"Whether or not special soul rings exist, we can't say for sure—so let's assume they do. But they're likely even rarer than your right palm bone. After all, given the number of Soul Masters across the continent, soul rings are far more common than soul bones. As for these so-called special soul rings... we've never even heard of them."
It might be that Nuoding City is simply too small, but based on probability alone, special soul rings must be even rarer than external soul bones. On that point, Zhou Qing was certain.
Take, for example, Tang San's fifth soul ring in the original story.
"But the logic remains the same. The soul power pathways within your right palm bone are perfectly 'grafted' into your body's meridians. There must be something truly special within it. If we can study it thoroughly in the future, maybe we can uncover the underlying principles—and if we compare that to the connection between soul rings and martial souls, we might eventually be able to graft soul rings directly onto martial souls."
"If we succeed in that, we'll be able to activate soul skills without needing to bridge between body, martial soul, and soul ring—we'd only need to connect body and martial soul!"
"That would let us release soul skills even faster!"
"At our current level, the difference might not be noticeable, but once we grow stronger—Soul Elders and beyond—that little bit of time saved could allow us to surpass Soul Masters of the same level! We might even be able to use multiple soul skills simultaneously!"
Across the entire Douluo Continent, even Title Douluos generally activate one soul skill at a time. Simultaneous activation of multiple soul ring abilities is nearly unheard of. At best, they stack effects—for example, using an amplification-type skill first, followed by an attack-type skill.
Even in the original work, Title Douluos like Tang San and Bibi Dong were bound by this limitation.
The only exception might be Ning Rongrong after becoming a Title Douluo—her Seven Treasure (later Nine Treasure) Glazed Tile Pagoda was truly exceptional.
Zhou Qing used to think this was due to limited spiritual power, but reconsidering it now: even if other forces didn't cultivate split-mind techniques like the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, Title Douluos should still have powerful spiritual strength. At the very least, their strength should not be inferior to Ning Fengzhi's. They should be capable of handling two soul skills at once, right?
Yet even Tang San, after learning the split-mind techniques of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, still couldn't activate multiple soul ring skills simultaneously. When he used Blue Silver Grass or Blue Silver Emperor soul skills, he still had to release them one at a time—albeit more quickly.
The only real exception was through secret techniques like Ring Fusion or Ring Explosion—but those don't count as using soul ring skills. They forcefully compress and unleash the power of a ring all at once, trading precision for destructive impact.
Despite their immense power, Zhou Qing viewed such methods as reckless and dangerous—like playing with fire.
"That really is a future worth striving for."
Tang San couldn't help but imagine such a bright future.
Why call it the future?
Because it was currently out of reach.
Next, Zhou Qing tested how long Tang San's soul ring technique could last. He discovered that once that special energy manifested, if not used, it could persist indefinitely.
This was clearly due to inheriting the strong vitality of Wolfbrush Grass.
However, that energy couldn't stack.
And as for the soul bone skill—using seeds to grow Blue Silver Grass—it would continuously drain Tang San's soul power. Once the soul power supply was cut off, the grown Blue Silver Grass would vanish within three minutes. But until then, it could still enhance the soul skills of others.
If he continued to supply it with soul power, Tang San could sustain it for about an hour at his current level—especially since the Mysterious Heaven Skill allowed for rapid recovery. Additionally, once the seeds sprouted, they would instinctively absorb ambient energy from the world. But once Tang San stopped using the soul bone, it was like cutting off their roots—they could no longer draw in energy, nor boost soul skills.
Tang San also gave the soul bone a name: "Right Palm Bone of Wind and Tenacious Grass."
One had to admit—Tang San did like those long, wordy names that padded word counts.
"Xiao San, I have an idea: in the future, when you use your first soul ring, you could simultaneously activate your soul bone skill. Soul ring techniques and soul bone techniques are two separate systems within a Soul Master's body—they can be used simultaneously. If no one can tell, you can disguise your soul bone skill as part of your soul ring ability."
Zhou Qing added, "Right now, you can only act as a support-type Soul Master. So there's no need to hide—on the contrary, you should openly demonstrate your supportive capabilities. But as your soul power grows and the Blue Silver Grass's hidden potential emerges, it might eventually position you as a control-type."
"Good point," Tang San agreed with Zhou Qing's arrangement. As for concerns about the soul bone being exposed—since it was already absorbed, and the position happened to match the hand his Blue Silver Grass martial soul manifested from—as Zhou Qing said, as long as he controlled the timing and activated both soul ring and soul bone skills together, he could use split focus to mask the soul bone's presence, making it seem like a side effect of the soul skill.
Other soul bone locations were far harder to conceal. The main reason was that activating a soul bone's skill would cause a strong soul power fluctuation in the corresponding body part. In some cases, a visible change would occur—like how this "Right Palm Bone of Wind and Tenacious Grass" created a visible glove-like form…
In the blink of an eye, afternoon arrived.
After completing their assignments from the academy, Wang Sheng, Xiao Wu, and the other working students made their way to the back hill to meet Zhou Qing and Tang San.
Xiao Chenyu strutted over with a posse of young noble followers, puffed up like arrogant parrots.
"Well, well, Wang Sheng. So that's what this is about—you've found yourself two new backers." Xiao Chenyu sneered, scanning over Zhou Qing and Tang San, both of whom were now about as tall as he was. "Commoners will always be commoners. Even if your family has a little spare coin, even if you eat better and grow stronger, it won't change a thing."
"But—"
His eyes landed on Xiao Wu. "This little girl looks pretty nice. I had my eye on you even before school started—remember the dining hall? Why don't you come with me? Be my little pet rabbit. You'll live the good life—good food, good drink, no worries."
"You bastard! Are you asking for death?!" Xiao Wu exploded in rage.
Tang San also frowned.
Sure, he understood that kids matured early in this world, even at twelve or thirteen… but Xiao Chenyu? He probably wasn't even a virgin anymore.
"Well, he is the son of the city lord of Nuoding. Like father, like son." Seeing Tang San's expression, Zhou Qing gave a subtle reminder—prompting Tang San to recall Su Yuntao's situation the day before.
"That phrase doesn't apply to everyone." Tang San didn't think he and Tang Hao were anything alike. "But that Xiao Chenyu? He definitely lives up to it."