Chapter 91

The Ice Soul Python's head exploded, blood and brain matter spilling out, and a burnt smell spread, mixing with the stench of the python's body, making it unbearably foul.

The Ice Soul Python, about six to seven meters long, had ringed patterns on its body, black and white alternating, which looked quite beautiful.

Gao Yu stepped forward, his dark eyes fixed on the patterns, then slowly raised his head, seemingly staring at something in the sky.

Qin Lie followed his gaze but saw nothing, and asked in confusion, "What are you looking at?"

"A drifting soul." Gao Yu's eyes glinted with a strange light, and the ghost face ring on his hand flickered, "The soul fragment of the Soul Devourer didn't come, there are no black clouds in the sky, and the soul of this Ice Soul Python is... slowly dissipating, it's about to completely merge with the world."

Qin Lie was startled, subconsciously frowning and sensing...

He closed his eyes, released his mental energy, and used his spiritual consciousness to probe.

Faintly, he could vaguely sense a thin gas, as if it were being blown away, gradually dissipating.

From that thin gas, he could sense many complex fluctuations, like fragmented images, like the unique memories of a soul...

"I know it's hard for you to understand, and a soul isn't something a normal person can sense, but souls... truly exist." Gao Yu didn't look at Qin Lie, still gazing at the sky, "I can see them because of the special spirit technique I practice and the rare ghost face ring. It's natural that others can't sense them."

"However, according to what I know, some powerful spirit beasts, some high-level martial artists, when their souls become strong enough, even if their bodies die, their souls can remain, not dissipate in the world. Those high-level beings, when their physical bodies are destroyed, their souls can exist independently, can seek new bodies, can be reborn!" Gao Yu said with a distant look, "These theories all come from the ghost face ring. I don't know if they're true..."

"That's true." Qin Lie suddenly interjected.

Gao Yu was surprised, looking at Qin Lie, puzzled, "How do you know if it's true or not?"

"Someone... told me this." Qin Lie's mind flashed with the image of Qin Shan, "And just now, I... also slightly sensed the soul of the Ice Soul Python. I could feel it dissipating, like light smoke being blown away."

Gao Yu's expression changed, "How can you sense it? I can only vaguely see it with the help of the spirit technique and the ghost face ring. Why can you?"

He was indeed shocked. During this time, he and the martial artists of the Punishment Hall had been active outside Ice Rock City, fighting many spirit beasts, and killing many of them, seeing the soul fragments of the Soul Devourers.

However, apart from him, the other martial artists of the Punishment Hall couldn't sense the movement of the spirit beasts' souls after they died, even when he explained the situation, they refused to believe it.

Let alone sensing the process of the soul dissipating.

Qin Lie, apart from him, was another person who could sense the dissipation of the spirit beasts' souls, which greatly surprised Gao Yu.

"I'm not sure either, but I can sense it. I don't see it with my eyes... I sense it with my soul." Qin Lie explained.

"Sense it with your soul?" Gao Yu's eyes showed shock, "That means your soul is much stronger than a normal person's! Only extremely powerful martial artists can sense the movement of souls, this is also what the ring says!"

When Gao Yu looked at Qin Lie again, his gaze suddenly became strange, "You, it seems you have many secrets. I didn't expect your soul to be so powerful!"

"Powerful soul? Yes, it should be." Qin Lie was also moved. In the past two years, he had been refining his mental energy, gradually enhancing his soul's power. And from the moment he had memory, he could clearly sense the existence of mental energy.

It seemed that ten years ago, he had put a lot of effort into mental cultivation, so his soul was much stronger than a normal person's.

"Your spirit technique just now was also very powerful. The lightning ball had immense power, instantly shattering the Ice Soul Python's head. This explosive force is something many spirit weapons can't achieve." Gao Yu was clearly a bit envious. He came to the Ice Soul Python's corpse and said, "It seems you found a suitable spirit technique in the scripture hall recently. Condensing lightning into a ball... very powerful."

"Spirit technique?" Qin Lie was taken aback, thought for a moment, then nodded and smiled, "Yes, that lightning ball is a new spirit technique I've mastered."

"Let's see if there's anything good." Gao Yu's face was excited as he took out a dagger and started poking around the Ice Soul Python's mangled head.

Soon, he picked out a silver-white crystal about the size of an egg, the crystal was faceted, and felt icy cold to the touch, surrounded by silver-white cold mist.

"This is the Ice Soul Python's beast core. This Ice Soul Python is a mutated spirit beast, so the beast core should be a bit unusual." Gao Yu touched it, and immediately a layer of frost formed on his fingertips, "So cold! This beast core is extremely cold, it should be very suitable for the people of the Ice Shattering Manor, but it's not very useful to us."

"Let me see."

Qin Lie stepped forward, his finger touching the faceted crystal, and immediately a cold energy invaded, making his finger stiff and causing his body to shiver.

"Rumble!"

However, another sound of thunder also came from inside the beast core, which he could clearly sense as a practitioner of Heavenly Thunder Punishment.

"This beast core might be useful to me, I'll take it first." Without being polite, Qin Lie chuckled and, in front of Gao Yu, put the faceted crystal into the cloth bag at his waist, then said, "Let's dissolve the Ice Soul Python and see what's left. What remains should be good spirit materials, let's see what we have."

"Okay."

