194: Chapter 194 Chen Qing's Beast Taming, the Childhood Blood Soul Sword

The threat of the alien mermen hiding in the shadows had been resolved, but the overall alien crisis was far from over.

Li Yu had clarified at least two pieces of information.

First, this group of merman-like aliens had noticed his existence and knew he had obtained the 'key' to the Blood Refining Ruins. They were the second group to target him, after the organization behind Chen Qing.

Second, there was something fishy about the Blood Refining Ruins.

Other factions and countries hadn't made a Move, yet this group of mermen had sent people—no, sent fish—to deal with him. It was hard not to suspect that there was some connection between the Blood Refining Ruins and these mermen.

To this day, Li Yu still didn't know the purpose of the Blood Refining Ruins choosing him as the captain.

He was just a frail Breeder; what could he do inside?

Fortunately, these puzzles wouldn't remain unsolved for long.

The ruins would open tomorrow, and all the answers would be revealed.

Before that, however, Li Yu still had to improve his self-preservation capabilities.

Bubble's Five-Colored Divine Light wouldn't be ready in time, Xiao Jia's combat power wasn't very useful, and Talent Sharing could only barely be maintained for a little over sixteen seconds now.

After ruling them out one by one, what remained was to improve the team's combat strength.

Wei Long, Feng Hou, and Chu Xiaolian had finished their evolutions.

There were still others left.

In the afternoon, Li Yu, Zhou Ya, and Chen Qing returned to the familiar Advanced Cultivation room.

"Summon it, let me take a look," Li Yu said, looking at Chen Qing.

It was only while cultivating several team members that Li Yu remembered to ask Chen Qing why she had joined the team. After all, the ruins had regulations on the combat power of those entering, and Chen Qing's combat power was clearly too high, yet Director Wang and President Wu had agreed to her joining.

This meant she met the requirements.

Li Yu had originally asked just on the off chance, but he hadn't expected Chen Qing to give him a surprise.

Chen Qing rested her hand on the hilt of her sword and tapped it gently a few times. Before long, a red crack opened on the sword, and a wisp of blood-red mist flew out, transforming into a blood-red energy sword.

The sword was formed of energy and lacked a metallic texture; instead, it wriggled slightly, like a child who had just woken up, full of a soft texture.

However... it was only the size of a thumb.

It was so small that even someone with nearsightedness would need glasses to see its appearance clearly.

This sword was a bit shy. Having just woken up and seeing Li Yu leaning in close, it immediately shrank behind Chen Qing's back, trembling.

A bold Chen Qing, and a timid Yao Beast.

A good combination.

Li Yu was inwardly amused, but also somewhat surprised.

An Artifact Spirit type Yao Beast.

This was beyond rare.

The Yao Beasts of this world weren't just animals with scales, fur, feathers, or shells; other things that underwent mutations due to chance encounters could also become Yao Beasts.

For example, plants that stayed in places with dense Spiritual Qi for a long time, certain antiques with a heavy aura of history, or even some weapons passed down from ancient times.

However, except for plants and animals, other forms of Yao Beasts were incredibly scarce.

"I found it in a ruin. It has no courage and no strength; it's just an extra living thing by my side."

Chen Qing's expression was calm, but there was a slight flicker of emotion in her eyes.

Clearly, this cowardly and weak little Artifact Spirit held some special meaning for her.

Li Yu didn't notice this, however. He was drawn to certain information in Chen Qing's words and asked, "You've been to ruins too?"

"I've been to a few."

"Then..."

Li Yu wanted to ask her for her thoughts on the Blood Refining Ruins, but before he could, Chen Qing said, "I don't know. Every ruin is different. My limited experience with ruins isn't enough to analyze the Blood Refining Ruins, and blindly applying it would be very dangerous."

"Oh... alright." Li Yu felt a bit disappointed, but he quickly adjusted his mood. "So your strength doesn't rely on Yao Beasts?"

"Yes, some Opportunities from ruins. I don't want to talk about it."

Chen Qing frowned slightly.

Her strength came from the first ruin she visited, a ruin filled with mechanical traps.

At that time, a hundred people, including her, were taken to the ruins by the organization to serve as cannon fodder for testing the traps. Everyone else died, and only she survived. She was hit by seven arrows, her leg bones were shattered, one arm was broken, and her internal organs were a mess. She was left forgotten in a deep trap pit.

Her will to survive allowed her to use her teeth and one arm to crawl out of the trap by sheer force, and by a stroke of luck, she obtained the ruin's Legacy.

From then on, she was cultivated and given important roles by the organization until now.

Li Yu sensed Chen Qing's abnormality and didn't press further. He just gave her a gentle smile and then looked at the little Artifact Spirit. "Does it have a name?"

"No, I don't know what it is." Chen Qing cast a curious and expectant gaze.

She wanted to know.

Li Yu narrowed his eyes and used Insight.

[Yao Beast Name]: Young Blood Soul Sword

[Yao Beast Quality]: Excellent (B)

[Yao Beast Rank]: Black Iron Rank 6

[Yao Beast Attribute]: Blood

[Yao Beast Talent]: Bloodletting

[Yao Beast Description]: An Artifact Spirit born from an ancient sword absorbing Spiritual Qi. Its only use is to increase the Bloodletting effect.

When Li Yu finished stating the attributes, Chen Qing nodded calmly.

"Aren't you excited?" Li Yu asked.

"I was just curious, and now that curiosity has been resolved."

"Then aren't you looking forward to its evolution?"

"Companionship is enough. Evolution isn't actually that important."

Chen Qing's tone was as calm as ever, without a hint of expectation. The soft body of the little Artifact Spirit hiding behind Chen Qing suddenly wilted, but it didn't say anything.

Li Yu scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Then... should we still cultivate it?"

"Yes." Chen Qing nodded.

"Why?"

"If it can help you, I'm willing to cooperate and accept the results."

Chen Qing looked at Li Yu with a serious face. Her expression held no trace of a joke, nor would it allow anyone to have a shred of doubt.

Hearing this, Li Yu's heart skipped a beat, and then it began to throb wildly.

Zhou Ya looked at Chen Qing, then at Li Yu.

There was something going on between these two.

"Cough, let's just do the cultivation. Little Artifact Spirit, come here, come here. Let Uncle take a look at you."

Li Yu beckoned.

Ignoring the strange looks from Chen Qing and Zhou Ya, he took the little Artifact Spirit away, placed it on the operating table, and with his back to the two of them, he flicked out a low-grade universal evolution card.

Although Chen Qing said that whether it evolved or not didn't matter, Li Yu had seen the expectant look in the little Artifact Spirit's eyes.

How could he let a good child who desired evolution go?

This was all ready-made cultivation value!

Really!

Li Yu guaranteed that he was definitely not determined to evolve the little Artifact Spirit because of Chen Qing's final sincere words.

He swore it.

Whoosh—

The golden light came quickly and left just as fast.

An evolution path appeared in Li Yu's mind.

[Growth Evolution - blood soul sword: 1000g of blood essence, Fusion with 3 pieces of Jade Soul...]

Growth Evolution?

Li Yu closed his eyes, sensing the information about the blood soul sword in his mind. Soon, he opened them, a strange look flashing in his eyes.

In the knowledge he had obtained, the blood soul sword would merge into the sword body and augment the power of the user's Moves.

Note that it didn't augment the power of the sword, but rather the power of the user.

In other words, no matter what weapon Chen Qing used, as long as this blood soul sword merged into the weapon, the power of her attacks would be significantly increased.

In this way, it was a perfect match for Chen Qing.