"Clang... clang, clang!!"
The great cauldron shook. Layer upon layer of hidden force swirled through its contents as Su Bo, lost in sudden enlightenment, held nothing back.
Every palm strike carried power comparable to that of a Gang Realm martial artist.
His blood and qi, condensed until they resembled blood astral energy, merged with his intent and seeped into the broth, the Soul Vine, and the many precious ingredients in the cauldron.
Under the rapid shocks, they broke apart, crumbled to powder, and blended into one.
The impurities separated under the force of the vibrations and rose to the surface, where Yi You skimmed them away one ladleful at a time.
He had long since stopped using his own strength to stir the cauldron.
There was no need. The force of Su Bo's strikes had taken over his role completely, leaving him only to skim off the medicinal impurities.
He even had to spare some of his strength to withstand the violent force traveling through the cauldron.
One careless moment, and Su Bo's terrifying power might send him flying.
The golden glow of the martial feast's broth grew more concentrated. A rich aura of the Dao spread outward, and the cauldron could no longer contain the vast medicinal power within.
A faint medicinal fragrance drifted out. Yi You and Liu Yue's minds gradually sank into it.
Their souls quietly grew stronger...
Not far away, the Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton had finished filling one grave after another. Sensing the aura of the Dao above the cauldron, the ghostly green soul flames in its eyes flickered.
It had seen Soul Vine used to brew potent medicines and martial feasts many times.
After obtaining Soul Vine, the human prodigies taking the trial would immediately brew it into medicine or a martial feast, hoping to open a Divine Aperture and nurture an innate divine ability.
That would give them a stronger foundation for their future martial path.
The Starry Sky Trial had begun ten thousand years ago. Beast Planet had been designated one of its trial grounds two thousand years ago.
It was no secret that the Soul-Spirit Burial Grounds could produce Soul Vine, which could be brewed into medicine or a martial feast to open a Divine Aperture and nurture an Innate Divine Ability...
After all, Soul Vine worked only for martial artists at the physical-body stage. Beyond that level, it had no effect.
The other major trial stars also offered similar opportunities, or even better ones.
Soul Vine from Beast Planet had a relatively low chance of helping someone open a Divine Aperture and nurture an Innate Divine Ability. Among the forbidden grounds across the major trial stars, it was hardly a top-tier opportunity.
So no powerful martial artist had much reason to covet it.
But a terrifying prodigy like Su Bo appearing in the Soul-Spirit Burial Grounds, then brewing a martial feast with such a rich aura of the Dao...
In the hundreds of years it had guarded these forbidden grounds, the Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton had never seen anything like it.
In past Starry Sky Trials, most prodigies who entered the Soul-Spirit Burial Grounds had been martial talents of roughly Yi You and Liu Yue's caliber.
A few were slightly stronger, but only slightly.
Of course, a small number were weaker still and might not even obtain Soul Vine.
In all its centuries guarding the Soul-Spirit Burial Grounds, it had never even heard of a prodigy like Su Bo, much less seen one.
Shouldn't a top prodigy like Su Bo have gone to a more competitive major trial star?
The Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton did not understand...
Its soul flames flickering, it sensed the rich aura of the Dao above the cauldron and pondered the chance of Soul Vine opening a Divine Aperture and nurturing an Innate Divine Ability...
It had risen from less than one percent to at least ten or twenty percent.
"Click..." Should I invest?
"Clack, clack... click..." Su... Su Bo is worth it...
The Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton's soul flames trembled wildly.
As a spirit skeleton with intelligence and awareness no less than a human's, it had ambitions of its own. It did not want to remain trapped here like its predecessors.
Not until its soul flames went out and it perished.
It wanted to leave the Trial Star. It wanted to venture into the starry sky. It wanted to see what higher realms awaited the Spirit Skeleton Clan.
A short length of Soul Vine appeared...
