Wilderness: I Tame Beasts to Survive

Chapter 404: Chapter 277: Cold and Glamorous (Part 2)

An hour later.

The Crystal Stones he had dropped into the lake still showed no reaction.

"Forget it. Let’s head back for now."

He had no intention of sending Yin Yi deep into the lakebed. According to the records left by the Alataku People, there were Monarch Level Soul Beasts in this region of the Netherworld. If they accidentally ran into one, there would be nowhere to run.

However, just as Han Ning was about to signal for his Soul Beasts to leave, he suddenly felt a faint stir within his Spiritual World.

"Hm?"

Through his Spiritual Sense, he detected that one of the Crystal Stones had been gently touched.

He quickly manipulated the Spiritual Power attached to it, pulling the Crystal Stone toward the surface.

The Crystal Stone shot upward like a flash of lightning, soon breaking through the water’s surface. Under his spiritual control, it hovered in midair.

From below, a blurry, spectral figure shimmering with a cyan-white glow silently burst out of the lake, lunging viciously at the Crystal Stone.

"Now, Yin Yi!"

[

Race: Death Shadow

Gender: N/A

Talent: C

Level: Lord II

Talent: Shriek

Mastered Elements: Undead

Introduction: A conglomerate of negative energy with low intelligence that acts purely on instinct.

]

The grade of a Soul Beast’s "Talent" didn’t indicate its intelligence. Rather, it was an aptitude for cultivation, more akin to "inspiration" in cultivation novels.

However, Han Ning had observed that for some Soul Beasts, high Talent was positively correlated with high intelligence. This seemed to depend on the type of Soul Beast.

Creatures from the Netherworld like this one, no matter how high their Talent, possessed extremely low intelligence. They were mostly conglomerates of negative emotions—monsters controlled by their feelings.

A Lord Level Soul Beast from the Insect Continent would never have been lured to the surface by a small Crystal Stone.

With their considerable intelligence, they would have recognized it for what it was: a blatant attempt by another creature to "fish" for them.

But the Death Shadow from the Netherworld seemed completely oblivious to this fact.

"Ling~"

Yin Yi, who had been getting bored, immediately perked up. Wreathed in starlight, she transformed into a ball of blazing stellar flames and used Instant Movement to appear beside the Death Shadow, tightly enveloping its ethereal body.

"YAAA!!!"

Engulfed by the dense stellar flames, the terrifying radiation, scorching heat, and the pervasive, tearing attacks of the Spiritual Energy made the Death Shadow let out a violent shriek.

It felt no pain, but it could clearly sense the energy in its body being rapidly depleted!

Before the Death Shadow could counterattack, Yin Yi—whose power far surpassed it—contracted her starlight and effortlessly incinerated it, leaving behind only a cyan-white crystal stone similar to the one from the Fog Snake, and a pair of scarlet eyes that faintly glowed red.

These two items were the only solid objects on the Death Shadow’s entire body.

’The eyes of a Lord II. That’s enough.’

Having obtained the eyes, Han Ning didn’t hesitate. He mounted the Star Dream Unicorn and signaled his Soul Beasts to retreat from the area immediately.

...

「Deep beneath Night Nether City.」

A tall figure stood quietly beside Han Ning’s body, as if waiting for something.

The next second, a faint radiance suddenly flickered from within the white, misty rift.

An inexplicable ripple spread out.

Not far away, Han Ning, who was lying on the floor with his eyes shut tight, felt his brow twitch slightly. Then, he opened his eyes.

"Phew... A smooth return."

He rubbed the space between his brows, which felt a bit strained. The massive drain on his spirit had left a hollow sensation deep in his mind, and the energy within his body was rapidly being consumed to replenish it.

Two beams of light appeared, materializing into Yin Yi, Fei Lin, and the Star Dream Unicorn, who stood on either side of him.

"Oh? Lady Hom, you’re here," he said with a smile, noticing Hom standing beside him.

"Yes. How is the progress?" Hom asked, her cold expression instantly melting into a gentle smile as she looked at Fei Lin, who had just appeared.

She was the "Artifact Spirit" of the Biological Armor and also Fei Lin’s biological mother. How could she not be present to watch over her own daughter’s evolution?

"Everything went smoothly. Now, let’s begin Fei Lin’s breakthrough ritual!"

