Lao Yao and Igor were both experts at handling Soul Beasts.
One was skilled at quietly refining Soul Power, while the other was a genius at taming Soul Beasts.
Both of them had dealt with Soul Beasts before.
In just two short months, the two had already figured out everything there was to know about Soul Beasts.
They had even raised the success rate to an unbelievable level—practically a one-hundred-percent success rate.
It had to be said that having two good masters was truly different.
"Master, do you mean I can completely subdue a Soul Beast and turn it into a Soul Body now?"
Xiao Xiao asked curiously.
Lao Yao stroked his beard and nodded. "You could say that. From now on, every Soul Ring you obtain must come from a Soul Beast."
"Only then could your Soul Skills display their greatest power."
Xiao Xiao naturally had no objections. That had been his plan all along. The Soul Rings left behind by Soul Beasts were far more powerful than ordinary ones.
"Master, I understand."
"Master, can my current Soul Power be used to refine pills?"
Two months had passed, and Xiao Xiao felt that his techniques had become quite proficient. He very much wanted to try refining a pill himself.
Lao Yao sensed him for a moment, then shook his head and stroked his beard. "With your current Soul Power and perception, you can refine low-grade medicinal pills."
"But if you want to refine ghost-grade pills, you are still far from qualified."
Xiao Xiao was briefly stunned. Refining pills with Soul Power? Low-grade was fine too. At least they were still pills, weren't they?
Something was better than nothing.
Even if they were low-grade, they were still medicinal pills. Their effects might not be that strong, but they were useful. If he did not need them himself, he could sell them later.
"Master, I'll give it a try first."
As Xiao Xiao spoke, he took out the alchemy cauldron again.
Following Lao Yao's method, he found a few low-grade pill formulas and began refining them step by step.
The first attempt... failed.
The second attempt... failed.
The third... the fourth... the fifth.
By the fifth attempt, Xiao Xiao had finally refined a medicinal pill that could barely be considered complete.
"Master, refining pills with Soul Power is completely different from what I used before."
Only when he had truly started refining did Xiao Xiao realize that this was fundamentally different from his previous methods.
If the fire control was even slightly off, the pill would immediately fail. Yet once he succeeded, the next batch succeeded without interruption.
Refining with Soul Power was simply too convenient.
Even for low-grade medicinal pills, if they had been first-grade pills, he did not know how many times he would have had to blow up the furnace before succeeding.
"Little fellow, you've already done very well. If it weren't for the experience you gained over the past two months, you probably wouldn't have succeeded once even after a hundred explosions."
This kid's talent for alchemy was truly extraordinary. His mental strength was merely a bit lacking.
Hearing Lao Yao's consolation, Xiao Xiao felt relieved. His previous experience had indeed been useful.
"Little fellow, now you should think about how to leave this place."
After Lao Yao finished speaking, he fell silent and ignored Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao was dumbfounded. Wasn't this place supposed to be quite safe?
Xiao Xiao looked down the mountain. Dense masses of scorpions began crawling steadily up the slope from all directions.
"Damn it, where did all these scorpions come from?"
Xiao Xiao was stunned, but he soon reacted.
The sounds of his successful pill refinements had rung out again and again. Even the fifth success had attracted the Soul Beasts' attention.
He had not expected them to arrive so quickly. Other than the mountaintop, every direction had already been surrounded by those ice-blue scorpions.
Inside the ring, Lao Yao lounged lazily, showing no concern at all for Xiao Xiao's safety.
"Martial Soul Possession!"
Xiao Xiao shouted furiously. Dark purple light erupted from his body, his muscles swelled, and his entire body became ten times stronger.
"First Soul Skill: Black Tiger Feast!"
In the next instant, Xiao Xiao was shrouded in Black Tiger energy. Amid the pitch-black surroundings, he moved like a ghost.
With every step, a scorpion lost its life.
A mass of darkness raced across the snowy white mountain, as though darkness had suddenly intruded upon the light, swallowing that swarm of scorpions.
At the foot of the mountain, more and more ice-blue scorpions gathered in an endless stream. A massive scorpion that had slept for years seemed to be commanding them.
A hundred years, a thousand years... the farther down he went, the older the ice-blue scorpions became.
Xiao Xiao also found himself struggling more and more. After all, he was only a level-fifteen Soul Master.
After absorbing that Soul Beast spirit bone, his Soul Power had risen to level twelve. Most of that Soul Power had been used to strengthen his body. In the two months since, he had refined pills while cultivating, raising his Soul Power by three levels.
For a level-fifteen Soul Master to face such a dense swarm of ice-blue scorpions already took considerable courage.
"Bajiquan!!"
With the boost from his Soul Skill, Xiao Xiao used the Bajiquan he had learned in his previous life. Any scorpion below a thousand years old was killed with one punch.
The Soul Rings that burst out after the Soul Beasts died were all collected by Lao Yao.
By the time Xiao Xiao fought his way to the middle of the mountain, he was already somewhat exhausted.
"Damn it."
Xiao Xiao cursed softly.
Only then did Xiao Xiao realize that he had grown too careless. After gaining Lao Yao and Igor, he had become complacent and had not even taken the most basic safety precautions seriously.
Xiao Xiao gritted his teeth. The ghostly energy around his body surged again as he charged down the mountain once more.
Inside the ring, Lao Yao and Igor were both watching Xiao Xiao's movements, yet neither showed any intention of helping.
"Old Yao, how long do you think this little fool can hold out?"
Igor asked.
As Lao Yao converted Soul Rings into ghostly energy, he replied, "No rush. We still haven't seen this kid's limits."
"Let's see how far he can go."
Lao Yao was not worried at all. Although the kid had support, he also had the ability.
Being complacent once in a while was normal.
"Three thousand years!"
Xiao Xiao drew a deep breath. He could barely deal with Soul Beasts that were two thousand years old, but a three-thousand-year one made him nervous.
"I refuse to die here!"
Xiao Xiao simply did not want to die here. Maintaining Black Tiger Feast, the Bajiquan in his hand was already so fast that it became a blur.
Finally, after one palm strike, Xiao Xiao could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.
"Master, I may be complacent, but I haven't disappointed you, have I?"
The three-thousand-year ice-blue scorpion before him was not dead, but it had been severely injured. If it had been in peak condition, Xiao Xiao would have had an even harder time subduing it.
Lying on the ground, Xiao Xiao smiled. He might have been complacent, but that was also built on having his masters as a foundation. Still, whenever danger came, Xiao Xiao gave it his all and fought desperately.
The next instant, Lao Yao's terrifying aura emerged from the ring on Xiao Xiao's hand. "Little fellow, you haven't disappointed me."
"From now on, find five-thousand-year Soul Beasts for your hunts."
"These are no longer much use to you."
Lao Yao's figure appeared beside Xiao Xiao. The surrounding snow quickly melted away, and Lao Yao's immortal, dao-boned appearance looked mysterious and extraordinary.
A smile appeared on Xiao Xiao's face. This was his greatest source of confidence, but he could not rely on his masters too much.
This time, Xiao Xiao understood that without his masters, he might truly have died here. From now on, he needed to be more cautious and more careful in everything he did.
He could not rely on his masters all the time.