Image from his old world.
The fact that these tangible clones could engage in sustained combat was already incredibly powerful.
But beyond the active skill, the passive effect was even more monstrous. It could increase all attribute bonuses from his Ultimate Light and Ultimate Water by 100%.
This meant not only would the inherent power of Ultimate Light and Ultimate Water be doubled, but any bonuses they provided to his martial soul would also be doubled.
Ultimate Light didn't currently offer a direct bonus to his martial soul, but Ultimate Water provided the Blue Silver Grass with a final life force bonus of 100%.
With this skill alone, Ye Lan could increase the final life force bonus from Ultimate Water to a staggering 200%.
But this ability also carried immense risk. If both cores were shattered, his Blue Silver Grass would instantly devolve into a martial soul with only a single ultimate attribute.
At that point, not only would the life force bonus from Ultimate Water vanish, but the fundamental health of the Blue Silver Grass would also plummet dramatically.
It was the combination of Ultimate Light and Ultimate Water that gave the Blue Silver Grass its respectable base vitality.
Otherwise, relying solely on his 'I Want to Grow' spirit ability would be insufficient to support the strength of the Blue Silver Grass - Radiant Creature.
Ye Lan could only place this one on his pending list as well. If not for the risk of losing both his ultimate attributes, he would have almost certainly chosen this skill.
After all, the prospect of raising his final health bonus from 100% to 200% was far too tempting.
Ye Lan turned his attention to the remaining spirit abilities.
Spirit Ability Name: Dragon's Blood Boil
Passive Effect: The Blue Silver Grass absorbs the flying dragon's blood, acquiring a dragon bloodline. The base health of the Blue Silver Grass is permanently increased by 100%!
Active Ability: The dragon's blood within the Blue Silver Grass begins to boil, causing all Blue Silver Grass units to go berserk. Their attack power increases by 150%, attack speed increases by 100%, and defense increases by 50%.
Ye Lan stared at 'Dragon's Blood Boil' in astonishment. Just as one would expect from a dragon bloodline, it offered simple, straightforward, and incredibly potent stat boosts.
While the active ability's buffs were somewhat wasted on the Blue Silver Grass, the passive effect—a simple, unadorned, permanent 100% increase to his base health—was something Ye Lan found difficult to refuse.
If no other options existed, Ye Lan would most likely have to choose one from among 'Volcanic Eruption,' 'Clone,' and 'Dragon's Blood Boil.'
If there was a single spirit ability that could compel Ye Lan to abandon all three of those, it would have to be one that addressed the fundamental vulnerability of his own body.
He had to remember that currently, all the life force bonuses from his spirit abilities and domains were applied to his martial soul, the Blue Silver Grass.
Ye Lan himself did not receive any of those health bonuses directly!
The only benefit he received was the increase to the Blue Silver Grass's base health.
The reason his own physical constitution was so monstrous wasn't due to the Blue Silver Grass, but rather the result of relentless physical training since birth, the Extreme Spirit Power Attachment Method, consuming the whale gelatin, the Ancient Beast's Touch, and absorbing spirit rings far beyond their recommended age limits.
If he could find a way to transfer the life force bonuses from his Blue Silver Grass to his own body, Ye Lan would become virtually invincible among his peers.
He would never again have to fear injury to his own body, such as a sneak attack from Tang San's hidden weapons.
Having confirmed his primary objective, Ye Lan pinned the three appealing abilities to the top of the information list and then dedicated his full focus to searching for a skill that matched his needs.
A long while passed.
Just as Ye Lan felt he had exhausted the library of information, one spirit ability finally captured his attention.
Spirit Ability Name: Life Share
Passive Effect: The Blue Silver Grass absorbs the symbiotic properties of the Eris Symbiote, gaining the ability to link life forces.
Active Ability: Within your range of consciousness, the health of designated living units can be shared.
The total shared health pool is the sum of the health of all linked units.
This total shared health pool can be transferred to any single linked living unit.
When a linked living unit is attacked, the damage is transferred to the unit holding the total shared health pool. The shared health is then reduced according to the attacked unit's defense, and the injuries are borne by the unit holding the shared health.
As long as the total shared health is not zero, all linked living units refuse death.
