"By the way, it ranks really high on the Soul Beasts' must-eat list!"
As she finished speaking, tears of pity unwittingly dribbled from the corner of Xiao Wu's mouth.
The corner of Ye Fan's mouth twitched.
So this little thing was the Soul Beast Realm's walking tube of cat treats.
Ye Fan was speechless at the little creature, too.
How could such a bizarre Soul Beast exist, born only to be eaten...
Just as he reached out to toss the little thing away...
A question suddenly occurred to him.
This little thing... was actually a thousand-year Soul Beast?!
And it wouldn't hurt a fly...
"Xiao Wu, do you know what abilities this little thing has?"
Ye Fan turned toward the drooling Xiao Wu and hurriedly shielded the Golden Cicada with his hand, lest she suddenly take a bite out of it.
"Abilities?"
With the Golden Cicada out of her sight, Xiao Wu calmed down a little.
She thought for a moment.
"This little thing gets eaten every time it appears, so nobody knows what abilities it has... If I had to name something, I guess it's really noisy whenever it grows a new segment of wings.
That's exactly why it attracts Soul Beasts' attention so easily, so most of them don't live long.
They're stupid little fools."
Ye Fan rubbed his chin and began to think.
Rare, no offensive power, and hardly any abilities, but it was a thousand-year Soul Beast...
Ye Fan's eyes gradually lit up.
Could this little thing have been drawn here by Word Spirit?
At that thought, he scooped up the Golden Cicada and examined it closely in his hand.
The Golden Cicada didn't struggle at all in his grasp.
Only its dangling legs paddled through the air.
That made Ye Fan even more certain that Word Spirit had drawn this Golden Cicada here.
A smile curved his lips.
"Xiao Wu, it looks like the Soul Beast destined for me has finally arrived."
"Huh? Your destined Soul Beast?"
Ye Fan's words interrupted Xiao Wu as she stared at the Golden Cicada, prompting a puzzled response.
"But it's a thousand years old. Even if it has no offensive power, you still can't absorb it.
Eating it would be fine, though..."
At that, Ye Fan gave a mysterious smile.
"Don't worry. If I dare say that, it means I'm confident I can absorb it."
First, this little thing had no offensive power, only a vast amount of soul power.
Second, he had prepared whale rubber, which could strengthen his body and help him absorb the Soul Ring successfully.
Finally, he could use Word Spirit to improve his chances of a successful absorption.
Every factor showed that the advantage lay with him.
There was absolutely no reason to refuse.
Besides, Tang San was still absorbing his own Soul Ring. Now was the best time to absorb this one.
"All right, but if you start feeling unwell, I'm going to step in and stop you..."
Ye Fan patted Xiao Wu's head.
"Don't worry. Trust me."
Seeing his confidence, Xiao Wu ultimately chose to trust Ye Fan.
Since he had been reborn, she figured he must know what he was doing.
Even so, a trace of nervousness lingered in her heart.
Ye Fan drew a short blade from behind his back, then began stroking the Golden Cicada's head.
He closed his eyes and muttered a chant.
"Golden Cicada, Golden Cicada, don't blame me; you're a dish for mortals to feast upon..."
Ye Fan's antics made Xiao Wu laugh.
"Pfft... Don't tell me you've changed your mind and decided to eat it?"
"Once I've absorbed its Soul Ring, it can indeed still be dinner."
Ye Fan studied the gap in the Golden Cicada's back and raised his short blade.
The Golden Cicada seemed to sense the danger and began fluttering the short wings on its back.
But Ye Fan wasn't about to let a duck that had flown right up to his mouth escape.
His hand rose and the blade fell in one clean motion.
With a wet squelch, the Golden Cicada's soft abdomen beneath its back was pierced.
It soon stopped struggling.
Then...
A purple Soul Ring slowly rose.
Ye Fan smiled and quickly retrieved a box from his backpack.
As soon as he opened the lid, a salty, fishy smell hit him in the face.
Xiao Wu's nose twitched, and the smell drew her over as well.
Looking at the translucent jelly inside the box, Xiao Wu asked curiously, "What's this, Ye Fan? Is it something tasty?"
As she spoke, she reached out and poked it.
"This is whale rubber. It strengthens the body, and I'm counting on it to absorb the Thousand-Year Soul Ring. But children can't eat this yet... Wait until you're older."
As he spoke, Ye Fan moved the whale rubber farther away.
Xiao Wu was actually interested in this stuff?
Interesting.
He had waited two whole years before finally getting someone from a merchant caravan to buy it for him in Vast Sea City.
Nobody used this stuff in a small frontier town like Nuoding City.
It was extremely precious.
At the same time, he silently directed his thoughts toward Xiao Wu.
[This stuff is used to spice things up in bed. I can't let you eat it now... Besides, I don't need it at all!]
Upon hearing his thoughts, Xiao Wu's brain froze for a second.
Only then did she process them.
A crimson blush crept up her neck.
Pah! Pervert...
Holding the whale rubber, Ye Fan began heating it over a nearby fire that had yet to go out.
The whale rubber soon melted into a soft mass.
He swallowed it without hesitation, then returned to Xiao Wu's side and sat cross-legged.
Before absorbing the Soul Ring, Ye Fan glanced at Tang San.
What a shame, he thought.
If he hadn't run out of soul power, he would definitely have hit Tang San with Inner Demon Reappearance, making dozens of Tang Sect elders surround him and interfere with his Soul Ring absorption.
But things had already come to this.
Ye Fan stopped dwelling on it.
"Wish me luck..."
He gave himself one final use of Word Spirit.
Then he recalled how Yu Xiaogang had guided Tang San through absorbing his Soul Ring earlier.
He used his own soul power to draw in the purple Soul Ring.
A moment later, the Golden Cicada's Thousand-Year Soul Ring was drawn toward Ye Fan and settled around him.
"Ugh..."
The instant the Soul Ring entered his body, Ye Fan felt its immense soul power.
The pressure of the Thousand-Year Soul Ring bore down on Ye Fan like a mountain, making his body tremble slightly.
Fortunately, the whale rubber was strengthening his body and invigorating his mind, allowing him to barely hold on.
The Soul Ring's power wasn't particularly overbearing.
Just as Xiao Wu had said, this Golden Cicada truly had no offensive power.
But...
It was so noisy!
Countless buzzing sounds assailed him from every direction, attacking Ye Fan's mind and leaving him agitated.
It wasn't just the chirping of a cicada. Within Ye Fan's mind, the sound transformed into all sorts of noises he hated.
The whine of mosquitoes, nails scraping across a blackboard, and the ringing of bells after his eardrums burst...
Amid this interference, Ye Fan gritted his teeth and held on.
Soon, Ye Fan settled into the right state and began methodically absorbing the Soul Ring's soul power.
By now, that piece of whale rubber had turned Ye Fan's skin crimson.
Wisps of steam even rose from him.
Although it was only a piece of hundred-year whale rubber, its effects were exceptional because this was his first time using it.
Xiao Wu crouched beside Ye Fan, quietly keeping watch over him.
She watched his complexion turn abnormal, then red, before he slowly calmed down...
Only then did she relax.
He really does love taking risks.
But when her inspecting gaze swept over a certain spot, her beautiful eyes suddenly widened.
I-is... is that even reasonable?!
Before you continue