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Xu Yuan's heart was not pure.
He admitted this himself.
He knew he was too distracted, trying to master too many aspects. Even in combat, he hadn't poured all his efforts into mastering spear techniques but instead spent nearly half his focus on developing the Tianyuan Brush.
Fortunately, he had an excellent helper—a Five-Element Spear Spirit that was wholly devoted to the spear, born for the spear itself.
The fusion between him and the spear spirit allowed their insights to merge. The spear spirit's understanding became his, and his growth also elevated the spear spirit. The two complemented each other perfectly.
This unique relationship caused Xu Yuan's spear techniques to progress rapidly, surpassing even many spear prodigies.
However, this was still the result of him not fully dedicating himself to spear mastery.
At this moment, in his battle with the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear, Xu Yuan entered a mystical state.
In that instant, Xu Yuan felt as if he had become the Five-Element Spear Spirit.
This sensation was entirely different from when he used Yao Yao's first soul skill to mentally link with the spear spirit, merging their senses.
This time, Xu Yuan achieved complete unity of mind and spirit.
He could feel it—he sensed the thoughts within the spear in his hand, felt the excitement of the Five-Element Spear Spirit.
He became the spear, feeling its overwhelming dominance.
The spear—king of all weapons.
Commanding everything, looking down upon all!
The spear's momentum gathered, channeling boundless natural energy into Xu Yuan's strike.
Dream Realm Space.
In a fleeting moment of control, Xu Yuan's spear struck directly at the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear's neck.
A single strike to seal its fate.
The bear's massive body crashed heavily to the ground with a thunderous boom.
Without resting, Xu Yuan held the Tianyuan Five-Element Spear and pried open its right hand, discovering a metacarpal bone glowing with dark golden light.
Human soul masters could absorb soul bones from across their entire body, but normal soul bones were limited to six main areas: arms, legs, torso, and skull. These six areas were the most common sources of soul bones, and their quality was judged by completeness. A complete right arm bone would include parts of the forearm and even extend to the palm region. The same applied to leg bones.
Aside from these six common areas, any other soul bones were classified as external soul bones, including the metacarpals.
Some bones extended beyond normal human anatomy, and these were also categorized as external soul bones.
Unlike regular soul bones, external soul bones possessed growth potential. Once fully integrated into a soul master, they wouldn't drop even if the soul master was killed. Additionally, external soul bones would be absorbed alongside soul rings.
A particularly special example was the metacarpal bone of the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear.
The Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear was unique—all its power was concentrated in its pair of Dark Golden Terror Claws. After death, there was more than a 10% chance of forming a right metacarpal bone. Unlike normal soul bones, this bone wouldn't integrate into the soul master along with the soul ring but would drop like a regular soul bone.
The mechanism of soul bone drops wasn't within Xu Yuan's area of study, nor did he care much about it.
Seeing the right metacarpal bone before him, Xu Yuan didn't hesitate and immediately absorbed it.
Guardians within the Spirit Ascension Platform were created using soul bones as their core, making them far stronger. After defeating a guardian and obtaining its soul bone, absorption was required to bring it back to reality from the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Otherwise?
Otherwise, it would take extra effort. In Xu Yuan's case, he could have his uncle directly convert this trophy into a reward.
But ordinary soul masters couldn't do that—they'd need to attempt fusion with the soul bone. Only successful fusion would allow them to bring the soul bone back completely.
Generally speaking, guardians were the strongest entities within their respective Spirit Ascension Platforms. Across the entire continent, very few soul masters could kill a corresponding guardian while adhering to the platform's level restrictions.
The Spirit Ascension Platform was divided into three levels, partly to limit soul master cultivation.
Even among top-tier soul masters capable of clearing the platform, few dared to attempt it recklessly, as information about soul bones was completely sealed.
Even Xu Yuan's uncle, a Spirit Pagoda emissary, didn't know which soul bones were used to create the guardians in specific Spirit Ascension Platforms. For example, while the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear's outer soul bone was well-known, it wasn't the only soul bone produced—it could also yield one of the six standard soul bones.
Even if someone guessed that the guardian in Donghai's Spirit Pagoda was based on the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear, how many 30th-rank Soul Honored would dare claim they could fuse with its right metacarpal bone?
The Spirit Pagoda itself minimized losses—if it detected a soul master with extraordinary talent, it would drive the guardian away during monitoring.
Xu Yuan was an exception, just as Zero Class in the original storyline benefited from protagonist aura.
Xu Yuan's blood surged as he endured the excruciating pain of his right metacarpal being shattered, gritting his teeth and pushing through.
The reason the threshold for absorbing the Dark Golden Terror Claw was so high was that it required complete integration with the existing right metacarpal. Similar to Huo Yuhao's fusion with the Ice Emperor's torso bone, except Huo Yuhao chose that method himself, whereas the Dark Golden Terror Claw's absorption forcibly replaced the original bone.
Of course, if the original bone was stronger, it could potentially devour the Dark Golden Terror Claw instead.
This was because the terrifying power of the Dark Golden Terror Claw was compressed into such a small bone, making it devastating to a human's normal metacarpal.
To fuse, one had to endure the pain of having their bones crushed.
And that wasn't the end.
The process of bone reconstruction had to be endured; otherwise, all previous efforts would be wasted.
Xu Yuan channeled all his blood and qi into his right hand, using the time dilation effect of the Dream Realm Space to prolong the timeline and allow for finer control over the process.
His blood and qi enveloped all the shattered bones, fusing with the Dark Golden Terror Claw to undergo what was known as reconstruction.
Completely replaced by the Dark Golden Terror Claw?
Impossible.
Xu Yuan wouldn't allow it.
After enduring another wave of intense pain, Xu Yuan finally made it through the most agonizing phase, utterly exhausted. He exited the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Yao Yao hummed softly within Xu Yuan's spiritual sea.
"Hmph~" (You never let me rest in peace.)
She waved her tiny, spiritually condensed hand, mobilizing Xu Yuan's spiritual power to activate the Dream Realm Space.
With no physical source of pain remaining, Xu Yuan now only had the lingering pain in his willpower, which could be alleviated over time. This process could occur within the Dream Realm Space, saving real-world time.
Half an hour later, Xu Yuan finally began to recover.
Rubbing his temples, he left the Spirit Pagoda and arrived at Donghai Academy.
"You must be Young Master Xu Yuan?" The director of the junior division, Long, greeted him with a warm smile.
Having received Wu Changkong's prior notice, Director Long had been eagerly awaiting Xu Yuan's arrival.
This was a genius from Shrek Academy's inner court after all.
"Where are the seniors?" Xu Yuan asked.
Director Long's expression stiffened slightly.
"What's wrong?" Xu Yuan noticed the shift in the other's mood.
"The soul-guided train they were on suffered a terrorist attack. They wasted some time cooperating with official registration and then rented a soul-guided car. It'll probably take them a few more days to return to Donghai City."
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