Soul Beast Sacrifice (Revised)

"This is wonderful!"

Her delicate brows relaxed, and Tang Yue rose with a broad smile. As expected, she had obtained the Soul Skill she wanted.

Qian Daoliu and Azure Luan exchanged a glance, the worry in their eyes swept away. The former laughed along. Although he had already guessed what Tang Yue's Soul Skill was, Qian Daoliu played along and asked, "Yueyue, what's your second Soul Skill? Hurry and show your grandpas!"

"Hehe! Sure!" Tang Yue could hardly wait. She summoned her Martial Soul and plucked the second petal from the Nine-Petal Immortal Lotus.

"Second Soul Skill, Dancing Butterflies!"

The pure white petal floated into the air, then drifted into Tang Yue's forehead. Before long, a moderately sized pair of butterfly wings sprouted from her back. They were translucent and flawlessly white, with three unusual chains of colorful streamers hanging from their tips. A faint red light shimmered over the streamers, just like the glow covering the ice prisms of her first Soul Skill, seemingly forming a protective screen.

She flew lightly into the sky like a drifting cloud. Experiencing flight on her own for the first time, Tang Yue was so excited that she could not help lingering in the air a little longer.

"It looks like we chose the right Soul Beast!"

Seeing Tang Yue so happy, Qian Daoliu felt genuinely delighted as well. However, a flight ability as her second Soul Skill did nothing to help her offensive capabilities. Looking at her first two Soul Skills, he felt that the girl was pursuing a mixed path of cultivation.

Watching Tang Yue soar freely, Guang Ling kept feeling that her second Soul Skill was more than a simple flight ability. He studied the "pendants" at the tips of her wings thoughtfully. Though the faint red glow was inconspicuous, it was night, making that red the only light besides the moon. It illuminated the darkness, scattering red starlight. Considering the numbing effect of Tang Yue's first Soul Skill, this second Soul Skill...

With that thought, he spread his Ice Wings and flew toward the tips of Tang Yue's wings. He reached out and touched the red glow there. His body shuddered, and the scene he had witnessed when he first met Tang Yue suddenly surfaced in his mind again.

"..."

Guang Ling instinctively reached toward the tips of her wings. Qian Daoliu frowned slightly, realized something was wrong, and hurriedly spread his wings to grab him. "Fifth Brother!"

"Grandpa Guang Ling?" Tang Yue was startled by that sharp call as well. She changed direction and looked back at Guang Ling and Qian Daoliu. "Grandpa, what's wrong with Grandpa Guang Ling?"

Guang Ling's eyes were vacant, as though he had yet to come to his senses. Qian Daoliu pulled him down, and golden light sank into Guang Ling's forehead. Only then did he wake from his daze. "Tsk, hiss-what happened?"

When he touched that red starlight just now, he seemed to have seen something, but he could no longer remember what it was. Frowning slightly, he looked at Qian Daoliu and asked, "Eldest Brother, what happened to me just now?"

"You were bewitched."

Qian Daoliu beckoned to Tang Yue. She nodded and immediately flew down. "Sorry, Grandpa Guang Ling. I forgot to explain earlier. This isn't a flight Soul Skill, but a control Soul Skill. When I fly into the sky, a Heart of Bewitchment falls from the tips of my wings. Anyone with an obsession will be bewitched. However, this Soul Skill is practically useless against most experts of Soul Douluo rank or above. Even if it does bewitch them, it won't last more than a minute. At the same time, the tips of my wings can also evolve. For example-"

As she finished speaking, Tang Yue used her second Soul Skill again. This time, she did not fly. Instead, she removed the three chains of colorful streamers from the tips of her wings before everyone. Once removed, they transformed in her hands into silvery-white weapons with oval upper ends and sharp, spike-like shafts below. Each chain became one, leaving three needle-like spikes hovering above her palm.

"First Soul Skill, Thousand Absolute Ice Prisms."

Three ice prisms appeared, merging perfectly with the colorful streamers. The Nine-Petal Immortal Lotus floated into the air and cast down a pale pink light that enveloped Tang Yue. Before long, the spikes and ice prisms in her hands disappeared, and a faintly visible, slender pale blue whip appeared in their place.

A pale red glow radiated from the whip's surface, its alternating red and blue colors exceptionally vibrant. Tang Yue flicked the slender whip, and the grass it struck instantly withered yellow. Yue Guan's heart jolted, and his mouth fell open in a daze.

This was...

Qian Daoliu and Azure Luan took several seconds to react. "Is it a shapeshifting skill?"

Azure Luan murmured the words.

To fuse the first and second Soul Skills, just how compatible did the Soul Rings have to be? In the ten-thousand-year history of the Douluo Continent, no such unusual case had ever appeared.

