Half a month later, in the habitat of millennium soul beasts.
A series of crackling sounds and a echoed as a peculiar soul beast, less than 1.5 meters tall and resembling a meerkat, with unusually slender and sharp claws on its forelimbs, tumbled several times on the ground before rising and looking towards a three-eyed demonic fox.
Its cheeks puffed out with a few squeaks, and it turned to run.
The next second, a flash of light emanated from the three-eyed demonic fox, and a handsome young man stood where the fox had been—Zhu Wu.
He watched the millennium weasel dart into the forest without pursuing it. In fact, he hadn't killed any of the soul beasts he'd defeated in single combat; he'd let them escape. There were indeed many soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest, but soul masters also had a high demand for soul rings. The extinction of soul beasts would lead to the disappearance of the soul master profession—this wasn't an exaggeration. Indiscriminate slaughter wasn't a good thing.
He should consider future generations, shouldn't he? Thinking that the training effect was sufficient, he strode forward, squatted down, and began digging ginseng.
It had to be said that the Star Dou Great Forest was indeed exceptionally rich in medicinal herbs, but he often encountered soul beasts, which caused trouble for his harvesting work. His strategy was to fight those he could defeat, such as small soul beasts like the weasel, whose defenses were generally breakable. But if he encountered thick-skinned ones, he could only resort to trickery.
Usually, he would have Xiaobai lure them away while he secretly dug.
He would either challenge them as a predator or call to them as a female of their species—in short, he relied on deception and trickery.
Soon, after handing the dug-up ginseng to Xiaobai, Zhu Wu continued deeper into the forest.
After searching for more than half a month, his cultivation was about to break through, but he hadn't encountered many spirit attribute soul beasts, let alone high-quality ones.
He was indeed getting impatient.
"I need to speed things up," he thought. He immediately called Xiaobai, who was still gnawing on ginseng, to possess him, then transformed into a small hummingbird—a small size, low soul power consumption, and high concealment—and flew forward.
Able to fly forward, backward, and hover, and with a decent speed, the hummingbird indeed had many advantages.
Time flew by, and another ten days passed.
Because his target was soul beasts with cultivation between 1000 and 1500 years, Zhu Wu hadn't chosen to venture deep into the millennium soul beast habitat but stayed in the outer perimeter.
As for which country's territory he had wandered into, even he himself didn't know; he was completely relying on luck.
"Am I just incredibly unlucky?"
For over a month, his soul power had reached level 20, yet he hadn't found anything, making him question his life choices.
Were spirit attribute soul beasts truly that rare, or was his luck just abysmal?
Feeling frustrated and helpless, he could only continue searching.
He searched for another half a month.
"Roar..." Two roars rang out in his ears, sounding like they came from a lion and a wolf.
Among the top-tier spirit attribute soul beasts, Zhu Wu knew of the Three-Eyed Golden 猊 (Ní) that was somewhat lion-like. He knew his chances against it were zero; even if he saw it, he could only run, and even running might be impossible. Its combat power was already off the charts; a millennium beast was equivalent to a ten-thousand-year beast, and it had three-headed red demonic dogs as bodyguards. How could a one-ring soul master escape? He'd probably be stunned by a single roar.
Of course, this probability was extremely low, as the Three-Eyed Golden 猊 was almost impossible to find in the outer perimeter of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Even Yu Xiaogang's soul beast compendium for Tang San didn't contain any records of it, showing how low the probability of humans encountering this creature was.
Of course, some people might have seen it, but they all died without exception.
"Based on the time, the Three-Eyed Golden 猊 at this stage should be around 5000 years old, right?" he thought.
As for top-tier spirit attribute soul beasts associated with wolves, there were the Silver Moon Wolf and the Silver 英 (Yīng) Beast. He felt he had a chance against these.
Lost in thought, he arrived at a tree branch not far from the source of the sounds.
Looking up, he saw a golden-haired lion with red eyes. He recognized this soul beast; it was called the Red-Eyed Golden Lion, a power-type soul beast, considered a superior species among lion soul beasts, possessing the "Rampage" and "Lion's Roar" skills. It was aggressive and excelled in close combat.
Judging by its size, it was probably around 1300 years old.
On the other side was a wolf-like soul beast. It had sharp, triangular horns on its head, blood-red eyes, and its entire body was covered in silver scales. The scales on its upper back were particularly thick, and the scales on its neck had even extended into rows of sharp spines, with silver hair growing on the edges, looking quite elegant. Its limbs were thick and powerful, and its claws were thick and sharp.
It looked like a heavily armored warrior, exuding a bloodthirsty and violent aura, powerful and majestic.
"Its bloodline rank is probably not low," he thought.
"But this doesn't look like a Silver 英 Beast?" Yu Xiaogang's soul beast compendium did have a record of the Silver 英 Beast, although it wasn't called that yet; it was called the Silver Shadow Wolf, described as an agile soul beast with the ability to copy opponents' skills. Perhaps spirit attribute soul masters were too rare, and no one had absorbed a Silver 英 Beast soul ring to obtain the spirit replication skill.
