God-Making Plan

"Hey, kid, what's wrong?" Seeing Qin Muchu stand there in a daze without saying a word, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finally spoke up.

"Nothing." His thoughts interrupted, Qin Muchu shook his head. "By the way, do you know what that Soul Beast fighting Di Tian was?"

A trace of lingering fear crossed the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's face. "No. That creature was shrouded in black mist. I couldn't tell what it was at all. But Di Tian seemed to know it. He looked shocked when he heard its voice."

Unable to get anything useful out of him, Qin Muchu let the matter drop. He glanced at the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. "So what are you going to do now? There are plenty of humans in the Soul Hunting Forest."

Bitterness filled the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's humanlike face. "What else can I do? Find somewhere comfortable and wait to die. I have to face my million-year heavenly tribulation in a few hundred years, and now there's no way I'll survive it. For the past nine hundred and ninety thousand years, all I've done is sleep and eat. I might as well enjoy the taste of freedom while I can."

At that moment, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm cried out in pain. A faint layer of black spread across his white body.

"What's wrong?" Qin Muchu asked in surprise when the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finally recovered.

"Hiss. I didn't expect that brute's attack to be so vicious. Its power is still tearing my body apart. Looks like I won't even get to enjoy my final days." Despair filled the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice. "Human kid, our meeting must be fate. I'm asking you for a favor. After I die, take my body to the Far North Ice Plains and give it to the Ice Empress."

"Uh, you want her to eat you?" Qin Muchu asked, his expression turning strange.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm nodded. "Bingbing has always been fierce, and she even hunted me down once. But she left her mark on my heart long ago. I couldn't do anything for her while I was alive, so when I die, I'll give her all my power."

Qin Muchu was speechless. He had seen plenty of lovesick fools, but never one who took it this far.

"Then why not let her absorb your essence while you're still alive?"

"You don't understand." The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm shook his head. "Life is precious, but love is worth more. For the sake of freedom, I'd cast them both away."

"...How much longer do you have?" A plan suddenly took shape in Qin Muchu's mind.

"About two years. Why?"

"Brother Sky Dream, have you ever thought about a God-Making Plan?"

"A God-Making Plan? What's that?" the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm asked.

"In your nearly million-year life, you must have witnessed quite a few gods ascend, right?" When the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm nodded, Qin Muchu continued, "But Soul Beasts can never become gods, for certain reasons. Every hundred-thousand-year tribulation is fraught with deadly peril. And you've managed to grow this far despite having no strength at all. I'm afraid the gods of the Divine Realm allowed that on purpose. Even if you became a god yourself, you'd probably end up as their power source. Besides, you only have two years left. Humans are different. Every few tens of thousands of years, one of us becomes a god. If you sacrifice yourself to a human with the potential for godhood and become his Wisdom Soul Ring, then once he becomes a god, you can be revived as his companion Soul Beast and share his endless lifespan."

As the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm listened, his eyes grew wider and wider. "Kid, that's madness. But I like it. There's just one thing—what's a Wisdom Soul Ring?"

"A Wisdom Soul Ring is a special Soul Ring that lets you retain your intelligence and consciousness after sacrificing yourself. Once you become one, your soul can dwell in a human Soul Master's Sea of Consciousness and wait for him to become a god and revive you," Qin Muchu explained. He did not know how a Wisdom Soul Ring was formed, but that did not matter. The insect before him had originally come up with both the God-Making Plan and the Wisdom Soul Ring. Give him a direction, and he would surely figure it out soon enough.

Sure enough, after thinking for only a moment, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm nodded. "I understand. But there's one last problem. Where do we find a human with the potential to become a god? You humans may be blessed by the heavens, but even so, only one becomes a god every few tens of thousands of years."

Qin Muchu said confidently, "There's one right in front of you."

"You?" The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm looked Qin Muchu up and down, then scoffed. "Kid, it's not that I look down on you, but what makes you think you have the makings of a god?"

"This." Qin Muchu released his Soul Ring.

"A Ten-Year Soul Ring? You... No, wait. That's not a Ten-Year Soul Ring. That's... that's..."

Seeing Tian Meng struck dumb, Qin Muchu smiled. "You sensed it right. This really is a Million-Year Soul Ring."

"A Million-Year Soul Ring? How is that possible? How could there be another Million-Year Soul Beast in this world?" The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm looked as though he had suffered a crushing blow. He had always believed himself to be the first Million-Year Soul Beast in history. Now he had found a Million-Year Soul Ring on a human, and he could hardly accept it.

"No. Apart from your Soul Beast Co-Ruler, you're the only Million-Year Soul Beast on this continent. As for where my Soul Ring came from, you'll find out eventually. Well, Brother Sky Dream? Do you believe I have a chance of becoming a god now?"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm gave Qin Muchu a long look. "You're hiding quite a few secrets, kid. You might really be able to become a god. I only have a few years left anyway, so I'll take this gamble with you. When you reach level twenty, I'll sacrifice myself to you. But your body can't withstand my vast Soul Power, built up over nearly a million years. We'll have to place seals in your Sea of Consciousness."

Qin Muchu nodded. "I understand. But you'll need to prepare seals strong enough to contain a Million-Year Soul Ring."

"Why?" the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm asked, puzzled. "I may call myself the first Million-Year Soul Beast in history, but I'm still a few hundred years short of a full million years of cultivation."

"Because I have a way to bring you to the true million-year level by then," Qin Muchu said mysteriously. The System Shop had plenty of pills that increased cultivation. He could not withstand them himself right now, but the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm would have no problem. Besides, he only needed a few hundred years. One Beast Essence Pill costing thirty million Gold Soul Coins would do it.

With everything settled, Qin Muchu put the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm into his Storage Soul Tool. His parents had left it to him. The System Shop sold Soul Tools too, but they cost far more than they did outside, so he had not bought one. After years of studying the shop, he had worked out some of its rules. For things unique to Douluo Continent, such as Soul Rings and Soul Bones, the system had to create them in accordance with this plane's rules, so they were relatively expensive. Things it could bring directly from other worlds, such as cultivation techniques, were much cheaper.

Once everything was in order, Qin Muchu hurried toward the place where Xiao Wu was forming her Soul Ring. He did not know whether she had successfully formed her Second Soul Ring while he was unconscious.