Coral Bead

Xiao Wu and Dan Hong went to Nan Li's dormitory together.

"Mm, good thing you reacted quickly, A'li. You used a Coral Bead from the Coral Immortal Fish Clan to bluff your way through." Leaning against the window, Dan Hong lazily toyed with her hair.

Coral Fairy Fish were fantastical and beautiful Soul Beasts that preferred to live near coral reefs in tropical and warm seas.

These Soul Beasts possessed an exceptionally dreamlike appearance and unique abilities.

Their scales shimmered with a special, hazy luster. Though each scale appeared extremely thin, they possessed defensive power no weaker than that of a mid-level defense-type Soul Beast. Their translucent scales were also key to the Coral Fairy Fish's ability to alter their colors and conceal their aura.

The Coral Fairy Fish's fins were transparent and light as gauze, gleaming with shifting colors, making them the finest ornaments.

Fish whose Soul Power cultivation had reached the hundred-thousand-year level could freely transform between their original forms and human forms. They could remain on land for up to one shichen; exceeding that limit would cause physical weakness and could even result in death.

However, Coral Fairy Fish had one special trait: after reaching ten thousand years of cultivation, they could transform into a half-human, half-fish form, with a human upper body and a fish tail below, like the mermaids described in Blue Star World.

But the value of Coral Fairy Fish went far beyond that.

In their half-human form, Coral Fairy Fish more closely resembled the merfolk of Zhonghua Family legends on Blue Star. Though they could not turn tears into pearls, their scales could be used to forge armor.

The "coral" in the name Coral Fairy Fish came, first, from their special connection with coral reefs, whose energy they could absorb to aid their cultivation. Second, after Fairy Fish reached ten thousand years of cultivation and formed human bodies, their tears became the finest nourishment for Coral Worms.

Coral Worms were tiny and found it difficult to cultivate into Soul Beasts, but with the nourishment of Fairy Fish tears, things became entirely different. Wherever Coral Fairy Fish lived, the likelihood of rare coral varieties growing within the reefs increased dramatically.

Ordinary coral could help humans rapidly mend shattered bones, but coral formed from Soul Beast Coral Worms nourished by Coral Fairy Fish was even more astounding—this kind of coral could repair damaged Soul Bones!

Not to mention that Coral Fairy Fish themselves possessed the innate ability, "Fountain of Healing."

But every gain came with a loss. While the Coral Immortal Fish Clan possessed extraordinary abilities, they also had a fatal flaw—they had almost no offensive power.

They were similar to the Ice Silkworm Clan of the Extreme North, more like support-type human Soul Masters. Aside from physical attacks with their original bodies, stirring water currents, and disrupting enemies with sound waves, Coral Fairy Fish had no effective offensive soul skills.

A treasure invites greed.

Because Coral Fairy Fish were so rare and precious, coupled with their lack of offensive strength, they became targets of other Soul Beasts and were extensively captured by humans, once nearing extinction.

"Back then, to escape the pursuit of their enemies and widespread human capture, and also to seek the protection of a powerful clan, the Coral Immortal Fish Clan migrated in its entirety to Sun Island."

"Sun Island? The Sun Island inhabited by the Flame Feather Sparrows and Xumi Ravens?" Listening to Dan Hong's account, Xiao Wu spoke up.

"You know about Sun Island?" Nan Li was somewhat surprised. Sun Island did not connect to the continent, and in order to protect their Holy Land, they had always had little contact with the continent. Even if Clan Members entered the continent, they would never mention where they came from.

"I heard my mother mention it before. You know, I am..." Xiao Wu stopped herself and changed her words. "After all, I've lived for so long. Even if Sun Island is extremely mysterious, I still know a little about it."

"That's right, it's the Sun Island you know." Dan Hong nodded, confirming Xiao Wu's guess.

The two great Soul Beast clans on Sun Island—the Flame Feather Sparrow Clan and the Xumi Raven Clan—both had close ties to the sun and flames.

The Holy Land jointly guarded by the two clans—Sun Mountain—was centered around an active volcano, and the southern mountain range inhabited by the Flame Feather Sparrow Clan also contained several volcanoes.

A vast amount of coral grew in the shallow sea between Sun Island and Douluo Continent. The two clans called that sea the Coral Sea.

With such uniquely favorable conditions, the Coral Sea naturally became the Fairy Fish's first choice.

Dan Hong continued, "Coral Beads are the essence of the coral reefs nourished by Coral Fairy Fish, as well as crystallizations of the Soul Power of countless Coral Worm Soul Beasts. These Coral Beads can serve as backup Soul Power reserves, repair shattered Soul Bones, and rare Coral Beads can even improve the quality of Soul Bones!"

Xiao Wu's eyes widened in surprise. She had not expected the item Nan Li had used to save her to be so precious.

"Enough teasing. If you hadn't used... medicine refined to conceal her aura, whether Xiao Wu could have been saved would still have been uncertain." Nan Li's words carried a hidden meaning.

At first, Xiao Wu had only taken medicine Dan Hong had refined from herbs to temporarily conceal her aura. But the situation had been urgent, forcing Dan Hong to use the fish scales gifted to her by the Coral Immortal Fish Clan.

The abnormal Soul Power fluctuations sensed by the Dark Soul Guards had come partly from Xiao Wu, and partly from the Fairy Fish scales Dan Hong had used while refining medicine.

"Can Soul Beasts truly not coexist peacefully with humans?" The pair of rabbit ears atop Xiao Wu's head drooped.

Earlier, Nan Li had said that her father had also been a Soul Beast, but he had lost his life in battle against enemies. Those enemies had coveted her father's Soul Ring and Soul Bone. To protect Nan Li and her mother, her father had driven them back by destroying himself.

Xiao Wu's mood sank.

"Why not?" Nan Li said seriously. "Those who cannot accept Soul Beasts may not accept other humans either. Tolerant and kind people, on the other hand, will treat every life well, whether human or beast."

In her previous life, Jiang E Li had been a "freak." One of her eyes had Double Pupils.

Within the iris of one eyeball were two black pupils, one large and one small, forming the shape of a gourd.

Because of that abnormal eye, she had been ostracized and isolated by her peers since childhood, and had even been bullied, beaten, and cursed by some people.

At first, she had tried to explain using the words doctors had used to comfort her, but no one listened. No one cared whether she truly was not normal.

They merely needed an excuse to bully someone, and that abnormal eye was the excuse they had found.

It was not until Jiang E Li learned to use every possible method to conceal the abnormality in her eye that things improved somewhat.

"What does it matter whether one is human or beast?" Within Nan Li's body, Jiang E Li's soul spoke each word slowly, as if voicing her resentment. "We are all living beings. Who is more noble than whom?"

The circumstances of Soul Beasts on Douluo Continent were both similar to and different from those of wild animals on Blue Star, but at their root, neither could escape the human pursuit of "greed" and "profit."

"Some human Soul Masters slaughter Soul Beasts wantonly to obtain Soul Rings. But once they have Soul Rings, they want Soul Bones. Once they have Soul Bones, they want more. Once they have more, they want better."

Xiao Wu said indignantly, "Human Soul Masters are greedy and selfish. This world is far too unfair!"