"Yueyue, is this a fusion Soul Skill?" Despite having lived for over a hundred years, Qian Daoliu had never encountered anything like this. He looked at Tang Yue and asked.

A fusion Soul Skill required two extremely compatible Martial Souls and two Soul Masters whose hearts and minds were in harmony. Why could Tang Yue merge two of her own Soul Skills into one all by herself? What exactly was going on?

Qian Daoliu's brows knitted slightly, utterly baffled.

Guang Ling, standing in front of Qian Daoliu, shared his confusion. Although he had known Tang Yue's Soul Skills were not simple, he had never expected them to be this extraordinary. The Nine-Petal Immortal Lotus was a top-tier support Martial Soul, yet Tang Yue had cultivated it into a mixed-type Martial Soul. It possessed not only control and flight abilities, but offensive power as well. Taken together, she was simply a monster!

"Does it count as fusion? I don't know either." Tang Yue looked at the slender whip in her hand and answered honestly, "Perhaps it counts as an evolution Soul Skill. When I absorbed my Second Soul Ring, I entered an illusion, and the God of Kindness appeared there."

The God of Kindness?!

Qian Daoliu and the others exchanged looks. Only then did Yue Guan learn that Tang Yue was chosen by a god. No wonder the Worship Hall cherished her like a treasure.

"Did the God of Kindness deliver another divine decree?" Qian Daoliu asked, looking somewhat excited. He had to admit that he was a little envious of Tang Yue.

"The God of Kindness taught me how to fuse two Soul Rings and told me what made the Nine-Petal Immortal Lotus Martial Soul special. He also reminded me not to forget the requirements of the God of Kindness's First Trial..."

Tang Yue explained with a laugh. Two months had already passed, leaving only four months before the first trial ended, yet she was still stuck at rank thirty. No matter how she looked at it, completing the first trial would be rather difficult.

Perhaps the God of Kindness could no longer stand watching, so he had come specifically to teach her how to fuse Soul Rings and shape them into the weapons she wanted.

"Fusing Soul Rings is a special art. I don't know how to explain the specifics, but the fusion consumes a tremendous amount of Soul Power. I'm only rank thirty right now, so the weapon I create can last three minutes at most. If I try to maintain it longer, I'm afraid it'll drain all my Soul Power and leave me completely exhausted."

Tang Yue withdrew her Martial Soul and relayed the God of Kindness's words to the four Titled Douluos present. Since this involved a divine trial and a god's assistance, Qian Daoliu and the others did not ask much more. However, the deadline for the God of Kindness's First Trial was fast approaching. If she did not hurry to complete it, failure would await her.

"There's no time to lose. Let's find the third Soul Beast."

Qian Daoliu said.

He looked more anxious than the person undertaking the divine trial.

Hearing this, Guang Ling spoke up to stop Qian Daoliu before he could move on. "Eldest Brother, I prepared Yue's third Soul Ring long ago. An Ice Crystal Phoenix over fifteen hundred years old should suit her quite well!"

"An Ice Crystal Phoenix?" Qian Daoliu frowned slightly. "Yueyue already absorbed a Light Butterfly for her Second Soul Ring, and now she's to absorb an Ice Crystal Phoenix for her third?"

Clearly, he did not particularly approve. Besides, where would they find an Ice Crystal Phoenix here?

Tang Yue herself did not mind, however. The essence of her second Soul Skill was not flight, but a kind of evolution combined with fusion with her first Soul Skill. After she removed the colorful streamers from her wing tips, her wings would disappear. Thus, she was not particularly opposed to the Ice Crystal Phoenix Guang Ling had found for her.

After all, deep down, she wanted an External Soul Bone that could let her fly, so seeking a winged creature was only natural. "Grandpa, the Ice Crystal Phoenix is an ice-attribute Soul Beast. It's rare to see one in the Star Dou Great Forest. Why don't we take a look? If it's suitable, there's no harm in absorbing it."

Tang Yue took Qian Daoliu's hand and shook it. He felt rather helpless. Why did this girl insist on listening to his unreliable fifth brother?

Since Tang Yue was willing, Qian Daoliu could hardly object and could only go along with her. Guang Ling gave her a reassuring look, then began leading the way.

Guang Ling had imprisoned the Ice Crystal Phoenix in a cave. The Star Dou Great Forest was thick with vegetation, but naturally formed caves were rare. Tang Yue and the others followed him to the quiet, pitch-black entrance. Qian Daoliu used his Soul Power to illuminate the entire cave, allowing them to see its interior clearly.

The Star Dou Great Forest lay on a plain, where caves were exceedingly rare. Even this one was small and shallow, its far end visible at a glance.

At the far end, a blue-and-white phoenix radiating a diamond-like glow lay asleep on the ground. Its form was graceful, and a pale golden halo flowed over its body. Like a sparkling pearl set into a world of ice and snow, it looked incomparably sacred.