When the total shared health reaches zero, all linked living units die simultaneously.
Note: Summoned units qualify as living units.
Ye Lan's scalp tingled as he finished reading the description. This spirit ability was absolutely heaven-defying!
In simple terms, whenever Ye Lan summoned his ten Blue Silver Sacrifices in the future, he could link their life force with his own.
This meant that after activating this skill, Ye Lan's total health would be equal to his own health plus the combined health of all ten Blue Silver Sacrifices!
What did that even mean in practical terms? When Ye Lan activated his domain, the health of a single Blue Silver Sacrifice was equal to sixty-three times the base health of his Blue Silver Grass.
By activating 'Life Share,' he would instantly gain a tenfold stack of that health, which amounted to an astonishing six hundred and thirty times the base health of his Blue Silver Grass!
While Ye Lan hadn't yet grasped the full utility of transferring the entire shared health pool to other linked units, the trait that allowed injuries to be borne by that central pool was incredibly powerful.
This meant he could designate one Blue Silver Sacrifice to hold the total shared health.
When fighting against others, he would no longer need to worry about being injured himself.
Even if he were struck by a sharp weapon, he wouldn't be harmed; the injury would simply be transferred to the designated Blue Silver Sacrifice.
And besides, a Blue Silver Sacrifice wasn't afraid of sharp weapons in the slightest. Even if it were severed, it would regenerate at an extremely rapid pace.
However, 'Life Share' was not without its flaws. Its only two weaknesses were a vulnerability to large-scale area-of-effect damage and extremely high single-target burst damage.
As for large-scale damage, it wasn't truly a weakness of 'Life Share.'
After all, if he encountered a massive area-of-effect attack, his Blue Silver Sacrifices would be caught in the blast whether he used 'Life Share' or not.
What 'Life Share' truly feared was overwhelming single-target burst damage.
Of course, Ye Lan wasn't referring to opponents at his level or even those twenty to thirty ranks above him, but rather the Titled Douluo.
If they were to attack any of the linked Blue Silver Sacrifices, they could potentially wipe out the entire shared health pool in an instant, leading to Ye Lan's immediate death.
But realistically, if he were to face a Titled Douluo, he would likely be killed regardless of whether he used 'Life Share' or not.
Fortunately, now that he possessed the Natural Domain, he could be reborn using the life force of nature, so he didn't need to be overly concerned about the chain-reaction drawback of 'Life Share.'
And the above scenario only considered linking with his Blue Silver Sacrifices. 'Life Share' could connect with any living unit!
In future team battles, Ye Lan would never again have to worry about Lengling and Rongrong being picked off by the enemy's agility-attack or power-attack type spirit masters.
As long as an agility-attack spirit master couldn't deplete the entire shared health pool of the Royal Fight Team in a single instant, Ye Lengling and Ning Rongrong would remain completely unharmed!
And a Spirit Elder, Spirit Ancestor, or even a Spirit King thought they could drain the entire health bar of the Royal Fight Team in one go?
Even if the God King Tang San were reborn, he couldn't accomplish such a feat!
Ye Lan suppressed the overwhelming excitement in his heart and decisively locked in his choice: 'Life Share.'
After all, no matter how potent the Blue Silver Grass's life force became, it was not as crucial as his own. This ability effectively granted him a health pool six hundred and thirty times that of his Blue Silver Grass!
As Ye Lengling watched the dark purple spirit ring slowly float into Ye Lan's body, a purple spirit light flashed around her.
She immediately channeled her Nine Heart Sacred Begonia, summoning a gentle rain of flowers that completely covered Ye Lan.
Seeing Ye Lan utterly buried beneath the petals of the Nine Heart Sacred Begonia, Dugu Yan couldn't help but chuckle.
"Lengling, you're worrying about Ye Lan a little too much! Are you sure he won't suffocate under that sea of flowers?"
Ye Lengling's cheeks flushed a delicate pink. She was just a tiny bit concerned about Ye Lan.
Watching Ye Lan disappear completely under the mound of petals, the rest of the group broke into laughter.
Within his spiritual consciousness, the Blue Silver Grass - Radiant Creature began absorbing the immense life force and spirit power contained within the dark purple ring.
