First Spirit Ring, Break Cocoon and Become a Butterfly!

"Brother System, you said the System Space you gave me had time frozen. Does that rule apply to Spirit Rings too?"

On the way to search for the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly, Chen Yumo suddenly asked the system on a whim.

Besides finding his target, Chen Yumo also needed 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 it.

Things like Beast Repellent Powder were indeed useful, but they could not guarantee one hundred percent that no other Spirit Beasts would disturb him during his evolution.

But then he reconsidered.

If the System Space can store Spirit Rings, then I can just avoid absorbing it inside 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. Only after several seconds did the familiar mechanical voice ring out again.

[Yes, Host. Spirit Rings stored in the System Space will not dissipate, but you may store a maximum of only three Spirit Rings at once.]

"Nice!" Chen Yumo pumped his fist.

Three was enough!

In fact, even one was enough. He could not possibly absorb three Spirit Rings at the same time, so there was no use storing that many.

With another piece of good news, Chen Yumo was in high spirits, and even his luck seemed to improve. Without encountering any accidents, he found a second Ice Mist Cold Butterfly. Its second pair of eye markings had only just emerged, making it a little over four hundred years old—the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly best suited to become his Spirit Ring!

"You're the one!" Watching the little butterfly dance gracefully through the air, Chen Yumo quietly took out the Recurve Crossbow that had been cocked for two and a half years yet had never once been fired, aiming it at the creature among the flowers.

Hidden behind a tree, Chen Yumo was no more than thirty meters away from the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly.

At such a distance, the Recurve Crossbow might as well have had no range limit. The arrow would not drop at all, so he only needed to aim at its head.

However, the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly was flying and thus a moving target, making it somewhat difficult for Chen Yumo to aim. It took him some time before he fired his first arrow, and it did not hit the head, instead striking its abdomen.

Still, an arrow piercing its abdomen already counted as a severe injury for the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly. Moreover, after passing through its abdomen, the arrow also tore apart one of its wings.

The creature that had just been dancing through the air immediately became a broken-winged butterfly and fell into the grass.

When the Spirit Ring did not appear right away, Chen Yumo even cocked the crossbow again and fired another arrow at its head. Only after a bright yellow Spirit Ring emerged from its corpse did he cock the crossbow once more and store it in his Portable Space.

At present, Chen Yumo's combat strength in his own body was at most five. He was completely 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 his surroundings for a while and finding no other Spirit Beasts lurking behind him to ambush him, Chen Yumo quickly went to the Ice Mist Cold Butterfly, stored both its corpse and Spirit Ring in his Portable Space, then immediately left the Soul Hunting Forest.

Achieving his goal was enough. He had no interest in being chased all the way by a Mandala Snake like Gangzi and Tang San.

Besides, teams of professional Spirit Beast hunters frequently came and went from a Soul Hunting Forest like this one, so there were basically no opportunities to be found.

Since he had already obtained his Spirit Ring, leaving immediately was the wisest choice.

After leaving the Soul Hunting Forest, Chen Yumo did not return to Nuoding Academy. Instead, he went home to Holy Soul Village. As usual, he took out some daily necessities he had bought in Nuoding City and went door to door, giving small gifts to the village elders. Only then did he return to his own home and release 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.

"Success or failure, king or loser—it all comes down to this!" Chen Yumo spread open his hand. In his palm, the dark brown silkworm cocoon wriggled its rear bit by bit, as though it too was excited for the evolution to come.

"You feel your blood boiling too, don't you, my partner?"

The silkworm 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 rise to the very pinnacle and sit together upon the divine throne above all heavens!"

Chen Yumo laughed heartily and stretched out his left hand with a firm gaze. The Ice Silkworm Martial Soul released its aura, connecting with the Spirit Ring suspended in midair and drawing it down onto the Martial Soul.

The next moment, the immense energy of the Spirit Ring surged into his body like a great river through his Martial Soul and the meridians in his left arm. Drawn by his aura, the Spirit Ring also descended from midair onto the Ice Silkworm Martial Soul.

With every pulse, visible streams of energy flowed out from the Spirit Ring, absorbed by the Ice Silkworm Martial Soul and absorbed by Chen Yumo.

The immense pressure of the Spirit Ring made even the silkworm cocoon's wriggling become stiff.

Yet it remained steadfast, continuously absorbing the energy transmitted from the Spirit Ring.

At the same time, tiny ice-blue cracks began to appear across the surface of the silkworm cocoon. Faint strands of light began to seep from those cracks.

That trace of ice-blue light was so weak, yet even the brilliant yellow glow of a hundred-year Spirit Ring could not conceal it.

Though an ant was weak, it could still shake the heavens!

Chen Yumo was also enduring immense pressure. The Spirit Ring energy absorbed through the Ice Silkworm Martial Soul and into the meridians of his left hand was piercingly cold, coursing through the meridians all over his body. Every inch of flesh and blood within him suffered pain like needle pricks.

Yet accompanying that pain was newly awakened vitality. The swelling power allowed him to ignore the pain of Metamorphosis.

This was the sublimation of Life, and the elevation of his origin.

The sky gradually brightened as dawn broke in the east.

The entire night slowly passed amid the Metamorphosis.

Ice-blue cracks had already spread across every part of the silkworm cocoon, and the accumulated energy had reached its peak.

"Now!" Chen Yumo suddenly opened his eyes. Intense 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 instantly contracted at that moment and merged into the Martial Soul.

The ice-blue cracks on the silkworm cocoon's surface also erupted with brilliant light before exploding in an instant.

Boom!!

Within a dreamlike, hazy ice-blue glow, a pair of dazzling Butterfly Wings, beautiful almost beyond reality, slowly unfurled. The blue-gold eye markings upon them gleamed even in the dim room, lighting up the entire space.

Breaking Cocoon and becoming a butterfly—this was the moment!

The beautiful ice-blue butterfly rose from Chen Yumo's right hand, while the bright yellow Spirit Ring pulsed beside it as it fluttered.

"Success! Success!"

"Hahahahahaha..."