Spirit Beast Sacrifice, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm

As Yu Hengqing had expected, it took him only an hour to heal the meridians damaged by the soul power Leiyi had converted earlier.

Di Tian, who had long since finished his cultivation, saw Yu Hengqing open his eyes and asked, "Are you ready to begin?"

Considering he would soon need to absorb a soul ring, Yu Hengqing chose not to stand up, merely nodding at Di Tian.

Seeing that Yu Hengqing was prepared, Di Tian did not want to delay any further; he signaled the Thunder-Clap Bird with a glance and consciously stepped back a few paces.

Receiving Di Tian's signal, the Thunder-Clap Bird tilted its head and let out a mournful cry before flapping its wings to take flight.

An invisible fire suddenly erupted, consuming the Thunder-Clap Bird's physical body, soul power, and soul as fuel to forge a streak of purple light.

"Summon your martial soul and guide the stream of light onto it."

Watching the Thunder-Clap Bird transform into that streak of light, a rare trace of complex emotion flickered in Di Tian's usually calm, stagnant eyes.

Having already absorbed one soul ring, Yu Hengqing naturally knew what he had to do next.

Once his martial soul appeared, the previously aimless purple light suddenly found its target, lunging toward Yu Hengqing before melting into his martial soul like water.

By the time the light had completely merged into Yu Hengqing's martial soul, everything that had once been the Thunder-Clap Bird vanished without a trace.

Yu Hengqing was unsure if it was due to the nature of the sacrifice, but the soul power within the Thunder-Clap Bird's ring was incredibly gentle.

Guided by the energy of Life Lake, Yu Hengqing absorbed it one wisp at a time, and the ring released it just as steadily, as if afraid Yu Hengqing might "choke" on it.

Furthermore, without the interference of a lingering soul, Yu Hengqing finished absorbing the ring in just half an hour; obtaining this soul ring had been easier than drinking water.

As he stood up, one yellow and one purple soul ring manifested beneath his feet.

Yet, upon seeing the two rings, Yu Hengqing's brow furrowed, a hint of worry surfacing in his eyes.

The first soul ring is fine, as the Purple Lightning Marten was only a hundred-year soul beast. But for the second ring to be a thousand-year one—that is still too shocking for this era.

However, Yu Hengqing had already consulted Leiyi, who had no good solutions for the time being; any skills he possessed required localization, otherwise, Yu Hengqing would be unable to use them.

The self-created soul skill "Thunder Step" that Yu Hengqing had used earlier was the result of Leiyi's attempts at localization over the past few days.

"Di Tian, do you know of anyone who possesses a soul skill that can change the color of a soul ring? My current rings are a bit too conspicuous; it would be easy for those hostile to me and my family to target me for assassination."

Suddenly, Yu Hengqing thought that as the Silver Dragon King's most trusted soul beast, Di Tian might just possess such a skill.

"Change the color of a soul ring? I do not have such a thing, but I do know of a soul beast that possesses a similar skill."

Having interacted with humans, Di Tian naturally understood why Yu Hengqing was concerned about the color of his rings.

Although Di Tian did not specify, Yu Hengqing had already roughly guessed who the soul beast was.

However, Yu Hengqing did not point it out; some information is valuable to others, while some is merely "spam."

"Then, I must trouble you to provide an introduction, Di Tian. I wish to learn such a skill from this soul beast so that I may conceal the abnormality of my soul rings."

Di Tian did not reply; he simply channeled the soul power within his body and gripped the air in front of him, causing a pitch-black bead to appear in Yu Hengqing's line of sight.

Di Tian squeezed gently, and a crisp cracking sound rang out; the bead in his hand became covered in fissures, shattering into specks of light in less than a second.

At that very moment, a white-gold ball of light broke free from Di Tian's hand and fell to the ground.

"Hahaha, Big Brother is finally free!"

A worm with a snow-white body, circled by ten golden patterns, appeared before Di Tian and Yu Hengqing.

Before the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could enjoy its freedom for even a second, a powerful pressure radiated from Di Tian, pinning the creature down. Terrified, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm immediately hid behind Yu Hengqing and tucked its head in.

Although the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's cultivation level far exceeded Di Tian's, its actual combat prowess did not even reach half of his.

This was not only because the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was a mental-attribute soul beast with few offensive means, but also because it had never put any effort into training.

After all, the gluttonous Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had never expected that by simply eating "tasty treats," its cultivation would skyrocket to the million-year level.

"I recall you have a soul skill that creates illusions, right? The one beside you wishes to learn it. Teach him well, and once it is done, I will give you some rewards as compensation."

Facing the cowering Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, Di Tian commanded it with some displeasure, gesturing toward Yu Hengqing.

To be honest, if he could have taught Yu Hengqing a similar skill himself, Di Tian would have been a hundred times more reluctant to release the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

In his eyes, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was like a beggar sitting on a mountain of gold while eating scraps; despite possessing such immense power, it couldn't even defeat a ten-thousand-year soul beast with slightly above-average strength.

Hearing that there would be a reward, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm standing behind Yu Hengqing became excited, shouting fervently, "Then Big Brother wants to go back to the Far North to see Bingbing, and Big Brother also wants—"

"I will allow you to rest once every seven days."

Di Tian did not wait for the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to finish, cutting off its "fantasy moment" directly.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was currently the "charging station" for Di Tian and the others' recovery; how could Di Tian possibly bear to let it leave Life Lake and return to the Far North?

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wanted to argue, but that familiar pressure descended once more, and it realized there was no escaping this.

"Fine~"

With no hope left for its worm-life, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm responded to Di Tian in a lifeless tone, then led Yu Hengqing away with dull, vacant eyes.

Once Di Tian was completely out of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's sensory range, it reverted to its original, devil-may-care attitude.

"Kid, the mental power requirements to learn Big Brother's soul skill are very high! If you don't meet the standards, I won't agree even if you beg me."

Yu Hengqing did not respond to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's frivolous tone, instead directly manifesting his own mental power.

"Yo, I didn't expect your mental power to be this strong at such a young age! Big Brother agrees to teach you my self-created soul skill—Mimicry!"

"Let me show you the effect of Brother's soul skill first!"

No sooner had Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finished speaking than a golden light flashed before Yu Hengqing.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, who had been standing right in front of Yu Hengqing, had vanished, replaced by a "Di Tian" who wore an expression of aloofness.

Yet, the "Di Tian" before Yu Hengqing couldn't maintain his composure for even a second before he placed his hands on his hips and laughed, saying to Yu Hengqing, "Hahaha! Isn't Brother's soul skill amazing? Isn't it exactly like Di Tian?"

Yu Hengqing was just about to warn Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to be careful, as no one knew if Di Tian had the ability to monitor this space.

Di Tian's dragon claw suddenly appeared beside Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, and with a light flick, it sent Sky Dream Ice Silkworm flying over a dozen meters away, shattering the mimicry effect in the process.

"Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, if you dare to transform into me at will again, it will no longer be just my claw that strikes you."

Hearing Di Tian's warning, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was so frightened that he immediately began nodding incessantly toward the direction from which Di Tian's voice had come, terrified that Di Tian might feel unsatisfied and strike him with another claw.

Seeing Sky Dream Ice Silkworm nodding repeatedly, Yu Hengqing rubbed his forehead and smiled helplessly, "If you knew it would come to this, why did you do it in the first place?"

Hearing Yu Hengqing's jab, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, who had scurried back, first looked around to ensure Di Tian was no longer monitoring him before leaning into Yu Hengqing's ear to whisper:

"If I didn't do that, Di Tian wouldn't have lifted his surveillance on Brother! Now, I have a few things to ask of you."