"This soul bone is of no real use to my combat system anyway."
"To repay my teacher's kindness, I have to do something in return. It's just a trivial soul bone, that's all."
Fang Ling smiled calmly, pretending to be relaxed.
After completing her healing, Ye Lingling gently rubbed the newly restored skin on his foot, then grabbed his arm and pinched it hard.
Foolish Fang Ling,doing such a thing and making her worry.
Dugu Yan paid no mind to the playful bickering between the two. She could tell that Fang Ling was only pretending to be at ease.
In truth, he did it to ease her burden and to encourage her to accept the generous gift with peace of mind.
After all, anyone would know that even if a soul bone is useless, it's still a rare and precious treasure. No one would ever think they had too many of them.
Let alone an external soul bone…
One that was forcibly removed from his own body.
This left her feeling uneasy, and an inexplicable sense of guilt welled up in her heart.
"Fang Ling..." Dugu Yan remained silent for a long time before finally speaking. "Thank you."
She didn't know how to properly express her gratitude, so she simply repeated with sincerity, "Thank you very much!"
Even if it was supposedly for the sake of repaying her grandfather's kindness, she suddenly felt an increased fondness for Fang Ling.
"Fang Ling, if you don't fail me, I won't fail you."
Dugu Bo had been watching them chat the whole time, and he finally spoke up.
And when he did, he gave Fang Ling a pleasant surprise.
For someone with Dugu Bo's personality to make such a promise,it was trustworthy.
But there was no rush to earn more points now. Time to eat some celestial herbs.
From here, the level increase didn't require point usage. With celestial herbs, reaching level forty would be quick.
At that point, acquiring a death-attribute spirit ring might help in integrating specializations.
"Yan-yan, you go ahead and absorb it first. I'll rest for a few days, and then we'll detoxify," Fang Ling said as he raised his eyebrows at Dugu Yan.
"Detoxifying isn't urgent. You should recover first and not affect your future," she said, her gaze tender and gentle.
She already admired Fang Ling, and now with the external soul bone, she found him more pleasing than ever.
Far better than that bastard Yu Tianheng.
"That's right. Don't let it affect your future. Rest well for a month; the detox can wait," Dugu Bo added, clearly pleased with the scene.
Fang Ling had just lost blood. Asking him to lose more now would be too cruel.
Dugu Bo was not the kind of teacher who treated his disciples like lab rats.
"If you need anything, just tell me. I'll take Yan-yan to absorb the soul bone first."
Dugu Bo left the space to Fang Ling and Ye Lingling.
Judging by Ye Lingling's expression, she clearly had something to say.
Once the door closed, Ye Lingling stared at Fang Ling with her beautiful blue eyes wide open.
She was still a bit upset,that was an external soul bone. When she saw Fang Ling give it away, she felt like her heart almost stopped.
What kind of treasure could even compare to that?
Even if Fang Ling didn't care about it like a spendthrift, she still felt uncomfortable about it.
"What's wrong?" Fang Ling asked, confused.
Ye Lingling snapped, "You actually gave away an external soul bone? Are you stupid?"
"And you even tore it out of your own body? Just because I can heal you, you go around doing reckless things?"
Her tone carried some scolding, and she didn't hide the heartache in her eyes.
Fang Ling took her hand and whispered in her ear with a chuckle:
"Lingling, don't worry about such a petty gain. Trust me, I've weighed everything carefully on my journey. I'll definitely gain more from this."
A not-so-important external soul bone in exchange for Dugu Bo's promise, Dugu Yan's affection, and access to many celestial herbs?
It was an incredible bargain.
"Just wait,I'll give you a big surprise later."
"Let's hope it's not another scare like today…" Ye Lingling shot him a cold glance.
"Haha, it won't be, Lingling. I'm going to sleep for a while. Heal me once more, and wake me up for lunch."
With that, Fang Ling fell asleep in her arms.
Ye Lingling didn't say anything more. She gently touched his face. The petals of the Nine-Hearted Begonia glowed in white light as they fell upon Fang Ling's body once again, bringing warmth and peace.
In the comfort of that warmth, he closed his eyes and began examining the changes in his panel.
The soul bone slot had once again become empty.
Just as he had expected,it was merely a display of information or a certain state.
But the change in specialization was definitely exciting, Blast Lv3 was still there!
This innate specialization hadn't changed at all due to the soul bone's removal. It still glowed brilliantly.
Thinking it over, the key was the word "innate."
The panel classified skills gained from soul bone absorption as innate specializations.
This confirmed his theory about "specialization gained through bone replacement."
So now, he should be able to use this skill relying solely on his body.
The only problem was his body wasn't yet strong enough. Without the soul bone's protection, it couldn't withstand the backlash from the explosion's force.
That would have to wait until he became physically stronger.
There was also another pleasant surprise after losing the soul bone,
Without the bone as its anchor, the skill didn't seem restricted to just the right leg anymore.
Could it be applied to his martial spirit?
After all, in the world of Douluo, the martial spirit and the person are one,they can't be separated.
But this might also be wishful thinking, since the panel listed innate and martial spirit specializations separately.
Such a situation,losing a soul bone but keeping the skill,would never happen in the world of Douluo.
It could only occur due to his unique circumstances, something that would require further investigation.
As he pondered, drowsiness overcame him.
Under Ye Lingling's gentle patting, he peacefully drifted off to sleep.
One month later, at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
After saying goodbye to Ye Lingling, Dugu Bo brought both Dugu Yan and Fang Ling here.
A month of rest meant a full month of rest.
Even though Fang Ling had only lost some blood and was mostly recovered within a week, they had insisted he rest fully.
Of course, that didn't mean he had done nothing during that month.
Dugu Bo began fulfilling his role as a proper teacher, conducting lessons.
He focused on many basic principles of spirit master cultivation, such as the soul shock that comes with ten-thousand-year spirit rings...
As a Title Douluo who had struggled up through hardship, Dugu Bo's understanding of cultivation was far superior to soul masters stuck at level 29 and merely guessing from books.
There was also soul beast knowledge, as well as toxicology and pharmacology.
To Fang Ling, the latter was like listening to an alien language.
Everything went in one ear and out the other. He couldn't remember a thing,it was like listening to a heavenly scripture.
After scolding him thoroughly, Dugu Bo gave up teaching Fang Ling those subjects and turned his attention to Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan instead.
Ye Lingling came from a family of doctors, so she had a natural affinity for such subjects.
And Dugu Yan, being the sole heir of the Dugu family, also needed to inherit the family's poison-using skills and couldn't afford to neglect them.
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