Fei Lin’s breakthrough ritual was similar to Yin Yi’s, but without the potion to purify her bloodline, it was clear that the power of her lineage had not yet been fully awakened.

Ideally, Fei Lin’s evolution should have taken place in the Netherworld, but his Spiritual Power was currently insufficient to bring so many items from the real world into it. Therefore, he had to settle for the next best option: performing it near the rift.

The most crucial part of evolving from a Dark Mirror Knight to a Silent Watcher was awakening the Curse Attribute. Accordingly, the most important evolution materials were also Curse-related items!

Following the panel’s instructions, Han Ning laid out the items he had spent the last six months collecting on the ground before him, one by one.

A Curse Seal Blood Pearl from a Curse Venomous Lizard living deep in the Grudge Abyss; the red eyes stripped from the Death Shadow; Dark Side Poison Scale Grass that grew in areas rich with Dark Energy... Over a dozen such gloomy materials were laid out, along with... a large quantity of Dark Attribute Crystal Stones.

’First, High Energy Accumulation. I’ll use abundant energy to help Fei Lin break through to the Lord Level. Then, as the Lord Level energy flows through her body, I’ll proceed to the second step...’

High Energy Accumulation involved a High-Energy Array. Back when Yin Yi had her breakthrough, he had only a hazy understanding of the array drawn on the rock platform and had simply copied it stroke for stroke.

Now, after studying Spiritual Arrays for half a year, he finally understood just how incredible the High-Energy Array provided by the panel truly was.

Even now, he couldn’t fully comprehend it, but he could see the whole leopard from one of its spots. Just a few simple Spiritual Energy Circuits seemed to be a particle-arrangement structure born from the summarized experience of top-tier Beast Masters over many years. It was simple and efficient, allowing even a Beast Master who knew nothing about Spiritual Arrays to copy it. To describe it in one phrase: the greatest truths are the simplest.

’Using the least amount of Spiritual Energy to leverage the greatest amount of ambient spiritual energy from the void... It’s terrifying.’

After his silent astonishment, he picked up a special Spiritual Pen, dipped it in Spiritual Ink made from ground Dark Crystal Stones and the flesh and blood of Dark Soul Beasts, and devoted himself completely to drawing the Spiritual Array.

Before long, a Spiritual Array spanning a hundred square meters appeared in the silent underground chamber. It encircled the spatial rift, covered in profound black patterns.

Viewed from above, the crisscrossing lines faintly formed the abstract pattern of a Mandala flower.

’This is definitely a top-tier Spirit Absorption Array, perhaps even more profound than the supreme heritage of the Witch Spirit Royal Family...’

Hom had seen Han Ning draw a similar array back when Yin Yi evolved. Seeing it again now, her beautiful face still couldn’t conceal her profound shock.

"Fei Lin, take the Star Dream Unicorn and stand on it."

The unique aspect of the Dark Mirror Knight was that as it evolved, its vassal would evolve along with it. However, this method of evolution was different from the mount’s own natural evolution; it was a separate evolutionary branch.

The only catch was that evolving in this way meant the Star Dream Unicorn could no longer evolve through natural means, and Han Ning would have no choice in its evolutionary branch either.

"Yiyi~" "NEIGH~"

Upon hearing this, Fei Lin pressed her head against the Star Dream Unicorn’s cheek—now restored to its black-skinned complexion—and nuzzled it gently. She whispered a few words in its ear, patted its back, and then led it to the center of the array, directly beneath the rift.

’This method... It’s a bit like the Bond Phenomenon from that Pokemon show I used to watch. How amazing.’

After half a year of cultivation, both Fei Lin and the Star Dream Unicorn had grasped the method of Gathering Spirit. They had compressed the Spiritual Energy in their bodies multiple times, and aside from the limitations of their physical forms, their technique was already on par with Lord Level Soul Beasts.

Once Fei Lin was in position, Han Ning signaled Yin Yi to shoot out a dense thicket of Vine Whips and place the various materials in their designated areas, following the panel’s instructions.

Han Ning, Hom, and Yin Yi retreated to the very edge of the array. Han Ning then spoke gently to Fei Lin, who was waiting quietly with her head raised in the center:

"Alright, Fei Lin! Now, do everything you can to absorb the Dark Energy from the void, activate the Spiritual Array, and touch the threshold of your breakthrough!"

"Yiyi!"

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