Azure Wolf Essence

"Interesting, but I'd be crazy to believe you."

Zhang Yang lay on the ground, gazing up at the brilliant starry sky. Though incredibly tired, he couldn't hide the smile on his face; he had truly succeeded.

And there was more than one pleasant surprise. Besides being able to verify his previous hypothesis, he had also learned about the concept of mana for the first time. Hmm, this finally feels more like a Cultivator.

However, the cost of purifying Demonic Energy with the Golden Scales was too exorbitant. 0.1 units of low-grade Demonic Energy actually cost 1000 energy points. I hate greedy merchants.

For now, he wouldn't dream of mana. The most important thing at the moment was still drawing Battle Runes and Talismans.

Carefully wrapping that tiny, extremely unruly wisp of Demonic Energy with Soul Threads, Zhang Yang cast aside all distractions and focused on recovering. He had to admit, every time this happened, he was grateful for the benefits of the Wood Demon Tower. That Deer Demon was truly blind.

Just two hours later, Zhang Yang had fully recovered his Soul Power, but he wasn't in a hurry to try drawing. Instead, he released his Soul Force Field again to re-examine that small wisp of Demonic Energy. Or, more accurately, he wanted to use Soul Threads to dissect the finer internal layers of this Demonic Energy.

This was an unavoidable step.

How could he defeat an opponent without understanding it?

Thanks to his current energetic state, Zhang Yang was ruthless. Within his Soul Force Field, threads like knives, dense as clouds, began to repeatedly cut and analyze the Demonic Energy, which felt like a slippery, rolling piece of meat.

And this time, something very interesting happened. At one point, Zhang Yang felt as if he had become an Azure Wolf, running and hunting like the wind through the forest. That wild abandon almost made him lose himself.

Although Zhang Yang regained control in an instant, he was still incredibly shocked. He vaguely felt as if he had stumbled into a forbidden zone.

The Azure Wolf's demonic blood contained Demonic Energy, and within that Demonic Energy, there was actually a hidden Azure Wolf's soul? Or perhaps it wasn't a soul, but it was clearly more refined. From a human perspective, that kind of thing was more like a spirit, an essence—for example, a scholar's integrity, a warrior's boldness, a wanderer's unrestrained nature, or a hermit's tranquility.

Zhang Yang admitted that everyone had a soul, but he also admitted that souls had different levels of nobility and inferiority.

Therefore, by extension, the Azure Wolf soul that had almost made him lose himself in its wild abandon should belong to the noblest, most metaphysical part of their wolf tribe.

Zhang Yang savored it, just as one would savor a classic ancient poem, a beautiful essay, or a timeless painting.

Perhaps comparing these things to an Azure Wolf's soul somewhat cheapened them, but he had to admit that the wild abandon of that moment truly moved him.

At this point, he even somewhat forgot his initial purpose. He simply savored the quiet night, listening intently, as if he had transformed into an Azure Wolf, running freely under the starlight.

The wind, sweeping through my fur.

The night, dyeing my eyes black.

The blood gushing from the prey's neck, igniting my solitary life.

The Soul Force Field had ceased at some unknown point, and the wisp of Demonic Energy was also gone, but Zhang Yang didn't care to mind it. He didn't want to think about anything, only treating this quiet night as the grave of that untamed wildness, silently mourning.

When the sky began to lighten and the night faded, Zhang Yang thoughtfully left the vicinity of the Wood Demon Tower. Standing on the edge of the hill, he gazed at the Primeval Forest still shrouded in darkness. For a moment, he truly wanted to howl like an Azure Wolf, but in the end, he smiled silently.

No one knew how much he had gained last night. Not only had he purified Demonic Energy, and not only had he obtained an Azure Wolf Essence, but most importantly, he finally knew what was more precious than an interesting soul.

That's right, it was essence!

Every person has a soul, and a soul includes each person's memories, joys, sorrows, and various personality changes. But most of it is impurities, useless impurities. Only true shining points are essence. However, this shining point doesn't necessarily refer to justice or kindness. Instead, it's a kind of conviction that withstands the test of time, is very firm, and persistent.

They are like stars in the night. Even if the body decays and the soul perishes, this essence remains and is never extinguished!

Just like this Azure Wolf, even if its soul was nothing but hunting, it could still have a wild shining point that transformed into its essence.

This thing was very valuable.

Zhang Yang felt that if he researched it deeply, he might even be able to proudly shout to this world, "I came from the human realm, can I attain immortality?"

Besides the above, there was another interesting point.

That was, Zhang Yang had obtained an Azure Wolf Wildness Essence, but the Village Building Order surprisingly didn't have any information mapping. This made things intriguing.

As for what use this Azure Wolf Essence had, it was simple: in the future, when Zhang Yang refined Azure Wolf demonic blood and purified Demonic Energy, it would save 90% of his effort. Who would dare say this wasn't a treasure?

Comparatively, the 0.01 units of mana purified from Demonic Energy were truly insignificant, although that tiny bit of mana made him feel one tiny step closer to becoming a great Cultivator.

"Village Chief, you're awake."

Wu Yuan walked over from a distance, a hint of frustration in his brows. It seemed he had encountered some difficulties.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem with the production of the Eagle Feather Armor-Piercing Arrows?" Zhang Yang asked with a smile. After spending the night solving the difficult problem of purifying Demonic Energy, he was in a very good mood.

"Yes, Village Chief. We are slow-witted. We cut the arrow shafts yesterday and prepared the eagle feathers and various arrowheads, but when we tried to glue and bind them, we found it very difficult to make them qualified. If a strong bow with at least 300 strength after reinforcement uses such inferior feathered arrows, it will only cause the archer to kill himself."

Wu Yuan said with great difficulty. What he really meant was that their technical reserves were insufficient, their material production was inadequate, and forcing things wouldn't yield good results.

Zhang Yang immediately understood. The reason he gave that order yesterday was to reinforce these feathered arrows along with the Demon Soul reinforcement. Now it seemed that even with Wu Yuan, Qin Yidao, and Zhao Tiezhu, they were truly helpless.

Fortunately, he already had a perfect solution for this matter: mana!

With mana, everything would no longer be a problem.

"Don't worry about this. I'll find a way to solve it. Tell Qin Yidao and the others to rest quickly. In an hour, I'll perform Demon Soul reinforcement for them."