"Brother System, you said the System Space you gave me has frozen time. Does that rule work on Spirit Rings too?"
On the way to find an Ice Mist Cold Butterfly, Chen Yumo suddenly asked the system this on a whim.
Besides finding his target, Chen Yumo also had to consider how to safely absorb a Spirit Ring in the Soul Hunting Forest. After all, he had no companions to stand guard for him and had to ensure he was safe enough while absorbing the Spirit Ring.
Things like Beast Repellent Powder were indeed useful, but they could not guarantee one hundred percent that he would not be disturbed by other Spirit Beasts during his evolution.
But then he reconsidered.
If the System Space can store Spirit Rings, then I can just avoid absorbing the Spirit Ring in the Soul Hunting Forest, can't I?
As long as I'm not in a dangerous area, there won't be any danger!
The system's response lagged for a while. Several seconds passed before the familiar mechanical voice sounded again.
[Yes, Host. A Spirit Ring stored in the System Space will not dissipate, but no more than three Spirit Rings can be stored at the same time.]
"Nice!" Chen Yumo pumped his fist.
Three was enough!
In fact, even one was enough. He could not possibly absorb three Spirit Rings at once, so storing that many would be pointless.
With more good news, Chen Yumo was in high spirits, and even his luck improved. Without encountering any accidents, he found a second Ice Mist Cold Butterfly. Its second pair of eye markings had only just appeared, making it just over four hundred years old—the most suitable Ice Mist Cold Butterfly to become his Spirit Ring!
"It's you!" Watching the little butterfly flutter gracefully, Chen Yumo quietly took out the Recurve Crossbow that had been strung for two and a half years but had never once been fired, aiming it at the butterfly among the flowers.
Hidden behind a tree, Chen Yumo was at most thirty meters away from the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly.
To a Recurve Crossbow, that distance was practically nothing. The fired bolt would not drop at all, so he only needed to aim for its head.
But because the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly was flying and thus a moving target, Chen Yumo had some difficulty aiming. It took him a while to fire the first bolt, and it did not hit the head. Instead, it struck the butterfly's abdomen.
Still, an arrow piercing its abdomen was already a serious wound for the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly. What was more, after passing through its abdomen, the arrow also tore apart one of its wings.
The butterfly that had been dancing through the air moments ago instantly became a broken-winged butterfly and fell into the grass.
Seeing that the Spirit Ring had not appeared immediately, Chen Yumo even restrung the crossbow and fired another bolt at its head. Only after a bright yellow Spirit Ring emerged from its corpse did he string the Recurve Crossbow again and store it in his Portable Space.
At present, Chen Yumo's personal combat strength was at most five. He was utterly useless in a fight.
As his only means of attack, the Recurve Crossbow had to remain ready to fire at any time, no matter what.
After observing the surroundings for a while and confirming that no other Spirit Beasts were lurking behind him to ambush him, Chen Yumo quickly went over to the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly, stored both its corpse and Spirit Ring in his Portable Space, then immediately left the Soul Hunting Forest.
Reaching his goal was enough. He had no interest in being chased all the way by a Mandala Snake like Gangzi and Tang San.
Besides, hunting teams frequently entered and exited a Soul Hunting Forest like this, so there were basically no opportunities to be found.
Now that he had obtained the Spirit Ring, leaving directly was the wisest choice.
After leaving the Soul Hunting Forest, Chen Yumo did not return to Nuoding Academy. Instead, he went back to his home in Holy Soul Village. As usual, he took some daily necessities he had bought in Nuoding City and went door to door, giving gifts to the village elders before finally returning home and releasing the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly's Spirit Ring.
In the dim room, the bright yellow Spirit Ring illuminated Chen Yumo's face, which was filled with fervor.
Two and a half years. He had finally waited for this day.
"Victory or defeat, success or ruin—it all comes down to this!" Chen Yumo spread open his hand. In his palm, the dark brown silkworm cocoon was wriggling its rear little by little, as though it too was excited for the evolution to come.
"You're fired up too, aren't you, my partner?"
The cocoon wriggled faster, as though responding to Chen Yumo.
"Then let us welcome our Metamorphosis! From today onward, we will cast off the name of trash and reveal the brilliance that belongs to us! Even if we began as wriggling maggots, we will surely reach the highest heights and sit together upon the divine throne above all heavens!"
Chen Yumo laughed heartily and extended his left hand with determined eyes. The Ice Silkworm Martial Soul released its aura and connected with the Spirit Ring in midair, drawing it down onto the Martial Soul.
The next instant, the enormous energy of the Spirit Ring surged into his body like a great river through his Martial Soul and the meridians in his left hand. The Spirit Ring drawn by his aura also descended from midair onto the Ice Silkworm Martial Soul.
With every pulse, visible streams of energy flowed from the Spirit Ring, absorbed by the Ice Silkworm Martial Soul and by Chen Yumo.
The immense pressure of the Spirit Ring caused even the cocoon's wriggling to stiffen.
Yet it remained resolute, continuously taking in the energy transmitted from the Spirit Ring.
At the same time, tiny ice-blue cracks began to appear across the cocoon's surface, and faint strands of light began to seep from those cracks.
That trace of ice-blue light was incredibly weak, yet even the bright yellow light of the Hundred-Year Spirit Ring could not conceal it.
Though ants were weak, they could still shake the heavens!
Chen Yumo was also enduring tremendous pressure. The Spirit Ring energy absorbed through the Ice Silkworm Martial Soul and into the meridians of his left hand was bone-piercingly cold as it flowed through the meridians throughout his body. Every inch of flesh within him suffered pain like needle pricks.
But accompanying that pain was newly awakened vitality. The swelling power allowed him to ignore the agony of Metamorphosis.
This was the sublimation of life, as well as the elevation of his origin.
The sky gradually brightened, and dawn broke in the east.
An entire night slowly passed amid the Metamorphosis.
Ice-blue cracks had already spread across every part of the cocoon, while the accumulated energy had reached its peak.
"Now!" Chen Yumo abruptly opened his eyes. Powerful Soul Power fluctuations swept out from his body, making the house tremble slightly.
The bright yellow Spirit Ring that had pulsed around the Martial Soul all night also instantly contracted at that moment and merged into the Martial Soul.
The ice-blue cracks on the cocoon's surface shone brilliantly at that moment before instantly exploding.
Bang!!
Within a dreamlike, ethereal ice-blue glow, a pair of dazzling butterfly wings, so beautiful they seemed unreal, slowly unfurled. The blue-gold eye markings on their surface shone brilliantly even in the dim room, illuminating the entire room.
Breaking the cocoon and becoming a butterfly—this was the moment!
The beautiful ice-blue butterfly rose from Chen Yumo's right hand, and the bright yellow Spirit Ring pulsed beside it as it flew.
"Success! Success!"
"HAHAHAHAHA..."
Before you continue