God-Tier Awakening: The Dead Can Still Level Up

Chapter 22: Scavengers

As the dust slowly cleared, Xingluo coughed violently, and a trail of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth.

The massive bear lay ahead of her, its back destroyed badly enough that its spine was visible through the torn flesh.

Broken muscle, blood, and shattered armor plates were scattered across the snow around it, making the entire area look like it had been blasted apart from inside.

Xingluo forced herself to look around, and only then did she notice the damage left behind by the final burst.

Several nearby trees had been pierced through by bone spikes, while the ground was filled with cracks, broken stones, and deep holes.

Shen Wuxia arrived behind her, his expression colder than before. "Damn. You survived that only because of luck."

Almost as soon as he said that, the Platinum-grade necklace beneath Xingluo’s coat gave off a faint light before slowly dimming.

The protective glow around her body faded with it, and Xingluo lowered her head to touch the necklace before coughing again.

Blood stained her fingers as she looked back at the dead bear. "What just happened? Why did this beast burst like a small bomb after dying?"

Shen Wuxia looked at the destroyed back of the bear and narrowed his eyes slightly. "It most likely had a mutated skill."

Xingluo’s brows tightened. "Mutated skill?"

"Rare, but not impossible," Wuxia said calmly. "Some elite beasts awaken strange abilities when their bloodline becomes unstable."

He glanced at the fading necklace on her chest before continuing, "You are lucky that necklace had an automatic high-tier shield. Otherwise, even your body would not have been left intact."

Hearing that, Xingluo’s face stiffened for a moment before she slowly sat down on the snow. "Hah... I am exhausted."

"Then be exhausted after dealing with the corpse," Wuxia said, making Xingluo raise her head and stare at him.

"The claws and teeth are still usable, and we are lucky that the spine is already exposed," Wuxia continued. "Altogether, they should be worth around one hundred thousand credits."

Xingluo’s tired eyes moved toward the ruined bear corpse. "You still want me to harvest that thing?"

"We are poor now," Wuxia replied calmly. "And those parts are usually hard to extract cleanly, so this counts as luck."

Xingluo opened her mouth, then closed it again after remembering the ten million credits she had spent earlier.

Shen Wuxia floated toward the Black Stone Armored Bear’s corpse and raised his hand above its torn back.

The same cold pull appeared inside his soul, but this time it was much stronger than before.

Black threads rose from the bear’s blood, bones, and broken armor plates, twisting around Wuxia’s palm as they were dragged into one point.

The corpse began drying at a visible speed, its thick muscles shrinking while the blood darkened across the snow.

The exposed spine gave out several cracking sounds, as if something buried inside the beast was being pulled free by force.

Xingluo stood up halfway, her exhaustion forgotten for a moment. "Again?"

"Quiet," Wuxia said, his eyes fixed on the corpse. "This one is different."

The bear’s body suddenly sank inward, but the bones did not collapse like the weaker beasts before.

Instead, the spine, ribs, claws, and broken armor plates trembled violently before slowly lifting from the ruined flesh.

A faint outline of the Black Stone Armored Bear appeared above the corpse, larger than the bones below it and covered in a dark grey soul glow.

The outline struggled for a moment and released a low sound that was not fully a roar, but Wuxia’s hand tightened at once.

The next instant, a system voice rang inside his mind.

[Soul Extraction successful.]

[Soul Power Points Extracted: 1]

[Consumed Beast: Elite]

[Soul Soldier compatibility detected.]

[Extract Soul Soldier?]

[YES] [NO]

Shen Wuxia froze for a moment as his gaze remained fixed on the system panel. He had expected more Soul Power Points from an elite beast, but he had not expected the words Soul Soldier to appear.

After a brief pause, his gaze lowered toward the corpse, and he chose yes without speaking.

The moment he made the choice, the dark threads around his hand tightened and stabbed back into the bear’s remains.

The moment he made the choice, the dark threads around his hand tightened and sank deeper into the bear’s corpse.

The moment he made the choice, the dark threads around Shen Wuxia’s hand tightened and sank into the bear’s corpse.

The ruined flesh trembled once, and a dark bear-shaped soul slowly rose from it, carrying the same heavy outline as the Black Stone Armored Bear.

