496: Chapter 496 Successful Recognition of Master

Su Mingyuan felt that he had never experienced such an absurd thing in his entire life.

A few minutes ago, a dark purple giant butterfly with a wingspan of dozens of meters had blocked his way, opening its mouth to devour his Sea of Consciousness. Its arrogant posture was just like a creditor coming to collect a debt, eager to chew up his principal and interest alike.

As a result, the moment Evil Bone Skeleton appeared, this butterfly became as cowardly as a mouse seeing a cat and instantly cowered.

Being chased all over the Sea of Consciousness and bitten bite by bite until more than half of its wings were shattered, it finally collapsed in front of him and called him master.

The script's plot twist was simply too fast—so fast that Su Mingyuan's head was still buzzing a bit right now, feeling as unreal as if he had drunk two liang of baijiu.

Su Mingyuan raised his head again to glance at Evil Bone Skeleton.

The skull was still suspended in mid-air, its five-hundred-meter bulk filling the upper half of the Sea of Consciousness to the brim. Dark red flames flickered on and off within its two hollow eye sockets, gazing down patronizingly at Gu Mother.

It did not move again, nor did it launch an attack on Gu Mother.

It just hung suspended in the air like that.

Su Mingyuan could tell that it was waiting for him to make a decision.

Su Mingyuan took a deep breath and began to calculate in his mind.

Should he accept it or not?

He was not in a hurry to state his position.

After so many years of leading teams, fighting battles, and conducting scientific research, the habit he had cultivated was just like this: no matter how good the situation in front of him looked, he would calm down for two seconds first before speaking.

Impulsiveness was a demon, and eight out of ten decisions made on impulse would lead to regret.

Gu Mother said she wanted to recognize him as master, which sounded wonderful.

But she had wanted to devour his Sea of Consciousness just a few minutes ago.

For a matter with such a huge contrast between before and after, not thinking it through carefully meant one had a hole in their brain.

Su Mingyuan turned the pros and cons over and over in his mind twice.

The benefits of accepting her, which were laid out clearly in the open, were twofold.

The first, and also the most urgent one right now, was this:

Gu Mother came from the Immortal Realm, a Soul Transformation grand Cultivator who had fallen from the Upper Realm. Having lived for nearly four hundred years, she had a belly full of knowledge. The rules of the immortal cultivation world, the methods to Cultivate, and all kinds of strange magical arts—spilling out just a little bit of them would be more than enough for him to benefit immensely.

Especially regarding Evil Bone Skeleton.

Ever since this thing appeared until now, Su Mingyuan's understanding of it was basically zero. He only knew it was a treasure of the Dan Ding Palace, stolen by Daoist Wan Shi, and later somehow ran into his Sea of Consciousness, lingering there stubbornly and refusing to leave.

As for why it was here, what abilities it truly possessed, and what concept Gu Mother's earlier cry of "recognizing as master" actually entailed, Su Mingyuan had no idea whatsoever.

He had checked the batch of immortal cultivation Jade Slips brought back from the Skeleton World over and over again several times. The records concerning Evil Bone Skeleton were pitifully few—just those few sentences, and they were vague and ambiguous.

Gu Mother clearly knew much more.

She was someone who had personally witnessed Daoist Wan Shi using Evil Bone Skeleton, and her understanding of Evil Bone Skeleton would definitely be much greater than Su Mingyuan's.

The second benefit was even more substantial.

Combat power.

Gu Mother herself was a Cultivator of the Nascent Soul Stage.

Su Mingyuan himself was in the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, while Chen Rong and Lin Wan had worked desperately hard and had resources piled onto them by the base to death, only just managing to touch the threshold of the Golden Core.

Gu Mother was higher than them by a full major Realm.

How large was the gap between the Golden Core and the Nascent Soul?

This could be seen from Chen Rong's performance against the insect king: a punch from the Golden Core Stage could blast apart an insect king of the Foundation Establishment Stage, but in front of Gu Mother, Chen Rong of the Golden Core Stage would probably be blasted to death by a single punch from Gu Mother.

If combat power of this level were thrown away for nothing, the four characters "spoiling heavenly things" wouldn't even be enough to describe it.

portals would definitely descend in the future, and because of this, the subsequent battles would only become increasingly difficult.

