The Bright Phoenix That Came Knocking
Still worried, Yan Shaozhe immediately tested Bai Jingtian with his own spiritual power.
But the results of the test shocked Yan Shaozhe once again.
"Although the amount of spiritual power he can use is quite good, it still falls a little short compared to Bai Jingtian's physical constitution... Wait, what's with this tenacity? Could he have cultivated the Tang Sect's Mysterious Heaven Skill?
But the Mysterious Heaven Skill is a cultivation technique that acts on Soul Power. It can't be used to manipulate spiritual power.
Besides, Bai Jingtian's spiritual power doesn't feel as gentle as the Mysterious Heaven Skill. Instead, it has an edge that's fully exposed, and there's even a current of tyrannical intent...
This level of spiritual power is enough to withstand Soul Shock."
After confirming the strength of Bai Jingtian's spiritual power, Yan Shaozhe set off again with him. They soon reached the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, then headed straight through the outer region and deep into the mixed region.
Although Bai Jingtian himself had suggested what seemed like many options, the types of Soul Beasts he had named were mostly extremely rare. Actually finding one would take quite some time.
Yan Shaozhe did not want to lose face in front of Bai Jingtian, and he was afraid of giving the Soul Tool Department an opening to mock him. So, after entering the mixed region, he expanded the range of his spiritual senses to the utmost, searching for a Soul Beast suitable for Bai Jingtian.
But by the time the sun sank in the west, they had reached the depths of the mixed region and were not far from the core region, yet they still had not found a satisfactory Soul Beast. They had no choice but to pick a suitable spot to camp, then light a fire and heat their food.
Both of them had brought rations, but there was a considerable difference between eating them cold and eating them hot.
Although lighting a fire in the Star Dou Great Forest was rather dangerous, ordinary Soul Beasts were no match for Yan Shaozhe. And as long as he did not deliberately take Bai Jingtian into the Great Ferocious Land, under normal circumstances, no Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would be so blind as to come looking for trouble with them.
However, fate usually tormented people in extremely unreasonable ways, especially when the fate of this world was in the hands of some guy who was even more of a dog-ass than Lan Meng and called himself a god.
"Be careful, a Soul Beast is coming!"
Yan Shaozhe's gaze turned cold. He moved to shield Bai Jingtian behind him and immediately locked onto a Soul Beast not far away with his Soul Power.
Even while resting, Yan Shaozhe had deliberately kept a certain amount of pressure radiating outward. Ordinary thousand-year Soul Beasts would not dare approach, and Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts could not escape his senses.
Yet Yan Shaozhe sensed a Soul Beast ignoring his pressure and heading straight for him and Bai Jingtian.
This was no ordinary Soul Beast. He had to hit hard!
Yan Shaozhe sensed the Soul Beast's attributes. It possessed extremely powerful fire and light attributes, and even had a Mental Attribute.
Although the fire and light attributes were not very compatible with Bai Jingtian, this Soul Beast's Mental Attribute was not weak, and its cultivation was only a little over ten thousand years. It was naturally well suited to be Bai Jingtian's Soul Ring.
So Yan Shaozhe immediately raised a hand and grabbed. A giant hand of Soul Power seized the Soul Beast by the scruff of fate and dragged it straight before the two of them.
It was an exceptionally beautiful Soul Beast, with lovely golden fur. Its entire body seemed to be made of translucent crystal, giving it a very peculiar appearance.
Its overall form closely resembled a lion's, but its four paws were like a dragon's, with a ball of golden flame beneath each dragon claw. Its muzzle was also somewhat longer than that of a lion-type Soul Beast, and beneath its fur was a layer of exceedingly fine golden scales.
On its head, besides its normal pair of eyes, there was a third eye between them. It was a vertical eye, like the Heavenly Eye possessed by Erlang Shen or the lineage of the Three-Eyed Sect.
Holy crap, that's the Emperor Auspicious Beast?! But why did she come knocking?
Bai Jingtian inwardly cried out that this was bad. Probably only a handful of people in all of Shrek Academy knew of the Emperor Auspicious Beast's existence. Even the Holy Spirit Cult's supreme elder had only recognized the Three-Eyed Golden Lion because he had happened to read an ancient book.
And judging by Yan Shaozhe's reaction, he clearly had not recognized her. Otherwise, instead of finding a way to capture the Emperor Auspicious Beast, he would have dealt with the matter another way.
Yan Shaozhe was deliberately giving off pressure earlier, so the other Soul Beasts wouldn't dare come close... Wait, pressure?!
Could it be because Yan Shaozhe's Martial Soul is a Bright Phoenix, so the presence he gives off is also that of a Bright Phoenix?
To most Soul Beasts, a Bright Phoenix is an existence they absolutely can't afford to provoke, but the Three-Eyed Golden Lion is different.
The Emperor Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, loves eating the brains of light-attribute Soul Beasts most of all. And although the Bright Phoenix can be considered a Soul Beast on par with the Radiant Sacred Dragon, the Phoenix God was easily elbowed to death by the Dragon God on the Douluo Continent, so the status of the phoenix lineage has become exceptionally low.
So, to the Emperor Auspicious Beast, a Bright Phoenix is her tastiest friend, which means...
Bai Jingtian suddenly had a terrifying guess. When he looked into the Emperor Auspicious Beast's eyes, the way her gaze changed from I've found something tasty to Holy crap, who are you? and then to Guh! Kill! only confirmed his guess.
A little earlier.
Star Dou Great Forest, core region, Great Ferocious Land, Lake of Life.
"I'm so bored... Oh, the Scarlet King doesn't seem to be home. I'll go out for a stroll~"
The Emperor Auspicious Beast, who was always followed and protected by the Scarlet King, felt terribly bored. So, taking advantage of his sudden absence for some unknown reason, she shot out of the Great Ferocious Land like an arrow loosed from a bow, intending to wander leisurely around the core region.
Unfortunately, it was already late today. Otherwise, she had also planned to visit the mixed region or even the outer region.
But while she was strolling through the core region, she suddenly sensed a very delicious presence. It was quite possibly a Bright Phoenix, which had not appeared in a long time.
"There's even a Bright Phoenix here for an extra meal? I wonder what the rest of this Bright Phoenix's clan is like. If there are too few of them, I won't get any to eat..."
Lured by the scent of delicious food, the Emperor Auspicious Beast immediately ran in that direction without looking back, only to be captured alive by Yan Shaozhe's giant hand.
"Jingtian, come here. This Soul Beast's Mental Attribute is extremely powerful, and its cultivation is only a little over ten thousand years. It's very suitable as your third Soul Ring.
Come on, I'll hold it down for you. You kill it."
Yan Shaozhe forcefully pinned the Emperor Auspicious Beast to the ground, bringing her mouth into intimate contact with the earth as he made the suggestion to Bai Jingtian.
"Dean Yan, I don't think she's very suitable, and we can't hurt her.
I once read about her in an ancient book in my clan. She seems to be some kind of Emperor Auspicious Beast, with a very powerful force of luck. If we kill her, we'll be plagued by bad luck that we'll never be able to get rid of for the rest of our lives..."
Bai Jingtian hurriedly tried to stop him, a little cold sweat even breaking out on his body.
All he wanted now was to run away with Yan Shaozhe as quickly as possible and never let Yan Shaozhe take him to obtain a Soul Ring again.
Damn it, Yan Shaozhe's ability to stir up trouble was no worse than Xuan Zi's! If Xuan Zi was the Holy Spirit Cult's supreme elder, then Yan Shaozhe was its honorary elder!