At first, its body was faint and unstable, but the soul threads quickly wrapped around it and forced its shape to become clear.

Its massive frame, thick limbs, armored back, and mutated spikes all remained, but everything was now formed from dark soul power instead of flesh.

The Soul Soldier’s eyes opened with a dim black glow, and the wild rage inside them was pressed down the moment Shen Wuxia’s aura touched it.

It lowered its head before him, its claws sinking into the snow without making a sound.

[Soul Soldier created.]

[Type: Black Stone Armored Bear]

[Rank: Low-Grade Soul Soldier]

[Control Cost: High]

Shen Wuxia stared at the Soul Soldier, and even his expression changed slightly.

Xingluo pointed at it with a stiff hand. "You said your talent mutated."

"It did."

"You did not say it could pull a bear’s soul out and make it kneel."

Shen Wuxia looked at the Soul Soldier for another moment before replying calmly, "I also just learned that part."

Xingluo stared at him, then at the bear-shaped Soul Soldier, then back at him again, but she had nothing to say but just then, the bushes near the forest shook again.

Xingluo’s hand moved to her sword almost at once, and Shen Wuxia’s gaze turned toward the sound before the leaves fully parted.

A man stepped out from between the trees, followed closely by two others, all three still covered in blood and dirt from the earlier fight.

The moment Xingluo saw the leader’s face, her expression changed, it was the same man who had thrown the beast-attracting solution at her.

His eyes moved across the ruined ground, the dead Black Stone Armored Bear, and then finally landed on Xingluo.

Seeing him return with his two subordinates, Shen Wuxia and Xingluo both became tense at once.

The leader looked at the bear corpse first, then at Xingluo’s injured body, and finally his gaze moved toward the bear-shaped Soul Soldier standing nearby.

Its dark body flickered faintly above the ruined snow, almost like the contracted spirit beasts used by some Spirit Summoner professionals.

Seeing this, the leader’s eyes changed slightly, but he quickly covered it with a small laugh and stepped toward Xingluo.

"Hello, Miss," he said, his tone sounding polite on the surface. "Sorry for the interruption."

"We are really thankful for your help, Miss," the leader said with a small smile. "Since you already look quite tired, you should leave first."

His gaze moved toward the Black Stone Armored Bear’s corpse before he continued, "We will help you clean up the beast carcass."

Hearing this, Xingluo’s grip around her sword tightened, and her expression became even more guarded.

"I do not need your help," she said coldly. "I can take care of it myself, so you should leave."

The leader’s smile slowly faded after hearing her answer.

His eyes turned sharper, and the false politeness in his face disappeared little by little. "You should leave before I take action."

He took another step forward, his voice lowering. "Otherwise, you will regret it."

As he said this, the leader and his two subordinates drew their weapons almost at the same time.

Seeing this, Xingluo also raised her longsword, though her breathing was still unstable from the fight against the bear.

Shen Wuxia floated beside her, his gaze moving across the three men. "Get ready. This is the real wild."

Xingluo’s eyes tightened slightly.

"This fight will not be easy," Wuxia continued. "They are not beasts, and they already chose murder once."

Hearing this, Xingluo nodded without looking away from the three men.

At the same time, Shen Wuxia turned part of his attention toward the bear-shaped Soul Soldier and connected his soul force to it.

The Soul Soldier’s dark eyes flickered once before it slowly moved behind Xingluo, its massive body standing between her and the forest.

Shen Wuxia checked its condition, and a system panel appeared inside his mind.

[Soul Soldier: Black Stone Armored Bear]

[Original Level: 90]

[Current State: Severely Weakened]

[Control Cost: High]

Seeing this, Shen Wuxia’s expression did not change but his thoughts became heavier.

Even though the Black Stone Armored Bear had been a Level 90 elite beast while alive, its current strength was far below its original body.

The Soul Soldier still had its size, pressure, and some of its original toughness, but its power had clearly dropped after extraction.

More importantly, controlling it consumed Shen Wuxia’s soul force every moment but still, it was better than nothing.

The leader looked at the bear-shaped Soul Soldier, then at Xingluo’s injured state, and a cold smile appeared on his face. "Looks like you still have some tricks left," he said.

Xingluo tightened her grip around her sword, while the Soul Soldier lowered its body and waited for Shen Wuxia’s command.