Trial Prodigy

"Phew..." Su Bo exhaled a breath of stale air and calmed the surging blood and qi within him.

His fist intent was vast and mighty, suppressing demons and exterminating evil.

The nearly immortal trait of the Withered Bone Demon Corpse was crushed in an instant. Ignited by a martial artist's blood and qi, it burned until only a trace of black ash remained.

As the demon corpse burned away, specks of lustrous green light gathered together, forming a flickering ghostly flame.

"Clack..." Soul fire... reward...

"Clack..." Absorb... strengthen soul...

The Greatsword Skeleton's clacking continued, urging Su Bo to absorb the soul fire.

Otherwise, it would dissipate.

The emerald ghostly flame flickered and danced, emitting faint ripples of soul power. It was pure, yet brimming with vigorous vitality.

Su Bo considered it for a moment, then reached out and grabbed it.

The instant he touched the soul fire, the ghostly flame merged into his body.

The next moment, a cool sensation arose within him, continuously soaking through his entire body and nourishing his soul, something he could neither see nor touch.

Even his mind seemed to grow slightly clearer.

The exhaustion born from days of fleeing, cultivation, and insight faded somewhat.

Mm, even his own comprehension...

Su Bo weighed it carefully. Nourished by the soul fire, his comprehension had probably... perhaps... maybe increased by just a tiny bit.

Converted into numbers, it was probably one ten-thousandth... or perhaps not even that much!

"Clack~" Continue... trial~

After the soul fire was absorbed, the Greatsword Skeleton stepped aside, revealing a passage out of the graveyard and out of the Withered Bone Demon Forest.

Su Bo glanced over and could already see the world beyond the boundary.

He had spent several hours in the Dark Forest before breaking into this eerie graveyard.

Yet behind the Greatsword Skeleton lay the exit from the Dark Forest.

Clearly, this massive creature was terrifyingly powerful. It had forcibly opened a passage between the graveyard and the exit of this strange forest.

He would not need to make another long journey, wandering in circles through the darkness.

After pondering for a moment, Su Bo looked at the skeleton. "The trial... what comes next?"

"Clack, clack... clack~" The Greatsword Skeleton's soul fire rippled, sending waves of spiritual power outward.

"Kill... two Withered Bone Demon Corpses..."

"Reward: soul fire..."

"Pfft... pfft pfft~~"

Before Su Bo could ask another question, two burial mounds exploded. Two Withered Bone Demon Corpses burst from the graves and charged straight at him.

Dark green fluid, wildly flailing vines, revolting corpses...

Watching the Withered Bone Demon Corpses rush toward him, Su Bo sighed softly. "Hey... couldn't you wait and let me finish speaking?"

Boom!!!

Bixi~~!!

At the entrance on the other side of the Withered Bone Demon Forest.

At the border stood over a dozen haphazardly built wooden huts, with a few crude wooden fences roughly erected around them.

It could barely be called a "camp."

Inside the camp, more than a dozen young men and women sat around a bonfire, eating roasted demon beast meat. Their bodies all radiated surging, majestic martial artists' blood and qi.

"Yi You, have you made up your mind?" Sparks rose from the bonfire as a Leopardfolk girl with her collar open wide gnawed boldly on a meaty bone.

With several crunches of her sharp fangs, she chewed up the meat and bone together before swallowing them.

After devouring the bone in a few bites, she raised her head and grinned, revealing a mouthful of pointed teeth. "How about leaving behind a child with me before you go?"

"So you won't waste that fine martial bone of yours if you die in there?"

"Don't worry. After mating with us Leopardfolk, bearing offspring will—"

"Bao Lili, shut your damn mouth!"

Boom!!!

Before the Leopardfolk girl Bao Lili could even react, someone beside her sent her flying with a punch and shoved her head into the ground.

Half of Bao Lili's body stuck up into the air, and her half-open collar fell completely open.

All the young men present froze for a moment, then swiftly looked away.

The one who had thrown the punch was another beautiful young woman. She looked almost no different from an ordinary human, except for the pair of wings on her back.

