Li Bufan extended his divine sense and refined that strand of soul Origin Essence, clearly feeling an invisible bond form between them.
The demonic insect lay on the ground, panting. "I... I already offered you my soul Origin Essence. Why haven't you stopped your technique?"
Li Bufan froze for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. "Forgot, forgot. I'll stop right now."
With a slight flick of his wrist, he swung the golden saber aside, and the Five Elements Diagram dissipated into the air.
By now, not a single part of the demonic insect's body remained intact. Its once glossy, hard armor was crisscrossed with cuts, covered in wounds of varying depths like a plowed field.
Black blood and green bodily fluids slowly seeped from the wounds, staining the black soil beneath it in a mottled patchwork.
Li Bufan took a bottle of healing pills from inside his robes and flicked it toward the demonic insect. The pills landed on the shell near its pincers, and he picked them up himself and placed them in its mouth.
He patted the demonic insect's shell. "Now that you've acknowledged me as your master, tell me how this Spirit Marrow Black Soil came to be."
After the demonic insect swallowed the healing pills Li Bufan had flicked over, gentle medicinal power quickly spread through its body, nourishing the flesh and shell lacerated by the Five Elements Diagram like a trickling stream.
It fell silent for a while. Only after absorbing the medicinal power did it slowly begin answering Li Bufan's question.
"As for how this Spirit Marrow Black Soil formed..."
Its voice grew distant with recollection. "Part of it is the essence left behind after this king swallowed and expelled spirit soil. The rest came from the shells I shed with every