Fiery Golden Eyes, Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King!

Heaven Dou City, Xia Family.

The three returned home. As soon as they entered, Liu Yuer took a jade box from her storage soul tool.

Liu Yuer gently opened the jade box, revealing a rare gemstone-type skull bone.

"This is a sixty-thousand-year Medusa Queen skull bone. Its soul bone skill is: Medusa's Gaze!"

"This skull bone is the greatest gain from our journey. Good son, hurry and absorb it."

Liu Yuer stuffed the Medusa skull bone into Xia Mu's hands.

This skull bone was priceless. Its quality was so exceptional that one would be hard-pressed to find another like it anywhere on the continent.

"No, Mother!"

"You should absorb this soul bone yourself!"

Xia Mu possessed twin martial souls. He would surely not lack hundred-thousand-year soul bones in the future, and he had no intention of ruining his foundation.

"You have already obtained your soul ring. If you absorb this soul bone, you will certainly break through to the high ranks of Soul Emperor."

"Our top priority is to increase your strength!"

Xia Mu shook his head and returned the soul bone.

"This is a sixty-thousand-year gemstone-type skull bone. Even the Upper Three Sects would be tempted by it!"

"And you actually look down on it!"

Liu Yuer grew anxious and began to scold him.

"Mother!"

"My mind is made up. Don't say another word!"

Xia Mu refused to accept it no matter what. In the end, only after Xia Feng persuaded her did Liu Yuer absorb the skull bone.

Boom—

A surge of soul power spread outward. After absorbing the skull bone, Liu Yuer reached level sixty-six.

"It raised my soul power by two and a half levels?"

Liu Yuer's soul power had originally been at the peak of level sixty-three, only a hair away from level sixty-four.

"Using a sixty-thousand-year skull bone as bait, we only wanted to test Dugu Bo and Ye Renxin. Now, it seems the two of them can be trusted!"

"As the saying goes, treasures stir the heart!"

"If they had become greedy for the soul bone and fought my parents, the outcome would have been hard to predict!"

Xia Feng and Liu Yuer were both quite powerful and possessed many trump cards. Their combat strength was no weaker than that of high-ranking Soul Emperors.

Together, they could even fight a Soul Sage!

This soul-hunting operation had essentially been a test for Dugu Bo, to see whether he could earn their trust.

Fortunately, Dugu Bo passed the test.

The facts proved that Dugu Bo was not someone who broke his promises. He had moral principles he would uphold.

"Do not employ those you doubt, and do not doubt those you employ!"

"There are no eternal friends in this world, only eternal interests. I should wait and see a little longer!"

A divine light flickered in Xia Mu's eyes. This matter was of great importance, and it was not yet time to distribute the immortal herbs on a large scale.

"We'll rest for half a month, then depart for Star Luo!"

Liu Yuer made the final decision. They could use this time to gather intelligence on the Sword Mountain Range.

The Sword Mountain Range was located within the Heaven Dou Empire. Its peaks towered into the clouds, like a giant sword holding up the heavens.

"Black-Jointed Bamboo is a rare mutated plant-type soul beast. It generally grows only among Green Jade Sword Bamboo."

"Sword Bamboo gains sentience after a hundred years. At a thousand years, it evolves into Green Jade Sword Bamboo. At ten thousand years, it can be called a Green Jade Sword Bamboo King. As for hundred-thousand-year Sword Bamboo, even I have never seen one."

"However, among the Green Jade Sword Bamboo population, some rare Sword Bamboo mutate after a thousand years and evolve into the uncommon Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo!"

"Black-Jointed Bamboo grows one joint every thousand years. Its entire body is dark green, and it undergoes nirvana once every thousand years. It follows the growth pattern of one joint per heavenly layer, and only after nine joints can it transform."

"After growing nine joints, Black-Jointed Bamboo undergoes nirvana and is reborn as a bamboo shoot, becoming a ten-thousand-year Black-Jointed Bamboo King!"

"A Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King that has undergone nine nirvanas is a lower-tier soul beast of the Black Jade Divine Bamboo!"

