Ning Fengzhi instinctively circulated his soul power, pale blue light enveloping his body. Only then did he barely withstand Tian Meng's spiritual pressure, his voice strained:
"You... are you really a million-year soul beast?"
"What else would I be?"
Tian Meng proudly lifted his head.
"If I weren't following Brother Qian, I wouldn't bother talking to shortsighted humans like you."
Seeing the two men almost frozen with shock, Qian Daoliu spoke at just the right moment to ease the atmosphere, explaining calmly:
"Tian Meng is my soul spirit, and a pioneer of the soul spirit system. A soul spirit is formed when a soul beast enters an equal contract with a human, allowing them to coexist through a special form of symbiosis. The soul beast need not be hunted and killed, while the human can safely obtain soul rings and soul skills. They can even fight alongside their soul spirit to unleash greater combat power."
Tian Meng obligingly floated down onto Qian Daoliu's palm. Two pale blue balls of light suddenly appeared before the little fellow, with faint silhouettes of ice-attribute soul beasts visible within them. These were the artificial Hundred-Year Soul Spirits of the ice attribute that Spirit Hall had recently developed, their soul power fluctuations pure and stable.
"Look. These are artificial soul spirits."
The earlier arrogance faded from Tian Meng's voice, replaced by a measure of seriousness.
"They're refined from carefully selected soul beast blood essence and soul crystals. They have no consciousness of their own, but they can precisely provide soul masters with soul rings and skills of the corresponding age. They're the key to easing the conflict between humans and soul beasts. For now, the technology is only mature at the hundred-year level. Once we overcome the remaining hurdles, thousand-year and ten-thousand-year soul spirits can