Soul Spirit

Er Bai's grip was not strong, but it was enough to hold Snow Empress back.

"Mom, stay. This will be useful to land soul beasts too." Er Bai pleaded with Snow Empress. Little White copied him, grabbing the other corner of Snow Empress's skirt.

Huo Yuhao glanced over, then turned and rubbed Liya's head. "Go bring the tears you shed earlier. I have an important use for them."

Liya obediently nodded. Huo Yuhao crouched down and placed her back in the water.

Sea Princess Eve and Lijing immediately swam toward Liya.

"Liya, how are you feeling?" Lijing looked worriedly at her younger sister. The tears Liya had shed earlier had all turned into golden pearls. Only Sea Princesses shed such tears when they were overwhelmed by grief, and they were genuine sources of spiritual essence.

Eve was even more direct. She pressed her forehead to her daughter's and carefully examined the younger girl's condition with her spiritual power. Her Sea of Spirit was exceptionally stable, her spiritual power pure, and there was no sign that she had been controlled.

Moreover, the spiritual and life essence Liya had lost earlier had been replenished. Thinking of the seven-colored soul ring the young man had displayed and that golden-green radiance brimming with life, Eve felt both delighted and alarmed. This was a power that had never appeared on the Douluo Continent.

"Mom, Yuhao won't hurt me. I know that." Liya's cheeks were faintly flushed. She now felt that what she had done earlier had been quite bold, but she did not regret it. If her shyness had made her miss this opportunity, she would have regretted it for the rest of her life.

Eve carefully examined her daughter from top to bottom once more. Only after confirming that nothing was wrong did she let Liya carry the golden pearls ashore.

This time, Liya sat directly on the ice. Blushing, she took out a wide gauze skirt adorned with many pearls and gemstones and wrapped it around her waist. Only then did she lift her fish tail from the water and give it a light flick. The droplets scattered naturally, revealing a pair of straight, snow-white legs before Huo Yuhao.

Liya immediately noticed Huo Yuhao's gaze. Her round, pink toes curled instinctively before she quickly stood up, the gems and pearl strands on her skirt chiming crisply against one another.

Then Liya noticed that Huo Yuhao's ears had suddenly reddened, and his gaze began to drift away. She instinctively crossed her arms over her chest, and the young man's face reddened as well. Though she only looked about fourteen or fifteen in human years, she was a soul beast and had long since reached adulthood, with a rather ample figure.

In a fluster, she took out another gauze scarf and wrapped herself up properly before walking to Huo Yuhao's side with a red face and handing him the golden pearls in her hand.

The golden pearls were all plump and round. A quick count revealed seven of them. Huo Yuhao's expression turned solemn as he cast aside every stray thought and accepted them gravely.

The Eye of Destiny opened once more. The seven pearls flew into it one after another, merging into his Sea of Spirit.

His Sea of Spirit had nearly shattered before, but Qiu'er's skull bone and Uncle Kaka's power had forcibly stabilized it. Then he had absorbed Qian Renxue's holy-attribute Soul Power, and it was now basically stable. Yet only Huo Yuhao himself knew how empty it remained within.

Liya's seven pearls had resolved his most urgent problem.

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and nodded to Liya before turning to Sea Princess Eve. "Senior Sea Princess, I'll need your help with what comes next."

"What, are you ready to show us the method you mentioned?" Eve crossed her arms and looked Huo Yuhao up and down. Though something unexpected had happened with her daughter earlier, now that they were discussing business, she had to handle matters with the bearing of a clan leader.

Snow Empress also turned to look at Huo Yuhao. The Far North needed such a method too, one that could allow soul beasts to continue living.

"Like him? He's strong, but he's just too... ugly." Ice Empress frowned as she gave her assessment. Since nearly everyone present was in human form, she had assumed human form as well. If the worst came to pass and she had to choose between death and ugliness, she would still choose ugliness.

Eve and Lijing nodded as well. Appearance was secondary; the real issue was that aura of death, which was too direct and terrifying.

The two women were dressed the same way as Liya. As the main subjects of this transaction, they had also come ashore. Since the matter was too important, they had temporarily assigned the rest of their clan to guard the surrounding waters.

After all, besides sea soul beasts like them who worshipped the Sea God, there were many other clans, such as the Evil Spirit Orcas and Deep Sea Demon Whales.

"You've misunderstood. Er Bai came into being only because of a fortunate coincidence. He isn't a Soul Spirit." Huo Yuhao shook his head, stopping the soul beasts from making unnecessary assumptions. Er Bai nodded at the right moment but said nothing. It was better to leave this to Grandpa for now; speaking up himself might ruin Grandpa's plan.

"I can't tell you all why Soul Spirits first came into being, but I can explain what they do." Since it concerned Snow Empress, he wanted to wait for her to notice it herself and ask him voluntarily.

"The main purpose of a Soul Spirit is to grant soul rings to its host. The higher the Soul Spirit's cultivation, the more soul rings it can provide. At the highest level, a hundred-thousand-year Soul Spirit can grant its host up to five hundred-thousand-year soul rings, which means ten soul skills," Huo Yuhao said calmly.

"Five hundred-thousand-year soul rings? Wouldn't the host explode? Even if they didn't, what does this have to do with us soul beasts? Soul beasts don't need soul rings." Ice Empress spoke with disbelief and a trace of disdain.

"They wouldn't. You can think of them as empty shells of soul rings with the quality of a hundred-thousand-year soul ring. Part of the power inside would ultimately have to be filled in by the host." That was not exactly how it worked, but explaining it that way would make it easier for them to understand.

"However, once a soul beast chooses to cultivate as a human, it can condense its first six soul rings by itself. After that, it still has to hunt soul beasts. And the soul rings that strengthen one the most are either those with compatible attributes or those from soul beasts identical to one's martial soul. But who could bear to harm their own kind, or even their friends and family?" Huo Yuhao laid out the crucial point.

No one could clearly say whether a soul beast that cultivated as a human was still a soul beast or a human, because both sides had reason to exterminate such soul beasts.

"But if a soul beast cultivating as a human possessed a Soul Spirit from its own kind, then even if it were only a ten-thousand-year Soul Spirit, it could make up for its final missing soul rings and gain soul skills perfectly suited to itself. Then, even if it would not be the strongest, it should still be far stronger than an ordinary human soul master."

These were all his deductions, but he had once become a god. From such a lofty vantage point, he naturally understood.

"Most importantly, even if it chooses a human host, even if that host dies, the Soul Spirit can choose another host after a certain period of time." Huo Yuhao's words fell.

At once, everyone present's eyes lit up.