Sacrifice

One was a youth dressed in light blue martial attire, with black hair and black eyes. His features were ordinary, and the Twenty-Four Gemstone Belt around his waist refracted a gentle luster under the sunlight.

He sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, holding a pale blue stalk of Blue Silver Grass in his hand. His soul power circulated slowly throughout his body as he cultivated.

Beside him was a young girl with a long scorpion braid. She wore a pink short-sleeved top, her waist was slender, and her small face was fair and delicate. She kept watch in boredom, as if acting as a guardian for the youth.

Perhaps Jiang Ci'an's appearance was too abrupt; the moment his footsteps touched the grass, the youth sensed something amiss.

The youth opened his eyes and met those golden pupils.

At a single glance, the youth grew vigilant.

That gaze was far too indifferent. It didn't feel like he was looking at a person, but rather appraising some kind of commodity, causing a discomfort that seeped from his very bones.

Although he could not perceive the other party's specific strength, the youth still felt an immense pressure.

He subconsciously reached for the gems at his waist, his posture shifting from sitting to a slight crouch. He lowered his center of gravity, ready to strike at any moment.

"Who are you, sir?"

The youth demanded, but there was no response.

Jiang Ci'an continued to approach, his pace steady and unhurried.

The youth's brows furrowed deeper.

He stood up, shielding the girl behind him. He raised his right hand to his chest, his sleeve subtly aimed at the newcomer.

There, a metallic glint flashed by.

It was a Sleeve Arrow.

Exquisitely crafted and concealing a mechanism, it only required a slight flick of his finger to launch several poison-tipped steel needles.

This was one of the youth's most reliable trump cards at the moment.

However, just as the youth prepared to trigger the mechanism...

His hand froze.

What... was I about to do?

A sense of bewilderment grew in the youth's eyes, followed by a thin mist that seemed to cloud his pupils, and his gaze rapidly lost its luster.

In that instant, his consciousness was stripped from his body by some invisible force—not destroyed, but completely ignored.

He no longer cared about anything around him, no longer cared about the dangerous stranger before him, no longer cared about the girl behind him, and did not even care about himself.

He just stood there, eyes vacant, motionless.

"Third Brother? Third Brother, what's wrong, Third Brother!"

The girl behind him sensed that something was wrong.

She reached out to shake the youth's arm, her voice shifting rapidly from confusion to anxiety.

But the youth remained as still as a statue, offering no response, not even blinking an eyelid.

The girl realized something and suddenly looked up, wanting to say something, but she only saw the figure that had already drawn near.

Then, the next moment, A hand, fair as jade, rested upon the top of her head.

The fingers were slender and well-defined, the fingertips slightly cool. As they settled into her hair, they exerted no force, yet they caused her entire body to go completely rigid.

Instantly.

The girl's consciousness slowly sank, like a pebble falling into deep water, sinking silently into the very depths as her eyes lost focus.

She was no longer afraid, no longer struggling, no longer thinking. She became like the most exquisite doll, left with only pure tranquility as she fell softly into the man's arms.

Until the very end, a soft whisper arrived late.

"--Indifference."

Jiang Ci'an's gaze was calm.

He paid no mind to Tang San, who stood with vacant eyes, practically drooling. Instead, he naturally wrapped an arm around Xiao Wu's waist right in front of Tang San to prevent this precious material from falling and sustaining damage after losing consciousness, while his pupils glowed, scanning the surroundings.

Soon, Jiang Ci'an withdrew his gaze, his eyes showing a hint of disappointment.

Tang Hao was not here today.

One less piece of material.

With a light sigh in his heart, Jiang Ci'an did not take the matter to heart and lowered his eyes to look at the doll-like girl in his arms.

Under his "Perspective," everything about Xiao Wu was laid bare.

Her clothing was naturally ignored by his gaze; her fair skin, her slender yet graceful body, and every layer of flesh and bone were presented before him without the slightest concealment.

And what drew his attention most was the girl's body structure, which differed slightly from that of a normal human.

Jiang Ci'an looked her over from head to toe, his gaze undisguised.

In reality, when facing his own childhood sweetheart, he would restrain himself somewhat and avoid staring too much, merely observing her physical condition.

After all, he was still a decent person and didn't particularly enjoy getting electrocuted.

But there was no need for such restraint with Xiao Wu; not to mention that neither of them were human, if one were to calculate by age, she was a soul beast that had lived for one hundred thousand years.

In short, she was just an old rabbit pretending to be young, and she really couldn't compare to the childhood sweetheart he had raised himself.

Furthermore, having seen so much of the flesh, blood, and bone beneath the skin, it was truly difficult for him to develop any strange ideas about Xiao Wu...

If this were a cultivation world with Buddhist practitioners, he might have been an enlightened high monk on the verge of mastering the Contemplation of Impurity.

While his thoughts wandered naturally, Jiang Ci'an continued to observe Xiao Wu's body with earnest, untainted focus. A moment later, he murmured thoughtfully.

"It is basically certain that soul beast transformation, or at least the transformation of ordinary soul beasts, is not an overnight process that turns them directly into humans.

"At the very beginning, they only appear identical to humans on the outside, but their internal structures still differ. This difference gradually changes with the increase of soul power and the passage of time...

"As for the so-called absorption of 'human aura,' it is more like collecting structural information from within human bodies, bit by bit, to remodel their own internal makeup until it approaches that of a true human.

"Only after the seventh ring do they fully embrace their human identity."

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Xiao Wu, who stood expressionless like an exquisite doll. He reached out and pinched her cheek; the sensation beneath his fingertips was no different from human skin, perhaps even more delicate and smooth.

He had to admit that he was indeed very interested in Xiao Wu.

A reusable, hundred-thousand-year soul beast transformation subject was unique across the entire Douluo Continent.

In particular, the fact that Xiao Wu could condense her own soul rings and drop soul bones upon death gave her immense research value.

Of course, these things were still too far off for him, so there was no need to delve into them for now.

He let go and released Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu stood still naturally, her eyes vacant, still maintaining the appearance of an exquisite doll as she quietly waited for his next command.

Jiang Ci'an spoke calmly.

"Sacrifice yourself to me."

As the words fell, the doll-like girl did not hesitate in the slightest.

A dazzling, scorching red light surged from within Xiao Wu, dyeing the entire field of Blue Silver Grass a blood-red hue.

The girl's skin became crystalline and translucent in the light, like glass forged in a raging fire. Her clothing turned to ash in the high heat, revealing a beautiful body as clear as a ruby, shaped like a work of art.

The red flames churned, rapidly enveloping Xiao Wu's body before transforming into a fierce pillar of light that engulfed Jiang Ci's.

A blood-red soul ring manifested naturally.

At the same time, Jiang Ci'an's original sixteenth-level cultivation began to climb frantically!