Absorbing the Soul Bone

Night lay heavy inside the vine-shrouded cave.

The roaring stampede of the beast tide kept sounding outside. Every so often, the ground shuddered, sending loose stones pattering down from the cave ceiling.

Bibi Dong had forcibly burned the poison within her for a burst of power. Now, her strength was almost completely drained. Her meridians felt as though thousands upon thousands of fine needles were piercing them, waves of tearing pain washing over her.

Ning Chengyi landed heavily on the cold stone floor, several ribs damaged, blood continually seeping from the corner of his mouth. He clutched the hundred-and-fifty-thousand-year Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull tightly against his chest, its warm golden halo slowly spilling through his clothes.

Back in the stone chamber, the Fierce Wolf Group's leader, Li Huo, had been a rank forty-nine Blazing Fire Lion Soul Ancestor.

Had they been even a moment slower, this Soul Bone would have fallen into his hands.

Ning Chengyi panted heavily. Every rise and fall of his chest tugged at his broken ribs, sending heart-piercing agony straight into his mind.

Beside him, Bibi Dong was in equally terrible condition. The Twin Spider Brightflower had only suppressed the poison, not completely purged the Twin Spider Nether Flower's deadly toxin. When she recklessly unleashed her power, the two poisons had begun violently clashing within her again.

The torment of alternating heat and cold swept through her body once more.

"Ugh..."

Bibi Dong suddenly trembled. The poison muddled her consciousness, devouring her reason bit by bit. She abruptly turned, seized Ning Chengyi's arm, and sank her sharp teeth straight into his forearm.

Her teeth pierced his flesh, and warm blood immediately welled up.

As the blood flowed down her throat, its vitality actually forced back the rampaging Netherflower Poison for a brief moment.

The pain made Ning Chengyi stiffen.

He could sense that Bibi Dong was barely conscious now. Her body was instinctively craving blood to counter the sinister poison within her.

He did not struggle.

Back in the stone chamber, she had paid the price of burning herself, risking damage to her foundations, to save him from Li Huo.

Then let her drink.

A faint golden light spread from the Wisdom Skull against his chest, seeping into Ning Chengyi's head in delicate threads.

A vast, cool spiritual power slipped into him through the seven openings of his head.

Hum!!

His head shook violently, as though a layer of restraints had been smashed apart.

So this is the Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull...

Ning Chengyi exclaimed inwardly.

Without further hesitation, he pulled open his clothes. The skull, flowing with golden light, floated up and gently pressed against his forehead.

Boom!!

A fierce yet unmalicious torrent of spiritual power surged into his mind like a great river bursting through its banks.

Within his head, his formerly crude, scattered spiritual power was continually refined and expanded.

His Second Martial Soul, the Phantom Butterfly Spirit Tide, trembled violently deep within his sea of consciousness. Translucent Phantom Butterflies fluttered their wings, the radiance flowing across them many times brighter than before.

Previously, they could only release poisonous powder and create small-scale illusions.

Now, with the immense spiritual power supplied by the Soul Bone, the Phantom Butterflies' abilities rose dramatically. The reach of their illusions and the strength of their deception both soared, and even the corrosive potency of the Poison Butterfly Powder rose with the swelling tide.

Waves of tremendous energy flowed from his sea of consciousness into every limb and bone, washing against the Soul Power barrier that had blocked him for so long.

Crack!!

A faint sound of breaking quietly rang out within Ning Chengyi.

Rank seventeen, rank eighteen, rank nineteen... rank twenty!!

His shackles shattered with a thunderous crash.

Ning Chengyi's Soul Power forcibly broke through the rank-twenty threshold of Soul Grandmaster!

As the Phantom Butterfly Spirit Tide instinctively protected its master, softly colored butterfly mist spread over his battered body. Gentle spiritual life energy slowly repaired his broken ribs and bruised flesh.

The agonizing pain throughout his body faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Outside the cave, the roars of the beast tide still rose one after another.

Amid the dense woods of the Star Dou Great Forest, the beast tide was in utter chaos.

The Hehuan Ape King, its mind completely bewildered by the Beast-Luring Incense and its body covered in crimson fur, was a genuine Soul King-level Soul Beast.

Frenzied bestial lust ruled its mind. Ignoring the ordinary Soul Beasts fighting all around it, it fixed its gaze on another ape nearby-a Blazing Demon Ape that had likewise reached the Soul King level.

The Beast-Luring Incense had twisted its reason. Instead of treating the other ape as a mortal enemy, it saw a target upon which to vent its urges.

Roar!!

The Hehuan Ape King threw back its head with a furious roar, then hurled its massive body forward, charging straight at the Blazing Demon Ape.