The Eris Symbiote's spirit ring began to unleash waves of spiritual shock, but against Ye Lan's Spirit King-level physique, it was like throwing an egg against a rock.
Even when the ring's impact managed to inflict minor injuries, the sea of Nine Heart Sacred Begonia petals surrounding him was not just for show.
These minor wounds healed in an instant, allowing Ye Lan to remain in a peak state throughout the entire absorption process.
A short while later, Ye Lan successfully absorbed the 'Life Share' spirit ring. The impact from the Eris Symbiote's ring had failed to cause even the slightest ripple.
Ye Lan opened his eyes to a world of white and pink, the air filled with the sweet fragrance of the Nine Heart Sacred Begonia.
Seeing the sheer volume of petals, he felt a warmth spread through his heart.
Ye Lengling was really worried about me, wasn't she?
"Lengling, I'm alright now! You can dismiss the petals!" Ye Lan said reassuringly.
"Okay!" Ye Lengling replied, her mind finally at ease.
As the sea of flowers disappeared, Xiao Xue immediately rushed forward. "Ye Lan, how did the absorption of the Eris Symbiote's spirit ring go?"
Everyone else looked at Ye Lan expectantly, eager to find out what kind of spirit ability such a monstrous spirit beast had granted him.
"The age of this spirit ring is infinitesimally close to the ten-thousand-year level. Whether it's nine-thousand, nine-hundred, and ninety-something years, I can't be sure."
Then, Ye Lan addressed the question that was on everyone's mind.
"The spirit ability this ring provided is called 'Life Share.' The effect is quite simple: it can link the life forces of living beings together. From now on, Rongrong and Lengling won't have to fear being singled out and eliminated by agility-attack type spirit masters!" Ye Lan did his best to simplify the explanation.
Xiao Xue looked puzzled. "Life link? Life share? What does that mean?"
The others also wore expressions of confusion. Could life force really be shared?
Ye Lan smiled. "You'll understand once we try it. I haven't tested this skill myself yet, and I'd like to understand its specific details."
Ye Lan instantly summoned his spirit rings: Yellow, Purple, Purple-Black.
The group admired his spirit rings with appreciation. It was truly a combination of the highest quality!
Then, Ye Lan's third spirit ring began to glow.
Ning Rongrong immediately exclaimed, "Ye Lan, I feel like something is touching my Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda."
Zhu Zhuqing nodded as well. "Teacher, me too. Something is stroking my Shadow Saintly Meow."
The other three women nodded in agreement.
Dugu Bo looked at them with curiosity, unsure of what was happening.
"Try to open your minds and relax," Ye Lan instructed.
They all nodded.
Ye Lengling's eyes widened. "Ye Lan, I feel it! Our lives… they seem to be connected!"
Xiao Xue said excitedly, "Me too! It's not just Ye Lan; I can feel Sister Lengling's life force as well!"
Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, and Dugu Yan all nodded emphatically.
The sensation was marvelous; it was as if the life forces of all six of them were intertwined.
"This is 'Life Share.' Our life forces are now linked together. If any single one of you takes damage, the injury will be borne by the shared life force of all six of us," Ye Lan explained, once again simplifying the effect.
In future Spirit Fights, he would most likely transfer all incoming damage to his Blue Silver Sacrifices. In situations where he couldn't use them, he would transfer the shared health pool to himself. After all, no one's pain tolerance could compare to his. This would also allow him to better monitor the condition of each team member in battle; there was no better way to understand the state of a fight than through the sensation of pain.
"That's amazing!" Ye Lengling exclaimed.
"With this, I'm invincible! Hahahahaha!" Ning Rongrong threw her head back and laughed. Back when she was fighting with the Shrek team, if there was one person who had the worst experience, it was undoubtedly her. In every single battle, the opposing team would do everything in their power to eliminate her first, forcing her to do nothing but run for her life.
Ye Lan playfully tapped Ning Rongrong on the head.
"Ouch!" Ning Rongrong yelped, clutching her head. She paused.
"Huh?! Why doesn't my head hurt at all? Ye Lan, did you not use any force just now?" Ning Rongrong asked, completely bewildered.
(End of Chapter)