Chapter 50: The External Soul Bone
With Old Scorpion, a man who had spent his entire life studying poisonous scorpions, by his side, Dugu Feng felt completely at ease.
By nightfall, Old Scorpion returned looking exhausted.
"Young Master, this mountain range is vast. It's not easy to find anything here. We'll need to stay a few more days," he said wearily.
The icy mountain stretched endlessly. He had spent the whole day searching, covering only a small portion.
But the harder it was to find, the more certain Old Scorpion became that the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion was indeed here.
Dugu Feng understood. Patience was key—good things never came from haste.
Half a month passed.
They encountered a few Ice Jade Scorpions during that time, but most were over ten thousand years old—not suitable.
Then, one morning, Old Scorpion returned grinning ear to ear. "I've found it—a thousand-year-old Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion!"
Dugu Feng's eyes lit up. Without hesitation, he entered Martial Soul possession and followed him into the heart of the glacier.
After twisting through narrow passages for half an hour, they emerged into a cavern illuminated by the glimmer of frozen light.
Before them lay a deep, icy pool.
"This one's well hidden," Old Scorpion said. "Its cultivation is close to eighteen hundred years. I've already hit it hard so it can't escape. One final strike will finish it—Young Master, hurry and absorb the ring!"
Dugu Feng nodded, wasting no time. He stepped into the frigid pool through a sheet of ice and descended into the depths.
There, amid the shimmering blue, lay a magnificent creature—nearly two meters long, its entire body a crystalline jade-blue.
The Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion lay half-buried in frozen chunks of ice, glistening like carved diamond. Its six legs and armored back gleamed like silver mirrors, and most striking of all were its twin pincers, shimmering like crystalized silver lightning.
Truly worthy of the name Emperor Scorpion.
But Dugu Feng's focus was on its poison. Within the icy aura surrounding its body, he could see faint specks of emerald green light.
It was different from lesser Ice Jade Scorpions—this one's pincers, not just its tail, were venomous.
Perfect. Deadly ice with deadly poison—a flawless match.
"Come, my second soul ring!"
With a thrust of soul power, he ended the scorpion's life cleanly.
A concentrated mass of violet-green energy gathered above the pale body, coalescing into a brilliant purple soul ring.
As the timing felt right, Dugu Feng immediately sat down and entered full Martial Soul possession. His soul power reached out to draw the ring's energy in.
"Boom!"
A thunderous roar filled his consciousness as tremendous power poured into every vein.
He was absorbing the spirit ring of an eighteen-hundred-year-old beast—normally far beyond what a second ring could handle, nearing the third's tier.
The energy was immense, nearly overwhelming, flooding his body like molten rivers of ice and venom.
But Dugu Feng's body—tempered by years of poison and strengthened further by the Essence from the Whale Jiao and the inner beads—was no longer human in constitution.
Though shaken, he held firm.
Compared to the agony of his earlier poison outbreaks, this was bearable.
Then came the true test.
The Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's venom began seeping into his blood. Its poisonous essence merged with the latent Jade Phosphor toxin inherited in his veins.
The chill of ice met the heat of poison—a fusion of opposites that could kill or transmute.
"The first blend of venom… With my strength, I can endure this."
His eyes gleamed with excitement. True power for a poison master began with mixed venoms—a necessary step toward the cultivation of the ultimate poison.
Within seconds, torrents of pain crashed over him.
Bones ached. Muscles spasmed. His consciousness blurred.
But through the torment, new energy surged—tearing his body down and rebuilding it stronger, purer.
He bore it all, refusing to let the inner beads assist. This was the kind of agony that forged strength; he would wring every ounce of benefit from it.
Each wave of pain was the prelude to a stronger body.
Thirty minutes later, the storm of energy subsided.
Above him floated two spirit rings—yellow and purple—swaying rhythmically. Dugu Feng's breakthrough was complete.
"Soul power: rank twenty-two," he murmured. "And this hue… the faint blue-violet glow within is the fusion of the Jade Phosphor Serpent's venom and the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's cold toxin. My first mixed poison."
He had even gained an extra level beyond the ordinary advancement. It was as expected for a leap beyond limits.
Then, suddenly—"Hm?"
He sensed residual energy still lingering above the scorpion's corpse. It hadn't dispersed with the ring—it was entering his body anew.
Impossible. The soul ring's fusion was complete. Soul power no longer increased. Why was there energy remaining?
"What's going on—ah!"
His body convulsed violently.
With a loud crack, his shoulders exploded through his clothing as two enormous bulges swelled outward.
"Could this be... a soul bone?"
Despite the pain, exhilaration surged through him.
No—this was different.
Not just any soul bone.
"An external soul bone!"
Eyes wide with disbelief, Dugu Feng watched as silvery crystals pushed through his flesh, growing rapidly.
The pain ebbed, replaced by awe.
Before his eyes, two gleaming appendages extended from his shoulders—ice-blue and translucent like sculpted glass.
"They're... the Emperor Scorpion's pincers!" he gasped. "This is incredible!"
Each limb extended to roughly three meters long, connecting naturally at the shoulder joints like extra arms. From a distance, it almost looked as though he had four arms—two human, two titanic and metallic.
At the ends gleamed massive silver claws, forty centimeters long, lined with serrated edges that glittered with lethal light.
Even a reinforced steel wall—or a man—could be split in two.
Only after these crystalline limbs solidified did the last remnants of the soul beast's energy fade away.
Dugu Feng tested the movement—extensile, responsive, almost instinctive.
Each motion radiated a predatory ferocity, a promise to rend anything apart.
Tang San's famed external bone was the Eight Spider Spears.
And now he had his own—two divine Emperor Scorpion pincers.
The resemblance amused him.
"Eight Spider Spears, hmm…" he murmured with a smile. "But since I've already crossed into this world first, will Tang San still get his?"
(END CHAPTER)
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