120: Chapter 120 Silver-level Beast Egg

Qin Ce's eyes narrowed slightly.

These two were both excellent prey.

Especially that Nightmare—a fierce beast with a mutation tendency; the beast egg refined from it often possessed potential far exceeding others of the same rank.

"Very good."

He gently patted the Qingluan's neck.

Understanding his intent, the Qingluan began to circle slowly above the battlefield, silently absorbing the dissipating wind-energy around them.

One, two, three...

The phoenix tails behind it were quietly taking shape.

Below, the two fierce beasts were locked in a fierce struggle, completely unaware of Qin Ce's covetous gaze from above.

The Ghost Wolf launched another sneak attack.

Its speed was startlingly fast as it shuttled through the shadows, pouncing at the Nightmare from a bizarre angle!

Shadow energy surged wildly upon its sharp claws!

This one claw strike was enough to tear through the defenses of a Silver Rank fierce beast!

However—

Just at the moment it was about to hit, the Nightmare's figure suddenly turned into a cloud of black mist and dissipated into the air.

It was actually an illusion!

The Ghost Wolf pounced on nothing!

Meanwhile, the real Nightmare emerged from the shadows behind it, opening its mouth to blast the Ghost Wolf with an invisible mental shock!

"Awoo—!!!"

The Ghost Wolf let out a pained howl, its body suddenly stiffening!

Now was the time!

The Nightmare transformed into a black shadow and lunged for the Ghost Wolf's throat!

Shadow energy condensed into a sharp blade upon its claws!

This strike was enough to be fatal!

However—

Just at the moment it was about to succeed.

Two silver rays of light suddenly descended from the sky!

Their speed was incredibly fast!

Their angles were terrifyingly tricky!

Puchi!

Puchi!

Two muffled thuds sounded almost simultaneously!

The Nightmare's body suddenly froze.

The Ghost Wolf's body also stiffened abruptly.

They looked down at their own chests.

There, each had a wound pierced through by a Wind Blade.

In the next moment, blood gushed out wildly.

"Whimper..."

The Ghost Wolf let out a faint whimper, its body going limp as it collapsed to the ground.

The Nightmare's scarlet eyes were filled with resentment. It tried its hardest to turn its head toward the source of the attack.

But it only managed to see a cyan figure slowly descending from the sky.

Then, its consciousness plunged completely into darkness.

Qin Ce landed beside the two corpses; looking at the two Silver Rank fierce beasts he had killed in a single strike, there was no pride on his face.

He had experienced battles with Gold Rank fierce beasts and a life-and-death duel with the Raven King.

Especially a war on the scale of a beast tide.

Facing these Silver Ranks now, he felt no pressure at all.

Whether it was combat techniques, timing, or skill usage, he far surpassed these ordinary Silver Ranks.

He didn't even need to use the full power of the Flowing Wind Surge; just two Wind Blades enhanced by Phoenix Flow were enough.

Qin Ce squatted down and looked at the two corpses before him.

The Ghost Wolf's aptitude was slightly inferior.

I'll use it to practice first!

He closed his eyes, immersing his mental energy deep into his mind.

There, his Soul Talisman was suspended.

It was a completely cyan, constantly rotating rune that emitted a soft glow.

Around the rune, a faint phantom of a Qingluan could be seen soaring with spread wings.

Beside the Qingluan phantom, there was also a chaotic, empty, black-hole-like cavity.

That was his second Pet Beast slot.

With a thought from Qin Ce, the Soul Talisman began to vibrate slightly.

Then, the energy within Qin Ce's body flowed toward the Soul Talisman.

As the Soul Talisman activated.

Within that cavity, a thick, liquid-like energy began to slowly form and flow out.

Guided by his mental energy, it flowed from his mind to his meridians, from his meridians to his arm, and from his arm to his finger.

Finally, at the tip of Qin Ce's index finger, it condensed into a grain-sized cyan speck of light.

Though the speck of light was small, it contained the source power of the Soul Talisman.

Qin Ce took a deep breath and pressed the speck of light on his finger against the Ghost Wolf's crystal core.

Buzz—!!!

A strange ripple spread out from his fingertip!

Wherever the ripple passed, the meridians in the Ghost Wolf's corpse, which had long since stopped flowing, actually began to light up again!

One, two, three...

These meridians were like an activated circuit, forming a complex network within the corpse that connected every part of the body!

Then, all the residual energy in the corpse began to surge wildly toward the crystal core along those meridians!

Energy from the flesh, energy from the bones, energy from the fur.

Every bit was extracted!

Even the coagulated blood was reactivated, turning into pure energy and merging into that torrent!

Once that energy gathered at the crystal core, the crystal core began to undergo a strange transformation.

It was melting.

No, it wasn't melting; it was "reverting."

Reverting to its most primal state.

Then, those energies began to condense and take shape bit by bit around that mass of source energy.

Finally, it formed the shape of a curled-up, palm-sized young beast.

The silhouette of the young beast was identical to the Ghost Wolf.

At the moment the young beast was fully formed, the external flesh began to dry up and carbonize, eventually turning into a layer of grayish-black, eggshell-like hard shell that encased the young beast.

The fierce beast egg had formed.

The entire process was as smooth as flowing water.

Qin Ce opened his eyes and looked at the entirely silver-gray fierce beast egg in his hand, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

A faint piece of information entered his mind.

[Ghost Wolf fierce beast egg]

[Potential: High-Grade Gold]

[Attributes: Wind/Dark]

[Status: Perfect]

This was the feedback after a normal Beast Tamer's refinement; it was far inferior to the appraisal from the Nine-Fold Insight.

...

The first refinement of a fierce beast egg was a complete success.

Qin Ce nodded inwardly; he had gained deep insights during this process.

Previously, he only knew that refining a fierce beast egg required Soul Talisman energy, but he hadn't expected the first layer of the Nine-fold Azure Sky, "Breath Condensation," to play such a huge role in the process.

The energy surging from the Soul Talisman, after being condensed tenfold by Breath Condensation, possessed purity and stability far exceeding that of ordinary people.

This gave him an absolute advantage when controlling the backflow tide of energy.

Thus, the refined fierce beast egg was extremely perfect.

He stood up and walked toward the Nightmare's corpse.

The same process.

Mental energy guidance, Soul Talisman energy injection, meridian activation, energy gathering, crystal core reversion, young beast shaping, and eggshell encasement.

When the second fierce beast egg landed in his hand, the smile on Qin Ce's face deepened.

[Nightmare fierce beast egg (Mutation Tendency)]

[Potential: Peak Gold, Capable of Breakthrough]

[Attributes: Dark/Mental]

[Status: Perfect]

Peak Gold, yet it actually had the potential to break through to Starlight.

Moreover, it retained the mutation tendency.

This meant that if it was properly nurtured after hatching, this Nightmare could very likely truly complete its mutation during growth and charge toward Starlight!

Qin Ce satisfiedly put away the two fierce beast eggs.

At this moment, he didn't know that ordinary people refining fierce beast eggs could at most produce a fierce beast with a potential one rank higher than their own.

Yet he had directly achieved two ranks higher.

Furthermore, this was only because the upper limit of this fierce beast's potential was only Gold Rank.

Otherwise, with the purity of his Soul Talisman, he might have been able to refine something of an even higher rank.

...