Yet this beautiful creature's slumber was disturbed. Its eyelids twitched, and it slowly opened its eyes. Its pure blue-and-white pupils looked particularly dazzling in the dim light.

It gently raised its head, meeting Tang Yue's gaze.

Its claws were firmly bound with iron chains, yet when it saw them, it showed no intention of escaping. It seemed to be waiting for someone to arrive.

"This is an exceptional Ice Crystal Phoenix. It couldn't possibly appear in the Star Dou Great Forest. Fifth Brother, where did you find it?" Qian Daoliu recognized the mystery at a glance. Ice Crystal Phoenixes were already a rare kind of Soul Beast, dwelling year-round in the Far North and soaring through the skies. Without considerable thought and skill, capturing one would never be easy.

Guang Ling knew he could not hide this from Qian Daoliu and Azure Luan, so he had no intention of concealing anything. He answered honestly, "I went to the Far North a month ago to look for a phoenix. I happened to run into this one that day, so I caught it and brought it back!"

"Then since you caught it, couldn't you have brought it back to Spirit Hall?" Azure Luan could not help complaining.

Had he taken it to Spirit Hall, they could have gone home by now. Protecting Tang Yue there would have been both safe and effortless, certainly better than standing out here in the cold northwest wind.

"I wanted to bring it back too, but this phoenix refused. It insisted on staying in this cave. I was afraid it would run away, so I locked it inside!"

Guang Ling's explanation left Azure Luan speechless. Qian Daoliu shook his head. "This Ice Crystal Phoenix has awakened its intelligence. It chooses its Soul Master, not the other way around. If we refuse to follow its wishes, I'm afraid it would rather turn to ice than let any Soul Master absorb its Soul Ring."

"Then it all comes down to fate," Tang Yue said.

"Yes."

Qian Daoliu answered without saying anything more.

Watching from the side, Yue Guan could clearly sense that this phoenix had chosen Tang Yue.

The Nine-Petal Immortal Lotus Martial Soul had the ability to assimilate everything, making all Soul Beasts feel an affinity toward her. For a difficult, special creature like this, almost no other Martial Soul could make it choose so readily.

A top-tier support Martial Soul had taken such a chaotic cultivation path that Yue Guan did not know what to say.

Calling it bad would be wrong, since it had everything. Yet calling it good did not seem quite right either, since it was a little too muddled.

In short, their "esteemed circle" was quite a mess.

"Little phoenix, if you're willing to become my Soul Ring, blink once. If you're unwilling, blink twice. Don't worry. I won't hurt you."

Tang Yue approached the Ice Crystal Phoenix and crouched before it, asking softly. Her large, glistening eyes made her look especially endearing to Soul Beasts.

The Ice Crystal Phoenix watched Tang Yue. Through its eyes, she radiated an aura that drew it close. That aura shimmered with pink light at her heart, beating steadily-thump, thump-

"Eee-"

The phoenix's cry rang through the entire cave. Tang Yue instinctively stepped back several paces. Seeing this, Guang Ling was about to rush forward and pull her away, but Qian Daoliu stopped him. "Don't go. It wants to sacrifice its Soul Ring directly to Yueyue."

An Ice Crystal Phoenix had to be over ten thousand years old before it could perform a sacrifice. Guang Ling remembered clearly that this one was only fifteen hundred years old. How could it sacrifice itself voluntarily?

He frowned slightly. "Eldest Brother, this phoenix's age doesn't add up!"

"Whether it does or not, it's sacrificing itself willingly. It won't harm Yueyue."

Qian Daoliu had naturally noticed the discrepancy in the Ice Crystal Phoenix's age too. However, a Soul Beast's sacrifice was entirely different from a Soul Master killing a Soul Beast and absorbing its Soul Ring. They could not stop it, nor was there any need to do so.

Ice Crystal Phoenixes possessed a disguise ability. They would only know its true age once the sacrifice was complete.

An ice-blue pillar of light blasted through the cave roof and shot into the heavens. The Ice Crystal Phoenix broke free of its chains, and another pillar of light fell upon Tang Yue. She felt her body grow light and floated up from the ground. Powerful fluctuations of Soul Power shook the entire cave, but Qian Daoliu and the others stood firmly in place. Aside from ruffling their hair, the force could do them no harm.

"It really is a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast..."

Guang Ling sensed the age behind that power. Within the pillar of light, the Ice Crystal Phoenix gradually transformed into a ten-thousand-year External Soul Bone and a black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, which settled behind Tang Yue's back and beneath her feet.

Before long, Tang Yue's jet-black hair slowly turned brown within the pillar of light, with a touch of pale blue appearing near its ends. At the same time, the golden mark on her forehead emerged, now bearing an additional pattern shaped like an Ice Crystal Phoenix's wings...