"Quick, if we miss this chance, it really will be gone! Come with me!" Ling Yu immediately looked at Su Yao, who instantly understood what he meant-
"Seventh Soul Skill-Azure Bird True Body."
"Fourth Soul Skill-Skyline Dancing Spirit."
In an instant, Su Yao tucked Ling Yu and Ye Lingling under her arms and shot forward, charging in the direction Ling Yu pointed.
"Go!"
Ye Yilan followed close behind, carrying Dugu Yan as she flashed after them. Several figures instantly turned into streaks of light and vanished into the distance.
A few breaths later, the three reached the Glazed Deer just as it was about to flee. Su Yao instantly unleashed her pressure and restrained it.
However extraordinary this Glazed Deer might be, its cultivation of just over two thousand years only gave it strength at the Soul Elder level.
Pinned firmly to the ground by overwhelming pressure, it finally realized its fate.
Its lake-green eyes brimmed with despair and sorrow, along with a lingering trace of confusion-it simply could not understand how this group of people had found it.
Fortune Auspicious Beasts like it, favored by heaven, earth, and the forest, were almost impossible to harm. Most Soul Beasts would do everything they could to protect them, or at the very least let them pass unhindered. Only a tiny minority of evil Soul Beasts would attack them, and even humans could not possibly discover their traces so easily within the forest.
Yet when it saw Ling Yu, a strange sense of nothingness and distortion rose within it. It knew that this person before it was the true culprit.
The protection of fate afforded to an Auspicious Beast seemed to have failed against him-or rather, it could not sense Ling Yu's fate at all. This human before it was something that should not exist.
"Lingling, hurry! Several powerful presences are approaching!" Ling Yu shouted. Within his perception, threats seemed to lurk in every direction, and his instincts kept sounding warnings.
Ye Lingling took a long blade from her Storage Soul Tool, intending to walk over and end the Glazed Deer's life.
But she stopped halfway. "I... can't do it. When its eyes look at me, my mind goes hazy. I can't move. I can't get any closer." Ye Lingling's voice trembled, and even her fingertips shook.
"Did you find it?" Just then, Ye Yilan arrived with Dugu Yan.
The instant their gazes fell upon the Glazed Deer, both froze, even their breathing catching for half a beat-such an extraordinary Soul Beast actually existed in this world.
"Careful, Soul Beasts are attacking!" Ling Yu warned in a low shout.
Ye Yilan instantly activated Martial Soul Possession. Most Purple Radiant Bamboo users followed the control system path, yet she called herself a Power Attack System Soul Master because her First Soul Skill was called Control Bamboo and Transform It into Swords. As a result, most of her subsequent Soul Rings had been chosen to strengthen the Purple Radiant Bamboo itself.
"Sixth Soul Skill-Ten Thousand Sword Array."
Countless stalks of sword bamboo surged from the ground and grew wildly, forming a protective barrier.
Dugu Yan also instantly activated Martial Soul Possession, spreading Jade Phosphor Purple Poison outside the bamboo grove to form another defensive perimeter.
The surrounding Soul Beasts slowly revealed themselves. Although their cultivation levels were not high, with the strongest only at ten thousand years, there were enough of them to make everyone's expression darken and their brows furrow.
"What should we do? Should we kill it?" Dugu Yan lightly bit her lip.
"If we don't kill it, will these Soul Beasts let us go?" Ling Yu replied evenly.
"True... Lingling, is there nothing you can do?"
"No. Whenever I get close, my mind goes hazy." Ye Lingling's expression dimmed slightly, and she hated herself for causing everyone trouble.
"I have an idea," Ling Yu said softly.
Everyone turned curious eyes toward him in unison, waiting for him to continue.
"Dugu Yan, channel your Soul Power into me. I'll pass it to Lingling."
"Lingling, hold this Soul Tool dagger and channel Soul Power into it. Swing it down when I tell you to, then immediately let go and throw it away."
