Chapter 162: Devouring Evolution

Tang Hao's thick soul power surged into Tang San's body, and Tang San soon caught his breath.

After a quick check, other than being a bit mentally lethargic, Tang San had no other injuries; the only external injury was some abrasions caused by the impact when he released the Clear Sky Hammer to collide with the mysterious person.

"Little San, are you alright?"

"Dad, I'm fine." Tang San stood steady, rubbed his aching head, and said, "Dad, when did you come back?"

"I just got back too. If I had arrived any later, I fear you would already be a corpse, Little San."

Hearing this, Tang San's face turned somewhat pale.

Tang Hao's gaze turned toward the corpse not far away. He walked up to the body, frowned, and said, "Little San, do you know who this person is?"

Tang San looked at the corpse before him with a slightly pale face and said, "He looks a bit familiar; he should be a team leader from some academy."

"You don't recognize him?" Tang Hao frowned, staring at the corpse before him. "Then why did he track you here, and why did he want to kill you? Also, why did you come to the Sunset Forest alone?"

"I discovered that my External Spirit Bone can absorb life force and store it, which I can then feed back into my body when needed to help me recover from injuries. So, I thought I would come to the Sunset Forest to absorb the life force of a few Spirit Beasts so that I could recover quickly if I were injured in the later competitions."

"Is that so?" Tang Hao frowned and nodded. "Do not act alone in the future. This person clearly tracked you here on purpose, intending to ambush and kill you."

Fearing that Tang Hao might misunderstand, Tang San did not explain to him directly about his ability to devour the soul power of Spirit Beasts.

The two then set off to return to Heaven Dou City.

Tang Hao nodded, also feeling that what Tang San said made sense.

Judging purely from its appearance, one could see the extraordinary nature of this Illusion Wisdom Left Arm Bone, as its completeness was extremely high; besides the upper arm bone and lower arm bone, it even included the finger bones.

"This matter must be investigated thoroughly. The strength of that mysterious person just now was at least that of a Title Douluo. If he wanted to kill you, he could have done it anytime after you left the city, yet he didn't make a move..." Tang Hao frowned as he looked at the whip marks on the ground.

Tang Hao shook his head. "A dignified Title Douluo would never act so cautiously; the bait theory is absolutely impossible. However, it is truly possible that this person knew I was guarding by your side."

Hearing this, Shi Quan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Dad, I have no grudges with him. If he wanted to kill me, there must be someone behind him pulling the strings." Tang San looked at the corpse on the ground with lingering fear. "And that mysterious person from just now."

"Emperor, rest assured, he did not lock onto our aura; he must have gone to check on that Tang San."

Hearing this, Tang San stepped forward to remove the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges Soul Guidance Device from his waist. With a light wave, he stored Shi Nian's corpse, then said, "Dad, that mysterious person specifically took this man's left arm. Perhaps there is some clue hidden on him; we can take him back and search him."

Judging from the aura, this Illusion Wisdom Left Arm Bone was over thirty thousand years old, also a rare treasure.

On the other side of the Sunset Forest.

Because he had triggered the Plunder Treasure Chest once again, he hadn't had time to check it in the moment. Now, confirming that Tang Hao was not pursuing him, Shi Quan checked the rewards for this time while taking a detour toward Heaven Dou City.

Tang San speculated, "Dad, is it possible he knew you were hiding nearby, so he deliberately used this person as bait?"

Looking down at the bone in his hand that shimmered with colorful light—the bone was about seven inches long, slightly curved at the front, and had three-inch protrusions that looked like finger bones—it was exactly the target of Shi Quan's trip: the Illusion Wisdom Left Arm Bone.

The figures of Shi Quan and the Blue Silver King shuttled rapidly through the forest. The blue and earthy-yellow lights intertwined, and the power of the two great Domains covered Shi Quan and the Blue Silver King completely.

"Yin Lao, Tang Hao didn't follow us, did he?"

The higher the completeness of a soul bone, the more precious it is.

Tang Hao looked at the location where Shi Quan had left and shook his head. "This place is dangerous; let's go back first."

Putting away the Illusion Wisdom Left Arm Bone, Shi Quan's attention returned to the System Space.

System Space.

Enhancement Manufacturer: An accessory device for the Spirit Bone Modifier, capable of absorbing and converting energy, condensing it to manufacture special Enhancement Crystals used for soul bone enhancement and modification.

Note: The grade of the Enhancement Crystal depends on the energy absorbed and injected.

Looking at the description of the Enhancement Manufacturer, Shi Quan's eyes lit up immediately. In this way, the problem of soul bone enhancement and modification could be greatly alleviated.

The Enhancement Manufacturer alone was not very useful, but when combined with the Spirit Bone Modifier, the effects of both items were significantly improved.

"Extract."

As Shi Quan silently recited in his heart.

A dark golden, long rhomboid object, covered all over with special patterns and about the size of a palm, appeared.

Just after taking it out, Shi Quan felt the surrounding energy slowly merging into the Enhancement Manufacturer.

After a simple study, Shi Quan also understood the functions of the Enhancement Manufacturer.

The Enhancement Manufacturer itself could autonomously absorb energy and convert it into Enhancement Crystals for enhancement, but this process was relatively slow, and the quality of the Enhancement Crystals was not high.

