Douluo Dalu II: The Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 97 Cultivating the Power of Death! Ma Xiaotao Out of Control!

Zhu Ziyang has been extremely busy these days.

During the day, he had to shuttle between the outer and inner courtyards, attending classes in the outer courtyard when he had them, and going to Seagod Island to study the art of ruling the world under Moon's tutelage when he didn't have classes. At night, he also needed to study light magic and necromancy under the guidance of Elex.

Although it's called light magic and necromancy, Electrox doesn't remember much light magic anymore. According to him, all the light magic he remembers are forbidden spells, far beyond Zhu Ziyang's current strength to learn and practice. Moreover, Electrox would prefer him to focus his energy on necromancy.

Electrox's necromancy belongs to the death and summoning schools, including the use and training of the power of death, the study of summoning contracts, and the summoning of undead creatures.

Zhu Ziyang's first skill was cultivating and utilizing the power of death.

Thanks to the power of his martial soul, Zhu Ziyang can easily mobilize the power of death within him. However, when he mobilizes the power of death, his light attribute lies dormant, the two being like the sun and moon, rarely meeting. For this reason, Zhu Ziyang rarely uses his first soul skill. This state will need to continue for some time until Zhu Ziyang learns to fuse the two.

"...Death, in essence, is the deprivation and erosion of life force. The application of the power of death is the treatment of this deprived and eroded life force..."

"...The most basic way to use it is to convert life force into pure elemental energy of heaven and earth, and then absorb it to enhance one's cultivation..."

"...The advantages of this method are obvious, but the disadvantages are also obvious. When life force is converted into the elemental energy of heaven and earth, it will cause serious waste. Eighty percent of the elemental energy will dissipate into heaven and earth, and only twenty percent can be applied to oneself. This is an unavoidable trade..."

"...However, the existence of spirit rings has given me an idea. We can first fill the spirit rings with the life force from the outside world, and then complete the conversion of life force into the elemental energy of heaven and earth within the spirit rings. We can even go straight to converting it into spirit power, and then absorb and refine it...I just don't know what the conversion rate would be. It should be higher than 20%...However, this is obviously a redundant approach. Converting life force into spirit ring age is the best choice."

"...A further application is to directly refine life force through the power of death...Life force is the most difficult special power to refine, but once it can be refined, the benefits are unimaginable..."

"...The enhancement of physical strength by vitality is only the most basic benefit; the greater benefit is the elevation of one's life level, which is directly manifested in lifespan..."

That evening, in Zhu Ziyang's dormitory.

Before Zhu Ziyang sat a pot of blooming flowers. His right hand was outstretched, resting on a petal, and a faint gray swirled in his palm. Then, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded: the vibrant flower rapidly withered and died, its emerald leaves quickly turning yellow and falling away. Finally, the entire stem dried up, shriveled, and rotted into mud! In the blink of an eye, a beautiful flower was gone, as if its life force had been drained in an instant!

That's right, this is the result of life force being completely depleted!

Zhu Ziyang's face lit up with joy; he knew he had succeeded.

"Excellent! As expected of the genius I've chosen!" Electrox's voice echoed in my mind, filled with excitement. "Now you've grasped the basic applications of the power of death. Next, begin trying to convert your life force into the elemental energy of heaven and earth, or perhaps the age of your soul rings!"

"I understand, teacher!" Zhu Ziyang replied happily.

The boy was so engrossed in his selfless cultivation that he lost all sense of self.

-

Poseidon Island.

Zhu Ziyang, who had just finished his cultivation, was about to cross the lake back to the outer courtyard when he saw a blue figure running towards the island in a somewhat disheveled state on the Sea God Lake. With each step the figure took, a thin layer of ice would form on the lake water beneath its feet. Behind the blue figure was a red figure with a pair of fiery red wings and flames burning all over its body, relentlessly chasing after the blue figure.

Two figures appeared in Zhu Ziyang's line of sight, one after the other. Zhu Ziyang was taken aback, but then recognized one of the figures.

Ma Xiaotao!

This was the first time Zhu Ziyang had seen Ma Xiaotao since the exchange meeting, which had been three or four months ago. Although Zhu Ziyang had spent more time on Seagod Island in the past month, he hadn't gotten to know any other inner court disciples besides Zhang Lexuan. Seeing Ma Xiaotao now, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised, after all, he still had a deep impression of this hot senior.