Unlike the piece it had given Su Bo earlier, this one bore a hazy, illusory fruit that seemed not to exist in the present.
Three pale-gold rings of light hovered around the fruit, which seemed at once mist and substance.
"A Three-Turn Soulfruit?" Liu Yue turned toward the Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton the moment it moved and spotted the vine and fruit in its hand.
He cried out at once, staring at it in disbelief.
How could the Soul-Spirit Burial Grounds produce a Soulfruit?
If martial artists outside learned that the Soul-Spirit Burial Grounds could produce a Three-Turn Soulfruit, even King-level martial artists would be tempted to come seize it.
The Soulfruit was a precious treasure said to restore a martial artist's soul in an instant, even after it had been extinguished.
It could even help martial artists above the Divine Ability Realm open a Divine Aperture and nurture an Innate Divine Ability.
A One-Turn Soulfruit corresponded to the Divine Ability Realm.
Two turns... the Dharma Image Realm!
Three turns... Nirvana Kings!
In the Federation, a single Three-Turn Soulfruit could be traded for three Life Stars!
"Click..." Correct... You have some knowledge, at least...
After glancing at Liu Yue, the Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton flicked its hand and tossed the Soul Vine and Three-Turn Soulfruit away. The vine and fruit spun through the air...
They fell straight into the great cauldron, dissolving into vast soul power and life force that merged with its contents.
Yi You froze for a moment. "What was that?"
"A Three-Turn... Soulfruit!" Liu Yue rushed over and stared into the cauldron.
"A Three... three, three... three, Three-Turn Soulfruit?" Yi You's eyes nearly popped out as he stared at the cauldron in disbelief.
Was this martial feast even something he deserved to eat?
Even martial artists at the Nirvana King level would drool over a Three-Turn Soulfruit.
As for himself, before opening a Divine Aperture and nurturing an Innate Divine Ability, he had only thought he stood a fair chance of becoming a king one day.
And it was only a chance. If anything went wrong along the way...
He might well die young somewhere among the stars.
Prodigies dying before reaching their potential were nothing unusual in the starry sky. It happened far too often.
"Then what is this..." Liu Yue and Yi You looked toward the Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton.
"Click..." An investment~
The Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton glanced at them and calmly added, "Click~" You two are getting a bargain...
"Click, click, click..." From now on, you two are his... hm... little brothers. That's right, little brothers...
"Click..." Little brothers get benefits... rewards...
Powerful mental waves poured into their minds.
The Gravekeeper Spirit Skeleton kept trying to convince them to become Su Bo's little brothers. If they did the job well, the rewards would be enormous.
Without Su Bo, they would never even have laid eyes on that Three-Turn Soulfruit.
Liu Yue and Yi You exchanged a look. Each saw the same aggrieved expression on the other's face, and neither felt particularly good about it.
Were they not even worthy of being Su Bo's good brothers?
Could they only be his little brothers?
They both curled their lips and shut out the mental waves. Not listening. Not listening. Just a tortoise chanting scripture. For the sake of the Three-Turn Soulfruit, they would pretend they had heard nothing.
Little brothers? Not even a dog would sign up for that...
As the Soul Vine and Soulfruit dissolved into the broth, Su Bo's strikes drove waves of force through it. The life force and soul power inside the cauldron surged.
If the martial feast brewed from Soul Vine alone had offered a ten-to-twenty-percent chance of opening a Divine Aperture and nurturing an Innate Divine Ability,
then adding the Three-Turn Soulfruit gave the feast...
another fifty-percent chance of helping someone do so.
The rich aura of the Dao above the cauldron surged again. The Bixi Divine Form behind Su Bo grew more solid as it absorbed the aura.
Its form and essence strengthened, becoming Su Bo's greatest foundation.
At the same time, Su Bo's understanding of the Baxia Coiling Dragon Stance deepened. He had transformed the entire stance beyond recognition.
The stance had become entirely his own.
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