The two carried out his instructions without hesitation.
With the aid of his Ring Fusion talent, Ling Yu channeled their combined Soul Power into Ye Lingling. Having activated his First Soul Skill, he closely monitored the state of the Soul Tool dagger. What Ling Yu did not know, however, was that the instant he pressed his hand against Ye Lingling's back and channeled Soul Power into her, the Glazed Deer's ability had stopped affecting her.
"Do it!" Ling Yu shouted.
Ye Lingling instantly swung the blade down, then released it. An enormous wind blade shot straight toward the Glazed Deer, while the Soul Tool dagger burst apart and fell in fragments.
This time, the Glazed Deer closed its eyes. It had already accepted its end.
The instant it died, the surrounding Soul Beasts began to go berserk, their roars rising and falling.
"Lingling, absorb it, quickly!" Ye Yilan shouted at once.
Ye Lingling quickly sat cross-legged and focused on her Martial Soul. With a thought, she drew the purple Soul Ring, marked with strange patterns, over to her side.
Su Yao and Ye Yilan worked together to keep the Soul Beasts outside from breaking in. Dugu Yan continued spreading Jade Phosphor Purple Poison, while Ling Yu activated Spiritual Detection to scout their surroundings, calling out warnings from time to time to prevent any Soul Beasts from breaching their defenses.
Fortunately, high-level Soul Beasts were scarce in Sunset Forest. Only two thirty-thousand-year Soul Beasts appeared outside the defensive perimeter: a Golden-Maned Spirit Horse and a Rock-Horned Giant Rhinoceros, equivalent to two Soul Emperors. Even so, they were still no match for the two Soul Saints working together.
Eight hours passed. The surrounding Soul Beasts gradually dispersed, and the two Soul Emperor-level Soul Beasts were driven off as well.
With formidable enemies before them, Ling Yu no longer kept it hidden. He took three small pieces of whale brain from the Spirit Ruins and handed them to the women. "Eat these, quickly. They can restore your spiritual power and physical condition."
"What is this?" Dugu Yan frowned.
"A safe secret medicine. Eat it first."
Su Yao naturally recognized it and immediately swallowed hers in one gulp. Seeing this, Dugu Yan and Ye Yilan swallowed theirs as well.
Their exhaustion instantly vanished like smoke and scattered clouds. A cool, invigorating surge of spiritual power flowed into their bodies, refreshing both women at once. Their spiritual power had even increased somewhat compared with before.
"What is this made from?" Dugu Yan's eyes lit up.
"A secret."
"Stingy!" Dugu Yan was not annoyed. She had only blurted it out in her refreshed state. Anything called a secret medicine would certainly not have its details casually shared with others.
"Is Lingling all right? It's been so long." Dugu Yan's brows knitted tightly. The usual sharpness was gone from her emerald eyes, leaving only a layer of worry that would not dissolve.
She unconsciously pressed her lips together, her fingertips curling slightly, and even softened her breathing.
"She should be fine. Absorbing the Soul Ring of such an exceptionally unusual Soul Beast naturally takes a long time." Ling Yu nodded slightly, his gaze calm.
"Right, just what is so special about this Soul Beast? It certainly looked extraordinary, and it could attract so many Soul Beasts to protect it. Surely you can tell us that much?"
Ye Yilan and Su Yao both looked up at those words, their curious gazes settling on Ling Yu.
"It should be a Fortune Auspicious Beast. There are many kinds of Auspicious Beasts, but each bears a certain measure of fortune. They can accelerate the growth of Soul Beasts and plants, and they can also purify the evil Qi left behind by various evil Soul Beasts, restoring the forest's condition. You could call them elemental spirits born of heaven and nurtured by the earth."
As soon as Ling Yu finished speaking, Ye Yilan, Su Yao, and Dugu Yan all froze. They drew in sharp breaths in unison, their faces filled with shock and disbelief, and even their breathing stopped for an instant.