Chapter 86: Wind King Breaking Precept Slash and Wind King Violent Dragon Roll

Wulin!

He suddenly felt a soft, delicate body crash into his embrace, and Tang Wulin stared for a moment before coming to his senses.

"Yutong, what's wrong?"

In his embrace, Huo Yutong's body trembled slightly, as if she were crying.

Mu En answered in Huo Yutong's stead:

"You suddenly lost consciousness shortly after you began absorbing the soul bone for no apparent reason, and then the green light emanating from this soul bone suddenly intensified, completely enveloping you. We didn't dare interrupt the process, and Yutong is afraid you'll fail to absorb it like the previous absorbers."

"There's still something like this?"

Tang Wulin found it hard to believe.

In his understanding, he had merely gone to that blue-green meadow to chat with that solitary Dragon King; he never expected such a change to occur in reality.

He hurriedly embraced Huo Yutong and comforted her:

"It's fine, Yutong; I won't come to harm."

He could all too well understand Huo Yutong's feelings; just moments ago, when he thought he had arrived in another era, he too had fallen into an ice cavern, his hands and feet turning icy cold.

Huo Yutong, however, was afraid he had died; this torment must be even harder for her to bear than it is for him.

Huo Yutong merely nodded lightly in his embrace, sobbing twice, without speaking.

Mu En coughed twice.

"Sorry for interrupting your heart-to-heart, Wulin—how do you feel now?"

Mu En had never before witnessed such a commotion from someone absorbing a soul bone, and given his estimate that this soul bone might be of Dragon King rank, he was now extremely curious about Tang Wulin's condition.

Tang Wulin assessed his own condition and replied:

"My level seems to have risen by two or three ranks, and my blood essence power has grown stronger as well; moreover..."

Saying this, his expression turned somewhat strange.

"My blood essence power seems to have changed from what it was before."

"Oh?" Mu En became interested. "Please elaborate."

Tang Wulin raised his hand, and under the guidance of Sovereign of the Heavens, a clump of blood essence power transformed into a golden little dragon that appeared in his palm.

Amazingly, the originally pure golden blood essence power now had a wisp of pale cyan intertwined with it.

Tang Wulin explained:

"As you can see, my blood essence power now carries a wind element; whenever I mobilize my blood essence power, this wind element inevitably appears, causing the nature of my blood essence power to seem to have changed."

Speaking, a stalk of Blue Silver Emperor sprouted from his other hand, and he directed the little dragon in his palm toward that stalk of Blue Silver Grass.

Immediately afterward, a marvelous scene unfolded: before the golden little dragon could touch the Blue Silver Emperor, the stalk was suddenly severed, its cut surface remarkably neat.

Mu En widened his eyes in astonishment.

"This is... a cutting property?"

"Normally, this is a characteristic of the wind attribute."

"Hmm." Tang Wulin nodded. "Under the influence of this wind element, my blood essence power retains its original characteristics while gaining the traits of the wind attribute."

"... I see."

Mu En smiled.

This soul bone's enhancement of Tang Wulin exceeded his expectations.

Normally, a soul bone can grant a soul master only physical and soul power enhancements, plus one or two innate soul skills; however, the soul bone Tang Wulin absorbed, which seems to originate from the Dragon King, actually bestowed upon him a comprehensive improvement, far surpassing Mu En's expectations.

What Mu En did not know was that this trait did not come from the soul bone, or rather, Tang Wulin could not have originally possessed it.

This is a reward from the Wind Sovereign to Tang Wulin, this exceedingly kind child, and also a repayment for Tang Wulin's ability to bring it such solace in its final moments.

Mu En asked eagerly: "What soul skill does it grant you?"

Given that even its attendant traits are this strong, the soul skill it bestows surely will not disappoint.