The Blazing Demon Ape had already been slaughtering and feeding amid the beast tide. At the sight of the Hehuan Ape King charging toward it, savage light blazed in its eyes. As a fellow Soul King, its ingrained pride would never tolerate such an affront.

"Boom!!"

The two Soul King-level giant apes collided with a thunderous crash.

Sharp claws tore and enormous fists clashed. The two beasts trampled pits into the earth, and swaths of trees snapped and toppled. Violent shock waves spread outward in rings, killing many nearby low-level Soul Beasts outright with the residual force of the two Soul Kings.

Behind the chaotic beast tide, Li Huo fled in disarray with the remaining members of the Fierce Wolf Group.

With his Blazing Fire Lion under Martial Soul Possession, reddish-brown, mane-like fur covered both arms, while four purple Soul Rings and two Yellow Soul Rings revolved beneath him. Several of his men had been gravely injured by Bibi Dong's Spider Emperor phantom earlier, and now every one of them bore wounds.

"Damn it! That woman! And that brat!"

Li Huo's face was livid. His gaze swept over the beast tide's chaotic slaughter, his heart filled with bitter frustration.

He had been so close to claiming that hundred-and-fifty-thousand-year spiritual Soul Bone.

Who could have imagined that such a sickly-looking woman could unleash such terrifying power?

"Leader, those two Soul Kings are fighting to the death up ahead. Let's go around. As long as the green hills remain, we needn't fear running out of firewood," one of his men urged quietly between heavy breaths.

Li Huo gritted his teeth and glanced toward the battling giant apes. His fists clenched so tightly that his lion claws scored bloody lines across his palms. In the end, he could only spit viciously and lead his remaining men into the dense woods to the side.

Inside the cave.

Time slowly passed.

Bibi Dong's teeth remained sunk into Ning Chengyi's forearm as she continued sucking his warm blood.

As the blood kept entering her body and the Twin Spider Brightflower's medicinal effects gradually spread in full, the two intertwined, warring toxins were neutralized and dissolved bit by bit.

Clarity gradually returned to her frenzied, confused eyes.

The unnatural bouts of heat and cold slowly receded from her body.

Her Soul Power, which had fallen to the Soul Ancestor level, began recovering drop by drop, like river water slowly rising again after the tide had ebbed.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Bibi Dong suddenly shuddered, finally regaining full awareness.

She abruptly realized what she was doing and released her teeth at once. She stared at the deep ring of bite marks on Ning Chengyi's arm, blood still seeping from them.

Her cheeks instantly burned, and a powerful wave of guilt surged through her heart.

When the poison had spiraled completely out of control, she had lost all command of herself.

"I'm sorry..."

Bibi Dong's voice was faint and hoarse. She wanted to move back a little, but her body was still weak, and the slightest movement left her powerless.

Ning Chengyi slowly opened his eyes. The light within them was utterly different from before.

After the Wisdom Skull's transformation, his spiritual perception had become extraordinarily keen. Every trace of moving air inside the cave, every distant tremor from battling Soul Beasts outside, registered clearly in his mind.

The Phantom Butterfly Spirit Tide flickered behind him, butterfly light flowing through it, its aura several times stronger than before.

A rank-twenty Soul Grandmaster.

He had finally crossed the threshold into Soul Grandmaster.

"It's all right." Ning Chengyi shook his head. His gaze settled on Bibi Dong, and he could clearly sense that the poison within her had been suppressed to an extremely low level. Her Soul Power was slowly recovering.

Yet the hidden injuries left by forcibly burning the poison for that burst of power still lingered deep within her organs.

"The beast tide hasn't receded yet. Two Soul Kings are fighting to the death outside, and Li Huo is still prowling nearby with the remnants of the Fierce Wolf Group." Ning Chengyi frowned slightly, looking through gaps in the vines at the heavy darkness outside. "For now, we still can't leave."

Bibi Dong fell silent for a moment, gently pressing her delicate hand to her chest. She could clearly feel her Soul Power slowly reviving, but the lingering ache left by burning her source constantly reminded her of the price she had paid.

She raised her eyes to Ning Chengyi. Her gaze settled on the boy's arm, covered in bite marks and still bleeding, then shifted to the faint golden marking flickering between his brows. She spoke softly:

"You... finished absorbing that Wisdom Skull?"

Ning Chengyi nodded.

Just then, outside the cave, the thunderous collisions between the two Soul King apes suddenly intensified.

Along with an earth-shaking ape roar, one of the giant apes let out a piercing scream of agony. From the sound, it was unmistakably the Hehuan Ape King whose mind had been bewitched by the Beast-Luring Incense.