Every bone here carried faint fluctuations of Soul Power.
Clearly, they weren't decorative ornaments, nor were they the remains Gu Chensha or Wangcai had left behind out of some perverse whim after finishing their prey.
They were... all Soul Bones!
She hurriedly opened the remaining four boxes. The second, the third... every single one was full of Soul Bones!
From thousand-year to ten-thousand-year, from head to limbs, they came in every variety, numbering dozens in all.
Soul Bones were the rarest treasures in any age, and the prize every Soul Master dreamed of obtaining.
They shared the same origins as Soul Rings, yet the two were worlds apart:
Every Soul Beast produced a Soul Ring upon death, but the chance of a Soul Bone appearing was less than one in a thousand.
Only the one who killed a Soul Beast could absorb its Soul Ring, but Soul Bones could be traded and passed down freely. Even the most ordinary hundred-year Soul Bone was an exorbitantly expensive treasure that money couldn't buy.
The appearance of Soul Bones followed strict rules:
Soul Beasts of the mental type tended to produce Head Bones, those of the strength type tended to produce arm bones, and those of the speed type tended to produce leg bones. The trunk bone, the most powerful of all, could only be condensed by the very strongest Soul Beasts.
Normally, only Soul Beasts with exceptionally high bloodline ranks could produce Soul Bones before reaching a hundred thousand years.
Ordinary Soul Beasts might not condense even one Soul Bone, even after cultivating for ten thousand years.
Even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, rich enough to rival a nation, might not be able to assemble a set of Soul Bones suited to its needs.
The fact that Spirit Hall could offer a few Soul Bones as prizes for the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament had already sent shockwaves throughout the Soul Master World.
More remarkable still, Soul Bones weren't easy to fuse, either.
When a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast failed to advance into a Ferocious Beast, when a Ferocious Beast failed its tribulation, or when a Soul Core exploded, any Soul Bones it possessed would be annihilated along with it.
If a Soul Beast failed its cultivation rebirth, had its Soul Core struck, or had its Soul Power forcibly plundered, its Soul Bones would vanish as well.
What Zhu Zhuqing didn't know was that even in the future, Soul Bones remained the most precious resource.
They were used to build the super Soul Spirit framework of the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Even after artificial Soul Bone technology was developed, the cost remained so high that they could only be offered as special rewards to top Soul Masters.
Gu Chensha's figure slowly coalesced beside her. Seeing her stunned and speechless with shock, he gave a faint smile.
He waved a hand before her eyes.
"Back with me."
Only then did Zhu Zhuqing shake her head, managing to come around a little. Her voice still trembled.
"Teacher, these..."
"They're all yours."
Gu Chensha spoke in a calm, casual tone, as if he were talking about something trivial.
Zhu Zhuqing stared blankly at him.
"They're... all mine?"
"Mm."
Gu Chensha nodded. "There are 39 Thousand-Year Soul Bones and 69 Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones in these five boxes, 108 in total."
"O... o... o..."
Zhu Zhuqing looked as if her mind had short-circuited. Her rosy lips were parted, but for a long while she couldn't get out a complete sentence.
She instinctively stepped back, her legs giving way so that she nearly sat down on the ground.
She wondered if she was still dreaming, if this was all an illusion.
One hundred and eight Soul Bones!
What did that even mean?
Even if they emptied the royal treasury of the entire Star Luo Empire, they probably couldn't gather this many!
"One hundred and eight. You heard right."
Gu Chensha reached out to steady her, making sure she didn't actually fall.
Zhu Zhuqing pinched herself hard. The sharp sting told her this wasn't a dream.
Her cheeks flushed with excitement, her heart thumping wildly, but soon she furrowed her brows and asked in confusion,
"Hmm? Why are there more ten-thousand-year Soul Bones than thousand-year ones?"
"Not many thousand-year Soul Beasts can condense Soul Bones in the first place, unless their bloodlines are exceptionally strong."
Gu Chensha answered evenly. "Besides, I hunted far more ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts than thousand-year ones, and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts are more likely to produce Soul Bones."
Zhu Zhuqing nodded, only half understanding. She crouched down and carefully examined the Soul Bones in the boxes.
Gu Chensha stood beside her and casually introduced each one as her gaze moved over it.
"A Medusa Skull just over twenty thousand years old. Its core skill is 'Medusa's Gaze,' which can temporarily petrify energy or physical targets."
"A three-thousand-year Wind Shadow Leopard's right leg bone. It greatly boosts your basic speed and comes with a short-range teleport."
"A twelve-thousand-year Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull. It significantly boosts your mental power and the efficiency with which you circulate Soul Power."
"A thirty-thousand-year Explosive Burning Flame Right Arm Bone. It can unleash explosive flames instantly while consuming very little Soul Power."
He spoke as casually as if he were describing stones by the roadside, but every sentence was enough to drive countless Soul Masters wild.
He had collected these things, but that didn't mean he thought much of them.
Zhu Zhuqing was dazzled by the sheer number of treasures, and even felt a little embarrassed to keep asking him to explain.
Suddenly, a left leg bone shimmering with pale purple light caught her eye.
The Soul Bone was smooth and lustrous all over, its surface rippling with the pale green patterns characteristic of wind.
Just looking at it made the Nether Civet Martial Soul inside her stir faintly.
Unable to resist, she reached out and gently picked it up.
The bone's chill pressed against her fingertips. A Soul Power that suited her perfectly spread along her arm and through her entire body, setting her heart swaying.
"The Rapid Advance Wind-Chasing Left Leg Bone. It came from a ninety-thousand-year Wind Demon Tiger."
Gu Chensha raised an eyebrow and continued, "Its accompanying skill is 'Galloping Air-Breaking Slash.' When activated, it triples your speed,"
"and it gathers Soul Power in your left leg into wind blades, letting you unleash a series of consecutive slashes."
As he finished speaking, an inexplicable unease rose in his heart.
This Soul Bone came from the same kind of Soul Beast and the same body part as the one Zhu Zhuqing eventually obtained as the prize for winning the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament in the original storyline.
The gap in age was enormous—one was thirty thousand years old, the other nearly a hundred thousand.
But such a startling coincidence still gave him the eerie feeling that the "world line was converging."
He hated the feeling of being manipulated by some invisible hand.
But he said nothing. He simply watched her in silence, leaving the final choice to the young woman.
Zhu Zhuqing truly liked this Soul Bone.
The sense of compatibility couldn't lie. Once fused with it, she would greatly improve both her speed and her attack power.
But after running her fingers over it for a moment, she soon made up her mind.
Zhu Zhuqing gently placed the Soul Bone back in the box.
She knew perfectly well that choosing a Soul Bone suited to the Nether Civet would improve her current strength the fastest.
But at some point, she'd come to trust the potential of the Primordial Demon Spider Emperor more.
It was her teacher's true form, the most precious gift he had left her after crossing the boundary between life and death.
If she followed her teacher's path, she would surely reach heights greater than before.
Besides, she no longer wanted to follow the path of destiny that had long since been written for her.
The path she would walk belonged only to her, and she would walk it together with her teacher.
She lifted her head. Confusion softened her cool expression, giving her a uniquely endearing air.
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