Besides this, the Enhancement Manufacturer possessed an extraction capability similar to the Automated Alchemy Furnace, which could absorb energy from certain items and convert it into corresponding Enhancement Crystals; at the same time, energy could also be injected to generate Enhancement Crystals.

As for the generated Enhancement Crystals, they would be of different attributes based on the injected energy, used for different soul bones.

After understanding the specific functions of the Enhancement Manufacturer, Shi Quan's gaze fell back onto the Blue Silver King.

Isn't this Blue Silver King a top-tier power bank? I wonder what kind of Enhancement Crystal would be generated if the soul power of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast were injected into this Enhancement Manufacturer.

No sooner said than done.

After a brief communication with the Blue Silver King, the Blue Silver King quickly agreed. The blue branches and leaves spread out, attaching the Enhancement Manufacturer to Shi Quan's right arm. Fortunately, the Enhancement Manufacturer was not large, so it did not look very abrupt on Shi Quan's arm.

The Blue Silver King's vast soul power was also slowly being injected into the Enhancement Manufacturer. Upon sensing the energy, the dark golden patterns began to emit a faint golden light, and as the internal energy circulated, it also began to operate.

On the other side, Tang San returned to the hotel Dormitory without drawing any attention.

On the way, Tang San also learned from Tang Hao that he had not given up on searching for the Blue Silver King, but unfortunately, after much searching, he had not found any trace of the Blue Silver King. However, it was naturally impossible for him to give up like this; he had gone to some ancient forests to look for other Blue Silver Grass Spirit Beasts, seeing if he could find some powerful Blue Silver Grass Spirit Beasts to help Tang San determine the issue with his Blue Silver Grass martial soul.

Seeing that the competition was about to begin, Tang Hao was worried that Tang San might encounter some accident, so he stopped searching and returned to Heaven Dou City. He did not expect that upon his return, he would run into such a situation with Tang San; if he had delayed any longer, he would only be collecting Tang San's corpse now.

But fortunately, he had returned, and nothing had happened.

After returning to the hotel Dormitory, Tang San told Xiao Wu, then returned to his own room.

Closing the room door, Tang San then walked to the bathroom. After closing the doors and windows, he took out Shi Nian's corpse.

The next second, the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances behind Tang San extended once again, and Blue Silver Grass emerged, wrapping around Shi Nian's still-warm corpse while the eight spider lances pierced in simultaneously, unleashing the soul bone's Devour ability without hesitation.

"As expected of a Spirit Saint, what vast energy." Tang San's expression was one of surprise mixed with comfort. Feeling the soul power like a trickling stream flowing into his body along the spider lances, mixed with pure life force, he hurriedly sat to the side, closed his eyes, and circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill to digest the energy.

Gradually, the roots of the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances behind him were stained with a faint layer of blood color.

Time passed bit by bit. About two hours later, Tang San slowly opened his eyes, his face showing joy.

"I actually broke through to Level 40 directly."

While shocked internally, Tang San subconsciously reached out and clenched his fist, feeling the surging power within his body, his eyes unable to hide his excitement, "The strength of my body has also improved quite a bit."

Tang San couldn't help but think: "Is the improvement brought about by the Devour of the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances comprehensive?"

His gaze shifted, and Tang San couldn't help but turn his head to look at the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances behind him, their tips stained with a faint layer of blood-red color.

"The Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances have evolved!" Tang San lowered his head in excitement, looking at the shriveled corpse on the ground, or more accurately, at the Blue Silver Grass on the corpse; the ink-colored Blue Silver Grass also had faint blood-colored patterns added to it.

"The change in the martial soul is the most obvious; this seems to be the evolution method of the Blue Silver Grass martial soul."

Tang San could clearly feel that the Blue Silver Grass martial soul had become stronger; this strengthening was not because his soul power level had increased, but stemmed from the essence of the martial soul itself.

"Ten-year and hundred-year Spirit Beasts are too weak; it seems the Blue Silver Grass must devour more and stronger Spirit Beasts to completely evolve."

Seeing this, Tang San became even more certain that Shi Quan was using the method of Devour to make his martial soul evolve, and this was also the reason why Shi Quan's strength increased so rapidly.

"This matter must never be exposed, and the matter of the Breakthrough to Level 40 also cannot be revealed for the time being. Fortunately, the change in the appearance of the Blue Silver Grass is not obvious, so it shouldn't be noticed by others."

Retracting his martial soul, Tang San then took out a porcelain bottle from his Soul Guidance Device and poured it toward the shriveled corpse.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

A foul-smelling white smoke suddenly rose, drifting past Tang San's indifferent and slightly thoughtful face.

Shi Quan, is this the secret you have been hiding? I have already found the method for the Blue Silver Grass martial soul to evolve, and I still have the Clear Sky Hammer; sooner or later, you will be trampled under my feet!

After cleaning up the traces in the bathroom, Tang San then stood up and walked out of the bathroom. The corpse had been disposed of, and he had already thought of a story in case Tang Hao asked about it later. According to his deductions, the left arm of Shi Nian was highly likely to possess a soul bone, and even if that mysterious person was not in league with Shi Nian, they should be very familiar with him. As long as he investigated within Shi Nian's network of relationships, he would definitely be able to uncover some clues.