Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff

The soul bone was transparent. At a glance, the Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear's right palm bone looked like a piece of dark-gold crystal—only it was a soft, yielding crystal.

It twisted slightly in midair, with something of a paste-like texture.

At some point, the surface of Gu You's right hand had been covered in a faint, multicolored glow. Within that colored light, several colored threads slowly flowed out, linking themselves to the Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear's right palm bone.

In an instant, the Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear's right palm bone turned into a streak of golden light and was pulled into Gu You's right palm.

The pain of fusing a soul bone that he had imagined never came. Instead, his right palm only felt swollen and warm.

Amid that sensation, fine dark-gold patterns surfaced on Gu You's right palm, swimming beneath his skin like living things.

He focused calmly on the fusion. It went very smoothly and only lasted about half an hour.

When the cross-legged Gu You opened his eyes...

The dark-gold patterns on his right hand had completely vanished. After fusing with the soul bone, his right hand did not seem to have undergone any dramatic change.

"Looks like it boosted my strength quite a bit."

Though there was no visible change, Gu You felt the surging power coming from his right hand and thought that was enough.

"Let's test the Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear's palm-bone skill. I'll leave after I try it. The Riot Spirit Ascension Platform really is boring. The intermediate one should be more interesting, but if I went into the intermediate Riot Spirit Ascension Platform, I'd probably just get beaten up..."

Gu You shook his head, stretched out his right hand, and with a thought, a strange scene occurred.

At his fingertips, dark-gold light gathered, gradually solidifying until it finally formed five long, slender metal blades.

Carefully sensing the five metal blades, Gu You clenched his hand. The five dark-gold blades flexibly extended and retracted with his movement.

"It should be even stronger when paired with the dragon claws after the Purple Imperial Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon's dragonization. In that case, I'll call you Destruction Terrorclaw from now on."

"Destruction Terrorclaw!"

The next instant, Gu You swung the blades in his hand fiercely.

Five dark-gold streaks of light sliced through the air and struck a thick ancient tree not far away. In an instant, the ancient tree was cut into six sections.

Not only that tree—the ancient trees lined up behind it were all torn apart as well.

"Not bad power. Bye-bye!" After testing the power of the Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear's right palm bone, Gu You pressed the red button on his wrist.

His figure slowly disappeared from the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Inside the Primary Spirit Ascension Cabin room, a metal cabin gradually extended outward from the metal wall covered in soul guidance patterns, and then the cabin door slowly opened.

As sensation gradually returned to his body, Gu You opened his eyes. The first thing he did was move both hands.

Perhaps because he had been lying down for too long, his body felt a little numb.

But it was not a major problem. After taking a dozen or so seconds to recover, he sat up.

And the moment he sat up, he felt the bottleneck inside him break through. His soul power had reached rank forty.

"Looks like I'll have to fuse another spirit soul."

Gu You pondered. The bottleneck had been something he had deliberately suppressed in the first place. After coming out of the Spirit Ascension Platform, fusing the soul bone, and breaking through to rank forty, he was not surprised.

"I'll go find Teacher first. I need to tell her about my soul power breakthrough. After fusing my third spirit soul, my strength will be quite respectable. My Blacksmith rank breakthrough, the Spirit Transmission Hall's mission, and the secrets of the Ancient Map can all continue being explored..."

At that, Gu You left the Primary Spirit Ascension Cabin room.

Taking the elevator upward on the way to Leng Yaozhu's office, Gu You discovered that there were more than a dozen unread messages on his Soul Guidance Communicator, all from Leng Yaozhu.

They had been sent while he was in the Spirit Ascension Platform, so he had been unable to see them.

"Ding!"

The elevator doors opened. After Gu You finished reading those messages, he could hardly stay calm. He quickened his pace until he pushed open a door and entered the room.

Inside the room, Leng Yaozhu was casually resting her legs against the office desk.

For the past few months, she had been quite relaxed. There was little work to do, and the internal affairs of the Spirit Transmission Pagoda were basically all handled by the Qiangu Family, leaving her carefree and at ease.

"Teacher, is something the matter?" Gu You took a deep breath and explained, "I was in the Spirit Ascension Platform just now, so I didn't see the communicator."

Leng Yaozhu raised her head and smiled lightly at that. "It's nothing major. Half a month ago, the Spirit Transmission Hall officially approved your joining. Your first mission has been issued, and you'll be setting off in the next few days. That's why I was looking for you. The mission is quite simple. You need to make a trip to Eastsea."

At this point, she sighed.

"I didn't expect the Spirit Transmission Hall to issue a mission to a new member like you so quickly. I originally wanted to delay it for a few months, but you have to take the first step, and you have to take it well."

"After you finish this mission, I'll delay the subsequent missions they assign you. There's been new progress recently regarding the secrets of the Ancient Map, and I'll also arrange the matter of your rank four Blacksmith assessment. There's also someone who wants to see you."

After saying this, Leng Yaozhu looked at Gu You, wanting to see his reaction.

Gu You suddenly understood. So it was about carrying out a mission. "Teacher, I understand. Before I go carry out the mission, I want to fuse a spirit soul first. I've broken through to rank forty."

The Spirit Transmission Hall's mission had come suddenly, and he could not worry about matters like the Ancient Map for the moment. But fusing a spirit soul in a short time was still no problem.

"Rank forty?"

Leng Yaozhu sighed with emotion. Gu You had given her too many surprises. All she could do was sigh.

Rank forty at nine years old. With her disciple's talent, how many people in all the world, throughout all of history, had managed that?

"What do you want to fuse with? I'll prepare it for you as soon as possible, or I can choose one for you."

Leng Yaozhu was in no hurry to explain the process for the Spirit Ascension Hall mission. Fusing with a soul spirit really was important. After the fusion, Gu You would be a four-ring Soul Ancestor, his strength would increase greatly, and the mission would become much easier too.

Everything was for the sake of completing the mission better...

What should he choose to fuse with?

Gu You frowned. If he added a second soul spirit to the Creation Heaven Phoenix, then because of the condition of attribute conversion, basically any soul spirit could be compatible.

In that case, he decided to go big.

"Teacher, do you have a Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff soul spirit?"

Gu You asked. Right now, he really wanted an attack soul skill. An amplification soul skill would work too. Constantly stacking buffs felt pretty great as well.

The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff was a good choice. It was born with the Dominating Domain, which could amplify all attributes by more than fifty percent, and it also possessed the special abilities to ignore pain and be immune to bloodline suppression.

In the legends he knew, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff was an extinct beast-king-level existence, praised as the ancestor of all canine soul beasts and possibly also the origin of lion-type soul beasts.

If the Creation Heaven Phoenix could absorb a Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff soul spirit, and inherit the soul skill domain that evolved from its Dominating Domain...

Even if the domain's effect was greatly reduced, it would still be insanely overpowered.

"A Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff?"

The moment she heard Gu You mention that kind of soul beast, Leng Yaozhu's expression changed.

How did this child think of it?

It was not that the Spirit Transmission Pagoda did not have Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff soul spirits.

Several hundred years ago, the Spirit Transmission Pagoda had reproduced the species through simulated virtual-reality technology.

Although the degree of its bloodline was definitely not that of the original Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, its combat performance was an utterly insane existence.