[Congratulations, Host, on completing the opportunity quest: Eat Your Fill and Take What You Can. The Lucky Wheel feature has been unlocked.]
[Reward obtained: Lucky Wheel, one draw]
Zhu Shen was haggling with Tang Hao when the system's notification suddenly rang out.
He froze for a moment, feeling a little embarrassed. What did it mean, "eat your fill and take what you can"? This was called robbery. No, investment.
Zhu Shen thought the Soul Bone Tang Hao had given him was a little strange, but for now, he'd draw first.
"Draw."
[Drawing begins]
[The Lucky Wheel spins]
[Drawing in progress]
[Congratulations, you've won a special reward: Bibi Dong's Love Letter]
[The holder of this item will find it easier to win Bibi Dong's favor]
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap." Zhu Shen couldn't hold back and swore. He thought, This Tang father-and-son duo sure are loaded. They're just showering me with gold.
And as someone who really liked Bibi Dong, this was more important to him than a Soul Bone.
Before Zhu Shen could recover from his surprise, Tang Hao's voice sounded beside him.
"This is a Soul Bone from a supremely evil creature. Xiao San can't use it, so you can have it."
Zhu Shen came back to his senses and looked at the Soul Bone again.
He'd felt a sense of familiarity as soon as he saw it. Its aura was a lot like the one Snake Undying had just given off.
"System, do you have an illustrated handbook feature?" Zhu Shen asked the system in his mind. He figured it was only natural for such a powerful system to have an Illustrated Handbook System.
[Congratulations, you have successfully found the Illustrated Handbook System. Unlock successful.]
[Reward obtained: Primordial Pearl]
Zhu Shen was overjoyed. His opinion of the system had completely changed. This system was pure generosity—it gave you whatever you wanted.
"What is this Soul Bone?"
[A twenty-thousand-year-old Evil Phoenix Torso Soul Bone]
Evil Phoenix? It made sense for an Evil Soul Master to use a Soul Bone from an utterly evil soul beast.
Zhu Shen looked at Tang Hao, took the Soul Bone, then asked, "His Excellency Haotian, what is this?"
Tang Hao's expression turned a little odd. "It's a twenty-thousand-year-old Evil Phoenix Torso Bone. It's too evil and unsuitable for Xiao San, so I'll give it to you."
Zhu Shen was speechless. So you were giving it to me because nobody wanted it and nobody could keep it under control.
Still, he understood. Tang Hao knew that after Zhu Shen's Martial Soul had evolved into the Dragon God, he'd be able to suppress the Evil Phoenix Soul Bone. That was why he'd given it to him.
Whatever the case, Tang Hao was being quite generous.
But now Zhu Shen had a new question: the system had given him a Dragon God External Soul Bone and a Dragon God Left Arm Bone. Would it give him a full Dragon God Set, too?
Zhu Shen thought it was quite possible. After all, the system was going to give Tang San a Pure Bamboo Set. It only made sense for it to give him a Dragon God Set.
At the thought, Zhu Shen almost laughed. Still, it would be a shame to turn down a free Soul Bone from Tang Hao. He was reluctant to let it go.
Zhu Shen suddenly thought the system might give him an opportunity quest for a random Soul Bone. A bold guess came to him.
"System, can I absorb two sets of Soul Bones?"
[Yes. The system will provide you with the Dragon God Set, and you may also absorb a set of Soul Bones on your own. The two do not conflict.]
"Good, good, good. System, you're a great system. You give me whatever I want."
Now Zhu Shen had discovered just how great the system was. It answered every call.
With no time to think it over, Tang Hao saw Zhu Shen sitting silently for a long while and assumed he was afraid. He said, "Grandmaster, now that your Martial Soul has evolved, you can suppress the Evil Phoenix. You can absorb it now. I'll keep watch."
Zhu Shen readily agreed. He'd wanted to absorb a Soul Bone for a while, but he'd been worried the Evil Soul Masters might return and ambush him while he was occupied.
Zhu Shen quickly replied, "His Excellency Haotian, thank you."
