Douluo: I Can Choose My Own Soul Skills

Join my Patreon to be 30 chapters ahead of the webnovel releases:

patreon.com/ZeroMoney

I would appreciate your help if you could join my Patreon and support me because it would keep me motivated. 

******

"If I run into a hundred-year-level one, I'll drag it onto the deck. But if it's over two thousand years old, then just call it bad luck—we'll head back to shore," Ye Lan assured the fisherman, silently praying that he would encounter a suitable soul beast this time.

  Dressed in black, Ye Lan sat quietly in the corner of the deck, where he had a clear view of all the fish crates.

  As soon as there was any disturbance near the bait, he would be the first to know.

  Splash! Splash! Splash!

  Night had fallen over the Black Sea. Aside from the gentle waves lapping against the boat, everything was cloaked in silence.

  Black sea, black sky.

  The lone fishing boat in the middle of the ocean had only a sliver of moonlight to illuminate it—there were no other light sources.

  In Ye Lan's eyes, his black pupils began to glow with a faint golden hue.

  This was a new soul skill he had developed after his martial soul's evolution. Ye Lan named it Golden Eyes.

  Thanks to the evolution of his martial soul, he had unlocked spiritual pathways in his brain and successfully developed this ocular soul skill.

  Golden Eyes enhanced his reaction speed, motion tracking, and color perception.

  It also allowed instant adaptation to both extreme brightness and complete darkness. With Golden Eyes activated, even staring directly at the sun wouldn't harm Ye Lan's vision.

  But what Ye Lan valued most was its boost to reaction speed and dynamic vision.

  After activation, his reflexes improved by several times—more than enough until he reached the Titled Douluo level.

  Ye Lan had been sitting motionless on the deck for several hours. At the slightest movement, he activated Golden Eyes to observe the situation near the bait.

  Meanwhile, the fisherman stayed safely in the captain's cabin on the second floor, so Ye Lan had no need to worry about his safety.

  When it came to fighting soul beasts, that responsibility fell squarely on Ye Lan. He would never ask an ordinary person to help.

  Suddenly, Ye Lan heard the sound of something crawling.

  Zzk... zzk...

  The slick, wet squelch of mucus rubbing against the wooden deck was almost imperceptible—only someone with extremely sharp hearing could pick it up.

  Through Golden Eyes, Ye Lan saw several dark tentacles slowly creeping over the railings of the boat. Each tentacle was covered in large and small black suction cups.

  Looking closer, Ye Lan could make out tiny saw-like teeth along the edges of those suction cups.

  Gradually, a massive black octopus climbed aboard.

  Ye Lan immediately identified it as a Touch of the Ancient Beast—but something about this one was different. Its eyes were red.

  The Ancient Beast raised its oval-shaped head, scanning its surroundings.

  Its dome-like head was covered with dozens of red eyes, gleaming under the moonlight in a way that was deeply unsettling.

  The 20-meter-long creature wrapped its tentacles around the bait crates and began eating using its central beak.

  Seeing the enormous beast before him, Ye Lan involuntarily gulped.

  It was the first time he had ever seen such a massive sea beast. Compared to his 1.8-meter-tall frame, he felt like nothing more than a snack in its eyes.

  Ye Lan rose to his feet, ending his observation—it was time to fight.

  If he waited any longer, the bait would be completely devoured.

  Judging by its size and aura, Ye Lan estimated this particular Touch of the Ancient Beast to be somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400 years old.

  Though his second soul ring could absorb up to 1,700 years, Ye Lan wasn't picky.

  Marine soul beasts were far harder to obtain than land-based ones.

  Besides, thanks to his customizable soul skill, Ye Lan wasn't too concerned about the ability's strength.

  He advanced to within 15 meters of the beast, his body glowing with a faint golden aura.

  In the pitch-black night, streaks of golden light suddenly emerged—dozens of Blue Silver Grass vines unfurled from his body.

