Chapter 167: Chapter 167: Profound Beast Lair
’Soul Refiners really are the stuff of nightmares for Profound Beasts.’
Ye Xuan couldn’t help but marvel at the sight. ’So many Profound Beasts... If they were to attack, an ordinary Celestial Martial Artist would have had their Martial Soul shattered by their Soul Power assault long ago, forced to flee with grievous injuries.’
It was just like Lin Xiong, a powerful Tier Three Earth Martial Artist. When faced with a relatively weak Tiger Roar Beast, his Martial Soul had collapsed, leaving him practically a cripple.
But for a powerful Soul Refiner, it was very difficult for a Profound Beast’s Soul Power to cause any harm. Only a higher-level Profound Beast could possibly manage it.
Mosen, on the other hand, looked majestic as he used a soul-based Array to slay a great number of Profound Beasts in a short time.
After nearly half an hour of brutal fighting, the remaining Tier Three Profound Beasts, seeing they were no match for Mosen, let out a furious roar and led the survivors in a swift retreat, leaving dozens of corpses in their wake.
The moment the Profound Beasts were gone, Mosen immediately sat down cross-legged, took out a handful of Pills, and tossed them into his mouth, wasting no time to begin cultivating.
Clearly, the previous battle had taken a huge toll on him as well.
An idea sparked in Ye Xuan’s mind. ’This is the perfect opportunity for a sneak attack. After that grueling fight, Mosen might look fine, but his face is pale. He must have used up most of his Soul Power.’
’If those last few Tier Three Profound Beasts had fought to the death, they might have been able to wear Mosen down completely.’
But as intelligent as Profound Beasts were, they were no match for humans.
But just as the thought crossed his mind, Ye Xuan stopped himself. A cold smirk played on his lips as a better idea occurred to him.
Profound Beasts held an immense attraction for Soul Refiners. Given Mosen’s character, now that he had discovered so many of them here, he definitely wouldn’t let the matter rest.
Nearly ten Tier Three Profound Beasts had appeared just now. This meant they couldn’t possibly be the leaders of this tribe. The true king was most likely a Tier Four Profound Beast.
Once Mosen started fighting a Tier Four Profound Beast, that would be the perfect opportunity for Ye Xuan to swoop in and reap the rewards.
With that in mind, Ye Xuan remained hidden.
However, he wasn’t idle.
His gaze swept over the corpses of the Tier Three Profound Beasts before suddenly locking onto a black demon wolf among them.
A Tier Three Profound Beast—the Dark Demon Wolf!
’That’s the one.’
Ye Xuan’s calm eyes suddenly turned eerie. An invisible ripple of Soul Sense slowly emanated from the Soul Seal between his brows.
If someone had been standing before him, they would have seen his pupils spinning bizarrely, like a kaleidoscope.
At the same time, Ye Xuan mobilized a tiny sliver of power from his Devouring Martial Soul, combined it with his ethereal Soul Power, and silently wrapped it around the Dark Demon Wolf.
WHOOSH!
Mosen, who was sitting cross-legged and recovering, seemed to sense something. He snapped his eyes open and unleashed his Soul Power, carefully scanning his surroundings.
But by then, Ye Xuan had already retracted his Soul Power. Mosen scanned the area for a good while but found nothing. He frowned and resumed his recovery.
Up in the tree, Ye Xuan let out a sly chuckle.
’Mission accomplished!’
But before his satisfaction could fully settle in, the Devouring Martial Soul in his Dantian, having released that sliver of its aura, seemed to sense something and began to pulse with an intense craving.
The craving was overwhelming, like a starving man who had stumbled upon a grand feast and wanted to gorge himself.
’That tempting aura is coming from Mosen’s vicinity. Could it be the Soul Crystals from those Profound Beasts?’
Ye Xuan frowned. He could sense that the source of this craving was the corpses of the dozen or so dead Profound Beasts.
’But I’ve obtained Soul Crystals before, and I don’t recall the Devouring Martial Soul ever reacting this way.’
Ye Xuan had always been deeply curious about his mysterious Devouring Martial Soul, but this was no time to expose himself, so he forcefully suppressed the craving.
「A quarter of an hour later.」
The color had returned to Mosen’s face as he sat cross-legged.
He opened his eyes, slowly stood up, and carefully retrieved an Array Disc from underneath him, placing it into his Storage Ring.
’This Mosen is certainly cautious.’
Ye Xuan realized the Array Disc served a dual purpose, for both defense and attack. Mosen must have stealthily placed it beneath himself while he was taking out his Pills and recovering his Soul Power.
If he had tried to ambush him earlier, he would have triggered the defensive Array Disc, unleashing its offensive power. It was clear that Mosen was extremely cautious, no matter the situation.
After stowing the Array Disc, Mosen began to collect the numerous Profound Beast Soul Crystals from the ground.
A look of anticipation flashed in Ye Xuan’s eyes as he watched all of this unfold.
Sure enough, when Mosen reached the Dark Demon Wolf, a look of wild joy appeared on his face.
With an excited expression, he extracted the Dark Demon Wolf’s Tier Three Soul Crystal. Then, he quickly set up a Defensive Array and, to Ye Xuan’s surprise, began to refine the Soul Crystal right then and there.
A victorious smirk touched Ye Xuan’s lips.
