You Could Scream Yourself Hoarse and No Bear Would Come Save You (Please Follow!!!)

Zhu Jiuyang carefully observed the array Su Ming had drawn. It really looked convincing.

Once Su Ming finished drawing it, Zhu Jiuyang could indeed sense the power of a contract.

Was it really a Contract Array?

Zhu Jiuyang was astonished.

Naturally, Su Ming did everything thoroughly. This was an array he had specifically designed after deeply studying Spirit Soul Arrays during his time in Dou San, allowing him to use it as a contract in the era of Dou Yi.

Most importantly, it truly had the effect Su Ming had described.

However, accidents could also occur, turning it into an array for converting Soul Spirits.

After ten thousand years of development, by the era of Dou San, the Spirit Pagoda had long developed arrays different from the one Huo Yuhao had needed the Soul Beast's consent for. They could forcibly convert unconscious Soul Beasts into Soul Spirits regardless of their cultivation age. Of course, if one wished to absorb a Ten-thousand-year Spirit Soul converted this way, it was best to gain its approval, or there might be backlash.

The Dark Gold Bear was only a thousand years old. Even with an array that forcibly converted it into a Soul Spirit, it could be absorbed and fused without worrying about backlash.

In any case, Su Ming had never intended to obtain the Dark Gold Bear's agreement.

Whether it agreed or not, he would fuse with it first.

Su Ming killed the Dark Gold Bear, and the array began operating. As the lights of the array lit up one after another, Su Ming's Soul Power was drawn into it, followed by the Dark Gold Bear's Soul Power. A contract rapidly began forming between them.

Seeing everything proceed smoothly, Zhu Jiuyang had been about to relax when he suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

He stared at the array and discovered that parts of it were crumbling, as though Su Ming had failed to draw them properly earlier.

That alone would have been fine. If the array's effect failed, then so be it.

What was fatal was that Zhu Jiuyang heard the Dark Gold Bear roar.

He looked toward the Dark Gold Bear's corpse and discovered that no Soul Ring had appeared above it. Instead, its spiritual body had appeared!

It now existed in the form of a spiritual body.

Where was the Soul Ring?

Zhu Jiuyang knew much, and thus worried much. Seeing this, he immediately thought of Ghost Douluo, Gui Mei. Gui Mei had accidentally died in his youth, yet his soul remained. It later possessed a body again and returned to life, while his Martial Soul awakened into Gui Mei as well.

Could this Dark Gold Bear do the same?

Just as Zhu Jiuyang worried that the Dark Gold Bear's spiritual body would return to its corpse, the Dark Gold phantom was directly absorbed by Su Ming.

Su Ming had kept his eyes closed the entire time, seemingly unaware of what had happened.

Three hours later.

A Soul Ring gradually condensed outside Su Ming's body, radiating a noble purple glow.

Seeing this, Zhu Jiuyang breathed a sigh of relief.

The Soul Ring had been absorbed successfully, but the strange events in the middle still bothered him. He planned to ask Su Ming about them once he woke up.

Su Ming awoke.

Looking at Zhu Jiuyang, he asked, "Teacher, why does your expression look so off? Did something happen?"

Zhu Jiuyang stared at Su Ming solemnly. After asking him several questions, he described everything that had happened earlier.

Su Ming was shocked.

"What? The Dark Gold Bear's spiritual body fused with me?"

"First, sense your own body and see whether anything has changed. Find that Dark Gold Bear's spiritual body. If it has not been completely absorbed by you, then it must still be lurking within you, waiting for a chance to harm you."

Su Ming said ruefully, "I won't carelessly try something like this again."

While regretting it, he also began sensing the changes within himself.

The change was extremely obvious. He felt as though he had gained an extra space, and when his consciousness sank into his body, he could distinctly sense a summoning intent.

He obediently entered that space.

The Sea of Consciousness.

Su Ming condensed his consciousness form within the Sea of Consciousness. After briefly looking around, he was fairly satisfied with it.

His attention focused on the Dark Gold phantom that kept roaring within the Sea of Consciousness.

