Chapter 25: Evolution, Golden Phoenix
The night was dark with a strong wind.
The forest night carried a slight chill.
As footsteps passed, the sound of insects chirping in the surroundings fell silent.
He arrived at the edge of the bushes. Beyond it was an open area, no longer suitable to proceed.
Under the big tree, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear was asleep, its snoring like thunder, rumbling loudly.
"Still sleeping?"
A wicked smile curved at the corner of Su Ye's mouth as he gently tossed the golden bee nest wrapped in cloth into the air and kicked it.
Bang! The large honeycomb flew in a parabola, landing precisely within three meters in front of the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear.
The cloth wrapping opened, and the rich, intoxicating, soul-enchanting fragrance of honey erupted all at once.
Whoosh——!
Without a second of hesitation, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear's eyes shot open, as clear as never before.
Sensing the fragrance, it looked toward the scene, and a thrilled smile spread across the bear's face.
A gift from the heavens??
The Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear immediately sprang up, transforming into a bear, and crawled over. At this moment, the golden honeycomb cracked open, revealing golden, sweet honey chunks, and sticky honey was scattered all over the ground.
Roar——
Sensing the lingering scent of humans, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear growled, scanning the surroundings, but its wide-open mouth couldn't stop drooling.
Honey was the bear's favorite.
Golden honey was a rare treasure among honeys, an irresistible temptation to any bear.
The instinctive urge completely overpowered the slight hesitation, and the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear opened its massive mouth and bit into the honeycomb.
"It's done!"
Watching this scene, Su Ye knew the plan with the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear was set.
His gaze lingered on the large creature, and he couldn't help but sigh.
He truly liked the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear.
If he could raise one, feeding it medicinal herbs, growing it from a hundred years to a thousand years…
Letting it produce blood continually, and then collecting a couple of buckets of blood periodically.
Who knows, one day, he might even be able to combine the bloodline of the Purple Crystal Behemoth…
Unfortunately, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear was hard to tame, savage, and ferocious. If it weren't for that, this could have been a mutually beneficial situation. What a pity, what a pity~
Not long after, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear began to feel dizzy, shaking its head, trying to stay awake.
"Ten."
"Nine."
"…"
Su Ye's face became subtle as he began to count down.
The Dream Drunk Grass could cause the brain to become lost in intoxication, losing control of the body. For ordinary years of the herb, the effect was quite weak, and eating it wouldn't be dangerous.
However, Dream Drunk Grass of over ten thousand years, a seventh-grade herb, was enough to put even the most powerful soul beasts to sleep for an entire day.
Even the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear, with its strong bloodline defenses, would be ineffective against this Dream Drunk Grass.
"Three."
Just as the count finished, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear collapsed, its head hitting the ground with a loud thud.
Su Ye waited a minute, watching the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear remain still…
"It's my turn!!"
A excited smile spread across his face as he grabbed a metal bucket and other tools, quickly running over.
Bang! Bang!
He kicked it twice, confirming that the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear wouldn't wake up.
Su Ye began to "seriously" assess the prey before him.
"Blood, that's a must!"
"These claws, they can be fused into my martial soul to enhance the sharpness of my eagle claws."
"This skin is pretty tough. I can make an arrow pouch with it. No, wait, no... I'll make a top-tier leather outfit with it."
"…"
Swish! Swish!
Red circles were carefully drawn, ensuring not to miss or make any wrong cuts. Su Ye slowly put on a wolf claw glove.
These were the wolf claws from eight thousand-year-old soul beasts Su Ye had combined. Their sharpness was beyond ordinary.
Sss!
A bloodline mark appeared on the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear's neck as Su Ye cut it. Following the mark, Su Ye made another cut, and blood started flowing down the neck.
Drip! Drip!
Dark-golden blood dripped into the bottom of the bucket, and the overwhelming aura from the blood made Su Ye's blood pulse and his heart race.
That was… a force far beyond human bloodlines, nearly the top-tier bloodline of soul beasts.
The power in the blood was pure and thick, even the surrounding air felt dense.
If the metal bucket hadn't been reinforced, Su Ye wouldn't have doubted that even a single drop of the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear's blood could crush the bucket.
"Let's get started!!"
Two hundred years of Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear blood synthesis.
Ding!
Obtained one bucket of 800-year-old Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear blood.
800-year-old Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear blood synthesis.
Ding!
Obtained 1,200-year-old Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear bloodline.
"With my current body, if I go any higher, I might not be able to withstand the impact of the bloodline power."
After thinking for a moment, Su Ye decided not to continue synthesizing. He planned to first use the 1,200-year-old Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear bloodline for his martial soul evolution to test the effect.
According to the physique of the Holy Light Lion, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear would probably have eight buckets of blood.
The remaining bucket of 1,200-year-old Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear blood could be further fused into the martial soul. Su Ye had it all planned out.
As the blood quickly drained, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear's life came to an end.
A yellow soul ring appeared above its corpse, emitting a chilling, oppressive aura.
For any Beast Soul Master, the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear's soul ring was a top-tier soul ring, but Su Ye had no intention of using the gold attribute as his second soul ring.
His martial soul cultivation direction was gold, and only the gold attribute was the most suitable carrier for other attributes, capable of containing extreme elements like water, fire, and earth.
If he made the second soul ring a gold attribute soul ring, it would be somewhat redundant.
"What a pity, though... this was the Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear's 100-year soul ring…"
Su Ye gritted his teeth in pain, adhering to the principle of not wasting, and fused the soul ring into a golden arrow to greatly increase its ability to break defenses.
Martial Soul: Golden Flame Eagle… +… 1,200-year Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear blood…
"Fusion."
Su Ye, trying to suppress his anxiety, clicked the fusion button.
The Golden Flame Eagle let out a sharp cry, opening its mouth and swallowing the entire bucket of Dark-Gold Fearclaw Bear blood.
Boom!
In an instant, a powerful energy surged from the Golden Flame Eagle.
Golden light dazzled, and pieces of golden feathers shimmered with spiritual light before transforming into raging flames.
At the same time, Su Ye felt a domineering and unmatched energy rush into his body.
The sensation wasn't that of flames burning; it felt more like the explosion of thunder, as if everything was being destroyed.
Unlike the previous fusion with metal, which only reshaped his martial soul's form, this was a true qualitative transformation. If before the martial soul was just the outer shell of a missile, now it was like adding a nuclear warhead.
"Ah——!!"
The body and martial soul were simultaneously undergoing a destructive reshaping, and the excruciating pain that tore through everything…
Even though Su Ye had sworn after his mother's death never to show vulnerability again, at this moment, he couldn't endure it, and the pain felt like life and death.
Rolling on the ground, his body emitted waves of light, his eyes glowing with dark golden arcs of electricity. His fierce, distorted expression was terrifying to behold.
It seemed that the Golden Flame Eagle, wrapped in flames, was slowly undergoing a miraculous change, as if it had sensed Su Ye's will.
Chirp——!
The hooked beak began to soften, and a mystical bird's head emerged from the flames. Its majestic cry, as if soaring above all birds, seemed to reign supreme.
Swallowing chin, serpent neck, fish tail with colorful scales.
Phoenix!
A golden phoenix, its feathers radiating an indestructible glow, emerged!
(End of this chapter)