Gao Yu took out the corrosive water from the Star Cloud Pavilion, which was specifically for dissolving spirit beasts, and poured it on the Ice Soul Python's corpse. The Ice Soul Python's body, without the protection of energy, quickly dissolved under the strong corrosive effect of the corrosive water, and soon a pool of blood formed on the stone ground, spreading rapidly.

In just a few minutes, the Ice Soul Python's flesh had dissolved, leaving only the skin, bones, sharp fangs, and a pair of eyes.

Qin Lie observed for a while, focusing on the pair of eyes. He touched the two eyes of the Ice Soul Python, suddenly grabbed one of them, "This eye has thunder fluctuations, it should be a lightning-type spirit material. I won't be polite. Yes, all the remaining spirit materials are yours."

"Okay." Gao Yu collected the remaining skin, bones, fangs, and the other eye, "These spirit materials are also proof that we killed an Ice Soul Python. When we return to the pavilion, we can exchange them for corresponding contribution points."

"Working together, we can kill a second-stage spirit beast, which isn't very difficult." Qin Lie rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and suddenly suggested, "Why don't we continue?"

"No problem." Gao Yu nodded.

"Let's go! Let's find other second-stage spirit beasts!" Qin Lie said excitedly.

The two then moved, quickly searching for other second-stage spirit beasts in the outer area of the stone forest.

At this moment, Yan Ziqian of the Ice Shattering Manor, Nuo of the Water Moon Sect, and others were also using the same method to anger the beast herds, leading the spirit beasts to the outer area of the stone forest. Even Xiong Ba of the Crimson Flame Association, after two of his brothers were killed, had learned to be cautious and no longer dared to fight the spirit beasts head-on, instead leading the beast herds around.

As a result, there were many spirit beasts active in the outer layer of the stone forest. People from the Ice Shattering Manor, Star Cloud Pavilion, Crimson Flame Association, and Water Moon Sect, when fleeing, often panicked and ran into each other.

However, everyone knew the current situation, and after each encounter, they would nod to each other and quickly go their separate ways.

Even when Tu Ze, Zhuo Qian, and others met Yan Ziqian, they didn't dare to fight, only leaving some harsh words and then continuing to run around.

Behind each group, there were spirit beasts in hot pursuit, with several second-stage spirit beasts roaring in anger.

Whenever the four groups noticed a decrease in the number of spirit beasts behind them, and only one or two second-stage spirit beasts remained, they would stop and counterattack.

Of course, there were also times when they were cornered by the spirit beasts and had to fight head-on... in such situations, the martial artists often paid a heavy price.

Nuo of the Water Moon Sect and others accidentally entered a dead end, resulting in two girls being torn apart and eaten by the spirit beasts, and several others were injured to varying degrees.

Yan Ziqian's group also had bad luck, being attacked from both sides by two groups of spirit beasts, resulting in three people being bitten to death, and even Yan Qingsong's left hand being bitten off.

Xiong Ba of the Crimson Flame Association, after experiencing previous misfortunes, had a smooth journey afterward, with no further casualties.

Tu Ze and Zhuo Qian's group were also attacked from both sides by the spirit beasts, but they often risked their lives to save their companions, enduring injuries and being bitten to save their comrades.

Thus, Tu Ze, Zhuo Qian, and others were all injured, but no one died.

Among the groups, Qin Lie and Gao Yu were the outliers. They worked together and often found isolated spirit beasts, then launched attacks.

Together, they killed three second-stage spirit beasts, including the Ice Soul Python, and sixteen first-stage spirit beasts.

All of this was observed by Xie Jingxuan and Liang Zhong from a high vantage point, and they began to pay special attention to Qin Lie and Gao Yu.

"Those two boys are too sensitive to the movements of the spirit beasts." Liang Zhong stood on a high peak, looking far into the direction of Qin Lie and Gao Yu, "Their senses are very outstanding. They can often detect the approach of the spirit beasts long before they get close, and then avoid them in advance. That's why they never encounter the spirit beasts, and only attack isolated ones, which is why they have such remarkable achievements."

"It's because of Qin Lie." Xie Jingxuan's gaze, from a great distance, fell on Qin Lie, "He can sense the approach of the spirit beasts first, and then avoid them with Gao Yu, so they never encounter powerful spirit beasts, always keeping themselves in a safe situation."

"Isn't it Gao Yu?" Liang Zhong was surprised, "Gao Yu can keenly sense the existence of souls, so it's not him?"

"It's Qin Lie." Xie Jingxuan affirmed.

Liang Zhong was puzzled.

Xie Jingxuan was about to explain when she suddenly saw the black clouds in the depths of the stone forest change. The clusters of dark Soul Devourer soul fragments, like a sea of clouds, began to surge and suddenly started to press down.

It seemed that a powerful suction force suddenly erupted below the soul fragments, pulling all the soul fragments downward.

"It's starting!" Her expression changed, and she quickly said, "Charge in immediately!"

Liang Zhong's expression was extremely serious, and he quickly flew down to join Ban Hong and others from the Samsara Hall in taking action.

"Uncle Zhong, notify the four groups first, allowing them to advance into the depths of the stone forest. Now that area is no longer crowded with spirit beasts, it has become a relatively safe area. Also, bring Qin Lie and Gao Yu. These two... might really be useful." Xie Jingxuan hurriedly instructed.

"Understood, I'll go now."

...

PS: Two chapters today~~

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends