r18novel Chapter 85 What to do if a soul beast's lifespan is insufficient?
Chapter 85 What to do if a soul beast's lifespan is insufficient?
Li Fulan did not rush to make a move.
He pulled the thermal imager out of his storage belt again and performed a deep scan on the limp Baku. The data on the display screen jumped around, temperature curves, vital signs, energy fluctuations, and lines of numbers refreshed rapidly.
The Dream Eater lay there, its chest still rising and falling slightly, each breath accompanied by a soft whimper. Its hind leg was still bleeding; the wound inflicted by the Blood-Drinking Blade was deep enough to expose bone, the white bone fragments clearly visible. Although its spine was broken, this beast was incredibly resilient and wouldn't die anytime soon.
Its purple eyes were half-open and half-closed, with unfocused pupils. Occasionally, they would turn and then slightly contract when they fell on Li Fulan, as if instinctively feeling fear.
"One thousand one hundred years."
Li Fulan whispered the cultivation level of the soul beast.
The number made him raise an eyebrow. Thermal imaging cameras have relatively basic scanning capabilities, only able to estimate approximate lifespans based on vital signs, with an error margin of about fifty years. Even so, this number was sufficient to illustrate the point.
A 1100-year-old Dream Eater is considered above average among thousand-year-old soul beasts. If hunted through normal means, one wouldn't even think about getting close without strength at least level 30 or 40. This beast's mental attacks are too insidious; if you're not careful, it will pull you into a dream, and when you wake up, you'll either be eaten or have been driven insane.
Upon hearing this, Hu Liena, who was standing to the side, frowned again, her brows which had relaxed slightly.
She took two steps closer, squatted down to examine the dream beast carefully, then looked up at Li Fulan with a serious expression in her eyes.
"The absorption limit for the second spirit ring is usually around 764 years," she reminded him, her voice low as if afraid of disturbing something. "I've checked your information. You're currently a level 27 spirit master, and your first spirit ring is a 423-year poisonous mushroom. According to the normal spirit ring matching rules, the second spirit ring can only absorb up to about 700 years."
She paused, her gaze falling on the Dream Eater still barely clinging to life, and continued, "Although your physical condition seems good, absorbing something across a span of over three hundred years is far too risky. The mental shock could directly destroy your sea of consciousness, resulting in anything from qi deviation to instant death. I've seen many such cases; some genius soul masters, overestimating their physique, forcibly absorb transcendent soul rings, and the result..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was already quite clear.
The result is that his brain is burned to mush, turning him into a drooling idiot.
"That applies to ordinary people."
Li Fulan crouched down, meeting the gaze of the struggling Dream Eater at eye level. His tone was calm, even somewhat nonchalant, as if discussing what to have for lunch.
He quickly calculated in his mind.
The normal limit for a second spirit ring is indeed over seven hundred years. This is empirical data verified by countless generations of spirit masters on the Douluo Continent, and it's basically accurate. But he wasn't an ordinary spirit master.
He wasn't idle while traversing the technological world. Besides acquiring the Crimson Lotus Bracers and various equipment, he also obtained quite a few valuable items. The most crucial of these was a "Silver Whale Pill" refined from the glue of a thousand-year-old whale.
That thing was stolen... cough, borrowed from a laboratory at some marine research institute. It was supposedly an essence extracted from a mutated giant whale that had lived for over a thousand years, capable of greatly enhancing the resilience of the human body's meridians and the endurance of the soul. When he ate it, his stomach ached for three whole days, and his stool was black, as if his internal organs had been thoroughly cleansed.
But the effect was indeed immediate.
According to his estimation, the Silver Whale Pill enhanced his body's endurance by at least five hundred years. In other words, his theoretical limit should be around 1,284 years.
This 1,100-year-old tapir happened to be stuck in his dessert area.
Not too much, not too little, just right.
"Your expression tells me you already have a plan." Hu Liena stood up, crossed her arms, and scrutinized Li Fulan's profile. "Then I won't say anything more. Anyway, it's not me who's going to die."
"Don't worry, I won't die." Li Fulan smiled and took out a delicate little jade bottle from her storage belt.
The jade bottle was about the thickness of a thumb, milky white in color, and engraved with several intricate patterns. He uncorked it and poured out a dark red pill that emitted a strong medicinal fragrance. The pill was round and smooth, with a faint sheen on its surface, like a carefully polished agate bead.
The aroma of herbs filled the air; it was a peculiar scent, like strong liquor mixed with honey, and with an indescribable, slightly fishy-sweet odor. It wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either; it just made you want to inhale it a few more times.
"This is..." Xiao Wu sniffed, her eyes lighting up as she leaned closer to examine the pill curiously. "It smells so good, like the essence of some high-level plant. Master, what is this? Is it for me to eat?"
"This isn't for you," Li Fulan pushed her head away. "It's its last meal."
"A last meal before death?" Xiao Wu tilted her head, looking puzzled. "Giving a soul beast its last meal before death? Isn't that a waste?"
"No waste." Li Fulan held the pill to the Dream Eater's mouth. "This is a ripening agent."
Although the cunning creature was severely injured, with a broken spine and limp limbs, its instinct for survival and its greedy nature had not disappeared. Its turbid purple eyes lit up the moment it saw the pill, its previously unfocused pupils suddenly contracted, and its nostrils flared wildly.