"Stop yelling. You could scream yourself hoarse, and no other bear would come save you," Su Ming said.

The Dark Gold Bear bared its fangs and snarled viciously at Su Ming.

"A thousand-year Soul Beast should possess some Spirituality. We are in the Sea of Consciousness, so this counts as spiritual communication. You should be even more capable of understanding what I mean." Su Ming spoke bluntly. "To put it plainly, you have now become a Soul Spirit body. You exist by relying on my Sea of Consciousness. As long as I do not die, you will continue to exist as well. You are merely sleeping in a different place."

The Dark Gold Bear remained fiercely hostile.

"Your bloodline was about to transform, but I hunted you down, so it is understandable that you harbor deep resentment toward me. In truth, you still have a chance to complete that transformation. I am a Soul Master, and I have more ways to help you complete it. Your Soul Spirit body can still enjoy the benefits of that transformation."

Only then did the Dark Gold Bear slowly restrain some of its ferocity.

"You need to understand that Soul Masters can traverse the path Soul Beasts take over thousands or tens of thousands of years in just a brief century. Some can even surpass the efforts of Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beasts. That is the advantage of us Soul Masters. Having become a Soul Spirit body, you still have the possibility of improving. Under my cultivation, you will definitely progress faster than by cultivating alone."

The Dark Gold Bear gradually calmed down, though it did not lower its guard and still remained hostile toward Su Ming.

"Think it over slowly."

For a first attempt at persuasion, this result was already quite good. Su Ming was satisfied.

When he opened his eyes, Su Ming heard Zhu Jiuyang's voice.

"How was it? Did you find it?"

Su Ming reassured Zhu Jiuyang. "Teacher, it is not a major problem. It transformed into a spiritual body and successfully formed a contract with me. It is still a spiritual body, but it has to rely on me to exist. If anything happens to me, it cannot survive either."

He briefly explained the form in which a Soul Spirit existed.

"It is staying in my Sea of Consciousness right now. I will communicate with it often. Its intelligence is not very high, so persuading it should be easy. Perhaps it can even become an aid in battle later."

"Roar!" (The bear can hear you!)

"Roar!" (You're the one with low intelligence! Your whole family has low intelligence!)

The Dark Gold Bear instantly flew into a rage, wildly pounding the surface of water formed from Spiritual Power beneath its feet within Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness.

"Actually, I hope its intelligence is a little higher. Then it should better understand its current situation, make peace with me, and cooperate for mutual benefit. That would be the best choice. Its spiritual body is still here, so perhaps it may even have a chance to revive in the future."

"Roar!" (That makes sense!)

The Dark Gold Bear stopped pounding the water and began waiting for Su Ming to enter again for negotiations.

As it waited, it was the first to lie down and fall asleep.

"It can actually work like this." Zhu Jiuyang was amazed by the symbiotic form now shared by Su Ming and the Dark Gold Bear.

"I plan to name the Dark Gold Bear's form a Soul Spirit. I feel that the Soul Spirit form brings enormous improvements."

"Oh? Such as?" Zhu Jiuyang asked curiously.

What additional benefits could absorbing a Soul Ring in the form of a Soul Spirit possibly bring?

"My changes are deeper and more thorough. For example, my First Soul Skill has evolved from Vajra Power into what should now be called Dark Gold Power."

The yellow Soul Ring outside Su Ming's body flashed.

"First Soul Skill, Dark Gold Power!"

His body grew larger. It had changed visibly from the previous Vajra Body, its black-vajra-like color becoming Dark Gold, while the flowing light shield around his body also turned Dark Gold.

That was merely the outward appearance; the fundamental changes were even greater.

In Su Ming's perception, Dark Gold Power was at least twice as powerful as Vajra Power.

"In the Soul Spirit form, I feel that it still has a chance to transform into the bloodline of a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear. If that evolution succeeds, my First Soul Skill will be affected as well, and Dark Gold Power may improve further. And that is only the change it brought to my First Soul Skill."

"What about the Second Soul Skill? What is the Second Soul Skill you obtained like?" Zhu Jiuyang asked.