Having one more henchman of the Nascent Soul Stage was equivalent to having one more trump card.

However, the risks of accepting her were not non-existent.

Gu Mother had only lowered her head because she was beaten into fear, so it was hard to say whether she was truly convinced in her heart.

This kind of master recognition where she was forced to lower her head was completely different from a willing master recognition.

What if one day she recovered and launched a sneak attack when he wasn't paying attention?

Thinking of this, Su Mingyuan did not hesitate and asked directly.

"Master recognition—how is it done, and how can you guarantee that you will not betray me?"

Gu Mother's mutilated butterfly body swayed noticeably, and she hurriedly answered.

"Blood oath master recognition. Using the Sea of Consciousness as a medium, a Soul oath is established, and the names of master and servant are engraved into the Soul Foundation. Once the Soul oath is formed, the master can perceive the servant's thoughts at any time. Whatever the servant thinks in her heart cannot hide even the slightest bit from the master."

She paused for a moment, her voice lowering a bit more.

"If the servant harbors even half a shred of disloyalty, the Soul oath will immediately backfire, causing Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering on the spot. If the master wishes to do it personally, it only takes a single thought, and the servant's Soul will be reduced to ashes."

Su Mingyuan narrowed his eyes slightly.

"You mean that after recognizing me as master, if you harbor any crooked thoughts, I can kill you with a single thought?"

"Yes."

"Can this Soul oath be undone afterwards?"

"No. Once the Soul oath is formed, it cannot be lifted for a lifetime. Unless the master voluntarily lets go, the servant remains under the oath until death."

Su Mingyuan calculated secretly in his heart.

Lifetime binding, unchangeable, and death upon disloyalty.

This was more reliable than signing contracts, writing guarantee letters, pressing fingerprints, and getting a notary office seal all combined together.

Su Mingyuan glanced at Gu Mother.

And then made up his mind.

"Fine, I can accept you."

Gu Mother breathed a sigh of relief, and the remaining spiritual power threads on her wings began to surge violently.

A dark purple glow oozed out from the center of the butterfly's body, rotated half a circle, and then plunged straight toward the center of Su Mingyuan's eyebrows.

Su Mingyuan instinctively wanted to turn his head, but that light was more than ten times faster than his reaction, drilling in before he could even blink.

The moment the light entered his body, Su Mingyuan felt as if something had been stuffed into his brain.

Su Mingyuan closed his eyes and sensed it.

He found that he could "see" Gu Mother.

Not with his eyes, but perceiving with his consciousness.

She was very weak right now, and extremely frightened.

That kind of fear surged up from the depths of her Soul, and it didn't look like it was faked.

He tried to move a thought.

Suddenly, Gu Mother's mutilated butterfly body trembled violently, letting out a muffled grunt as her body fell down from mid-air.

Su Mingyuan hurriedly pulled back his thought.

It worked.

This thing was like a remote control; pressing it once would make the other party tremble. If he pressed it hard and refused to let go, Gu Mother would probably pass away right on the spot.

Su Mingyuan was completely reassured.

After the Soul oath was completed, Gu Mother's mutilated butterfly body shrank by another circle.

Originally the size of a fist, it had now shrunk to the size of an egg, floating obediently in front of Su Mingyuan. The broken gaps on her wings were still there, and most of her spiritual power threads were broken. Looking like a tattered kite picked up from a trash can, she looked both pitiful and shabby.

Compared to the fierce character from a few minutes ago that bared its fangs and brandished its claws to devour someone's Sea of Consciousness, she was simply like two completely different insects.

Just as Su Mingyuan wanted to say something, there was suddenly movement overhead.

Evil Bone Skeleton moved.

The five-hundred-meter-tall skull began to shrink.

Five hundred meters, three hundred meters, one hundred meters, fifty meters, ten meters, five meters.

Finally shrinking back to the size of a human head, it slowly drifted back into the mist at the deepest part of the Sea of Consciousness.

Su Mingyuan withdrew his gaze, turned around, and looked at the egg-sized mutilated butterfly body in front of him.

"Tell me."

His tone was flat, revealing no particular emotion.

"What on earth is going on with Evil Bone Skeleton?"