Because it was an excellent match, and the Seven-Colored Star Deer had only just reached ten thousand years, Xu Jiujiu faced little strain absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as her fifth ring. She finished in just an hour.
After she absorbed this Stellar Soul Ring, the Star Crown atop Xu Jiujiu's head seemed to shine even more brightly.
"Thank you, Huo Yuhao." Feeling the power of her fifth Soul Ring, Xu Jiujiu thanked him sincerely.
"What's your fifth Soul Skill?" Huo Yuhao asked curiously. After all, this was the first Soul Ring he had personally hunted, so he was quite interested.
"All I can say is that a Soul Ring from a soul beast that's the last of its kind really does defy the heavens. My fifth Soul Skill is called Brilliant Star Path. It's a sealing skill that can seal enemies up to three major ranks above me for three seconds.
"And it's an area-wide control skill. Anyone swept by the star path will be sealed, no matter how many people there are. By cultivating through starlight, I can even extend the sealing duration. This is practically a divine skill! Thank you so much, Huo Yuhao!" Xu Jiujiu said excitedly.
Huo Yuhao was rather surprised too. After all, this skill was much like Golden Road, the Martial Soul Fusion Skill he and Wang Dong possessed in the original story. Although one sealed Martial Souls while the other immobilized its targets, both were extremely powerful Soul Skills.
Come to think of it, that Tang fellow's Unfixed Wind Wave could only trap an enemy for a few seconds too, couldn't it? This Soul Skill really did defy the heavens.
"It's still too early to thank me. I also have a matching Starlight Head Soul Bone here. Interested?"
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao took the Head Soul Bone he had obtained an hour earlier out of his Trading Space. He had little interest in a Soul Bone that was only ten thousand years old, but he knew Xu Jiujiu would never refuse it. This Soul Bone was undoubtedly the best possible match for her.
"Heavens! It actually dropped a Soul Bone? And it contains such an immense amount of starlight power!" Xu Jiujiu stared at the Soul Bone, brimming with rich starlight, her eyes filled with possessiveness. In her heart, it was worth no less than a hundred-thousand-year Soul Bone.
"Wipe your drool. That's my spoils," Huo Yuhao reminded her.
Xu Jiujiu came back to her senses, her shrewd eyes beginning to dart about.
Since Huo Yuhao had brought the Soul Bone out, he clearly wanted to make some sort of deal with her. Judging by what he had just said, he probably had no interest in it himself.
"Name your price. I'm getting that Soul Bone, no matter what," Xu Jiujiu declared imperiously.
"The Ranking Engraving Knife, Spirit-Devouring Blood Blade, plus ten million Gold Soul Coins." Huo Yuhao opened his lion's mouth and demanded an exorbitant price.
"Spirit-Devouring Blood Blade? That cursed knife that's gone unsold at auction for years? I think its starting price is only a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. I can authorize giving you that myself. But ten million Gold Soul Coins? You really have the nerve to ask! Five million, at most."
Xu Jiujiu looked troubled. She had never expected Huo Yuhao to be so greedy.
"Deal." Huo Yuhao agreed at the speed of light.
Xu Jiujiu: "..."
If you kept walking by the river, how could your shoes never get wet? She had never imagined that someone as shrewd as her would be outmaneuvered by a brat. The instant Huo Yuhao said "deal," she realized that his expected price might not even have reached a million Gold Soul Coins.
But she had only herself to blame for losing her head in her haste. A Soul Bone containing starlight power meant far too much to their Star Crown Lineage-enough to throw her completely off balance.
After all, to her, it was nothing short of priceless.
Huo Yuhao took paper and a pen from his Trading Space, wrote a simple IOU, and handed it to Xu Jiujiu.
"Sign it, put your fingerprint on it, and leave a token as collateral. Then the Soul Bone is yours," Huo Yuhao said seriously.
"Huo Yuhao, what do you need so much money for?" Xu Jiujiu asked casually as she took the IOU and signed her name without even reading it.
"Back home, we have a saying: without money, nothing gets done. I might not need to spend it, but I can't afford not to have it." Huo Yuhao took the signed IOU, put it into his Trading Space, and held out his hand to Xu Jiujiu.
"The token." Xu Jiujiu promptly rolled her eyes at him, took a golden token from her Storage Soul Tool, and tossed it to him.
"That's my identification token. There are only two in the entire Star Luo Empire. You can use it to redeem that IOU at the Starlight Auction House."
"The deal is done. It belongs to you now." Huo Yuhao nodded in satisfaction and handed Xu Jiujiu the starlight Soul Bone.
The moment Xu Jiujiu received the Soul Bone, its starlight power captivated her, and an expression of intoxicated obsession appeared on her face, as though she had taken drugs.
Without a moment's hesitation, she began absorbing it. Having already absorbed its Soul Ring, she had an affinity with the Soul Bone, so the process went very quickly. In just fifteen minutes, she finished absorbing it.
"Huo Yuhao, you know what? I'm already starting to feel glad you abducted me and brought me here. Otherwise, I would never have had a chance to obtain this Soul Ring and Soul Bone!" Xu Jiujiu said, brimming with excitement.
"I don't know," Huo Yuhao countered coldly, then continued, "Since you're finished, let's keep looking for soul beasts. I still haven't found my Soul Ring."
"Sure, let's go!" Xu Jiujiu was clearly in excellent spirits. After absorbing the starlight Soul Ring and Soul Bone, she seemed to have gained an air of ethereal grace, untouched by worldly dust.
She had also become even more beautiful. If an ordinary man had been there to see her, he would surely have been so enchanted that he could not look away. Unfortunately, the only person here was Huo Yuhao, whose mind held nothing but Soul Rings.
One day later.
"Huo Yuhao, that's the one. The only ten-thousand-year soul beast we've found in these three days-a Ghost Leopard."
Xu Jiujiu pointed at the leopard-like soul beast ahead, which had opened its bloody maw at them. It was four meters long, with a slender build. Its pitch-black fur gleamed with an eerie light and looked exceptionally tough.
"Ghost Leopards specialize in speed. They get their name from being as swift as ghosts. Once one sets its sights on its prey, that prey can usually do nothing but wait to die. And it's set its sights on us," Xu Jiujiu explained.
"Fast, with a small frame. It uses speed to compensate for its lack of explosive power." Huo Yuhao saw through the Ghost Leopard's basic attack pattern at a glance. Unfortunately for it, speed was nothing but a joke before a powerhouse.
Soul beasts like the Ghost Leopard occupied the bottom rung among ten-thousand-year beasts. They could only bully extremely weak soul beasts; against evenly matched opponents, they almost never won.
The Ghost Leopard truly was as swift as a ghost. Its two-foot-long claws, like a pair of the Grim Reaper's scythes, suddenly emerged from the darkness without a sound, seeking to deliver a fatal blow.
Unfortunately, although the Ghost Leopard was fast, Huo Yuhao was equally swift and elusive. Two negatives made a positive, so against him, the Ghost Leopard effectively had no advantage.
To Xu Jiujiu, the man and leopard seemed to keep shifting positions like flickering shadows. She could indeed see them with her naked eyes, but one second Huo Yuhao was beside her, and the next he was several hundred meters away, driving a knife-hand strike into the Ghost Leopard's abdomen.
Soul beasts of this type were all known for having a copper head, iron bones, and a tofu waist.
Under this lash of affection from Huo Yuhao, the Ghost Leopard's internal organs ruptured on the spot. It vomited blood and howled miserably, then soon stopped breathing and died.
Within a single breath, a pitch-black Soul Ring condensed above its corpse.
Huo Yuhao's heart was filled with emotion. The difference between one soul beast and another really could be enormous.
Although both were Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, the Seven-Colored Star Deer was more than several times stronger than the Ghost Leopard. Its innate skills were also far superior.
Compare people, and you might die of envy; compare beasts, and one deserved to be thrown away. Talent mattered not only in the human world, but in the Soul Beast Realm as well.
Hehe, I finally managed to get this chapter out. Mainly, I need to keep updating Yun Yi; otherwise, I could manage three updates. Yun Yi is my first book. Although I started it only ten days before this one and it hasn't been signed, this is my attitude: even without a contract, I'll write a full million words.
Once I take in a subordinate, we'll get into the plot.
(End of chapter)
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