Chongming Bird Head Soul Bone

The Cloud-Swallowing Fire Howl's massive body writhed and struggled. It spat out a scarlet blood pearl, and red mist spread through the air.

"A trapped beast still fights." Within the Southern Bright Domain, Nan Li held absolute control. She swiftly wrote the character for "Suppress," and the red mist was instantly sealed within a confined space.

With a raised hand and a pointed finger, Southern Bright Leaving Fire engulfed the Cloud-Swallowing Fire Howl in an instant.

The agony of flayed bones and stripped flesh swept through the Hou Beast's mind. Southern Bright Leaving Fire burned it inch by inch, like a death by a thousand cuts.

Looking for weaknesses? Its entire body was nothing but weakness! Its miserable howls echoed through the sandstone pit. Nan Li's eyes were utterly indifferent as she curled her finger, drawing the scarlet blood pearl into her hand.

Seeing even its Inner Core taken away, the Cloud-Swallowing Fire Howl no longer possessed its former might. Before that majestic power, a saying involuntarily surfaced in its mind: the Vermilion Bird could grant eternal life, but it could also take your life.

Could it truly be... truly be Lord God? Yes, Lord God would never abandon them. He must have come to find them, these strange beasts!

Dan Hong was kept back by the surging power around Nan Li. She watched Nan Li's back from afar, stunned speechless by the sight before her. But once she came back to herself, cold sweat had already soaked through her clothes.

Overdrawing the power of one's bloodline could scatter one's soul!

As if confirming Dan Hong's fears, Nan Li suddenly covered her eyes in pain. Her Martial Soul then dispersed, and without the flames supporting her, Nan Li crashed heavily to the ground.

Thump, thump—

Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Nan Li's pupils abruptly contracted and split, her black pupils stretching into the shape of gourds.

She seemed to hear a Phoenix Cry echoing through the air. Her boiling blood gradually calmed, her Soul Power settled, her domain automatically dissolved, and all the Southern Bright Leaving Fire returned to her body, revealing the Hou Beast in its original size, a bloody mass of torn flesh.

The Hou Beast had completely lost its ability to fight. Dan Hong rushed to Nan Li's side at the fastest speed of her life. "Nan Li! Nan Li!"

Nan Li's gaze had lost focus. She could hear Dan Hong calling her, but no matter what, she could not respond.

Dan Hong stared into Nan Li's eyes. The pupils, stretched into gourd shapes, were still splitting apart.

Within the Sea of Consciousness.

Jiang E Li was startled by the sudden development. She stepped forward to inspect Nan Li. Nan Li's dark-red eyes gradually regained their amber glow, but in the next moment, the splitting pupils entered Jiang E Li's sight and slowly overlapped with Jiang E Li's abnormal eye.

Double Pupils!

Unlike Jiang E Li, the pupils in both of Nan Li's eyes were splitting.

It was as though a bolt of lightning had struck from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet. Jiang E Li froze where she stood. Looking at Nan Li lying on her back in the Sea of Consciousness, she slowly covered her own Double Pupil with one hand.

"Is it a coincidence?" Her faint whisper dissipated into the empty space.

Outside, Dan Hong was examining injuries to Nan Li's Physical Body when the Soul Tool on Nan Li's wrist, stained with blood, suddenly burst with dazzling red light. A somewhat familiar presence knocked Dan Hong away.

The gems on the two Soul Tools shone brightly, threads of red light emerging and gradually gathering into a strange, featherless bird.

An inexplicable force lifted Nan Li upright.

The strange bird radiated light from its entire body. Though it was barely a foot long, it resembled a miniature sun, its glow enveloping Nan Li completely.

Nan Li slowly raised her head. Her splitting pupils were like those of a beast, precisely locking onto the strange bird in the air.

Watching the featherless strange bird from the side, Dan Hong secretly breathed a sigh of relief and murmured, "So it's him."

Its bare wings beat against its featherless body. The strange bird danced and circled Nan Li several times before finally turning into a streak of crimson light and drilling into Nan Li's brow.

"Screech—"

A clear Phoenix Cry jolted Jiang E Li from her daze. The oncoming shockwave sent her tumbling aside.

A featherless strange bird suddenly appeared in Nan Li's Sea of Consciousness, flapping its wings as it circled around Nan Li's soul.

Nan Li's pupils split completely. The irises in her two eyes each stretched diagonally backward, separating into a new pair of irises. The irises clung together, large in front and small in back, like two black seeds set within amber-red gourds.

To Jiang E Li's astonishment, the strange bird's eyes were exactly the same as Nan Li's at that moment! Jiang E Li's lips opened and closed, but the appearance of this Vermilion Bird had shocked her speechless.

This was... this was... a Chongming Bird!

The Vermilion Bird transformed into scattered red motes that gathered before Nan Li, forming the figure of a tall man with crimson hair and red eyes. He extended a broad, clearly jointed hand and gently stroked Nan Li's crimson hair with affection. "So this is the child A'yin and I had. She looks so much like her."

Double Pupils identical to Nan Li's gazed at her tenderly. After a moment, the man gave a low sigh. "It seems the situation on Sun Island has worsened. A'li, forgive me. I cannot stay by your side."

At the center of Nan Li's Soul Tool was a large red gem, the vessel of its storage space. Yet now, without Nan Li's activation, the red gem lit up on its own.

A crimson-gold ray flew out and landed atop Nan Li's forehead. She closed her eyes, feeling the familiar warmth within the light.

"My child, this is the last thing I can do for you. Everything your father had has already been given to your mother..." As the man's voice faded, his figure in the soul space slowly dispersed, becoming scattered motes of light once more and circling around Nan Li.

Outside, Dan Hong watched the crimson-gold outline gradually taking shape beneath the light, and alarm bells rang in her heart.

She had no Companion Domain, so she could only summon the cauldron that had once helped heal Nan Li. She enlarged it in the air, then enlarged it again, before flipping it over Nan Li with a bang. Her Soul Power became an invisible barrier as Heavenly Pool water poured into it as though it cost nothing.

Only after doing all this and confirming that no more power was leaking out did Dan Hong let out a long breath and take medicinal pills to heal her own injuries.

Nan Li was immersed in the warm motes of light. The remaining wounds on her soul were rapidly healing, while Jiang E Li curled up in a corner and silently watched everything.

After a long while, the stars in the sky vanished from view one by one. Red dawn clouds climbed up from where heaven met earth in the east. The sun rose, casting down gentle golden light.

Dan Hong stood with folded arms, watching the cauldron within the Soul Power barrier. She released her Spirit Power and conducted another inspection, though she had lost count of how many times she had done so.

The wounds on Nan Li's body were healing as well. At last, the crimson-gold light atop her forehead transformed into a Phoenix Bird Holding Pearl-shaped head Soul Bone and sank into her body.

When she opened her eyes again, darkness still surrounded her. Nan Li raised an arm.

"Thump!"

The tranquil atmosphere was abruptly shattered as Nan Li, utterly bewildered, knocked against the barrier beside her.

Thump, thump, thump!

Dan Hong flicked her arm, and the cauldron broke through the water's surface, revealing... Nan Li, drenched from head to toe.

Nan Li's Double Pupils could be modeled after Princess Ahmanet's eyes, except Nan Li's were red.