147: Chapter 147 Contract

Lin Xuan narrowed his eyes.

The defense of this Silver-Backed Bull was indeed solid.

The Thunder-Striking Thorn was a top-grade Magical Artifact, yet even with seventy percent of his strength in that last strike, it hadn't even pierced through the protective shield.

His thunder techniques had also been significantly weakened by its dual resistance to earth and thunder attributes—if that arc of electricity had hit a Cultivator without thunder resistance, even if they dodged, the aftermath of the arc would have paralyzed half their body.

But it had an obvious weakness.

Slow.

Slow to turn, slow to move, and even its attack rhythm was slow.

That silver armor shield was indeed hard, but it could only be maintained for a few breaths; once the burst ended, it had to wait for the next recharge.

"Pangolin."

Lin Xuan silently recited these two words in his heart.

The ground beneath the Silver-Backed Bull suddenly exploded.

It wasn't just the pebbles cracking—it was as if the entire ground had been shoved violently from below by a giant hand, sending soil and gravel soaring into the sky, forming a fountain a zhang high.

The Pangolin burst out from the ground.

Its body curled into a ball, the thunder patterns on its scales lighting up completely, its whole body wrapped in yellow-brown light as it slammed directly into the Silver-Backed Bull's abdomen—a spot uncovered by silver armor, protected only by a layer of thick, grayish-brown skin.

"Bang!"

The sound of the impact was dull, like a beating drum.

The Silver-Backed Bull let out a pained roar.

It wasn't the steady low growl from before, but a cry truly filled with pain, the sound exploding from deep within its throat, causing the leaves of the ironwood trees on both sides of the riverbed to rustle.

Its massive body was knocked to the side, its four legs slipping on the pebbles, hooves kicking up stones, and its body falling uncontrollably to the side.

Lin Xuan moved.

He stepped out with the Thunder Flash Step, the pebbles beneath his feet cracking into a spiderweb pattern, and he appeared beside the Silver-Backed Bull in an instant.

He infused the startling thunder whip with seventy percent of his Thunder Spiritual Energy, the purple thunder light on the whip glowing blindingly bright, and lashed it against the joint of its hind leg.

"Crackle!"

The thunder light exploded at the joint.

The Silver-Backed Bull's hind leg twitched violently, and the leg, as if its bones had been removed, suddenly buckled.

Its knee slammed into the pebbles, creating a basin-sized pit; stone fragments pierced into its flesh, seeping out a trace of dark red blood.

It shook its head in anger.

Arcs of electricity shot from its horns again, but the aim was off.

The thunder light grazed the top of Lin Xuan's head, blasting into an ironwood tree by the riverbed, blowing a bowl-sized charred hole in the trunk with wood chips flying everywhere.

Lin Xuan advanced instead of retreating.

His left hand thrust the Thunder-Striking Thorn toward the soft flesh on its neck that wasn't covered by silver armor, the thunder light at the tip of the blade concentrated into a point the size of a needle tip, precise and restrained.

His right hand used the startling thunder whip to coil around one of its front hooves, tightening the whip body, and flowing Thunder Spiritual Energy along the whip to paralyze the muscles of the front leg.

The Pangolin burrowed out from the ground again.

This time it slammed into the other hind leg.

A three-sided pincer attack.

The Silver-Backed Bull finally revealed a flaw.

To deal with the Pangolin constantly burrowing out from beneath it, it stomped its front hooves violently on the ground, and a circle of yellow-brown halo exploded from beneath its hooves—the Earth Escape Technique.

The pebble-covered ground rippled violently like the surface of water, and the Pangolin was shaken out of the earth, tumbling in the air several times before falling to the ground.

But this stomp caused the muscles in its neck to tense up.

Three inches below its throat, several muscles bulged like steel cables, pulled taut until they turned white.

Right between those muscles, there was a fist-sized area without bone plate protection, only a layer of relatively soft, grayish-brown skin that rose and fell with its breathing.

Lin Xuan's Thunder-Striking Thorn arrived.

The tip of the blade pierced into that soft flesh.

It didn't pierce through.

At the last moment, he withdrew ninety percent of his strength, letting the blade tip only pierce in half an inch—just enough to penetrate the skin and touch the muscle layer beneath.

Thunder Spiritual Energy poured in along the wound.

Not an explosion, but an infiltration.

Like mercury spilling onto the ground, the Thunder Spiritual Energy spread along the direction of the muscle fibers, directly paralyzing the Silver-Backed Bull's throat muscles and vocal cords.

It wanted to roar, but only a dull, choked-off gasp of air came from its throat.

It wanted to struggle, but the paralysis had already spread from its throat to its front legs; its front hooves scraped weakly against the pebbles, leaving only a few shallow marks.

The massive body of the Silver-Backed Bull crashed to the ground.

The riverbed shook once.

The pebbles were pressed into the soil, and the dust kicked up formed a grayish-yellow mist under the pale purple sunlight.

Its four legs were still twitching violently, hooves kicking the ground unconsciously, each kick sending up a shower of gravel.

Its dark golden pupils were filled with terror and unwillingness, but it no longer had the strength to even turn its head.

Lin Xuan put away his Flying Sword and crouched beside the massive head of the Silver-Backed Bull.

