Wolf King's Essence Blood, Xiao Feng Evolves

Zhao Wuji had been standing to the side, watching quietly. From the moment Xiao Qing commanded his two soul beasts to cleanly and efficiently defeat the wolf king, to the moment Xiao Feng communicated with the beast, his gaze had shifted from initial scrutiny to undisguised shock.

He had never seen such a peculiar martial soul, one capable of simultaneously commanding two soul beasts with completely different attributes and combat styles, coordinating them with such exquisite tacit understanding that they functioned like a single, telepathic mini-squad of soul masters.

This Xiao Qing possessed scouting, assault, and defensive capabilities all in one person; his potential was simply immeasurable.

Hearing Xiao Qing's request, Zhao Wuji snapped out of his shock, a flash of realization crossing his eyes.

No wonder Xiao Qing was looking for a pack with a wolf king; it wasn't just for combat practice, but with the intention of making a trade. A two-thousand-eight-hundred-year-old Earth Armor Dragon Lizard was no difficult task for a soul saint like him.

"Earth Armor Dragon Lizard? Thick-skinned and sturdy, good at burrowing for sneak attacks—a bit troublesome, but no big deal." Zhao Wuji flexed his wrists, causing them to crack. "Did you get the location clear?"

Xiao Qing looked at Xiao Feng. Xiao Feng communicated with the wolf king for a few more moments, then let out a low whimper and raised a claw to point toward a direction in the west.

"Good, you lot wait here."

Zhao Wuji didn't waste words. Seven soul rings—two yellow, two purple, and three black—suddenly lit up on his body, the powerful pressure causing the surrounding wolf pack to instantly collapse to the ground, shivering.

He kicked off the ground with force, his entire body shooting forward like a cannonball fired from a chamber, vanishing into the depths of the mountain forest in a few leaps.

About an hour later, accompanied by a dull thud and a tremor that shook the earth, Zhao Wuji reappeared before Xiao Qing.

He casually tossed the massive creature he had been carrying on his shoulder onto the ground in front of the wolf king with a thunderous boom.

It was a soul beast over eight meters long, resembling a giant lizard, but its body was covered in thick, rock-like armor—this was the Earth Armor Dragon Lizard the wolf king had spoken of.

It no longer showed signs of life, its massive head twisted at an unnatural angle; it had clearly had its neck snapped by brute force, and there were several shattered areas on its thick dorsal armor.

The wolf king struggled to its feet, walked to the carcass of the Earth Armor Dragon Lizard, sniffed it carefully, and poked it with a claw to confirm that this formidable enemy, which had plagued them for months and forced them to abandon their home, was truly dead.

It raised its head to look at Zhao Wuji, then at Xiao Qing. The last trace of caution and hostility in its eyes vanished, replaced by a complex emotion—a mix of gratitude and awe.

Without hesitation, it lowered its head and coughed. A drop of blood, crimson with a faint cyan-gold halo, slowly drifted out from its mouth and hovered before Xiao Qing.

The essence blood of a thousand-year Fierce Wind Wolf King!

Xiao Qing took out a prepared jade bottle, carefully guided the essence blood inside, sealed it, and tucked it away.

The materials were gathered.

Xiao Qing did not delay; he needed to complete Xiao Feng's bloodline evolution as soon as possible. He found a relatively flat clearing and signaled for Xiao Feng to stand ready.

Oscar, who had been brought along by Zhao Wuji, didn't know what was happening and stood blankly beside Zhao Wuji, watching Xiao Qing.

From his cloth bag, Xiao Qing took out the Wind-Thunder Falcon egg and the three Storm Iris flowers, which had been kept perfectly preserved in a wooden box.

First, he carefully used his soul power to grind the Storm Iris flowers into a fine, delicate powder, which shimmered with a strange, pale cyan hue.

Next, he used a dagger to carefully pry a small hole at the top of the Wind-Thunder Falcon egg, just large enough for the powder to flow in.

Then, he poured the ground Storm Iris powder, along with the freshly obtained Fierce Wind Wolf King essence blood, into the egg.

