Soul Spirit · Flawed

Star Dou Great Forest.

Outer Zone.

Quan Cangtian crouched behind a crooked tree.

Ten steps ahead, a Wind Wolf was gnawing on something.

It had a hundred years of cultivation.

Its fur was grayish white, its ears stood erect, and its bite was strong enough to crush bones.

He gathered Death Qi.

He drew the small amount stored in the Path Rift from his Dantian to his palm.

It was cold.

A layer of goosebumps rose on his palm.

The Wind Wolf's ears twitched.

It smelled something.

It turned its head.

Quan Cangtian gave it no time to react.

He thrust his palm forward, and Death Qi crossed the ten-step distance and smeared itself over the Wind Wolf.

The Wind Wolf's body stiffened.

All four legs went limp at once, and the bone in its mouth fell to the ground.

It wanted to howl.

Only a whimper squeezed from its throat.

Death Qi had seeped into its meridians.

The Wind Wolf lay on the ground, scraped at the dirt twice with its claws, and stopped moving.

Its eyes still moved, staring at Quan Cangtian.

Quan Cangtian walked over, grabbed the Wind Wolf by the scruff, and lifted it.

Light.

Lighter than he had expected.

The Wind Wolf whimpered twice, its body trembling, but it could not move.

Quan Cangtian took an Abundance Crystal from his Storage Soul Artifact.

It was the size of his thumbnail, emerald green, and warm.

He pressed the crystal against the Wind Wolf's forehead.

The crystal melted into it slightly, suppressing the Wind Wolf's soul fluctuations.

It stopped struggling.

Zixiao was waiting outside.

She leaned against a tree, with the Thunder Light Sword resting across her knees.

Quan Cangtian emerged carrying the Wind Wolf.

Zixiao glanced at it.

"You caught it."

Quan Cangtian nodded.

"A hundred-year Wind Wolf."

"I'll take it back for Master to study."

Zixiao stepped aside and followed behind him.

Inn.

Quan Cangtian took out a Spirit Bone from his Storage Soul Artifact.

It was palm-sized and dark white, with fine, dense patterns covering its surface.

A Spirit Bone from a ten-thousand-year soul beast.

He had saved it before and never used it.

He placed the Spirit Bone on the table.

Electrolux's voice came from his Consciousness Sea.

"Is this for me?"

Quan Cangtian nodded.

"Study the structure of the Spirit Bone."

"See how a Soul Spirit can be carried."

Electrolux fell silent for a moment.

The Spirit Bone floated up from the table, supported by an invisible force, and spun twice in midair.

Electrolux was analyzing it.

"The soul energy structure is extremely complex."

"The soul remnant inside the Spirit Bone differs from the soul of a living creature. It will take time to break it down."

Quan Cangtian asked,

"How long?"

Electrolux replied,

"At least half a month."

Quan Cangtian locked the Wind Wolf in a compartment of his Storage Soul Artifact.

The Abundance Crystal sealed its soul fluctuations, while Death Qi suppressed its meridians. It could not escape.

He waited.

Half a month later.

Quan Cangtian cleared out the inn room.

Zixiao stood guard outside the door, the Thunder Light Sword laid across her knees.

Inside the room, the Wind Wolf lay on the ground.

Its limbs were bound by Death Qi, its eyes half-open.

Electrolux's voice came from the Consciousness Sea, graver than usual.

"Begin."

Quan Cangtian arranged three Abundance Crystals on the ground in a circle.

The Wind Wolf was in the middle.

Electrolux's Undead Magic seeped from Quan Cangtian's palm.

Fine black threads wound around the Wind Wolf's forehead.

The Wind Wolf's body trembled.

Its soul was being peeled out.

Not extracted.

Separated.

The soul was separated from the body without being severed.

The Wind Wolf's eyes widened.

Its mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Half its soul was peeled from its body.

It was transparent, wolf-shaped, and one size smaller than its physical body.

Electrolux said,

"Inject the Abundance Crystal."

Quan Cangtian pressed one crystal against the Wind Wolf's soul.

The crystal shattered.

Emerald-green energy flooded into the soul body.

The soul body expanded slightly.

It was unstable.

Quan Cangtian hurriedly pressed down the second crystal.

It shattered too.

Energy poured in, and the soul body continued expanding.

Its edges began to blur.

The third crystal.

It shattered.

The soul body shuddered violently.

Then it collapsed.

Soul fragments shrank back and drilled into the Wind Wolf's body.

