The Azure Wolf Essence

"Interesting, but I'd believe you only if pigs could fly."

Zhang Yang lay on the ground, gazing up at the dazzling starry sky. Though he was utterly exhausted, he could not hide the smile at the corners of his mouth. He had actually succeeded.

And there was more than one surprise. Not only had he verified his earlier hypothesis, but he had also learned about the concept of magic power for the first time. Well, he was finally getting a taste of what it meant to be a cultivator.

But the price of purifying it through the Golden Scales was far too steep. A mere 0.1 unit of low-grade Demonic Energy actually cost 1,000 energy points. I hate profiteers.

For now, he would not dream of magic power or anything like that. The most important thing at hand was still drawing Battle Runes and Talismans.

Carefully wrapping that tiny strand of extraordinarily unruly Demonic Energy with threads of Soul Power, Zhang Yang cast aside his distracting thoughts and seized the time to recover. He had to admit that whenever this happened, he felt grateful for the benefits of the Wood Demon Tower. That deer demon had truly been blind.

After only two hours, Zhang Yang had fully recovered his Soul Power. But he did not hurry to try drawing anything. Instead, he released his Soul Force Field once more and examined that tiny strand of Demonic Energy again. More precisely, he intended to use his threads of Soul Power to analyze the finer layers within it.

This was a step he could not bypass no matter what.

How could he defeat an opponent he did not understand?

Thanks to his invigorated state, Zhang Yang hardened his resolve. Within the Soul Force Field, the threads were like blades, dense as clouds, repeatedly slicing apart and analyzing that Demonic Energy, which was as tough as a chunk of rolled meat.

And this time, something extremely interesting happened. At a certain moment, Zhang Yang felt as if he had become an Azure Wolf, running and hunting through the forest like the wind. That uninhibited wildness nearly made him lose himself.

Although Zhang Yang reclaimed control in an instant, he was still utterly shocked. He faintly felt that he had somehow trespassed into a forbidden zone.

The blood of the Azure Wolf contained Demonic Energy, and hidden within that Demonic Energy was actually the Azure Wolf's soul? Perhaps it could not be called a soul, but it was clearly purer. From a human perspective, that thing was more like a kind of spirit or essence—the integrity of a scholar, the boldness of a warrior, the unrestrained nature of a wanderer, or the tranquility of a hermit.

Zhang Yang admitted that everyone had a soul, but he also acknowledged that souls had distinctions of nobility and baseness.

By that reasoning, the Azure Wolf soul in whose uninhibited wildness he had nearly lost himself just now should have belonged to the most noble and most metaphysical part of the wolf race.

Zhang Yang savored it carefully, as if savoring a classic ancient poem, an exquisite essay, or a timeless painting.

Perhaps using the Azure Wolf's soul as a metaphor made those things sound somewhat cheap, but he had to admit that the uninhibited wildness of that moment had truly moved him.

At that moment, he had even somewhat forgotten his original purpose. He merely savored it carefully and listened in silence through the quiet night, as if he had transformed into an Azure Wolf, running freely beneath the starlight.

The wind swept through my fur.

The night dyed my eyes black.

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

At some unknown point, the Soul Force Field came to an end, and that strand of Demonic Energy had also vanished without a trace. But Zhang Yang was unwilling to pay it any mind or think about anything at all. He merely treated the tranquil night as the grave of that uninhibited wildness and silently mourned it.

When the sky began to brighten and the night had passed, Zhang Yang finally left the area around the Wood Demon Tower, deep in thought. Standing at the edge of the ridge, he gazed into the Primeval Forest still shrouded in darkness. For a moment, he truly wanted to howl like an Azure Wolf, but in the end, he only smiled soundlessly.

No one knew how great his harvest had been last night. It was not merely that he had purified Demonic Energy, nor merely that he had obtained an Azure Wolf Essence. Most importantly, he had finally learned what was more precious than an interesting soul.

That was right—the essence!

Anyone who was human had a soul. A soul contained every person's memories, joys, anger, sorrow, happiness, and all kinds of changes in personality. But most of that was dross—useless dross. Only the true points of brilliance were essence. Yet those points of brilliance did not necessarily mean justice or kindness. They were a conviction that endured through the ages, something exceptionally firm and steadfastly upheld.

They were like stars in the night sky. Even when the body decayed and the soul perished, that essence would remain, forever undying!

It was just like this Azure Wolf. Even if its soul contained nothing but hunting and more hunting, it could still possess a point of wild brilliance that transformed into its essence.

This thing was immensely valuable.

Zhang Yang felt that if he studied it deeply enough, perhaps he could also proudly call out to the heavens and earth, "I came from the mortal realm. Can I attain immortality?"

Aside from that, there was another interesting point.

That was, Zhang Yang had obtained an Azure Wolf's wild essence, yet the Village Building Order had no information mapping for it. Now that was truly intriguing.

As for what use this Azure Wolf Essence had, it was simple. In the future, whenever Zhang Yang refined Azure Wolf blood and purified Demonic Energy, he would save ninety percent of the effort. How could anyone claim this was not a treasure?

By comparison, the 0.01 units of magic power purified from Demonic Energy were truly insignificant, though even that tiny bit of magic power made him feel that he had taken one small step closer to becoming a great cultivator.

"Village Chief, you're awake."

Wu Yuan walked over from a distance, a trace of gloom between his brows. It seemed he had run into some troublesome matter.

"What is it? Did something go wrong with the production of the Eagle Feather Armor-Piercing Arrows?" Zhang Yang asked with a smile. After spending the entire night solving the problem of purifying Demonic Energy, he was in an exceptionally good mood.

"Yes, Village Chief. We were foolish. Yesterday, we finished shaping the arrow shafts and prepared the eagle feathers and various arrowheads, but when we tried to glue and bind them together, we found it extremely difficult to meet the required standard. If these inferior feathered arrows were used with a Strong Bow reinforced to at least 300 strength, they would only make the archer kill himself."

Wu Yuan spoke with great frustration. What he really meant was that their technical reserves were insufficient, their material preparation was inadequate, and a forced marriage would never make a happy one, sir.

Thus, Zhang Yang understood instantly. The reason he had given that order yesterday was that he wanted to reinforce all these feathered arrows while the demon souls were being strengthened. But now it seemed that even with Wu Yuan, Qin Yidao, and Zhao Tiezhu—the three cobblers who together might rival Zhuge Liang—they were truly powerless.

Fortunately, he already had the perfect solution to this problem.

That was magic power!

With magic power, nothing would remain a problem.

"Don't worry about this anymore. I'll find a way to solve it. Have Qin Yidao and the others hurry up and rest. In an hour, I'm going to perform demon-soul reinforcement on them."