"Hmph, then you tell me—what exactly should I strengthen with my third spirit ring?"Xiao Wu crossed her arms and asked provocatively.
"Your bones," Tang San answered without hesitation. "Especially your spine."
He explained patiently, "While muscles are important for physical strength, it's the bones that truly support the body. They're the framework that holds the muscles and internal organs in place."
"The Soft Boned Rabbit gets its name from its unusually flexible skeleton. Bone flexibility is its defining trait."
"But remember—you possess the Soft Boned Rabbit martial soul. You're not a literal Soft Boned Rabbit. While your bones are indeed more flexible than the average human's due to your martial soul, that's the limit. An ordinary human who trains from childhood could eventually become just as flexible."
"In battle, flexibility is a great advantage. But if you want to control your scorpion-tail braid with precision, you need to go a step further. You need flexibility and resilience. Your bones must be strong enough not to break under strain."
Xiao Wu fell into deep thought. After her transformation into human form, her bone flexibility truly wasn't as extreme as it had been when she was still a soul beast. Even a hundred-year-old Soft Boned Rabbit soul beast was more flexible in comparison.
Once again, this reinforced Tang San's theory:A soul beast that transformed into a human was, in every sense, a human. They only retained the foundation of their 100,000-year cultivation.
"Then, what soul beast should I choose?" Xiao Wu asked.
"There are three candidates suitable for your third soul ring."
Tang San raised three fingers and began listing the possibilities.
"The first is the Rouge Soft Muscle Python."
"This species is non-venomous. Its hunting method is to coil around its prey and crush their bones. Even a hundred-year-old Rouge Python can strangle a thousand-year-old Unicorn Deer—proof that its bones and muscles are incredibly strong and flexible."
"In addition to strengthening bones, its tight musculature also offers full-body reinforcement."
"But the 'Rouge' in its name refers to its unique escape technique. If it encounters an opponent it can't handle, it sheds its skin, leaves it behind as a decoy, and burrows underground to escape. The shed skin disintegrates on contact and is often harvested by nobles for use as cosmetics."
"So, while it's unlikely your martial soul will inherit its constriction ability—due to incompatibility—you might gain a spirit skill that uses spirit power to create a projected Rouge Illusion."
Tang San looked at her meaningfully. "You'd be sacrificing soul skill utility to focus on strengthening your bones and muscles. It's not a bad tradeoff if your goal is to improve your hair control."
Xiao Wu frowned. She wasn't impressed.
First, she wasn't even sure her Soft Boned Rabbit origin could successfully inherit any useful skills from the Rouge Python. And second—
The projected illusion didn't interest her at all.
She pouted. "I don't want that one. I want a rabbit. Only rabbits feel 'compatible' with my Soft Boned Rabbit martial soul. That way, I can trace their origin and draw out a natural spirit skill from my hundred-thousand-year source."
"Don't worry, the next two are both rabbits," Tang San said with a smile."The second option is the Devil Rabbit."
"Devil Rabbit?!"
Of course Xiao Wu knew about the Devil Rabbit. It was a bizarre creature—its bones even softer than the Soft Boned Rabbit's, and its speed exceptional.
Its most infamous trait? The ability to twist its neck 720 degrees—two full rotations.
But that wasn't why it earned the name "Devil."
Unlike other rabbit-type soul beasts, the Devil Rabbit wasn't a herbivore. It was a carnivore, complete with sharp, predatory teeth. Its adorable appearance was a clever disguise. It would lie in wait, pretending to be prey. The moment a predator got close, it would violently twist its neck to startle its target—then pounce, biting down on the neck and turning the tables instantly.
Prey became predator in a heartbeat.
Xiao Wu was visibly uncomfortable. Even if its skeletal structure was ideal for her, the Devil Rabbit didn't feel like a real rabbit at all.
Seriously, what kind of rabbit eats meat?!
Tang San continued. "The Devil Rabbit could give you significant bonuses to your spine and bone structure. It might even grant two spirit skills."
"One of them is called Head-Turning Kill. It allows your martial soul possession state to rotate your neck 720 degrees. For most soul masters, this would just be creepy and useless—but for someone like you, who plans to use her braid in combat? It's the perfect match."
Xiao Wu's face twisted. "Next option. That thing's too creepy. I don't want it."
"I wasn't finished," Tang San said with a small smile. "The other possible skill is Omnidirectional Sprint. The Devil Rabbit can rotate its limbs 360 degrees and run in a wheel-like blur, creating afterimages."
"No." Xiao Wu shook her head violently. "Skip it. That thing's been disowned by the rabbit clan. Too strange. No wonder humans call it 'Devil.'"
Tang San sighed with mild disappointment. He had been curious to see what Xiao Wu would look like using those strange spirit skills. It definitely would've been interesting.
"Alright. The last one is the Dragon Rabbit."
Xiao Wu tilted her head. "Dragon Rabbit? What kind of rabbit is that? I've never heard of it."
Tang San began explaining.
"The Compendium of Soul Beasts describes it as a rabbit that carries the bloodline of a real dragon. Its sinews and bones are as tough as those of dragon-type beasts, but it retains the flexibility of rabbit-kind. Its speed rivals that of the Swift-Tailed Swallow, a species famous for speed, and it can even briefly run through the air."
He added wryly, "Frankly, the dragon bloodline is ridiculous. It seems capable of interbreeding with anything. I've read cases of dragon bloodline merging with all kinds of creatures—even plants. If a plant-type soul beast is bathed in dragon blood, it can develop dragon traits."
"This species defies description."
Tang San paused. He had long been interested in studying dragon-blooded soul beasts—but for now, it was beyond his reach. He didn't even have a dragon-type martial soul himself. Contacting such beasts was impossible.
"Yeah, the dragon race really is strange," Xiao Wu agreed.
She thought briefly of the Sky Azure Bull Python she once raised. The creature had a bull's head—but was otherwise a python. Only now did it occur to her: could that be due to a dragon-type hybrid lineage?
Back then, she hadn't thought much of it. But now that she was adapting to human ways of thinking… the Sky Azure Bull Python really did seem odd.
"So where can I find this Dragon Rabbit?" she asked next.
In truth, she didn't care where it was. As long as it was a rabbit, she could use her 100,000-year origin to trace its source and condense a matching spirit ring herself—even if it had dragon blood.
In this world, dragon, phoenix, and unicorn bloodlines were notorious for their dominance and corruptive power. Creatures exposed to them—like pirates or even wolves—could mutate in bizarre and unstable ways.
Meanwhile, ordinary soul beasts without such bloodlines couldn't even reproduce unless they reached the stage of human transformation.
This form of reproductive isolation—Tang San thought—must exist across most biological systems. Otherwise, the world would collapse into chaos.
If there were no reproductive boundaries, this would be worse than a biochemical apocalypse.