The Silver Dragon King gave a soft laugh and said to Di Tian:
"Di Tian, take this human to that Ice Silkworm."
"Lord, is this really all right?"
Di Tian could not help asking.
It was no wonder he hesitated. Even to the Ferocious Beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was a genuine treasure. The Silver Dragon King was simply giving it away, and Di Tian truly found it painful to part with it.
The Silver Dragon King said indifferently:
"Enough. Take him there. Since the future he saw showed that we would ultimately be forced into that situation, it means the path we took was wrong. Since that is the case, we should naturally try another path. Besides..."
She glanced at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion in the distance, smiling as she said:
"We were already planning to find a way to extend his lifespan. To extend a human's lifespan, the first thing we need to do is strengthen him, isn't that right?"
"...Understood."
After a moment of silence, Di Tian nodded and patted Bai Chen's head.
"Kid, come with me. I'll take you to meet the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm you mentioned."
"Okay!"
Bai Chen immediately became excited.
He had originally thought that awakening the Three-Eyed Golden Lion Martial Soul in the Douluo I Era meant he would have no chance of ever meeting the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
After all, during the Douluo I Era, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had yet to escape the Ferocious Beasts. Trying to get past their watch and make contact with him was nothing but a fantasy.
Who would have thought that things would take a turn after only one night?
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm
Led by Di Tian, Bai Chen arrived at a cave within the Great Beast Land.
Deep in the cave, he saw a huge worm tightly bound by Seven-Colored Chains.
It was the true first Million-Year Soul Beast in the history of the Douluo Continent—the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
There were also legends claiming that the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had been the first Million-Year Soul Beast. However, according to what the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said in the Douluo II Era, when he became a Million-Year Soul Beast, the Plane Will had informed him that he was the first.
Considering that the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King truly had not given Tang San a Second Martial Soul and four Soul Skills, it was clear that he had still been some distance away from becoming a Million-Year Soul Beast.
Then again, according to what the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said in the Douluo II Era, he should not yet have reached the Million-Year level during the Douluo I Era either.
His current appearance proved that point. There were only nine Golden Veins on his body, while the tenth was merely faintly visible and had yet to truly appear.
After thinking for a moment, Bai Chen asked Di Tian:
"Di Tian, roughly how many years of cultivation does he have now?"
Di Tian glanced at the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and answered:
"Around 999,000 years."
As expected.
Bai Chen immediately felt relieved.
Although the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm only crossed the Million-Year threshold ten thousand years later, one could not forget that he had spent nearly all of those ten thousand years being drained dry.
The energy in his entire body had been madly extracted. It would have been good enough if his cultivation had increased during those ten thousand years; expecting him to remain completely unaffected would have been wishful thinking.
It now seemed that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had gained a thousand years of cultivation over those ten thousand years before finally crossing the Million-Year barrier.
If that was the case, then this would be easy.
If he had been short by ten thousand years, it might have been somewhat troublesome for Bai Chen. But if he was only short by a thousand years, there were countless ways to let the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm rapidly cultivate to a million years.
Bai Chen pleaded with Di Tian:
"Di Tian, can you use the power in the Lake of Life to help him break through to a million years? You know that even a 99,999-year Soul Beast and a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast have a qualitative difference between them. I hope he can break through to a million years. Please."
"...I'll go ask Lord what she thinks. You should negotiate with him first."
Di Tian fell silent for a moment before turning and walking out of the cave.
Bai Chen let out a breath, slowly approached the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, and crouched down.
"Hello, Brother Sky Dream."
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm reacted to his greeting, and his enormous body suddenly trembled.
"Huh? Who are you? Were you calling me?"
"..."
Right. It seemed the name Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was something he had given himself after breaking through to a million years. In other words, he did not even know that name yet.
Bai Chen smiled.
"Of course. What, don't you think that name sounds cool?"
"Mm... Sky Dream, Sky Dream... Hehe, it really is a cool name that suits me perfectly. Then from now on, that's what I'll be called!"
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm seemed quite excited as he asked:
"You're not a Soul Beast, are you? Why has a human like you come here?"
"That's a long story."
Bai Chen gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"In short, you can think of it as the Three-Eyed Golden Lion bringing me here. After learning about your situation, I want to help you escape this place."
"Really? How are you planning to help me?"
The moment he heard that he might be able to escape, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm immediately perked up.
He was trapped in the Star Dou Great Forest, unable to see any future at all.
Bai Chen's arrival had brought him brand-new hope.
Bai Chen said seriously:
"There is a way. Listen to me..."
Then, he roughly recounted the Wisdom Soul Ring and God-Making Plan that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had come up with in the original Douluo II story.
"Mm... that really is a good idea."