The moment the three materials made contact inside the egg, there was no sound, but Xiao Qing could clearly feel a strange energy fluctuation suddenly erupting within the previously dormant egg.

The three different wind-attribute energies began to rotate and merge spontaneously, forming a strange liquid that radiated a heart-palpitating energy.

The final step.

Xiao Qing picked up a dry twig from the ground and dipped it into the mixed liquid inside the egg.

He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into his sea of knowledge, where the Prism Ball rotated slightly, projecting a complex and profound energy circuit diagram.

This was the evolution formation provided by the Prism Ball; if Xiao Feng wanted to evolve, it had to rely on this array.

He opened his eyes, his gaze focused and calm. The twig in his hand acted as a brush, and, dipping it into the mixture, he began to trace the pattern onto the ground beneath Xiao Feng's feet, stroke by stroke.

His movements were not fast, but his hand was exceptionally steady. With every stroke, it seemed to draw the surrounding energy toward this spot.

Zhao Wuji held his breath, watching without blinking. He had lived for so many years, hunted countless soul beasts, and seen all sorts of strange soul skills and martial souls, but he had never seen such a bizarre ritual.

He couldn't understand a single one of the patterns in the formation, yet he instinctively felt that it contained some kind of ancient and mysterious power.

When the final stroke was completed, a circular formation about two meters in diameter, with complex patterns and a faint glow, appeared in its entirety beneath Xiao Feng's feet.

The moment the formation closed, a sudden change occurred.

There was no earth-shattering commotion, but both Zhao Wuji and Oscar clearly felt the energy in the world around them—especially the wind-attribute energy—begin to surge frantically toward the center of the formation.

The light on the formation suddenly became blindingly bright, enveloping Xiao Feng entirely.

Immediately after, a thick, viscous blood-colored energy rose from the formation, coiling around Xiao Feng's body like living snakes before diving into it without hesitation.

"Awoo—"

Xiao Feng threw its head back and let out a long, howling cry that was both painful and filled with power. Its body began to tremble violently, its bones popping with sharp cracks, and its muscles expanded and bulged at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The cyan-gray fur on Xiao Qing's body shed in clumps, and under the scouring of the blood-colored energy, it was rapidly replaced by denser, deep cyan fur that shimmered with a metallic luster.

At the tips of the new fur, tiny, visible wisps of pale cyan wind-attribute energy spontaneously swirled and flowed.

Its size grew; its shoulder height, body length, and the thickness of its limbs all increased significantly.

Its claws became longer and sharper, and the soul power fluctuations radiating from its body climbed at an astonishing rate, surging from the hundred-year level toward the thousand-year threshold.

The entire process lasted about half an hour.

When the light on the formation gradually dimmed and dissipated, and the last trace of blood-colored energy merged into Xiao Feng's body, the violent energy fluctuations finally began to subside.

Xiao Feng stood quietly in place, but it was completely different from before. This was not only because Xiao Feng had broken through from a hundred-year soul beast to a thousand-year one, but because its bloodline had undergone a profound transformation.

This transformation is equivalent to a spirit beast with dragon bloodline evolving into a pseudo-dragon, causing a massive shift in its overall stats.

Previously, Xiao Feng's shoulder height reached about Xiao Qing's waist, its build lithe and slender.

But now, as it stood there, its shoulder height already surpassed Zhao Wuji standing beside it! Its massive frame was brimming with a sense of power, and its deep cyan fur shimmered with an eerie luster under the sunlight.

What was most striking was that even while standing perfectly still, a layer of pale cyan wind-attribute energy naturally swirled around its body, causing the dust on the ground beneath it to be pushed away by an invisible force.

Its gaze was sharper and more profound; merely standing there, it exuded a heart-palpitating pressure that far surpassed the previous Gale Wolf King.

Bloodline evolution, complete.

Xiao Qing believed that the current Xiao Feng could easily defeat the thousand-year Gale Wolf King from earlier all on its own.

Of course, what was even more important was what kind of innate ability Xiao Feng would awaken after completing its bloodline evolution!