The Wind Wolf's body twitched once, then stopped moving.

It was still alive.

But extremely weak.

Electrolux said,

"Failure."

Quan Cangtian looked at the pile of fragments on the ground.

"What was the problem?"

Electrolux replied,

"The medium is insufficient."

"The purity of the Abundance Crystals cannot sustain the stability of the soul body."

"Three are not enough. Even thirty might not be enough."

Quan Cangtian said nothing.

He crouched down and examined the Wind Wolf.

Its breathing was shallow.

Its soul had returned, but it was injured.

Quan Cangtian said,

"I'll run the Instance Dungeon again."

Path Rift.

Abundance Instance Dungeon.

When Quan Cangtian landed, the grass beneath his feet was growing.

Emerald green, it shot upward like mad.

He ignored the grass.

After walking thirty steps forward, he saw something moving ahead.

Xuanlu.

Three of them.

Their antlers were emerald green, and whenever their hooves touched the ground, grass sprouted from the hoofprints.

Quan Cangtian did not hesitate.

He drew Death Qi up from the soles of his feet and poured it into his right palm.

The first Xuanlu charged over, lowering its antlers with two sharp prongs pointed at him.

Quan Cangtian sidestepped the antlers and slapped the Xuanlu's neck with his right hand.

Death Qi seeped in.

The Xuanlu's legs gave out, and it stumbled forward.

The second rammed at him from the side.

Quan Cangtian used the Life and Death Samsara Art.

Death Qi in front, Life Qi behind.

They circulated around his Dantian.

The power within him flowed smoothly.

Quan Cangtian drove a punch into the second Xuanlu's ribs.

Bones cracked.

The Xuanlu flew sideways and slammed into the third one, sending both rolling.

Quan Cangtian walked over and struck twice more.

Death Qi locked their meridians.

The three Xuanlu could no longer move.

Several Abundance Crystals dropped onto the ground.

Quan Cangtian picked them up.

Before he had finished collecting them, the ground began to shake.

Ahead.

A larger one.

Abundance Xuanlu.

Its antlers branched into six tines, and emerald-green light spilled from every tip.

It lowered its head, aiming the antler tips at Quan Cangtian.

It charged over.

Its hooves struck the ground, and grass grew wildly from the hoofprints, chasing Quan Cangtian's heels.

Quan Cangtian dodged to the right.

The antlers brushed past his waist, carrying the pungent scent of grass on the wind.

Quan Cangtian raised his hand.

Path of Elation.

Probability Distortion.

Miracle Trait amplification.

The Abundance Xuanlu's second charge veered at the tip of its antlers.

It was not that it had aimed wrong.

The probability had been distorted.

Its hoof stepped on a raised tree root, its front leg slipped, and its whole body lurched sideways.

Quan Cangtian seized the opening.

Death Qi flooded into his right fist, and he smashed it into Xuanlu's hind leg joint.

Crack.

The joint dislocated.

Xuanlu crashed down, its six-pronged antlers slamming into the ground and piercing the soil.

Quan Cangtian mounted it and pressed both palms against Xuanlu's back.

Death Qi poured into it.

Xuanlu struggled three times.

Then it stopped moving.

A pile of Abundance Crystals dropped onto the ground.

Quan Cangtian picked them up and counted them.

Seventeen.

More than last time.

Electrolux.

"Enough."

"Let's go back first."

The inn.

Wind Wolf was still lying on the ground.

It was weaker than it had been half a month ago.

Electrolux.

"This time, use seventeen."

Quan Cangtian arranged the crystals in a circle around Wind Wolf.

Electrolux's Undead Magic seeped from his palm once more.

Black threads wrapped around Wind Wolf's forehead.

Its soul was stripped out.

This time, the extraction was slow.

Electrolux was controlling it.

The soul form rose from the body, transparent and wolf-shaped, steadier than last time.

Quan Cangtian began infusing it with crystals.

One.

It shattered.

Energy poured in, but the soul form did not expand.

It stabilized.

The second.

The third.

The fifth.

The tenth.

The soul form became increasingly solid.

It was no longer transparent. Color began to appear, grayish-white, the same as Wind Wolf's fur.

The fifteenth.

The soul form stopped trembling.

Electrolux.

"The contract."

Quan Cangtian pressed his hand onto the soul form.

Abundance Power seeped from his palm and came into contact with the soul form.

A force connected the two.

The contract.

It succeeded.

Wind Wolf's soul form stood on the ground.