Of course, it was also possible that there were simply fewer records, as it was a rare species.
"Let's see," Zhu Wu decided to be a spectator first.
Both beasts were over 3 meters long; just from their appearance, he knew this was a battle between powerful males, and the process would be very interesting.
Then he saw the Red-Eyed Golden Lion's fur rise with a bloody mist, its body visibly expanding, its limbs bulging with exposed veins, and its eyes completely enveloped in blood.
"Roar!" It roared to the sky, transforming into a bloody wind and charging towards the scaled silver wolf.
The latter spread its limbs, howled, and a bloody mist also rose from its body, its muscles bulging inch by inch.
"This one can also go berserk?" Zhu Wu was slightly surprised. "This is truly a clash of titans, neither willing to yield!"
Then he saw the Red-Eyed Golden Lion jump several meters, instantly closing the distance to five meters.
Then, it raised its head and roared, and the ground around it was as if it had been hit by an air cannon, with plants and soil blown away, and the surrounding giant trees trembling, their branches and leaves falling wildly.
"It's a good thing I'm far enough away," Zhu Wu secretly rejoiced, while his curiosity grew.
"What kind of species is this silver wolf? Taking it head-on, so brave!"
In his sight, the silver wolf remained in a four-legged stance, its claws firmly gripping the ground. Its ears were slightly closed, clearly to counter the Red-Eyed Golden Lion's Lion's Roar skill. However, its body shifted sideways by half a meter, and two deep grooves were plowed into the ground in front of it.
This showed the power of the Red-Eyed Golden Lion's roar.
Seeing that the roar was ineffective, the Red-Eyed Golden Lion, in a berserk state, had clearly lost its mind and charged directly.
"Roar!" As it jumped, the silver wolf raised its head to face the Red-Eyed Golden Lion's forehead, and suddenly let out a roar.
It was also a sonic skill.
With a bang, the Red-Eyed Golden Lion was instantly knocked away.
The next second, the silver wolf turned into a silver wind, moving extremely fast, and its head slammed into the Red-Eyed Golden Lion's forehead. "Puff," its horns pierced directly into the Red-Eyed Golden Lion's chest, and then it tossed it away, the Red-Eyed Golden Lion flying away, bleeding.
Without any hesitation, the silver wolf followed up, jumped, raised its paw, and slapped the Red-Eyed Golden Lion on the side of its brow. It opened its mouth and bit its neck, shaking its head wildly, while its limbs pressed down hard on the Red-Eyed Golden Lion. In the blink of an eye, "slash," the silver wolf bit a large chunk of flesh from its opponent's neck.
It shook its head and threw it away, and its forehead slammed into it again, its horns going straight into its throat through the wound.
Swift, smooth, and violent—that was Zhu Wu's impression.
"I should have guessed. Being able to maintain rationality after using the berserk skill, its mental power is definitely not low," his body already flew to the top of the silver wolf.
"The berserk skill, the Lion's Roar skill, are not innate skills at all, but copied ones."
"Damn it, this is a Silver 英 Beast, maybe even a mutated one."
"I'm done!" He canceled his soul fusion, activated the Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone's flight skill, grabbed a coconut-sized clay pot bomb from his waist, and without hesitation, lit it and threw it down.
Then came a second, a third, a flurry of throws.
"Roar!" The Silver 英 Beast's mental power was excellent; it quickly sensed something falling from above, instinctively jumped to the side, and looked up.
The bright sunlight of the day was dazzling; it could only glimpse a mass of black objects.
"Roar!" It immediately used the copied Lion's Roar skill.
"Boom boom... boom..." The closest clay pot bomb was destroyed before it could reach its target, exploding into smoke.
The clay pot bombs that fell towards the Silver 英 Beast's lower body and buttocks were not affected and exploded before they hit the ground. Countless pieces of pottery mixed with iron needles and nails instantly burst out, shooting in all directions.
Zhu Wu said he couldn't use the techniques of Tang San's soul-guided weapons, so he had added some ingredients to the clay pot bombs.
"Puff puff puff..." Although the Silver 英 Beast was covered in scales, the area under its tail was a weak point, and without any suspense, it instantly spurted blood, continuously spurting blood.
"嗷嗷嗷" Seized by intense pain, the Silver 英 Beast's Lion's Roar skill was interrupted. "Boom!" A big explosion occurred on its forehead; the gunpowder that had spread above its head was ignited, creating a dazzling firework that enveloped the Silver 英 Beast's entire body. Then came a chain reaction of continuous explosions; the Silver 英 Beast's body was tossed around, finally falling to the ground and rolling.
It was in excruciating pain, especially in its lower body; the pain was so intense that its legs trembled and it couldn't stand.
Despicable humans, unprincipled surprise attack!
Using the remaining light, it saw the enemy who had attacked it—a human child.
The key was that it could fly; that wasn't fair!
On the other side, the violent explosions shook the ground, and the sound echoed far and wide, causing birds and beasts to scatter in panic.
