What do you do when the road is blocked?
Clear it or widen it!
The overwhelming power of "No Way Forward," refined over a million years, transformed into lightning, subjecting Tang Lan to an intense "electrotherapy" session.
Enhancing his physical strength, widening his meridians, and reinforcing their thickness—finding every possible way to spend this vast energy!
Tang Lan wasn't about to let this opportunity slip either.
He activated his Soul Spirit Domain, trying to push as much soul power as possible into the "slurry" within his lower dantian.
Leveraging the unbreakable law of blood sacrifice, he forcefully compressed the "slurry."
The liquid mass had no resistance—it was compelled to condense toward its center, forming a solid core.
And it naturally began absorbing soul energy.
'This... is really a Golden Core?'
Tang Lan multitasked.
He activated the Soul Spirit Equality Contract, converting the origin essence of the Thunder Hell Prison Vine into his own soul spirit.
The energy was simply too vast, and Tang Lan was meticulously controlling every bit of it.
No wastage allowed.
This careful refinement slowed the process significantly.
Fortunately...
He had the protection of the Blood Sacrifice Domain and the safeguarding presence of the Sea God's divine consciousness.
Tang Lan could operate without distraction.
A full seven days and seven nights passed.
As the blood sacrifice reached its final stage, the crimson barrier silently shrank.
"Buzz—"
A wave of darkness spread out from beneath Tang Lan's feet, like the gaping maw of a bottomless abyss, devouring the fading crimson barrier in one bite.
Black Hole Domain!
A surge of purified energy merged into Tang Lan's body.
"Burp—"
Even his burp carried dense energy fluctuations.
He had truly absorbed every last drop.
Tang Lan stood up.
His Thunderflame Haotian Hammer lit up with a single soul ring, its entire form radiating with a golden-purple glow and adorned with ten blood-red patterns.
As the light shone, Little Lei emerged from Tang Lan's chest, scratching his head in confusion.
"Strange."
"After advancing to a million-year soul beast, logically, my sacrifice should have granted my master an additional martial soul, along with four million-year soul rings, each carrying four soul skills."
"Why is there no new martial soul? Why was all the energy completely absorbed by the first soul ring? And why didn't a single soul skill appear?"
"Even my soul bone only came with two soul bone skills... and master, why did you choose the weakest one—the left leg?"
As he spoke, Little Lei was on the verge of losing it!
A dignified million-year soul beast willingly sacrificed itself, and this was the result?!
Tang Lan, however, already had answers to these concerns.
—Power of Destruction: Absorbing soul power increases weight and size!
This trait allowed the Thunderflame Haotian Hammer to absorb energy without limit.
Under Tang Lan's meticulous control, every ounce of the Thunder Hell Prison Vine's blood sacrifice energy was distributed between his body and martial soul.
Where was there any extra energy left to form a third martial soul?
The million-year soul ring was essentially just a "minimum guarantee"—otherwise, he would have fully "digested" that as well.
As for the missing soul skills...
—Source of Destruction: No matter what soul ring is obtained, all soul skills will only enhance personal strength and the weight limit of the Thunderflame Haotian Hammer!
But since Tang Lan was still under the influence of the Sea God's mark, he chose not to explain further.
Instead, he changed the subject.
"I forgot to tell you, the only soul bone slots I have left are my left arm, left leg, torso, and head."
With a thought, Tang Lan transferred the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's head soul bone into Blue King's inventory.
Then, he retrieved it.
The divine beast's aura radiating from the soul bone left Little Lei staring in shock.
Especially the three "eye sockets"—they made it clear that this head soul bone was absolutely the best fit for Tang Lan.
"What about the torso bone?" Little Lei protested. "My million-year cultivation isn't enough to condense a torso bone?"
Silently, Tang Lan summoned all of his soul bones.
The sight of eight external soul bones made Little Lei's tiny green bean eyes widen!
Holy crap!
What the hell is this?!
"I have a theory," Tang Lan explained. "Soul bones can also perform fusion techniques, similar to the energy armor of demi-gods."
"The torso bone acts as the central link between all soul bones, but since you embody pure lightning, you're too dominant to properly connect everything."