He was panting.

His chest heaved violently like a bellows, sweat trickling down his temples and dripping onto the Silver-Backed Bull's silver-gray bone plates, making a faint "hissing" sound—the bone plates still retained the residual heat from when it had released its shield.

His palms burned with pain.

He looked down; the skin on his palms had been rubbed raw, scraped off by the recoil of the whip handle when he wielded it earlier.

The charred mark on his left shoulder was still smoking, a finger-sized hole burned through the shoulder of his robe by the arc of electricity, the edges charred and curled, revealing the reddened skin beneath.

But he had no time to deal with these.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and communicated with the spirit control tower.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the spirit control tower vibrated gently.

Clear light poured from the tower, extending along his Divine Sense, and enveloped the Silver-Backed Bull's Sea of Consciousness.

The moment they made contact, Lin Xuan felt resistance.

The Silver-Backed Bull's Divine Soul was completely different from the Herb-Seeking Mouse and the Pangolin.

The Divine Souls of those two Spirit Beasts were like streams—clear, shallow, and easy to penetrate.

When the spirit control tower's clear light surged over, it encountered almost no obstruction and penetrated directly.

But this bull's Divine Soul was like a stubborn rock.

Rough.

Solid.

Distinctly angular.

When the clear light enveloped it, one could clearly feel a kind of "hardness"—not an active resistance, but the structure of the Divine Soul itself was so dense, like old iron hammered for decades, every particle packed tightly together.

The Silver-Backed Bull sensed that suppression coming from the depths of its Soul.

Its body could no longer move, but its Divine Soul began to struggle violently.

It wasn't a skillful counterattack, but a pure, instinctive resistance—like a stone desperately trying to maintain its shape, not wanting to be crushed by an external force.

A flicker of fear flashed in its dark golden pupils.

That fear was very real.

It wasn't a fear of pain, but a fear of "losing itself"—it felt that once that clear light fully seeped into the core of its Divine Soul, it would no longer be its original self.

Fine beads of sweat seeped from Lin Xuan's forehead.

His Divine Sense was depleting rapidly.

The spirit control tower's clear light advanced slowly across the surface of the bull's Divine Soul, each fraction of an inch of penetration consuming several times more Divine Sense than usual.

He felt as if he were cutting raw iron with a dull knife—it wasn't that he couldn't cut it, but every stroke required his full strength.

This lasted for about the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea.

Lin Xuan's breathing grew heavier and heavier, the robe on his back soaked through with sweat, clinging to his skin with a cold chill.

His temples throbbed, as if someone were tapping them with a small hammer.

Finally—

"Ding."

The spirit control tower vibrated gently.

The clear light had fully seeped into the Silver-Backed Bull's Divine Soul core.

That "thread" appeared.

One end connected to Lin Xuan's Sea of Consciousness, and the other to the Silver-Backed Bull's Divine Soul.

It was more than twice as thick as the thread connecting to the Herb-Seeking Mouse, and more than a step thicker than the one connecting to the Pangolin.

It occupied a portion of the Divine Soul's "space," like a thick rope tied to the edge of his Sea of Consciousness; it wasn't uncomfortable, but he could clearly feel its existence.

The contract was formed.

Lin Xuan let out a long breath.

He opened his eyes.

The Silver-Backed Bull's pupils had returned to calmness.

It wasn't the steady, indifferent calmness from before, but a calmness tinged with bewilderment—it knew what had happened, but didn't quite understand what it meant.

It stared at Lin Xuan; the anger and unwillingness in its eyes hadn't fully faded, but a layer of something complex had been added.

Lin Xuan took two peiyuan pills from his Storage Pouch, pried open the bull's large mouth, and stuffed them under its tongue.

He then took out a bottle of hemostatic ointment, scooped out a dollop with his finger, and smeared it onto the wound on its throat.

The moment the ointment touched the wound, a low whimper came from the Silver-Backed Bull's throat.

It wasn't pain, but a vague, indistinct sound that was hard to describe.

Lin Xuan patted its nasal bridge.

The bone was very hard, and felt cold to the touch.

He stored the Silver-Backed Bull into the Spirit-Taming Tower Space.

His consciousness followed, sinking inside.

Inside the space, the Herb-Seeking Mouse was huddled under the thunder essence fruit tree, holding its head with its two front paws, revealing only a pair of black bean-like eyes, secretly sizing up the massive newcomer.

The Pangolin was lying by the spirit field, its scales bearing a few tiny cracks caused by the Earth Escape Technique; it was licking the cracked spots with its tongue, looking up at the Silver-Backed Bull every few licks.

The Thunder-Light Bug was hanging on the thunder-attracting vine, the purple light on its body flickering, its antennae swaying gently in the direction of the bull.

The Silver-Backed Bull was sprawled at the edge of the space, its four legs still twitching slightly, hooves unconsciously scraping the soil.

Its dark golden pupils stared at Lin Xuan, who was standing at the entrance of the space; the anger and unwillingness in its eyes hadn't fully vanished, but it was no longer struggling.

It was too tired.

Lin Xuan walked over and applied another layer of hemostatic ointment to the wound on its throat.

Then he exited the space.