The hammer directly smashed the unconscious Mirror Beast's skull into pieces.
With soul power infused into the hammer and a weight of 500 jin, the destructive power of the Clear Sky Hammer was truly enormous in the hands of a Soul Douluo like Salas.
"Haotian Hammer's destructive power… Even without a soul ring, it's really on another level."
"If I had chosen a sword, spear, or something similar… the destructive power wouldn't be as great. After all, their weight would only be around 50 jin," Salas mused.
Even though 500 jin might not seem like much, the final destructive power of the Clear Sky Hammer was the result of a multiplier formula.
There was a clear difference between a 5 kg sword falling from a 10 km height and a 250 kg hammer falling from the same height. The latter could at least flatten a house and might even create a several-meter-wide crater upon impact, whereas the sword's effect would be significantly minimal.
"Though it's unwise to compare swords like this… After all, swords and spears excel at slashing and cutting; they are known for their cleaving power," Salas shook his head slightly.
At that moment, the 25,000-year-old black soul ring had already materialized completely.
Salas hurriedly sat cross-legged and began absorbing the soul ring.
He wasn't worried about being discovered.
For this plan, he had specifically submitted a request to Spirit Hall Headquarters, asking to borrow their soul tool capable of storing living beings for a few days.
Once the storage tool arrived, Salas immediately sent it to the Soul Saint team hunting the Mirror Image Beast.
With it, transportation wasn't conspicuous.
If he had asked them to carry it by hand, how would that have been possible? Not to mention the commotion it would cause—someone might even target the group, attempting to steal the beast.
Salas had ordered them to capture the beast alive because he knew that Spirit Hall possessed similar soul tools, like Dugu Bo's Wishful Hundred Treasure Bag.
The place where Salas had unloaded the soul beast was also a secluded area where no one would come, so he had no fear of being disturbed during the absorption process and immediately began.
With the memory and experience of the original Salas, he easily started absorbing the soul ring.
Time passed…
After two hours, Salas opened his eyes. A black soul ring, over two meters in diameter, revolved around his body.
"Hmm, the so-called mental attack didn't seem to affect me… Well, with my physique and spiritual power, I could even absorb an eighty- to ninety-thousand-year-old soul ring. So, it's understandable that a 25,000-year-old soul beast's mental attack won't affect me that much," Salas mused.
As a Soul Douluo who had absorbed eight soul rings before, if Salas wanted to, he could even absorb a 100,000-year-old soul ring. However, since his soul power was slightly lacking and his physique hadn't fully reached the level of a Rank 90 Titled Douluo, absorbing such a powerful soul ring as his first would be a little troublesome. But an 80,000- or even 90,000-year-old soul ring was entirely possible.
"Now I can feel it… With this soul ring absorbed, my physique has reached the level of a Titled Douluo," Salas clenched his fist, feeling the power coursing through his body.
He was certain—if Snake Lance Douluo didn't use soul power, he could fight him toe-to-toe with just his physical body.
"Of course… my physique is only comparable to Titled Douluos with tool martial souls. I'm still a little behind those Rank 90 Titled Douluos with beast martial souls," Salas thought, excitement surging within him.
As for how he knew this… It was an instinct of a soul master. Whenever their physical shackles broke, they could feel it, just like a soul power breakthrough.
"And this soul skill…" As he understood its effects, Salas' smile widened.
"Although the ability I obtained isn't cloning or copying… it's not any worse than them," he thought excitedly.
But soon, Salas controlled his excitement and turned his attention to the dead soul beast.
There, on the smashed head of the Mirror Image Beast, a light was shining.
Salas knew exactly what it was—it was the same head soul bone that Oscar obtained in the novel.
Digging it out, Salas examined it carefully.
"I know absorbing this soul bone would enhance my first soul skill… but it's not worth it for me."
Calmly, Salas placed the soul bone into his storage ring. He could use it to gain favor in the future—after all, soul bones were incredibly rare.
Without wasting time, he also stored the soul beast's body in his ring. He couldn't leave it here.
After roughly cleaning up the area, Salas summoned his martial soul and activated his first soul skill.
"Mirroring Stealth."
The black Clear Sky Hammer turned mirror-like and vanished from Salas' hand. But the process didn't stop there—his right hand also became reflective and disappeared in the next second. Then, the effect spread to the rest of his body.
Within seconds, he had completely vanished from the area.
Or rather, he was still there—just perfectly blended into the surroundings.
"This soul skill of mine is really overpowered… and the soul power consumption is also minimal," Salas thought.
With that, the now-invisible old Salas silently left the area.
Unless a Super Douluo above Rank 95 used their spiritual power, no one would be able to detect him.
That was one of the effects of Mirroring Stealth—complete invisibility. Only someone with significantly higher mental power could notice something was off.
The other effect was even more terrifying—once he entered stealth mode, he could reflect 100% of spiritual attacks and completely negate any form of energy-based attacks. Of course, this consumed a percentage of his soul power.
Only powerful physical attacks or the use of his own other soul skills could forcibly shatter his mirroring form. If that happened, he would immediately lose 10% of his soul power, and the skill would enter a five-hour cooldown.
Although this skill had an obvious weakness against physical attacks, if used wisely, Salas could survive most crises—and even assassinate enemies if his first strike was strong enough.