"If I can make the Deep Sea Demon Whale King my soul spirit in the future, it would be the most suitable candidate for the torso bone."
Little Lei smacked his lips.
That... actually made sense?
The Deep Sea Demon Whale King wasn't some "fast-track promotion" like him, so reserving a torso bone for it wasn't unreasonable.
"Fine, I'll let that slide." Little Lei compromised. "But your left leg's external soul bone carries a trace of destruction energy."
"Can I request to devour it?"
"The final strike of the Nirvana Lightning Tribulation consumed a portion of that bone—if I absorb it, I might be able to simulate a fraction of its power."
Thinking about that last world-ending blast...
Tang Lan didn't hesitate to nod.
The Extermination Scorpion left foot bone was indeed valuable, but he had even greater trust in Little Lei's potential!
"Great!"
"I'll get right to it!"
With that, Little Lei dived headfirst into Tang Lan's left leg.
Tang Lan began reverse-devouring his own million-year soul bone.
The sensation...
Without hesitation, he slapped the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's head soul bone onto his forehead.
Then, his soul left his body.
Let his body handle the absorption on its own—he had other things to do.
He moved to the Thunderflame Haotian Hammer, picked it up, and gave it a test swing.
Under the Eternal Destruction trait, its weight never changed.
But he could now clearly sense its true weight—25 tons!
What does that even mean?
The Sea God's divine weapon, the Golden Trident, weighed 108,000 jin—equivalent to 54 tons.
With just one blood sacrifice from a million-year soul beast, paired with the Destruction God's divine artifact, he had already reached nearly half of that!
"The Sea God's dung fork is considered a super divine weapon at 108,000 jin... "
"Then doesn't this hammer of mine completely surpass a divine weapon?"
"Right now, just swinging this hammer should give me the destructive power of a Titled Douluo, right?"
No—definitely!
Because—
"ZZZTTT—"
Purple lightning crackled through the air, its violent energy creating a deafening explosion.
Just sensing the contained power was enough to make one's heart race.
—Ultimate Lightning!
This was Tang Lan's fourth ultimate attribute, following Ultimate Soul, Ultimate Life, and Ultimate Strength.
And it was the most destructive of them all!
A 25-ton hammer, combined with the most devastating form of lightning…
Tang Lan was now confident that he could stand his ground and trade blows with a Titled Douluo using just his physical body!
But that wasn't all.
He summoned his Life Soul—Blue Silver Emperor, checking its innate soul ring age.
Seven blood-red soul rings emerged, each with three golden patterns.
370,000 years!
A full 220,000-year increase!
Additionally, his meridians had widened, strengthened, and thickened exponentially!
The "slurry" in his lower dantian had shrunk by one-third, now taking the shape of a distinct sphere.
And—
Seven Soul Rings!
Tang Lan had coalesced his seventh soul ring, officially breaking through to Soul Sage!
370,000-Year Soul Ring—Two Soul Skills?
Technically, a 370,000-year soul ring should provide two soul skills.
But the seventh soul skill was fixed as Martial Soul Avatar.
Since all of the ring's energy was infused into it, the resulting effects were absolutely ridiculous.
Tang Lan's Seventh Soul Skill—Life Soul Avatar.
Unlike Beast Martial Souls, which required transformation,
Or Tool Martial Souls, which simply enlarged the weapon,
His Martial Soul Avatar instead applied multiple buffs to the Life Soul—Blue Silver Emperor!
—Berserk: All abilities of the Life Soul—Blue Silver Emperor increased by 370%!
—Efficiency: All energy consumption reduced to 37%!
Power amplified, energy costs reduced.
The threat level of the Life Soul—Blue Silver Emperor had skyrocketed exponentially.
—Flow: Tang Lan can now teleport between any Blue Silver Grass!
As long as the Blue Silver Life Domain covered the area, Tang Lan would be omnipresent.
—Star Shift: All damage received is automatically transferred to the nearest Life Soul—Blue Silver Emperor!
Combined with Danger Sense,
Even a god-tier single-target attack wouldn't be able to hit him!
(End of Chapter)