With a flip of his hand, the soul bone vanished into a spatial ring.

Ignoring Tang San's burning gaze, Diyi Hong turned his eyes to Dai Mubai, Meng Yiran, Chao Tian Xiang, and Xiao Wu.

Four people had passed the test.

But only three stalks of immortal herbs remained.

How to divide them?

"I'll give up my herb!" Xiao Wu declared without hesitation. "As long as you revive this little one."

"Xiao Wu!" Tang San grew anxious. "This is such a rare opportunity. Why waste it to save him?"

Xiao Wu didn't even glance at him. She stubbornly locked eyes with Diyi Hong.

But all she got was a shake of the head.

"One immortal herb isn't enough to cover the cost of revival."

"Besides, with four of you and only three herbs, there's no guarantee you'll get one either."

"How about this—"

"I'll inspect what kind of eggs you've produced, and based on how satisfied I am, I'll choose the order."

He had originally planned to crack the eggs himself.

But one look at the mess of green, red, and yellow splatters on the shells…

Forget it. Dirty work.

"You break them yourselves. Let's see what you've got."

Dai Mubai was the most eager. Without hesitation, he dug in with one paw.

Crack! Crack!

The shell shattered.

Inside was a blood-colored orb, within which curled a miniature white tiger. As it emerged, it stirred Diyi Hong's Netherworld White Tiger spirit, causing it to manifest instinctively.

He wanted it!

While Tang San could only watch hungrily, Diyi Hong had no such restraint—he devoured what he wanted!

The Netherworld White Tiger spirit swallowed the blood orb in a single gulp and then faded away contentedly.

Diyi Hong quietly sensed the result.

No change in spirit power. No new spirit rings. No evolution in spirit quality—it was already god-bestowed, after all.

Dai Mubai, however, was visibly nervous. He hastily summoned his White Tiger martial spirit.

Spirit rings, spirit abilities, spirit body—all checked.

Everything seemed normal?

But Diyi Hong noticed the subtle change.

The resonance between his Netherworld White Tiger and Dai Mubai's White Tiger—gone.

They could no longer perform their spirit fusion technique.

So it devoured their spirit fusion compatibility, huh?

Perfect.

Wouldn't want my girl resonating with another man anyway.

With Zhu Zhuqing, the fusion technique should now power up too.

Not bad.

Diyi Hong nodded in satisfaction.

"Dai Mubai's ranks first, for now."

Dai Mubai beamed with joy.

As far as he could tell, he'd lost nothing and gained everything.

At the very least, he'd secured third place!

Sweet!

Crack! Crack! ×3

The others followed, cracking their eggs.

Chao Tianxiang's orb was blue, filled with pure, dense spirit power.

Diyi Hong scanned it mentally.

Just pure spirit energy. No personal imprint.

Meaning anyone could absorb it.

A discount version of "god-bestowed spirit energy."

"My spirit power… dropped a bit?" Chaotian Xiang muttered in surprise. "You can siphon power like this?"

Diyi Hong plucked the energy orb from the air, examining it with interest.

"You're currently third."

Meng Yiran's result was even more curious. Her orb contained a pale yellow ring.

It looked like…

Meng Yiran hastily summoned her martial spirit. Three rings appeared.

Yellow, gray, purple!

Her second ring had turned gray?

Her ring had been extracted?!

"What? How's that possible?" Meng Yiran was baffled. "Aside from losing some amplification and not being able to use my second ability, my spirit power is fine. No bottlenecks either. What does this mean?"

Interesting.

Diyi Hong glanced at the livestream. The expert was already explaining.

["God King of Destruction 002": A spirit ring is essentially a postnatal limiter. It can be detached—but normally at the cost of permanently lowering one's spirit power.]

["God King of Destruction 002": The streamer's dual soul bone abilities bypassed that cost, removing the ring cleanly.]

["God King of Destruction 002": She can now re-hunt the same beast's ring, and with her current physique, the ability will be re-randomized too.]

So that's how it is.

As expected of Number 2— he knows everything.

He tossed in a bit of flattery and followed up with a flashy explanation of his own.

Then tacked on casually—

"Oh, right. I'm level 50 now too. Once someone hits a bottleneck, we'll go hunt a soul beast."

Everyone froze.

What?

He was just at his fourth ring a few days ago!

But Diyi Hong had no reason to lie.

Tang San clenched his fists.

If I could eat immortal herbs like snacks, I'd break through in minutes too!

Damn it!

I transmigrated and still didn't get a strong family background?!

A drunkard dad who's a Titled Douluo but hasn't helped me at all!

"What about me?" Meng Yiran asked anxiously.

"I can't use your ring," Diyi Hong shrugged. "You're fourth for now."

He pocketed the ring orb casually.

Then turned to Xiao Wu's egg.

It had produced a pair of gleaming golden front teeth?

Bunny teeth?

What the hell?

Xiao Wu gently touched her own front teeth, then quietly shut her mouth.

Her rabbit ears slowly perked up.

She realized her constitution had weakened?

What's going on?

Diyi Hong was just as puzzled.

When in doubt—check the chat.

["Phoenix God": Definitely bunny teeth. Xiao Wu birthed them, after all.]

["Nine-Colored Goddess": Fatty, your commentary is as useless as ever.]

["God of Speed": Could it be a soul bone? External type?]

["Rakshasa God": External soul bones can be teeth? Are teeth bones?]

["Nine-Colored Goddess": Time to call in the real expert.]

["God King of Destruction 002": Soul bone is a general term. External soul bones can include any body part—yes, even the brain.]

["Phoenix God": Just like dragon-type spirits can include that pig Luo Sanpao, right?]

Pfft!

Diyi Hong couldn't help laughing—Phoenix God sure had a way with words.

The crowd turned to look at him.

"Diyi Hong, do you know what it is?" Flender asked.

"Yep." Diyi Hong chuckled. "Rare as they are, these are external soul bones—specifically, a pair of incisor bones."

External soul bone?!

Teeth count as a valid soul bone slot?

But if Diyi Hong said it, it had to be true.

Everyone gathered closer, staring at the pair of shimmering teeth.

Still no clue what they did, but they were weirdly beautiful.

Beautiful enough to make people want to absorb them.

Slurp.

An external soul bone!

The kind that grows with the user!

The second most desired treasure in the entire soul master world!

Who wouldn't want it?

Sure enough.

Tang San was glued to those bunny teeth.

If he didn't know he couldn't beat Diyi Hong, he'd have snatched them already.

"Wait!" Ma Hongjun said. "Why did Xiao Wu produce an external soul bone?"

The question hit like lightning.

The last person who birthed a soul bone was… Tang San. A half-beast hybrid.

Could it be?

Everyone turned to Xiao Wu with suspicion.

A half-beast?

Or worse…

Cradling the corpse, Xiao Wu's face turned pale.

Was her secret about to be exposed?

She had the Yearning Heartbroken Red to hide her identity—she'd even fooled Sword Douluo Chen Xin.

But now?

Was it all about to unravel here?

______________________

Exclusive access to 50 advance chapters in my patreon, patreon.com/ryuuu_

Your support is greatly appreciated!