Chapter 21: Do You Perhaps Have Some Misunderstanding About the Word "Ordinary"?
His eyes snapped open—starlight seemed to bloom within them, dazzling and magnificent.
A faint wave of spiritual power rippled outward from Fan Chen as the center, spreading in all directions.
The spiritual fluctuation passed through Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others, making all of them shiver involuntarily.
At that moment, they felt as though something had completely seen through them. A chilling sense of dread crawled up their backs.
"Huh… So this is my first Soul Ring skill? The effect is so-so, I guess."
Fan Chen's slightly disdainful voice pulled the three of them out of their shock.
Looking at the purple Soul Ring shining around Fan Chen, they finally understood who the culprit behind that frightening sensation was.
"You brat, could you warn us before using a Soul Skill? Do you want to rebel against your teacher? Hm?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo rolled up his sleeves, ready to teach Fan Chen a lesson—and also restore a bit of his dignity. After all, being startled by a one-ring brat was embarrassing… even if that brat was his disciple.
But still… he'd hit lightly.
PAH!
Fan Chen let out a tragic scream, clutched his backside, and crouched in a corner looking utterly wronged.
Xiao Bai shamelessly bolted straight into Qian Renxue's arms the moment Fan Chen got smacked.
It curled into a tiny ball, burying its head in her embrace—perfectly demonstrating its mastery of danger avoidance. It knew exactly where it was safest… and where it wasn't.
"It's not even an offensive Soul Skill. I was just curious and wanted to try it out… What's wrong with that?"
Fan Chen muttered quietly, clearly unconvinced.
If he could—he'd fight back…
No, forget it. He'd endure. He couldn't win anyway.
With Golden Crocodile Douluo's strength, he could suppress Fan Chen with one hand even without Soul Power.
"What are you mumbling over there? Weren't you having fun playing with your Soul Skill just now? Explain the effect."
The first Soul Ring was a thousand-year ring, and it came from a soul beast nobody had ever heard of. Naturally, Golden Crocodile Douluo was extremely curious.
Qian Renxue and Guang Ling also looked over—equally eager to know what Fan Chen's Soul Skill actually did.
"It's just a very ordinary support-type skill. Basically, it enhances some of my abilities and…"
Fan Chen's first Soul Skill was called Heart-Clarity and True Nature.
It had two effects:
First effect: It enhanced his existing abilities—such as strengthening his Eye of Truth.
Originally, he needed to fuse with Xiao Bai to achieve the enhanced state, but with this skill, he could reach the same effect on his own.
While the skill was active, it also increased his spiritual resistance and granted immunity to certain low-level spiritual interference abilities.
Second effect: It shares a portion of his current abilities with another person and slightly boosts their spiritual power.
It was similar to Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing — but with added spiritual enhancement and interference immunity.
As for the spiritual ripple earlier, that had been merely the outward effect after Fan Chen cast the skill on himself.
"An amplification-sharing type skill? Why does it feel a bit like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda?"
"Use it on me. I want to try it."
Golden Crocodile Douluo didn't think the ability sounded particularly special, but he had a strong feeling the skill wasn't that simple. He wanted to experience it personally.
Hearing this, Fan Chen activated the skill again.
First Soul Skill: Heart-Clarity and True Nature
As the Soul Skill activated, a faint white glow enveloped Golden Crocodile Douluo.
His eyes became clear and luminous—almost identical to Xiao Bai's and Fan Chen's when they activated their Eye of Truth abilities.
Feeling this change, Golden Crocodile Douluo also sensed the increase in his spiritual power.
Though the boost wasn't enormous, it was definitely substantial.
And spiritual power was far, far harder to cultivate than Soul Power.
Soul Power wasn't something everyone possessed. But spiritual power—everyone had it.
A powerful spiritual power enhances one's comprehension and perception, allowing a person to detect danger earlier and react more quickly in critical moments.
The relationship between the two was like the brain and the body.
A strong body enhances one's combat strength, but spiritual power allows that strong body to be used to its fullest potential.
From a certain point of view, spiritual power was even more important than Soul Power—especially since spiritual power was far more difficult to cultivate.
For Fan Chen's skill to enhance even a portion of spiritual power was already astonishing. What made it even more outrageous were the additional effects it carried—
Such as allowing him to locate an opponent's weak points more easily.
At that moment, Golden Crocodile Douluo exploded into motion, lunging straight toward Guang Ling.
Taken off guard, Guang Ling quickly retreated and prepared to retaliate.
He hastily summoned his martial soul and was about to clash with Golden Crocodile Douluo when—
Golden Crocodile Douluo suddenly surged forward, the heavy fist aimed directly at Guang Ling.
But just before the punch struck his body—
The fist suddenly shifted, dispersing its force.
Golden Crocodile Douluo extended two fingers and lightly tapped against Guang Ling's longbow.
The attack looked feather-light, almost gentle— yet Guang Ling reacted as if facing a mortal enemy.
His once calm face instantly darkened, and he subconsciously summoned all of his Soul Rings.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black— Nine rings appeared together, releasing a terrifying pressure that spread outward.
"Relax. I was just testing the kid's ability."
Seeing Guang Ling's defensive explosion, Golden Crocodile Douluo hurriedly withdrew and explained.
Only then did Guang Ling retract his aura.
When Golden Crocodile Douluo first attacked, Guang Ling hadn't taken it seriously. After all, Golden Crocodile Douluo didn't need a sneak attack to deal with him—not to mention the man hadn't even released his martial soul.
It was clear he hadn't intended to harm him but was testing something— most likely Fan Chen's Soul Skill.
Guang Ling had guessed this and originally planned to cooperate.
But he hadn't expected that simple-looking tap to nearly shatter his martial soul.
The sudden sense of danger triggered an instinctive full-force response.
"What just happened?"
Still shaken, Guang Ling immediately questioned him.
"This kid's skill allows me to see the flow of Soul Power inside your body, and it slightly enhances my spiritual power. That let me locate the gap in your Soul Power circulation…"
During their exchange, with Fan Chen's Soul Skill active, Golden Crocodile Douluo could faintly see the flow of Guang Ling's Soul Power.
Although he couldn't see everything as clearly as Fan Chen, getting a general idea wasn't difficult.
And in that moment, Golden Crocodile Douluo pinpointed the flaw in Guang Ling's Soul Power circulation— also known as his fatal weakness.
Everyone had weaknesses, even Titled Douluo like them.
Once that weakness was found, defeating the opponent became deceptively easy.
However, these weaknesses were hidden extremely well— almost impossible for others to perceive. And their locations could even be adjusted, making them even harder to detect.
But Golden Crocodile Douluo had found Guang Ling's weakness and struck it directly.
The tap looked minimal, but it nearly shattered Guang Ling's martial soul. No wonder he reacted with such a drastic outburst.
After hearing Golden Crocodile Douluo's explanation, Guang Ling finally understood.
Being able to enhance spiritual power alone was already heaven-defying.
But to see the internal flow of someone else's Soul Power on top of that—
Such a skill was a divine ability even when used alone. And now Fan Chen could even share that ability with others.
"This is what you call an 'ordinary' skill? Do you perhaps… have some misunderstanding about the word ordinary?"
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End of Chapter