Golden Flame Pearl

"Dawn, scan my physical data."

After Yan's condition stabilized, he tried using the intelligent brain Dawn to scan his entire body. Compared with before, his physical constitution, Soul Power, and spiritual power had all improved significantly. However, the most noticeable change was in his Martial Soul.

"Although the Flame Overlord Martial Soul has not evolved into a top-tier Martial Soul, it has still improved greatly and accumulated quite a bit of energy. With one or two more Soul Rings whose energy is this compatible, it may be able to undergo another transformation."

As Yan compared the changes in his Martial Soul before and after, he gained some insight. This proved that several of his earlier speculations had been entirely correct.

When attaching Soul Rings to a Martial Soul, especially Beast Souls and Plant Martial Souls that could find identical or similar biological sources within the Douluo world, choosing Soul Rings compatible with one's own attributes was extremely important.

The hundred-year Inferno Demon Lion Soul Ring Yan had absorbed was likewise fire-attributed as the Flame Overlord, and the benefits it granted were enormous. By the same reasoning, other Beast Souls could follow this path as well, using the power of Soul Rings to reshape their talents and evolve their Martial Souls.

As long as they chose and absorbed the right Soul Rings with compatible attributes, even ordinary commoner Soul Masters could transform step by step, making up for their innate talent through acquired effort and ultimately becoming no weaker than the descendants of great families with innate top-tier Martial Souls.

The powerful ancestors of those Soul Master families had also undergone such transformations, gradually evolving their Martial Souls and passing stronger bloodlines down to their descendants, eventually creating one powerful Soul Master family after another.

Based on his own data projections, Yan believed that even an ordinary commoner Soul Master could gradually transform in this manner. After reaching the Soul Sage realm, their Martial Soul would most likely advance to a high-grade Martial Soul. If they could become a Titled Douluo, it should transform into a top-tier Martial Soul.

As for the absolute best ones, such as the Clear Sky Hammer and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, those were supreme Martial Souls obtained only after countless generations of transformation by innumerable powerful members of their clans. It was nearly impossible for a commoner Soul Master to catch up within a single generation.

Yan silently compared the data and ran his deductions. After a long while, he raised his head. The dense forest at the edge of the Golden Lion Plains had long since lost its earlier chaos. Corpses of Soul Beasts lay scattered in every direction, all of them having died in the recent melee.

"Uncle Lin, did you find anything?"

Yan walked over to Feng Lin. The latter was holding a small knife and dissecting the Inferno Demon Lion on the ground, searching for a possible Soul Bone.

Soul Bones were an exceptionally special type of treasure in the Douluo world. They were what every Soul Master dreamed of obtaining. Similar to Soul Rings, Soul Bones also came from Soul Beasts.

However, Soul Bones differed greatly from Soul Rings. Every Soul Beast would condense a Soul Ring after death, but aside from Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, which were guaranteed to drop Soul Bones, Soul Beasts below that level had only a one-in-a-thousand chance—or even lower—of producing one. Thus, Soul Bones were extraordinarily rare and precious.

Generally speaking, exceptionally powerful Soul Beasts that experienced certain special circumstances at death might produce Soul Bones afterward.

This latter claim was later declared a certainty by some master, who put forth an extremely bizarre theory: the more unwilling and furious a Soul Beast was at the moment of death, the better the effect of the Soul Ring it produced, and the more likely it was to drop a precious Soul Bone.

This utterly nonsensical theory led Tang San to slaughter a large number of high-level Soul Beasts above fifty thousand years in Sunset Forest, obtaining several Soul Bones and making the claim widely known. Who knew how much further evil it caused afterward.

In truth, as far as Yan knew, the production of Soul Bones had nothing whatsoever to do with slaughtering Soul Beasts. It was instead closely related to a Soul Beast's potential and strength. In other words, the first part of that theory was indeed true: stronger Soul Beasts were more likely to produce Soul Bones.

In the later stages of the Douluo world, research into Martial Souls and Soul Beasts reached an extremely advanced level. After Soul Bones could be artificially created, people also came to understand their true nature. So-called Soul Bones were Soul Beast Soul Cores that, after death, transformed into the thing that had been most characteristic of them in life.

Strictly speaking, a Soul Core was not a tangible substance. It was a special energy body that only Soul Masters and Soul Beasts who broke through the hundred-thousand-year level or the Titled Douluo level could condense. It could increase a Soul Master's Soul Power cultivation speed and recovery speed.

Soul Masters in the early Douluo era cultivated step by step, and it was basically impossible for them to condense a Soul Core before becoming a Titled Douluo. Soul Beasts, however, were different.

For Soul Beasts, a Soul Core represented extraordinary potential. The mainstream view in the current Soul Master world classified Soul Beast grades and ages according to years of Soul Power, believing that a Soul Beast of a certain rank must necessarily be of a certain age. In reality, this view was wrong.

Ordinary Soul Beasts, such as Soft Bone Rabbits, Blue Silver Grass, and Nether Wolves—common Soul Beasts that originally possessed no intelligence and were much like wild animals—did indeed most likely need a hundred thousand years of cultivation before gradually gaining intelligence and ultimately advancing into Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

However, Soul Beasts also included special mutated Soul Beasts and rare races. Some exceptionally precious Soul Beasts with supreme bloodlines were born with immense power and extremely high intelligence. They could cultivate and accumulate energy more easily, so naturally they did not require a hundred thousand years of cultivation.

These exceptional Soul Beasts possessed talent and potential far beyond ordinary Soul Beasts, so it was not strange for them to condense Soul Cores early. In fact, supreme Soul Beasts such as the Titan Giant Ape, Sky Azure Bull Python, and Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear would basically condense Soul Cores with a one-hundred-percent certainty after death, regardless of their age.

Of course, apart from these supreme Soul Beast bloodlines, special mutated Soul Beasts and Soul Beasts over ten thousand years old with considerable intelligence could all possibly produce Soul Bones, and the odds were not low.

The Inferno Demon Lion Yan had hunted possessed the bloodline of a king among Soul Beasts. Although it still fell somewhat short of the most supreme Soul Beasts, its potential was quite impressive. The possibility of it producing a Soul Bone was fairly high, so he had been looking forward to it.

"Young Master, I didn't find a Soul Bone."

After hearing Yan's question, Feng Lin raised his head and shifted slightly aside. By now, the Inferno Demon Lion had been completely dissected. Its body lay on its back with its hide torn open; its head, limbs, spine, and even tailbone had been cut apart, yet not a single bone showed any Soul Power reaction.

Disappointment flashed through Yan's eyes. He crouched down, extended his palm, and circulated his Soul Power. His hand passed inch by inch over every bone in the Inferno Demon Lion's body. Just as Feng Lin had said, there was no response at all.

"Eh!"

As he was about to withdraw his hand, he patted the lion's head and suddenly sensed that the temperature beneath his palm was wrong. An inexplicable intuition struck him. He hurriedly summoned a cluster of intertwined gold and crimson flames. As the flames flickered, he probed repeatedly. In the end, the flames suddenly became active at the back of the lion's skull.

"Uncle Lin, split open its head."

Yan's eyes lit up. Feng Lin raised his small knife and circulated wind-attributed Soul Power. The wind blade was incomparably sharp, cleanly cutting open the lion's skull and exposing its lion brain, streaked with golden patterns.

Yan lowered his head to look. At the very center of the lion's brain lay a bead the size of half a fist, quietly radiating golden streams of light.

Yan bent down and picked up the pearl. As he rubbed and examined it, a brilliant smile spread across his lips. "What a fine Golden Flame Pearl. Though it isn't a Soul Bone, it is even more useful to me."