However, she doesn't seem to be in a good state right now. Although they are quite far apart, Zhu Ziyang can keenly sense that Ma Xiaotao's breathing is very unstable. Her beautiful face is flushed with a sickly blush, and she doesn't seem to be very clear-headed. Her body is instinctively chasing after the blue-clad woman in front of her.

Zhu Ziyang then noticed that the blue-haired girl being chased by Ma Xiaotao was also a disciple of Shrek Academy's inner court. Although she was wearing a red school uniform, her long blue hair was very eye-catching. She had a beautiful face and was a stunning beauty who was no less beautiful than Ma Xiaotao. However, at this moment, this beauty was quite disheveled. Her clothes were burned and torn, revealing her snow-white skin. Even her hair was messy, making her look like a princess in distress.

However, Zhu Ziyang noticed the spirit rings floating behind the girl, two yellow and two purple. This girl, who looked about the same age as Ma Xiaotao, was actually a Spirit Master. No wonder she was a disciple of Shrek Academy's inner court.

As he drew closer, Zhu Ziyang heard the voices of the two women.

"...Ma Xiaotao, you crazy woman, stop chasing me..."

"...It's so hot! Give me, give me water..."

The blue-haired girl was furious upon hearing this. But she dared not turn back and could only continue rushing forward, hoping that the students on the island would notice the anomaly.

She noticed Zhu Ziyang by the lake, her eyes initially lighting up, but then her expression suddenly changed. She cursed inwardly, "How could an outer court disciple appear on the island? And a first-year student at that? Isn't this just asking for trouble?"

"Run! Go back to the island and find her! Tell her Ma Xiaotao has lost control again!" The blue-haired girl couldn't care less about anything else at this point and shouted at Zhu Ziyang. Her voice, which should have been clear and crisp, was now hoarse and unbearable.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ziyang, though unaware of the full story, could roughly guess that Ma Xiaotao's martial soul had a flaw, which explained her supposed loss of control. Faced with this situation, he couldn't interfere and could only obey the blue-clad girl's words, preparing to return to the island to call for help.

However, seemingly hearing the blue-haired girl's shout, Ma Xiaotao behind her also noticed Zhu Ziyang and subconsciously looked over. Upon seeing him, a rare glimmer of clarity appeared in her beautiful eyes. Then, she suddenly accelerated, directly overtaking the blue-haired girl and rushing towards Zhu Ziyang amidst the blue-haired girl's terrified gaze.

Ma Xiaotao was incredibly fast. With the full effort of a top-tier Beast Soul Battle Soul Master, Zhu Ziyang had no room for carelessness. He disregarded all other details and unhesitatingly released the World-Soothing Scythe. His first soul ring lit up, and a grayish-white blade of energy slashed towards Ma Xiaotao.

This was one of his few ranged attacks; he could stop Ma Xiaotao as much as he could.

Although Ma Xiaotao was delirious, her fighting spirit remained. Facing the flying blade of death, she gracefully flipped and dodged it. Then, without slowing down, she charged towards Zhu Ziyang.

Zhu Ziyang was speechless. Although he didn't understand why Ma Xiaotao was rushing towards him, now wasn't the time to think about that. While trying to figure out how to stop Ma Xiaotao, he shouted to the blue-haired girl, "Hey, senior, don't just stand there! Come help!"

The blue-haired girl stared blankly at the three spirit rings floating behind Zhu Ziyang in disbelief. She snapped out of her daze upon hearing Zhu Ziyang's voice and immediately intervened, saying, "Ma Xiaotao's spirit has gone out of control; it needs to be cooled down!"

A staff of ice and snow appeared in the girl's hand, and then her fourth spirit ring lit up. A thick, cold mist flew towards Ma Xiaotao, but before it could get close to her, it was evaporated by her burning wings.

The blue-haired girl stomped her foot in anger and shouted, "It's no use! My ice mist can't even get close to her, my fourth soul skill is completely ineffective!"

However, Zhu Ziyang couldn't care less about her problem. Ma Xiaotao had already rushed in front of him, only three meters away!

(End of this chapter)