Just then, the indescribable mass that Luo Chen had just forced out of Dugu Bo's body suddenly began to move.
It was a buildup of poison driven out of Dugu Bo's body. It had been peeled away from the walls of his meridians and forced out from every corner by the power of time. Luo Chen had planned to use that power to purify it completely, but before he could act, it moved on its own.
The gray-green slime slowly writhed across the ground like a snake just roused from sleep. Its surface bulged and sank repeatedly, and its color shifted from gray-green to dark green, then from dark green to dusky purple, finally settling on a deep purple so dark it was almost black. Stranger still, silver-white patterns surfaced across the slime. They were marks left by Luo Chen's power of time, spreading and pulsing over the poison like veins.
Dugu Bo sprang to his feet, green Soul Power gathering in his palm as he stared intently at the mass.
"What is that?" His voice carried a hint of tension unlike anything he had ever shown before.
Luo Chen didn't answer. His spiritual power had already locked onto the slime, and his Spirit Abyss Realm perception told him that there was a life fluctuation within it. It wasn't poison residue or the dregs of energy, but a forming, independent, faint yet genuine consciousness.
It had no eyes or mouth, yet it "looked" at Luo Chen.
No, it wasn't looking. It was sensing. It sensed the power that had turned it from a dead thing into a living one—silver-white, warm, and tinged with the passage of time. That power came from Luo Chen.
"Senior," Luo Chen said quietly, "your Jade Phosphor Serpent Poison seems to have been awakened by my power of time. It's now somewhere between poison and life—a completely new kind of existence."
Dugu Bo's eyes widened. "You mean my poison has gained a mind of its own?"
"You could put it that way." Luo Chen crouched down to examine the mass closely. It was no longer corrosive—or rather, its corrosiveness had been neutralized by the power of time. Now it was more like a mass of energy with its own consciousness, slowly writhing and cautiously avoiding Luo Chen's fingers.
It wasn't avoiding him. It was testing him.
A tiny strand of poison reached out and lightly touched Luo Chen's fingertip. He didn't pull away. The instant the strand touched his skin, a faint spiritual fluctuation traveled along it—not words, nor anything logical, only a vague, primitive emotion: curiosity.
It was curious about the person who had brought it to life.
Luo Chen's spiritual power instinctively answered the fluctuation. Silver-white power of time spilled from his fingertip, resonating with the silver patterns on the strand of poison. The slime shuddered, then began to glow all over. Silver-white light and dark-purple poison interwove, casting a slowly rotating Taiji symbol across the smooth ground.
Dugu Bo took a step back, his expression grave.
Luo Chen didn't retreat. He could feel the slime undergoing a deeper change. It wasn't simply "alive"—it was merging with his power and evolving toward a form of life unlike anything seen before.
"What is this?"
Luo Chen was at a loss. What was this supposed to be? A Soul Spirit? It didn't quite seem like one.
Luo Chen stood up, and the slime stopped writhing. It curled quietly beside his feet, like a newborn instinctively snuggling against its mother. "The power of time and my spiritual power are flowing through it. Did their fusion really give birth to a unique life?"
Dugu Bo fell silent for a long while. It had formed from his poison, yet it was completely different.
Just then, the little life suddenly flashed and darted into Luo Chen's body, clinging to his skin. It crawled up his left arm and then onto his back, shifting from a cape to a shoulder guard and back again.
"This..." Luo Chen was momentarily speechless. It really did look like poison!
In the end, it sank into Luo Chen's skin and fell asleep!
Luo Chen looked down at the dark-purple little thing on his left shoulder. It clung quietly to him, invisible under normal circumstances, like a baby fast asleep.
But Luo Chen could feel its consciousness slowly growing. At first, it had only instinctive reactions. Now, it was beginning to show emotions.
Perhaps one day, it would possess a complete intelligence. It would speak and have thoughts of its own.
By then, it would no longer be a mass of energy.
Perhaps it would become a new life-form and eventually even give rise to a new species!
The thought startled Luo Chen, though he soon found it absurd. How could he possibly create life? Yet the thought stuck in his mind like a thorn, impossible to pull out.
Gods needed believers. Perhaps he could make that happen through the tiny life on his shoulder and forge an unconventional path of his own!
It wasn't being forced or captured. It had chosen to follow him of its own accord, instinctively. It didn't understand what faith meant, but it treated Luo Chen as the whole reason for its existence.
Luo Chen pushed the thought aside.
That was a long way off.
"Come on, An'an." He turned and walked toward Luo An'an. She was crouching some distance away, holding a little wildflower and watching his shoulder curiously.
"Brother, what's that thing growing on your shoulder?"
"It isn't growing there. It moved in."
"Will it bite?"
"No."
"Then can An'an touch it?"
"Not yet. When it's grown a little bigger, I'll let it play with you."
"Okay!" Luo An'an nodded hard. "Then An'an wants to give it a name!"
"Sure. What name do you want to give it?"
Luo An'an furrowed her brow and thought for a while. Suddenly, her little eyes lit up.
"How about calling it Little Black?"
"Little Black. That sounds nice. That's what we'll call it!" Luo Chen said with a smile.
The little life on Luo Chen's shoulder sent out a feeling of delight. Who knew whether it would still be so happy once it understood what "Little Black" meant?
With all that finally settled, it was time to hunt a Soul Ring for Luo An'an. She had reached level twenty innately thanks to absorbing the spiritual energy in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Next, he wanted her to add Soul Rings to the Dream-Weaving Immortal Garment first, then to the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Jar.
The Dream-Weaving Immortal Garment was a support-type Martial Soul, and Luo Chen didn't know much about that field. He decided to ask Dugu Bo for advice.
When Dugu Bo heard about it, he immediately offered to take Luo An'an to hunt for a Soul Ring himself. Luo Chen was confident he could protect his younger sister, but having a Titled Douluo there as an extra safeguard could only help.
Dugu Bo recommended four candidates: the Spirit Light Butterfly, Morning Dew Flower Spirit, Moonlight Moth, and Soft Bone Rabbit.
After weighing the options, Luo Chen decided that the Spirit Light Butterfly and Morning Dew Flower Spirit were the two Soul Beasts best suited to Luo An'an.
The Spirit Light Butterfly's radiance could form a shield, improving resistance to spiritual and physical attacks.
The dew from the Morning Dew Flower Spirit had healing properties.
Before you continue