He had overheard earlier that Mosen came to Cyan Profound Mountain specifically to upgrade his Martial Soul from Two-Stars to Three-Stars. Of all the Profound Beasts here, Ye Xuan could tell at a glance that the Dark Demon Wolf’s Soul Crystal was the most suitable for Mosen’s purpose.
Under normal circumstances, Mosen might not have chosen to refine it immediately. After all, upgrading a Martial Soul was a critical process that allowed no room for error, and this dangerous mountain forest was hardly an ideal location.
However, if Mosen wanted to achieve greater gains here, upgrading his Martial Soul was the most direct method.
Ye Xuan refused to believe Mosen was unaware of the Profound Beast tribe in this area. Thus, the probability of him choosing to upgrade his Martial Soul immediately was over seventy or eighty percent.
And sure enough, just as Ye Xuan had predicted, Mosen chose to refine the Dark Demon Wolf’s Soul Crystal on the spot.
As Mosen formed a series of bizarre Hand Skills, the Soul Crystal before him rapidly shrank. The Soul Power within it seeped into his body like wisps of black mist.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, his face grew terribly pale, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Ye Xuan rubbed his nose and frowned, thinking, ’He’s not going to fail already, is he? That would be pathetic!’
Normally, there were grade restrictions on upgrading a Martial Soul. It typically required a Third Grade Soul Refiner to help someone raise a Martial Soul from Two-Stars to Three-Stars.
But Mosen was a Soul Refiner himself, different from an ordinary Martial Artist. Ye Xuan refused to believe he didn’t have some unique techniques of his own.
Under Ye Xuan’s watchful eye, after a grueling process that lasted over half an hour, Mosen finally finished refining the Tier Three Soul Crystal.
HUMMM!
An ethereal black Martial Soul materialized above his head, with three dazzling halos pulsating around it, emanating a powerful Martial Soul aura.
"Hahaha! I, Mosen, have finally upgraded my Martial Soul to Three-Stars! I’m a genius! Now, let’s see just how powerful this Profound Beast tribe really is."
His Martial Soul upgraded, Mosen was brimming with confidence. With a flicker, he vanished into the forest, speeding toward its depths.
Only after Mosen was gone did Ye Xuan climb down from the tree and approach the spot where he had been.
The moment he entered the area littered with Profound Beast corpses, the Devouring Martial Soul in his Dantian was once again struck by an even more intense hunger.
Puzzled, Ye Xuan immediately released his Devouring Martial Soul.
WHOOSH!
The instant the Devouring Martial Soul appeared, wisps of an ethereal aura began to pour frantically from the Profound Beast corpses, all of which were greedily absorbed by the Devouring Martial Soul.
Ye Xuan was inwardly astonished. ’The thing my Devouring Martial Soul is craving so badly is the Soul Thoughts left behind by the Profound Beasts after death, not their Soul Crystals!’
Profound Beasts cultivated Soul Power, which condensed into Soul Crystals within their bodies, much like Demon Cores. However, for a short period after their death, they also dissipated their own Soul Thoughts, which would gradually fade away.
These Soul Thoughts were somewhat akin to a human’s soul.
If a Soul Refiner wanted to grant a Martial Soul to a Martial Artist who hadn’t awakened one, they would need to seal both these Soul Thoughts and the power from a Soul Crystal into the Martial Artist’s body.
This would allow the Soul Thought and Soul Crystal to form a new Martial Soul that the Martial Artist could control.
Under any other circumstances, these Soul Thoughts were impossible to collect.
Typically, when a Soul Refiner or Martial Artist killed a Profound Beast, they had no choice but to let the Soul Thoughts dissipate.
’I never thought my Devouring Martial Soul could actively absorb these Soul Thoughts. Even for me, a former Eighth Grade Soul Emperor, this is a first. How novel.’
After absorbing the Soul Thoughts from all the Profound Beasts, Ye Xuan could clearly feel that his Devouring Martial Soul had grown noticeably stronger.
However, too much time had passed since the beasts’ deaths, so most of their Soul Thoughts had already dissipated. The Devouring Martial Soul hadn’t absorbed very much.
’This Devouring Martial Soul really is peculiar.’
Shaking his head, Ye Xuan composed himself and darted off in the direction Mosen had disappeared.
As he advanced, Ye Xuan could faintly sense continuous waves of Soul Thought fluctuations up ahead, and could even hear the roars of Profound Beasts.
’Heh heh. It looks like Mosen is searching for the Profound Beast tribe’s lair. Perfect. I’ll let them fight it out while I wait to reap the rewards.’
Ye Xuan advanced at a leisurely pace. He had already placed a mark on Mosen’s Martial Soul without him knowing, so he wasn’t afraid of losing him.
Sure enough, along the way, Ye Xuan came across many more Profound Beast corpses.
These Profound Beasts had clearly died recently, as not much of their Soul Thought energy had dissipated. As soon as Ye Xuan drew near, the invisible Soul Thoughts were swiftly and completely absorbed by the Devouring Martial Soul in his Dantian.
Ye Xuan could clearly feel his Devouring Martial Soul slowly growing; it even felt as if it was on the verge of a transformation.
’Normally, a Martial Soul is upgraded by absorbing Soul Power from Soul Crystals. But my Devouring Martial Soul upgrades itself by absorbing Soul Thoughts.’
Ye Xuan frowned. A Martial Soul that could autonomously absorb Soul Thoughts was something that left even him astonished.
