White Bone Scythe Demon and the First Soul Ring! (Please Vote)

The next day.

Zhu Changhe packed up the camp and led Zhu Ziyang into Heavenly Radiance Canyon.

Heavenly Radiance Canyon ran from north to south and was quite long and narrow. They entered from the north, while the canyon stretched southward all the way to Iron Armor City, spanning more than six hundred kilometers.

As the father and son entered the canyon, they saw jagged rocks, towering trees, dense weeds, and scattered white bones—a desolate, lifeless scene.

"Yangyang, stay close to me. Don't wander off. This place is dangerous, understand?" Zhu Changhe said with a grave expression, repeating his warning several times.

"I know." Zhu Ziyang knew this was no time to show off, so he obediently agreed and stayed close behind Zhu Changhe.

They headed west along the mountain slope. In the forest about five kilometers west of the canyon's northern entrance, Blazing Light Mantises could be found. They were Zhu Ziyang's first choice for his first Soul Ring, so naturally they would not pass up such an opportunity.

"Huh? Those are... Scythe Bone Demons?" Zhu Ziyang suddenly stopped. He had noticed a group of strangely shaped Soul Beasts not far ahead. They looked very much like kangaroos, except their forelimbs resembled enormous scythes. Their bones were huge, while they had very little muscle, making them look like skeletons draped in white-furred hides. They were Scythe Bone Demons, the source of Zhu Changhe's first Soul Ring—a type of Soul Beast with incomparably hard bones and forelimbs capable of easily cleaving apart boulders.

There were around ten Scythe Bone Demons in the group they encountered, all under a hundred years old. They were fleeing east in panic.

"There happens to be one among them suitable for you. These were actually the Soul Beasts I had my eye on. What do you think?" Zhu Changhe asked as he looked at Zhu Ziyang.

"How could I? I'm very determined!" Zhu Ziyang decisively rejected his father's suggestion.

"Then let's keep going." Zhu Changhe was helpless, but he had no intention of forcing him.

The father and son set off again, but before they had gone two hundred meters, they encountered seven or eight more groups of Scythe Bone Demons. Each group contained around ten of them, and all were running toward the outside in frantic haste, as though something terrifying were chasing them from behind.

Noticing this, Zhu Ziyang and Zhu Changhe immediately stopped. They exchanged a glance and saw the wariness in each other's eyes.

"Something's wrong," Zhu Changhe said. "There may be a powerful Soul Beast in that direction. Otherwise, these Scythe Bone Demons wouldn't be fleeing outward in groups. Yangyang, let's change direction!"

"Okay!" Zhu Ziyang agreed without hesitation. He valued his life greatly. When faced with such an obviously dangerous unknown, the safest course was naturally to take a detour.

If Zhu Changhe had been a Soul Emperor or Soul Saint, Zhu Ziyang might have entertained the idea of pressing onward in search of a fortuitous encounter. But Zhu Changhe was only a Soul Grandmaster. If they encountered a Soul Beast over a thousand years old, they would be finished. He had no room to disagree.

Having reached an agreement, the father and son immediately turned around and headed back the way they had come. They decided to first observe from the exit, then enter again once they had confirmed that nothing major was happening in the canyon.

However, before they had gone a hundred meters, Zhu Ziyang casually glanced back—and suddenly, an inspired thought struck him. A bold idea took shape in his mind.

"Dad, wait!" He stopped and called out to Zhu Changhe.

"What is it?" Zhu Changhe froze, looking at Zhu Ziyang in confusion.

"I want that Soul Beast behind us!" Zhu Ziyang turned and pointed at a Soul Beast slowly approaching four or five hundred meters away. His gaze was firm, as though he had been bewitched.

"Huh?" Zhu Changhe was somewhat baffled, but he still followed Zhu Ziyang's pointing finger. The moment he saw it, he was at a loss.

It was a hundred-year Scythe Bone Demon. Though it looked slightly different from the other Scythe Bone Demons, those unmistakable scythe-like forelimbs could not be mistaken. He looked at Zhu Ziyang with a questioning expression. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! I'm sure!" Zhu Ziyang nodded. He was certain Zhu Changhe had mistaken that Soul Beast for a Scythe Bone Demon. That was for the best—it would save him from opposing the decision after learning the truth.

"Fine! Wait here. I'll catch it for you!" Zhu Changhe said after giving Zhu Ziyang a deep look.

Then he charged toward the Soul Beast he believed to be a Scythe Bone Demon. Without any hesitation, Zhu Changhe instantly summoned his Martial Soul. Two yellow Soul Rings appeared behind him, and the second Soul Ring immediately lit up with his movement.