After hearing it, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said somewhat awkwardly:
"But developing something called a Wisdom Soul Ring won't be easy. It will take a long time. Can you hold on until then?"
As the developer of the Wisdom Soul Ring, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was undeniably a genius. It could be said that he had laid the foundation for Soul Spirits, while Electrolux had used that foundation to formally create them.
But even for him, immediately creating a Wisdom Soul Ring was impossible.
Human lifespans were simply too short compared to Soul Beasts. He was afraid that Bai Chen would die before he finished developing the Wisdom Soul Ring.
"It's fine."
Bai Chen waved his hand and said:
"I can find a similar technique for you. You can just modify that technique afterward."
The technique he meant was naturally the Soul Spirit.
As a technique Electrolux had transformed using the Wisdom Soul Ring as its foundation, Soul Spirits surpassed Wisdom Soul Rings in many respects.
However, Wisdom Soul Rings also had one advantage that Soul Spirits lacked: they could compress a Soul Beast's power to the extreme, allowing a Soul Master to obtain an absurdly powerful Soul Ring in advance.
More specifically, even a Title Douluo would find it nearly impossible to absorb a 400,000-year Ice Empress Soul Spirit, yet Huo Yuhao had accomplished it while he only had Two Rings.
Of course, that was not because Huo Yuhao had been particularly powerful at the time. It was purely due to the special nature of the Wisdom Soul Ring.
Since Soul Spirits could be developed through Wisdom Soul Rings, there was no reason Wisdom Soul Rings could not be reverse-engineered from Soul Spirits.
Bai Chen could wait. As long as he could obtain the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, waiting for a while would be absolutely worthwhile.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was also quite tempted.
"Then it's settled. When will you give me that technique?"
"As soon as possible. In the meantime, you should start thinking about how to create the Wisdom Soul Ring."
Bai Chen and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm hit it off immediately. They discussed the matter for more than half the night before Bai Chen finally walked out of the cave where the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was held.
Only after coming outside did he discover that the Silver Dragon King and Di Tian had been waiting for him for quite some time.
The Silver Dragon King said indifferently:
"Di Tian and I have discussed it. You want me to use resources to force the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm up to a million years. Fine. But first, you must show your value. I heard your conversation with the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm just now. Perfect. Use the Soul Spirit technique in exchange. Do you have any objections?"
"No."
Bai Chen had never intended to hide the information about Soul Spirits in the first place. Using it as a bargaining chip suited him perfectly.
"Then go cultivate first. Until the you from twenty thousand years later figures out Soul Spirits, you are not allowed to leave the Great Beast Land by even half a step."
"Yes."
Bai Chen nodded obediently, then headed into the distance.
The Silver Dragon King watched him leave, her gaze somewhat melancholy.
While Bai Chen had been negotiating with the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, she had also spoken with the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. She had basically heard all about the state of Soul Beasts in the Douluo III Era.
There was no denying that humans possessed creativity and wisdom that Soul Beasts did not. It was precisely because of those two qualities that the gap between humans and Soul Beasts had grown wider and wider.
This was an extremely difficult problem to solve. For now, she could only trust Bai Chen's words.
Thinking of this, the Silver Dragon King wearily closed her eyes.
Little Sister
In the Douluo III Era, early in the morning, Na'er opened her eyes on a large bed in the Bai Family Villa.
"..."
Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, she blinked blankly. She sat up from the bed and saw Bai Chen sitting before a computer at a desk not far away, intently browsing the information on the screen while writing something on paper.
She quietly got out of bed and approached Bai Chen.
Unexpectedly, before she even got close to him, Bai Chen spoke without turning around.
"You're awake? How did you sleep last night?"
"...!"
Na'er's whole body trembled, and she immediately stopped in her tracks.
Bai Chen did not seem to intend to press her further. He continued browsing the knowledge recorded online, and the movement of his hand never stopped.
After a while, Na'er answered in a soft voice:
"I... slept very comfortably..."
That was the truth.
Her memories were a complete mess, but ever since she could remember, she had lived on the streets. Let alone sleeping in such a luxurious house, she had never even slept in a bed.
"That's good."
Bai Chen had just finished writing the final word. He put down his pen, turned to Na'er, and smiled.
"Then from today onward, this will be your room. And it will also be your home."
"Um..."
Na'er asked timidly:
"Don't you still need to ask your father for permission?"
She had heard Bai Chen's conversation with Xue E yesterday. At least in her understanding, she had not yet been adopted.
"It's fine."
However, Bai Chen assured her in a firm tone:
"Don't worry. No matter what, I'll definitely convince Dad."
There was naturally a reason he was so confident.
As the direct recipient of his father's love, he understood better than anyone just how much that man doted on him.
Before you continue