Before Tang Hao could answer, Zhu Shen sat cross-legged and took out the Evil Phoenix Soul Bone and the two Dragon God Soul Bones, preparing to absorb them.
But before that, he decided it would be safer to absorb the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum first and strengthen his body.
Tang Hao was stunned again. As a peerless prodigy, he'd never been so at a loss.
There were two more Soul Bones?
Four Soul Bones, and you were a level-thirty Soul Grandmaster carrying four of them. How did that make any sense?
And those two Soul Bones were clearly no ordinary items.
Even he, the new young master of the Clear Sky Sect, had only managed to fill all his Soul Bone slots because the sect had spared no effort in cultivating him. His older brother, Tang Xiao, didn't even have a full set. Yet you'd just pulled out four?
Tang Hao thought Grandmaster was acting very strangely today: two purple Soul Rings, a Martial Soul Evolution, eating his fill and taking what he could, and four Soul Bones.
How was any of that like Grandmaster?
Zhu Shen sat cross-legged, the three Soul Bones lined up in front of him.
Tang Hao's gaze passed over the three Soul Bones one by one, and his expression grew more and more serious.
The two Dragon God Soul Bones gave off a faint golden glow, their scale patterns so lifelike they seemed real.
The Evil Phoenix Torso Bone, by contrast, was dark red all over, black wisps coiling around it and giving off a cold, unpleasant feeling.
"Grandmaster, you..."
Tang Hao had just begun to speak when Zhu Shen closed his eyes. The three Soul Bones and an Immortal Herb all floated into the air at once.
The left arm bone flew toward his left arm, the Evil Phoenix Torso Bone pressed against his spine, and the Dragon God External Soul Bone moved toward his back.
"Absurd!"
Tang Hao's expression changed drastically. External Soul Bones were the most dangerous and hardest type to absorb!
Grandmaster was a level-thirty Soul Grandmaster, and he was going to absorb three at once right off the bat—including an External Soul Bone!
He was insane!
"...Insane." Tang Hao murmured, taking two steps back before sitting down again. Yet he didn't dare take his eyes off Zhu Shen for even a moment.
Three bones absorbed at once.
The energy of the three Soul Bones poured into his body like three raging dragons, crashing wildly through his meridians.
[Simultaneous absorption of three Soul Bones detected. Activating Dragon God Bloodline suppression.]
The Dragon God Martial Soul inside Zhu Shen shuddered. An indescribable pressure burst forth from deep within his bloodline.
The two Dragon God Soul Bones were the most obedient. They practically fused into Zhu Shen's bones of their own accord.
Golden energy spread along his left arm, plating every inch of bone in a layer of pale gold. The golden energy traveled up his spine, and memories of the Dragon clan's battle instincts surged into his mind like a tide.
As for the Evil Phoenix Soul Bone, it trembled under the pressure of the Dragon God.
The Evil Phoenix was powerful, but it was still only a branch of the Phoenix bloodline. Against the Dragon God Bloodline, sovereign of all beasts, its natural disadvantage weakened its resistance by seven-tenths.
But the remaining three-tenths were still dangerous.
The Evil Phoenix Soul Bone struggled wildly against Zhu Shen's spine, its dark-red energy trying to corrupt his flesh and blood.
[Residual thoughts of an Evil Soul Master detected. Purify?]
"Purify."
[Purifying... Purification complete.]
[The Evil Phoenix Soul Bone has been purified. Its evil energy has been converted into pure Phoenix Flame.]
The dark red faded, replaced by a blazing golden-red. A warm, scorching energy flowed into Zhu Shen's spine, intertwining with the golden energy of the Dragon God Torso Bone.
Dragon and phoenix—the two supreme powers reached a delicate balance within Zhu Shen's body.
The energy of the three Soul Bones converged inside Zhu Shen. Golden and golden-red energy cycled through his meridians again and again. With every cycle, his bones, flesh, and meridians grew stronger.
Outside, Tang Hao stared in stunned disbelief.
The three Soul Bones all shone at once, enveloping Zhu Shen. His aura rose at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Tang Hao stared in shock, mumbling, "Brother, who are you?"