Dimlight Scythe Second Soul Skill, Iron Blade Slash!

The Dimlight Scythe's fifty-centimeter blade instantly became suffused with a sharp aura and slashed almost mercilessly at the suspected Scythe Bone Demon, which was still standing there in a daze.

A Soul Grandmaster's full-force strike instantly left the barely hundred-year-old Soul Beast on the brink of death. Had Zhu Changhe not held back at the last moment, it would likely have already died.

Having succeeded in one blow, Zhu Changhe immediately grabbed the dying Soul Beast and rushed back to Zhu Ziyang. Slightly out of breath, he said, "Yangyang, hurry, let's leave the canyon first!"

"Okay!" Now that the Soul Beast was in hand, Zhu Ziyang no longer hesitated. He followed Zhu Changhe and ran toward the canyon exit.

As they ran, his gaze could not help falling upon the Soul Beast in Zhu Changhe's hand.

This Soul Beast that looked so much like a Scythe Bone Demon was indeed related to Scythe Bone Demons. It was also the reason the Scythe Bone Demon groups had suddenly fled. It was a mutated Scythe Bone Demon: a White Bone Scythe Demon.

Judging by its name alone, one might think it was not much different from a Scythe Bone Demon. Yet Zhu Ziyang knew very well that the White Bone Scythe Demon was far stronger.

Scythe Bone Demons were merely ordinary Soul Beasts, while White Bone Scythe Demons were advanced Soul Beasts with the Death Attribute. Though they were mutated Scythe Bone Demons, they were a completely separate species. If a Scythe Bone Demon suffocated during birth, it could mutate into a White Bone Scythe Demon. As if seeking revenge, White Bone Scythe Demons with the Death Attribute would slaughter Scythe Bone Demons without restraint. Under normal circumstances, a hundred-year White Bone Scythe Demon was stronger than a five-hundred-year Scythe Bone Demon, not to mention that the White Bone Scythe Demon's Death Attribute greatly countered Scythe Bone Demons.

That was why the Scythe Bone Demons feared the White Bone Scythe Demon so much.

It was also because the White Bone Scythe Demon possessed the Death Attribute that Zhu Ziyang had suddenly changed his mind.

He suddenly wanted to know what his Radiant Scythe Martial Soul would become if it possessed a true Death Attribute.

The Radiant Scythe's Death Attribute was extremely faint, utterly incapable of comparing with its Light Attribute. But if that faint Death Attribute became a true Death Attribute, would the Radiant Scythe Martial Soul, possessing both the Light Attribute and the Death Attribute, advance into a Top-tier Martial Soul?

Like a devil, this thought tempted Zhu Ziyang's mind again and again, eventually driving him to make this decision.

And this decision would affect Zhu Ziyang for the rest of his life.

The two quickly left the canyon and arrived at the place where they had camped the previous night.

Zhu Changhe threw the dying White Bone Scythe Demon onto the ground, then looked at Zhu Ziyang and asked again, "Ziyang, have you thought this through? This mutated Scythe Bone Demon is only a hundred years old. It really isn't suitable for you. If you truly want a Scythe Bone Demon, Dad can catch you one with four hundred years of cultivation!"

"I've thought it through. It's the one I want!" Zhu Ziyang answered firmly. His gaze never left the White Bone Scythe Demon. That thought continued circling through his mind, as though it were afraid he might change his mind.

"Fine." Zhu Changhe sighed. "I don't know why you insist on this Scythe Bone Demon, but I still hope you aren't forcing yourself because of me!"

"There's no need to say more, Dad! I have my reasons for choosing it. Once I absorb its Soul Ring, you'll understand." Zhu Ziyang finally raised his head and looked at Zhu Changhe.

Zhu Changhe saw determination in his eyes. Left with no alternative, he could only accept Zhu Ziyang's decision.

Suppressing the excitement and unease in his heart, Zhu Ziyang summoned his Radiant Scythe Martial Soul and aimed at the White Bone Scythe Demon's head. With a wet squelch, the blade tip pierced its eye and plunged into its brain. The White Bone Scythe Demon's body twitched a few times before falling completely still. A pale yellow Soul Ring rose from its corpse.

A newborn White Bone Scythe Demon had fallen before it could even display its abilities.

"Alright, absorb the Soul Ring. I'll stand guard for you." Seeing Zhu Ziyang's decisive action, Zhu Changhe nodded in satisfaction.

Zhu Ziyang sat down directly, placed the Radiant Scythe across his legs, and fixed his eyes on the yellow Soul Ring. He circulated the Soul Power within his body and drew it before him.

He began absorbing his first Soul Ring.