A Winged Folk genius—Feiyu Xiaoxiao!

Feiyu Xiaoxiao's sharp gaze swept over everyone, making them afraid to meet her eyes. They all avoided her gaze and looked elsewhere around the camp.

Aside from Yi You, she possessed the most terrifying strength in the camp—seven body temperings.

After quite some time, Bao Lili finally pulled her head out of the ground. Despite taking a punch, she looked completely unharmed.

The physique of the beastkin was frighteningly strong.

As for fighting Feiyu Xiaoxiao to get even, Bao Lili was not that stupid. She was no match for her, so why go looking for a beating?

After pulling herself free, Bao Lili muttered indignantly, "I wasn't wrong. If he dies in the Withered Bone Demon Forest, wouldn't his martial bone talent be wasted?"

"The Beastfolk have never produced a genius who possesses both beastfolk blood and a martial bone..."

"I really want to give birth to one!"

Bao Lili stared hungrily at Yi You, who sat at the other end. As a member of the beastkin, finding a high-quality mate and producing even better offspring was an instinct engraved into every beastkin's bloodline.

Among everyone present, Yi You was the strongest, and his talent was the most terrifying. He absolutely met every requirement the beastkin had for choosing a mate.

Yi You sighed helplessly as he met Bao Lili's undisguised, covetous gaze.

"Lili, the Yi Clan will never allow its bloodline to flow outside the clan."

"Hmph~" Bao Lili suppressed the greed in her eyes and said unhappily, "Old-fashioned fools. The Pan-Human Federation has existed for tens of thousands of years. It has always promoted the integration of all our races, hoping for more exceptionally talented human geniuses to be born..."

"Yet your Yi Clan still clings to that ridiculous rule about not allowing your bloodline to leave the clan..."

"No wonder the Yi Clan's ranking within the Federation has been falling for nearly ten thousand years. You're practically about to fall out of the top hundred."

"Indeed!" Feiyu Xiaoxiao agreed with that point.

In the past, the Winged Folk had also stubbornly followed old rules. They refused to allow their bloodline to leave the clan and strictly prohibited men and women of their race from marrying members of other human races.

The result was that, in only a few thousand years, the Winged Folk were surpassed by countless human races.

The Winged Folk, once consistently ranked among the top thirty races of the Pan-Human Federation, fell completely from grace and dropped below the thousandth rank.

Fortunately, more than twenty thousand years ago, the Winged Folk produced a great leader.

He abolished some clan rules that should have been discarded, including the ban on intermarriage with other human races, allowing men and women of the clan to freely marry members of other human races.

Over the following ten thousand years, the Winged Folk began to rise again. They now ranked 102nd among all races.

Yi You gave a bitter smile. The rules had been set by the clan elders. He was merely an ordinary clansman; even as a prodigy, he had no say in the matter.

Unless he could one day reach the seventh realm of martial arts.

Otherwise, he had to obey. An arm could not twist a thigh.

"Forget it, let's not talk about that for now..." Feiyu Xiaoxiao had no interest in such matters. No matter how declined the Yi Clan was, it was still among the top hundred human races.

It was not something races outside the top hundred could comment on.

"Yi You, are you really planning to venture into the Withered Bone Demon Forest?"

"Yes!" Yi You's expression was calm, but a sharp arrow intent burst forth. Behind him, it faintly formed into a divine arrow capable of piercing through the blazing sun.

Everyone by the bonfire felt a piercing sharpness, as though it would bore through their flesh.

The Yi Clan's exclusive martial intent—Sun-Shooting Intent!

Legend had it that in ancient times, the Yi Clan's arrow intent had not been called the Sun-Shooting Intent.

It was only because an ancestor of the Yi Clan had used this intent on the Ten Thousand Races Battlefield to kill, with a single arrow and seventh-realm strength, the eighth-realm Golden Crow Clan ancestor after he transformed into a blazing sun.

Thus, all races came to call the Yi Clan's arrow intent the Sun-Shooting Intent.