The shaking was too violent, not something that ordinary predators could create; they instinctively knew they were no match.
"Boom!" When the last explosion subsided, a purple soul ring emerged from the flames.
"Xiaobai, put out the fire!" Zhu Wu shouted.
Ignoring the soul ring on the ground, he took off his waist soul-guided device and flew to the side. Knowing that he might use gunpowder, he had already had Xiaobai absorb a large amount of river water, and he himself had filled his soul-guided device to the brim.
The Star Dou Great Forest was full of shrubs and ancient trees; if a forest fire really started, it wouldn't be a joke.
"唧" Xiaobai, who had already reached the designated area, flashed a seven-colored light from its brow, and a large curtain of water sprayed out of thin air.
On the other side, Zhu Wu swung his soul-guided device, also spraying out a large curtain of water.
The previous battle between the two beasts, especially those roars, had cleared a large area around them. Therefore, the flames from the subsequent explosions did not affect too many shrubs and dry grass. What they had to do now was to extinguish the spreading fire on the perimeter and create a firebreak.
This process didn't take long; it was completed in just a quarter of an hour. After all, it was homemade gunpowder; its power was generally moderate, mainly relying on the outer casing to injure the enemy. And coincidentally, the materials he used were fire-resistant.
Therefore, it didn't produce much sparks.
"Phew, my unlucky streak is finally over," Zhu Wu took a deep breath and slowly landed on the devastated ground.
"Brother, I'm sorry," looking at the Silver 英 Beast, which was now charred black, he bowed.
Then, he took out a carpet from his soul-guided device, spread it next to the Silver 英 Beast, and sat down to absorb the soul ring.
Although the surrounding soul beasts had been scared away, he couldn't be sure how long it would take for them to return.
At this time, he couldn't delay; the longer he waited, the more dangerous it became.
It was daytime, so he unhesitatingly operated the King Kong Kung Fu.
As soon as his soul power moved, the purple soul ring was immediately drawn, floating to Zhu Wu's head, then slowly descending.
"Hiss!" As the violent energy entered his body, Zhu Wu felt a tearing pain in his meridians.
"As expected of a millennium soul ring," he sighed, and began to use the Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone to assist.
Feeling the pull, strands of cool energy instantly poured in, like streams flowing into Zhu Wu's meridians, smoothing out the violent soul ring energy while repairing the slightly torn meridians. After all, it was a ten-thousand-year soul bone; a mere millennium soul ring was clearly not enough.
Of course, this was on the premise that Zhu Wu's own body was strong enough. Otherwise, his meridians would have been burst open, and even the ten-thousand-year soul bone wouldn't have saved him.
Time passed bit by bit, and after about two hours.
In his inner vision, in the familiar white space, Xiaobai, which had grown slightly larger, twisted its body, and a stream of inexplicable information entered Zhu Wu's mind—the ability Xiaobai had inherited after absorbing the soul ring.
It wasn't the spirit replication that Huo Hang had obtained, but imprinting.
Spirit replication was a soul skill produced after absorbing a soul ring and combining it with one's own soul. Imprinting was the Silver 英 Beast's innate ability.
"???" He suddenly opened his eyes, his face filled with shock.
"Damn, awesome!" After fully understanding the information about the ability, Zhu Wu subconsciously blurted out this sentence.
Imprinting was still imprinting, but the effect was vastly different. As far as he knew, the Silver 英 Beast could imprint a limited number of times each day, and once used, it needed to re-imprint. But Xiaobai's inherited imprinting skill had no limitations! The number of times and whether it could imprint depended entirely on its own mental strength, and the power depended entirely on its own cultivation.
And it was permanently saved! As long as Xiaobai successfully imprinted once, it was directly permanently recorded.
"So, was this mutated Silver 英 Beast too awesome, or was my Xiaobai too awesome? Xiaobai can simulate and transform into any soul beast it has seen, even perfectly simulating its aura; this itself is a recording ability. Is this a fusion of innate ability and imprinting skill? Or is it because the Dragon God bloodline in my body has advanced recently, enhancing this imprinting skill?"
Zhu Wu wasn't sure, but it didn't stop him from being happy.
Permanent imprinting made it far more operable.
"It seems I'll have to stay in the Star Dou Great Forest for a while longer; I'm going to imprint soul beast skills crazily! I don't need to learn them myself; Xiaobai can do it. Having many skills has its advantages; for example, no matter what soul skill my opponent uses, I can always find a counter." Zhu Wu thought happily. "Besides, I can't learn them now, but I might be able to in the future."
"The Dragon God possesses the ability to control multiple elements. I don't have these attributes now, but what if my bloodline improves in the future? In that case, my affinity for elements will improve, and I can sense the various elemental energies in the world. By then, will I be able to learn these imprinted skills? Yes, I need to imprint more elemental skills."
"Big data analysis!"
"The more skills I have, the more things I can learn and study; I'll be able to figure something out."
"In addition, there are spirit attribute skills."
(End of Chapter)
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