As a spirit-type soul beast, it could clearly sense the immense life force contained within the pill. It was an energy powerful enough to heal some of its injuries and might even allow its cultivation to advance further. It had lived for over a thousand years and had rarely seen anything like it.
Although the Dream Eater's mind was somewhat muddled by the mental shock, its basic judgment remained. It assumed that this human wanted to tame it, or at least wanted it to live longer so that it could be further exploited later. After all, a thousand-year-old Dream Eater that could be successfully tamed was an extremely valuable resource, not only fetching an astronomical price but also serving as a mental attack weapon.
It had heard of such things; some humans liked to capture animals alive.
The Dream Eater let out a low, ingratiating growl, its throat gurgling like a dog with its tail between its legs. It stuck out its long tongue and eagerly swallowed the pill. The tongue was long and soft, bluish in color, and covered in barbs—a sight that was unsettling to behold.
The moment the pill entered its mouth, its eyes narrowed, as if it were savoring some delicious food.
As the pill dissolved in its stomach, a rich medicinal power flowed through its meridians. The Dream Eater's originally dull fur regained its luster, and the purple fur that had become dull due to blood loss was revitalized. The pain in its eyes was replaced by a joy of gaining energy, and it even slightly narrowed its eyes, letting out a comfortable hum.
Its wound was healing at a visible speed. The deep, bone-revealing knife wound began to close up, and new flesh sprouted from the edges of the wound, gradually filling the horrific gash.
"It's recovering!" Xiao Wu exclaimed, instinctively taking a step back. "Master, are you sure you want to do this?"
"Don't worry." Li Fulan's gaze remained fixed on the Dream Eater, her voice eerily calm. "It won't recover much. The main function of this pill isn't healing, it's to accelerate its growth."
"Force-ripening?" Hu Liena frowned. "What do you mean?"
"The literal meaning," Li Fulan said softly, "This thing can unleash all the essence within its body, essentially compressing and releasing the potential of the next few hundred years. It may appear to have recovered in the short term, but in reality, it's overdrawing its life force. In another ten or so breaths, the quality of its spirit rings will be at least ten percent higher than it is now."
He paused for a moment, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Of course, the price is that it will die faster and more completely."
The dream-eating beast had no idea what it had swallowed. It was still immersed in the comfort brought by the drug, its muscles relaxing as the drug soothed it. It even began to fantasize about its future life—perhaps this human would raise it, provide it with good food and drink, and occasionally use it to perform mental attacks in exchange for more pills.
These kinds of days don't seem so bad, do they?
Just as its vigilance was at its lowest, and it was completely immersed in that illusory sense of satisfaction.
"Are you full?"
Li Fulan's voice suddenly rang out, cold and devoid of any warmth.
"Then let's get going."
There were no signs whatsoever.
His right hand shot out like a red-hot iron clamp, precisely gripping the Dream Eater's most vulnerable throat. The Crimson Lotus Bracers erupted with astonishing heat in that instant, a faint red glow emanating from the metal-skin interface. Scalding energy surged into his muscle fibers, causing his right hand's strength to increase several times over in a split second.
The Dream Eater's eyes widened suddenly, reflecting Li Fulan's indifferent face in its pupils. It wanted to struggle, to scream, to unleash a mental attack, but its body simply wouldn't obey its commands. The force gripping its throat was too great, so great that it couldn't even breathe.
"Snap—!"
A sickening sound of bones cracking echoed through the silent swamp.
The joy in the dream-eating beast's eyes froze instantly, not even having time to transform into fear. Under that monstrous force capable of crushing rocks, its trachea and cervical vertebrae were instantly shattered. The pill it had just swallowed hadn't even had time to be fully digested before it, along with its last vestige of life, was completely extinguished by that hand.
Its body twitched twice, then it stopped moving.
Those purple eyes were still open, and the last image captured in their pupils was Li Fulan's expressionless face.
A wisp of purple light rose from the corpse of the Dream Eater. At first, it was just a faint wisp of smoke, but it quickly condensed into a crystal-clear soul ring that emitted an eerie purple glow. The soul ring was about the size of a washbasin, with specks of purple light flowing along its edges, like a turbulent galaxy.
A spiritual soul ring that has lasted for 1,100 years.
"Good quality." Li Fulan nodded in satisfaction.
"Nana, Xiao Wu, protect me."
Li Fulan wasted no time.
He sat down cross-legged, the fallen leaves beneath him creaking under his weight. The ground was damp, and a chill could be felt through his trousers, but he didn't care. A spirit ring's quality diminishes over time after leaving its host; it must be absorbed as quickly as possible.
He raised his right hand, palm facing up.
The soul power within his body began to circulate, and the strange mushroom martial soul appeared. The mushroom cap slowly opened in the air, emitting a faint glow, drawing the purple soul ring in the air to slowly fall.
The moment the spirit ring was placed on the mushroom, Li Fulan's body shuddered violently.
A vast and domineering spiritual energy surged into his body like a flood bursting its banks, carrying with it a violent and chaotic will, rushing straight into his sea of consciousness. It was the spiritual power accumulated by the Dream Eater over a thousand years, carrying its memories, instincts, and final resentment from its previous life.
A fine layer of sweat instantly appeared on his forehead.
But Li Fulan's expression was surprisingly calm, with even a faint smile on her lips, as if she was enjoying this battle of wits.
"Keep an eye on your surroundings." He closed his eyes, his voice slightly strained. "Don't let anything get close."