Grayish-white, translucent, with four legs and a wagging tail.

It looked at Quan Cangtian.

Quan Cangtian tried to establish a sensory connection with it.

He could feel it.

Wind Wolf's perspective.

It was lower.

The ground was close, and Quan Cangtian's feet looked huge.

He could smell things.

The scent of earth, grass, and that cool aura from Quan Cangtian's body.

It had worked.

But ten seconds later, the soul form began to fade.

At twenty seconds, it was translucent again.

At thirty seconds, its edges began to disperse.

One minute.

It dispersed.

Soul fragments drilled back into Wind Wolf's body.

Wind Wolf twitched once and went still.

Electrolux.

"A defective product."

"Maintaining it for one minute is already better than last time."

Quan Cangtian.

"Not enough."

"Di Tian wants to see a complete one."

Electrolux.

"The medium still isn't pure enough."

"The purity of Abundance Crystals can only achieve this much."

Quan Cangtian.

"What do we need?"

Electrolux paused.

"Purified Abundance Crystals."

"Or more time for research."

Quan Cangtian.

"Di Tian will come to verify it in three months."

"Is that enough?"

Electrolux.

"No."

"We need at least another month."

Quan Cangtian said nothing.

He looked at the pile of fragments on the ground and the exhausted Wind Wolf.

Three months.

The three months Di Tian had given him.

The Dark Soul Cult was also waiting for three months.

He lowered his head and looked at his palm.

The Dark Red Crystal lay quietly there.

A trace of Death Qi remained within his body, and the crystal was stable.

But there was not enough time.

Body Sect stronghold.

Basement.

Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged.

Du Busi stood beside him, one hand resting on his shoulder.

Body Power poured into him.

Within Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Sea, the phantom of the Spirit Eye rotated.

Faster than before.

As it turned, the patterns on the Spirit Eye spread outward.

They expanded from the pupil to fill the entire Spiritual Sea.

Huo Yuhao's body trembled.

It was not pain.

It was swelling.

Spiritual power surged outward, overflowing from the Spiritual Sea into his meridians, then seeping from his meridians into his flesh.

The Spirit Eye was merging with his body.

Du Busi.

"Don't rush."

"Let it proceed on its own."

Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth.

Spiritual power poured outward faster and faster.

His meridians swelled.

His bones creaked.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm huddled within the Spiritual Sea.

Ice Empress.

"Almost there."

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes.

The color of both eyes had changed.

They were no longer deep gold.

They were pale gold.

The patterns in his pupils rotated more steadily.

His spiritual power spread outward.

Previously, it had reached three hundred meters.

Now.

Five hundred meters.

Every corridor, every room, every crack in every brick throughout the Body Sect stronghold appeared in his mind.

Du Busi removed his hand.

"Not bad."

"The Spirit Eye has begun merging with his body."

Jin Peng stood at the doorway.

"What's next?"

Du Busi.

"The third step."

"Release spiritual power outward and form a spiritual domain."

"That step will be even harder."

Jin Peng.

"How long?"

Du Busi glanced at Huo Yuhao.

"That depends on him."

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm bounced around in the Spiritual Sea.

"Haohuo, you've gotten stronger again!"

Ice Empress.

"Shut up."

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm shut up.

But his antennae trembled.

Tianhun City.

Outskirts.

An abandoned warehouse.

The Titled Douluo stood in the corner.

The Soul Tool on the table lit up.

The Pontifex's voice came through.

"Make your move in three months."

The Titled Douluo.

"Why wait three months?"

The Pontifex.

"The Child of Nature is preparing a Soul Spirit."

"Let him prepare it."

"By the time he's ready, his genes will have matured as well."

The Titled Douluo said nothing.

The Pontifex.

"Harvest them all at once then."

The Soul Tool went dark.

The Titled Douluo stood there for several seconds.

He lowered his head and looked at his hand.

A dark red marking lay across the back of it.

It was faint.

The same color as the crystal in Quan Cangtian's palm.

He clenched his fist.

The marking vanished.

He turned and walked out of the warehouse.

Inn.

Quan Cangtian sat on the bed.

His palm faced upward.

The Dark Red Crystal pulsed.

Not quietly.

A little faster than before.

The trace of Death Qi lingering within his body could no longer be suppressed.

Quan Cangtian frowned.

His genes were growing.

The three-month countdown was ticking away.

He clenched his fist.

The crystal stopped.

The Death Qi was suppressed.

But he knew it would not stay suppressed for long.