Beast Spirit

Xiao Yuan's heart tightened. He hurriedly circulated his Dou Qi and dodged sideways.

The fireball grazed past his side and smashed into the rock wall behind him. With a thunderous boom, the stone burst apart, sending fragments flying everywhere.

This exchange had taken a considerable toll on Xiao Yuan as well.

Damn it, at this rate, this brute will wear me to death...

Xiao Yuan spat, unable to stop himself from cursing inwardly.

He fixed his gaze on the Crimson Flame Tiger's head. The Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art ran at full force within him, gathering all his Thunderfire Dou Qi into his fists.

"Now!"

Using the smoke and dust from the explosion as cover, Xiao Yuan moved like lightning. He suddenly leaped up, his fists wrapped in violet-crimson Thunderfire, and smashed them toward the Crimson Flame Tiger's forehead.

The Crimson Flame Tiger roared angrily and raised a paw to block. The two forces collided violently, and the tremendous impact sent Xiao Yuan flying backward, a dull pain spreading through his chest.

Yet his punch had also severely wounded the Crimson Flame Tiger with the tyrannical power of thunderfire.

The Crimson Flame Tiger let out a shrill roar. Its enormous body shook violently, and the flames burning across its surface rapidly dimmed.

Xiao Yuan steadied himself, panting heavily as he stared at the fierce tiger.

Only after it had fallen to the ground and remained motionless for a long time did Xiao Yuan finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Perhaps still uneasy deep down, Xiao Yuan found a fairly long branch in a nearby clearing and jabbed relentlessly at the Crimson Flame Tiger's corpse.

After several dozen more jabs drew no response, Xiao Yuan finally believed that the Crimson Flame Tiger was thoroughly dead. He relaxed completely and slumped to the ground.

"Fuck, good thing I reacted fast. That brute nearly killed me."

He gasped for breath, more than half his Dou Qi spent. Sweat dripped from his jaw onto the scorching rocks, instantly evaporating into wisps of white vapor.

With the Crimson Flame Tiger dead, the hunger to devour emanating from the Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art within Xiao Yuan grew stronger rather than fading.

It even gave Xiao Yuan the faint illusion that he wanted to tear apart the corpse before him and swallow it raw.

"With such a strong reaction, could this thing have a magic core?"

Doubt stirred in Xiao Yuan's heart, but he still approached with his dagger, intending to cut up the brute's corpse and store it in his Storage Ring.

Xiao Yuan swung his dagger and plunged it into the Crimson Flame Tiger's corpse, but the expected sight of its belly being split open never appeared.

Instead, the Crimson Flame Tiger's flesh slowly crumbled, dissolving into specks of crimson firelight. No magical beast's corpse remained. In its place floated a crimson Beast Soul, resembling flowing flames.

This fiery Beast Soul retained the outline of a fierce tiger, gently writhing as it gave off the aura that agitated the Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art.

Xiao Yuan's pupils contracted in shock.

"How is that possible? A magical beast dies and leaves no body, only a soul that looks like flames?"

Xiao Yuan slowly approached. The Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art continued trembling within him, its hunger to devour growing ever stronger.

The crimson flames seemed to sense Xiao Yuan drawing near. The Crimson Flame Tiger's soul within kept snarling at him, as though trying to drive away this intruder.

"Compared to the aura deep in the valley, this one... seems to be only an offshoot."

Xiao Yuan reached out, wanting to feel the flames' temperature up close. Yet the instant his hand drew near, the beast flame seemed to have found where it belonged. It crawled along his arm and rushed straight toward his heart.

Everything happened in a flash. By the time Xiao Yuan reacted, the beast flame before him had already vanished.

Xiao Yuan felt a scorching torrent surge wildly into the meridians of his arm. Its searing power rushed straight toward his heart, and excruciating pain instantly swept through his entire body.

"This is bad!"

Alarm seized him. He hurriedly mobilized his Dou Qi, sending violet-crimson Thunderfire surging through his meridians in an attempt to stop the beast flame that had suddenly invaded him.

But the flames seemed to possess intelligence. After entering his body, they did not burn his flesh directly, instead rampaging through his meridians and repeatedly battering his dantian.

At that moment, the Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art thundered into action on its own. Like a great beast long starved, it frantically tugged at and devoured the flame Origin that had intruded into his body.

On one side, the Beast Soul struggled instinctively, seeking to occupy his dantian and turn the tables by eroding Xiao Yuan's soul. On the other, the Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art forcefully dismantled and refined that power.

The two forces clashed fiercely within him. Xiao Yuan's muscles went rigid, veins bulged on his forehead, and cold sweat streamed down like rain.

Just then, a savage, bloodthirsty impulse flooded his mind, urging him to unleash his instincts like a wild beast.

Once that impulse appeared, it spiraled out of control, relentlessly eroding his sanity.

"This... this is... that Crimson Flame Tiger's consciousness?"

Xiao Yuan reacted quickly, grasping the situation at once. The Crimson Flame Tiger's soul had invaded him.

Now, the Crimson Flame Tiger's savage, bloodthirsty will kept influencing him, even seeking to reshape him.

Xiao Yuan smiled bitterly. Had he known, he would never have reached out to touch those flames. Now he had gained nothing and instead gotten himself covered in filth.

An ordinary rank-two magical beast naturally lacked such an ability, but there was no telling what fortuitous opportunity this Crimson Flame Tiger had encountered.

A special flame was actually attached to its soul. Ever since the Crimson Flame Tiger's soul had invaded him, that flame had been burning his Consciousness Sea relentlessly, leaving him in unspeakable agony.

"Hiss..."

Xiao Yuan clenched his teeth, forcibly enduring the piercing pain of flames scorching his meridians as he sank into a cross-legged seat on the crimson rocks.

Just then, the struggle between the beast flame and the Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art within him reached its conclusion. The crimson beast flame proved weaker and was defeated.

The devouring power of the Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art bound the crimson beast flame like chains, dividing up its power and dragging it into his dantian bit by bit.

The raging tiger soul's will wailed incessantly within his Consciousness Sea. The bestial impulse that sought to devour his sanity and take his place crumbled and dissipated little by little, like dry grass consumed by fire.

The piercing pain burning through his Consciousness Sea slowly receded, leaving only a warm fire-attribute power flowing gently along his meridians into his dantian.

Xiao Yuan's rigid body slowly relaxed, the tension draining from his muscles bit by bit. Yet he still dared not let his guard down. He kept circulating his cultivation art, carefully refining the remaining beast flame Origin.

Within his Consciousness Sea, the last trace of the tiger-shaped phantom shattered, turning into specks of crimson light that the Ten Thousand Transformations Source-Dividing Art devoured completely.

Without the interference of the Beast Soul's will, the flames no longer carried a savage, murderous aura. All that remained was pure, potent Fire Attribute Dou Qi.

Within his dantian, the intertwined violet-crimson Thunderfire Dou Qi quietly began to change.

A faint crimson pattern wound through his Dou Qi, lending the sharp, tyrannical Thunderfire a hint of a wild beast's untamed, weighty presence.

His cultivation also advanced with the beast flame's help, while the invasion of the magical beast's soul brought a slight improvement to his own soul.