  They shot out swiftly, aiming directly at the Ancient Beast. The creature, sensing the sudden disturbance through its red eyes, froze mid-meal, turning its attention toward the golden glow.

  It had never seen golden Blue Silver Grass before, and it had no idea what it was facing.

  The creature merely stopped eating and raised its guard, choosing not to attack recklessly.

  Ye Lan had anticipated that the Ancient Beast's Touch would react to his attack—after all, the noise caused by the Blue Silver Grass was far too obvious.

  Unless it was blind, there was no way it wouldn't notice.

  What he hadn't expected, however, was just how cautious the Ancient Beast's Touch would be—remaining completely still.

  Since it wasn't taking the initiative to strike, Ye Lan certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity.

  A dozen golden vines shot out like a giant net toward the creature. Just as the Blue Silver Grass closed in to within a few meters, the beast lashed out with eight of its tentacles to counter Ye Lan's assault.

  The thick, black tentacles clashed with two vines of Blue Silver Grass in a deadly tangle. Despite being over twenty centimeters thick, the Blue Silver Grass looked almost fragile compared to the Ancient Beast's massive limbs.

  With a body length exceeding twenty meters, the creature's tentacles were several times thicker than the Blue Silver Grass, especially near their base.

  Even the thinner tips of the tentacles were still wider than Ye Lan's vines.

  Yet despite this overwhelming disparity, the two forces remained locked in a tense stalemate.

  Based on sheer size and strength, the Blue Silver Grass should have been instantly crushed—but now that it possessed six times the life force, this endurance wasn't all that surprising.

  Through the Blue Silver Grass's feedback, Ye Lan sensed something unexpected—the tentacles of the Ancient Beast's Touch didn't feel like the soft, flexible tissue he'd imagined. Instead, they were incredibly firm, almost like bone.

  Even with the Grass's enhanced durability and regeneration, Ye Lan could feel its life force being rapidly depleted.

  As the standoff dragged on, with dozens of golden vines entangled with eight powerful tentacles, the Blue Silver Grass suddenly began to collapse—its stems snapping apart, overwhelmed by the pressure.

  Fragments of the vines scattered across the deck of the fishing boat.

  Inside the captain's cabin, the fisherman peeked out through the small window, watching Ye Lan's fierce battle with the Ancient Beast's Touch.

  Sweat the size of beans soaked the old man's clothes. He gripped the ship's helm tightly, muttering in a trembling voice:

  "I should never have come here... This is insane... How could I believe a mere Grandmaster could defeat a thousand-year-old Ancient Beast?"

  "It's bad… He's losing!"

  Back on the deck, the Ancient Beast had finished shredding all the Blue Silver Grass vines.

  Now aware of the threat posed by the human before it, it had no intention of letting him go.

  Its eight tentacles lunged at the blond youth at lightning speed—but to the creature's surprise…

  The youth's body once again erupted with over a dozen golden vines, intercepting the attack.

  Ye Lan remained calm despite witnessing his Blue Silver Grass being torn apart.

  He didn't panic, because he knew the secret behind the Grass's resilience—its Extreme Life trait.

  Not only did this trait grant the plant-form Blue Silver Grass an extraordinary base life force, but it also gave it a rapid regeneration ability.

  Within seconds, Ye Lan could regenerate any destroyed vines.

  Thus, every attempt by the Ancient Beast's Touch to strike his actual body was thwarted—the golden vines blocked everything.

  As the creature kept tearing through wave after wave of vines, it began to realize something troubling:

  The golden Blue Silver Grass released by the blond youth seemed endless.

  Unwilling to waste more energy on an ineffective approach, the creature retracted half of its tentacles, redirecting them to close the distance between itself and Ye Lan.

  Its strategy was simple: eliminate the source.

  These golden vines were proving too troublesome, so it decided to take out Ye Lan directly.

  And it made the right choice—while Blue Silver Grass had life force enhancements, Ye Lan himself did not.

(End of Chapter)