Tang Wulin said: "This left leg bone grants me two soul skills, named Wind King Breaking Precept Slash and Wind King Violent Dragon Roll; the former is a single-target soul skill with relatively low consumption, the latter is an area-of-effect soul skill with relatively high consumption." "Not bad."

Mu En was very pleased.

Most of Tang Wulin's current soul skills provide buffs; what he actually lacks is this kind of offensive soul skill.

The Wind Dragon King's left leg bone not only gave him two skills at once, but it also fulfilled the needs for both single-target and area-of-effect soul skills, leaving nothing more to be desired.

He leaned back against the wheelchair's backrest, smiling: "It's getting late today; tomorrow I'll study with you the wonderful uses of these two new soul skills of yours. For now, you two should go rest. Wulin, be sure to comfort Yutong well."

"I understand." Tang Wulin nodded lightly, took Huo Yutong's hand, and said: "Come, Yutong, let's return to our rooms first."

Huo Yutong still said nothing, merely gripping the hand Tang Wulin had led her with, and walked out of Mu En's room together with him.

As they walked back, glancing at Huo Yutong's slightly reddened eye sockets, Tang Wulin felt a twinge of self-reproach.

Had he known earlier, he shouldn't have brought Huo Yutong along; even if she later found out he had concealed his soul bone absorption and grew angry, at the very least she wouldn't have been this hurt.

The two arrived at Tang Wulin's room and sat down; this time, it was Tang Wulin who brewed tea for Huo Yutong.

Unfortunately, perhaps the gap in their culinary skills extended to tea-making as well; the tea Tang Wulin brewed paled in comparison to Huo Yutong's.

Tang Wulin took a gentle sip of tea and spoke softly: "Sorry, Yutong; you must have been worried. I promise you I will never undertake such a risky endeavor again."

He spoke with utmost sincerity, yet Huo Yutong immediately retorted:

"You're lying."

Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz, yet her tone was extremely resolute.

"Huh?"

Tang Wulin froze.

Huo Yutong rarely rebuts him, let alone uses such an impassioned tone.

Huo Yutong continued: "You're always like this—overly concerned about those around you, taking everything upon yourself, naturally shouldering responsibilities you needn't bear, so you'll surely keep risking yourself for others' sake. Why do you insist on being this way? Why do you press yourself so tightly? Would it hurt to trust me a little? Can't you be kinder to yourself? I truly despise you for being like this, do you understand?"

Her speech grew faster and faster, her tone increasingly sharp.

This is the first time in a year she has lost her temper at Tang Wulin; it's obvious she is truly anxious this time.

She had just truly thought she would lose Tang Wulin, and merely imagining that future made her vision go dark.

She was really too afraid, so afraid that her hands are still trembling now.

Seeing her open her mouth as if to say something, Tang Wulin quickly grabbed her in a hug.

He said in a low voice: "I understand what you mean, Yutong, but as a man the most important thing is to take responsibility for oneself; I already bear too much responsibility, I cannot slack off, so I'm sorry."

Huo Yutong choked up all of a sudden.

She actually also knew she was being unreasonable, but the worry welling up in her heart suddenly made her unable to control herself.

She pouted her lips in resentment.

"Wulin, you're really too sly..."

Tang Wulin didn't reply, just held her even tighter.

Actually, in his heart, the things Huo Yutong said were really about herself.

Tang Wulin isn't stupid; he can faintly sense that Huo Yutong is hiding many things from him.

For example, Huo Yutong said she went to the Extreme North during the break, claiming she just slept and gained such a huge improvement.

But how could that be? Tang Wulin, who has experienced breaking the Three Seals, knows best that no power can be obtained without effort; for Huo Yutong to accept this power she must have gone through a very painful ordeal.

Yet she hasn't told him a single word about that painful experience.

Tang Wulin won't press for answers, but that doesn't mean he won't speculate.

He sighed in his heart and gave a helpless, wry smile.

No wonder she attracts him so much; in the end, they're the same kind of people.

(End of chapter)