In theory, every soul beast knew the method of Sacrifice, but the question was, why should a soul beast sacrifice itself to become a soul master's soul ring?
The key was that soul beasts found it difficult to achieve godhood. If they wanted to enter the Divine Realm, they could either choose to take human form after attaining a hundred thousand years of cultivation and cultivate anew.
Or they could sacrifice themselves to a soul master. If that soul master achieved godhood, they could naturally bring the soul beast's soul hidden within their soul ring into the Divine Realm with them.
As for why they did not simply build a good relationship with a soul master and follow them into the Divine Realm once they achieved godhood...
That was because the Divine Realm's rules only allowed First-Level Gods to bring two people with them when they entered. Second-Level Gods and those below them had no right to bring anyone at all.
Even when a First-Level God entered the Divine Realm, their first consideration should be their family, not a soul beast.
Through the method of Sacrifice, however, a soul beast accompanied a soul master who had achieved godhood into the Divine Realm as a soul ring, so it took up no quota at all.
Without tangible benefits, why would a soul beast sacrifice itself to a soul master, an enemy? Did it have nothing better to do after stuffing its belly?
However, Sacrifice had a considerable drawback: if the soul master failed to achieve godhood, the sacrificed soul beast could only face utter and complete death alongside them.
That was why the Soul Spirit Method had come into being. It resembled Sacrifice, but once a soul beast became a soul spirit, it could provide more than one soul ring as long as its quality was high enough. Moreover, a soul spirit could be extracted after the soul master's death rather than perish alongside them.
With this method, soul masters and soul beasts seemed able to cooperate for mutual benefit, but one must not forget that the soul master held the reins.
In other words, soul masters would force soul beasts to become soul spirits, and having lost their physical bodies, soul spirits would be forced to become family heirlooms, serving as tools for others to obtain soul rings generation after generation.
Tang Mo had originally only intended to drift with the current, killing soul beasts to obtain soul rings. But when he saw the Azure Sea Killer Whale, he suddenly changed his mind.
Perhaps he could find a fourth path besides hunting soul beasts, soul beast Sacrifice, and soul spirits. That path was called Chuma Xian.
A soul ring was, in essence, formed from the condensation of a soul beast's soul, soul power, and bloodline power.
The Chuma Xian Tang Mo had seen in his previous life was essentially an ability through which one or several generations of people established family-like relationships with demons, then formed contracts to draw upon their power.
This way of borrowing power drew upon a portion of a demon's strength, including part of its soul, demon qi, and bloodline power.
Thus, once they successfully borrowed that power, a person's appearance would resemble the demon lending it to a certain extent.
In other words, as long as Tang Mo could establish a contract with the Azure Sea Killer Whale similar to that between a Chuma Xian and a Chuma disciple, he could obtain a soul ring without killing the Azure Sea Killer Whale.
If Tang Mo's idea succeeded, the Azure Sea Killer Whale's soul and power could travel freely between Tang Mo's soul ring and its original body.
Once Tang Mo found a Storage Soul Tool that could hold living things, he could carry the Azure Sea Killer Whale's physical body while its power merged into his soul ring.
That would be equivalent to carrying a living ten-thousand-year soul beast with him without anyone being able to detect it.
If he encountered danger, he could simply stuff the Azure Sea Killer Whale's soul back into its body and toss it out to stop enemies from approaching.
Even if the Azure Sea Killer Whale was killed in the process, its soul could immediately retreat into the soul ring.
If a ten-thousand-year soul beast was not strong enough, he could find a hundred-thousand-year or even a million-year soul beast.
After receiving the information Tang Mo transmitted, the Azure Sea Killer Whale suddenly opened its mouth and spat a Soul Tool resembling a bracer toward him.
"Pfft! Whoosh! Thump!"
Tang Mo raised his hand and caught the Soul Tool, which still carried a hint of seawater. After injecting soul power into it, he was stunned by the enormous storage capacity within.
The Azure Sea Killer Whale was nearly thirty meters long, yet the space inside the Soul Tool could hold ten Azure Sea Killer Whales.
Besides storage, the bracer also possessed defensive capabilities. Injecting soul power into it could generate a spherical shield whose defensive strength was directly proportional to the soul power supplied. In other words, the more soul power he poured in, the stronger its defense.
"This is a Soul Tool I found in the sea. It can store living things. If we successfully form a contract, use it to hold my physical body. Even if we fail in the end, you don't need to return it. Consider it a first-meeting gift." The Azure Sea Killer Whale's lavishly generous voice rang out in Tang Mo's mind.
The corner of Tang Mo's mouth twitched. After washing the suspicious liquid off the bracer with soul power, he put it on his wrist.
Looking at the emerald on the bracer, Tang Mo decided to name it the Green Pearl Bracer.
The next moment, he took several steps forward. After making sure he could touch the Azure Sea Killer Whale by reaching out, he sat cross-legged in the posture of five centers facing heaven, extending one hand to press against its forehead. The Azure Sea Killer Whale also closed its eyes and circulated its soul power.
When Tang Mo's balanced, peaceful soul power, complete with all five elements, touched the Azure Sea Killer Whale's soul power, as embracing and gentle as a calm sea, the human's and whale's soul power slowly began to mingle.
An indescribable feeling arose simultaneously in Tang Mo's and the Azure Sea Killer Whale's hearts. Their soul power had a considerable degree of compatibility.
One possessed all five elements, while the other was purely water-attributed. Their powers did not conflict, so a subtle sense of harmony soon emerged.
However, they could feel that it would still take some time to turn that harmony into a contract.
As Yue Guan and Gui Mei watched the interaction between Tang Mo and the Azure Sea Killer Whale, a flicker of surprise crossed both their eyes.
"Sacrifice?" Gui Mei uttered the word succinctly. Though his tone held uncertainty, he sounded more as though he had already concluded that the Azure Sea Killer Whale was performing Sacrifice.
"No." Yue Guan shook his head slightly. "Though I've never encountered Sacrifice and don't know what its soul power fluctuations are like, it shouldn't be this slow."
Sacrifice differed from absorbing a soul ring. During absorption, the soul beast's lingering soul would instinctively resist the soul master's attempts to absorb it. Combined with the differences in soul masters' abilities, this meant the time needed to absorb a soul ring varied, sometimes long and sometimes short.
But Sacrifice involved a soul beast offering all its power to a soul master, so there would be no soul ring resisting absorption. Thus, the process was very short.
At this moment, the fluctuations of aura between the human and whale resembled neither the fierce confrontation of absorbing a soul ring nor the complete devotion of Sacrifice.
Yue Guan felt that the auras between the human and whale were more like they were completing some sort of ritual. Their auras fluctuated harmoniously and mingled, more as though they were performing some kind of Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
The instant that thought arose, Yue Guan felt he must have gone mad. How could a human and a soul beast possibly perform a Martial Soul Fusion Skill together?
Yet even with his extensive knowledge and experience, he did not know how to describe the mingling of soul power currently taking place between Tang Mo and the Azure Sea Killer Whale.
"You don't understand?" Gui Mei asked.
"Old Ghost, it'd be stranger if I did." Yue Guan shook his head slightly in helplessness. "Before today, I prided myself on having seen everything. But now, all I can say is that I still haven't seen enough."
"Grandpa Yue Guan, is he all right?" Seeing that even Yue Guan did not understand what was happening to Tang Mo, Hu Liena immediately looked at him with concern and asked the question that mattered most to her.
"Judging by the current situation, not only is that boy all right, he's gained quite a few benefits." Yue Guan spoke truthfully. "It seems that boy has quite a few secrets."
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