"Legend has it that once a Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King breaks through the hundred-thousand-year threshold, it can transform into Black Jade Divine Bamboo!"

Xia Feng took out the Immortal Herb Catalogue and explained slowly.

"A Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King!"

"That kind of soul beast won't be easy to find!"

Xia Feng frowned. Ten-thousand-year Black-Jointed Bamboo Kings hid underground, and some were even nothing more than bamboo shoots.

"That won't be a problem!"

"I have a way to find the Black-Jointed Bamboo King!"

A brilliant golden light flashed in Xia Mu's eyes. Fiery Golden Eyes activated, taking in every detail of the scenery before him.

"What a case of hiding in plain sight!"

"In the core area of this cluster of Green Jade Sword Bamboo, there is a mutated ten-thousand-year Black-Jointed Bamboo King hiding."

"It has just crossed the ten-thousand-year threshold and transformed into a bamboo shoot. It is accumulating nutrients in preparation for evolution!"

Fiery Golden Eyes could perceive all things!

Under the gaze of Fiery Golden Eyes, no matter how well the Black-Jointed Bamboo King hid, it would all be in vain.

"Let's go!"

With a target in mind, the two shielded Xia Mu as they advanced. Before long, they reached the core area of the bamboo forest.

"I finally found you!"

Xia Mu found the bamboo shoot of the ten-thousand-year Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King, then summoned his Light-Hiding Sword martial soul!

Sword light flashed, and the Black-Jointed Bamboo King perished in an instant!

The moment the ten-thousand-year Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King died, the entire bamboo forest erupted. Countless bamboo leaves fell from the sky.

Every bamboo leaf resembled a sharp sword!

Wherever the bamboo leaves passed, rocks shattered and sword qi flew. They were enough to kill ordinary Soul Kings and Soul Emperors.

The sword qi storm came without end!

"What a terrifying group attack skill!"

"As the saying goes, even ants can bite an elephant to death!"

"Even Soul Kings and Soul Emperors, once trapped inside, would likely be reduced to dry bones and become nourishment for this bamboo forest after their soul power was exhausted!"

Only then did Xia Mu understand why the Sword Mountain Range was called a forbidden land for soul masters. So these Green Jade Sword Bamboo liked to launch sneak attacks from the shadows.

They secretly let soul masters enter, then ganged up on them when they hunted soul beasts. Who could possibly withstand that?

"Fifth Soul Skill—Indestructible Golden Body!"

"External Soul Bone Skill—Sword Wings—Protection!"

Xia Feng and Liu Yuer activated their defensive soul skills, forcefully withstanding the wave of attacks and buying time for Xia Mu.

"This Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King is around ten thousand eight hundred years old, just right for me!"

"Time waits for no one!"

"I need to absorb this ten-thousand-year soul ring quickly!"

Xia Mu immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, drew the soul ring into the Light-Hiding Sword, and began refining it with his eyes closed.

One incense stick's time, then two!

"A mere ten-thousand-year Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King dares to stir up trouble in my sea of consciousness? You're courting death!"

After consuming Gazing-Through-Autumn-Water Dew, Xia Mu's spiritual power had reached the terrifying Spiritual Abyss realm.

Xia Mu's current spiritual power was sufficient to crush most hundred-thousand-year soul beasts. This alone showed how formidable it was.

The Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King had only just passed ten thousand years. In terms of spiritual power alone, how could it possibly be Xia Mu's match?

"Break!"

Xia Mu shouted softly, and his vast spiritual power instantly shredded the Mutated Black-Jointed Bamboo King, assimilating it into himself.

"What a pity!"

"If my body were not still developing and my innate foundation not slightly lacking, then with my spiritual power, I could have absorbed a twenty-thousand- to thirty-thousand-year fourth soul ring!"

After speaking, Xia Mu shook his head regretfully.

What constrained Xia Mu was neither spiritual power nor physical fitness, but his age—the factor most easily overlooked.

Xia Mu's body had not fully developed, and his innate foundation was insufficient to bear a higher-level soul ring.

This was crucial.

However, exhausting the pond to catch the fish was not the act of a wise man. Only by laying a solid foundation could he build a towering edifice in the future.