"Unyielding Spirit Souls?!"
Before Leng Yaozhu could even react, Bai Haoze and Bai Zhicen had already cried out in unison. The serene composure on their faces shattered on the spot, their expressions all but spelling 'ABSOLUTELY NOT' in bold letters.
No one understood the dangers better than they did. Unyielding Spirit Souls had earned that name because most would sooner fight to the death than fuse with a Spirit Master. A considerable number had even caused the Spirit Masters attempting fusion to burst apart from the inside.
Whenever Leng Yaozhu left on official business, Zhao Xuanzhen was placed in the Bai sisters' care. They had watched him grow up step by step and simply could not bear to see him march headlong into danger. The Titan Giant Ape and the Evil Eye were both top-grade Spirit Souls, more than enough to secure a splendid future. There was no need to risk his life challenging an Unyielding Spirit Soul.
"Beasts possess unyielding souls, but humans possess indomitable wills."
Zhao Xuanzhen smiled. "Since ancient times, humans have conquered spirit beasts. Sister Da Bai, Sister Xiao Bai, the one you should really be worrying about is that Spirit Soul."
"You... honestly, you've had a mind of your own since you were little!"
The Bai sisters let out a helpless sigh and gave up trying to persuade him. They were among the people who knew Zhao Xuanzhen best in the entire world. Once he set his mind on something, he would see it through no matter what.
Leng Yaozhu took it all in, and a thought rose silently in her heart:
My disciple Xuanzhen has the makings of a Limit Douluo!
The Spirit Pagoda's comfortable environment had not smothered the naturally soaring heart of a true powerhouse. Supreme talent layered atop a fearless will, Leng Yaozhu could already glimpse Zhao Xuanzhen's boundless future.
She respected his wishes and used her authority as Vice Pagoda Master to rapidly screen for Spirit Souls matching his requirements. Spirit beast after spirit beast flashed across the display, until at last a single lonely candidate remained, gleaming brightly on the screen.
The ancient forest on the Spirit Screen revealed a spirit beast with a round head, a streamlined body, and short, thick, sturdy limbs. A black-and-white mark at the center of its brow made its yin-yang attribute unmistakable.
What truly made jaws drop, however, was the creature's current state. It was riding on top of a 10,000-year Golden Crocodile King, drifting along as leisurely as if it hadn't a care in the world!
'A ca… capybara?'
Zhao Xuanzhen's brain stalled for a full two and a half seconds. Refusing to believe his eyes, he looked again. That creature resembling a kiwi fruit with four chopsticks stuck into it really and truly was a capybara.
"Auspicious Spirit Capybara. Six hundred years of cultivation. Unyielding Spirit Soul number ninety-nine." Leng Yaozhu's red lips parted slightly.
"This spirit beast is very, very, very special. A creature as violent and irritable as the Golden Crocodile King has, for once in its life, allowed another spirit beast to stand on its head.
The Auspicious Spirit Capybara. Among the Spirit Pagoda's countless Spirit Souls, it is the one and only Auspicious Beast!"
As she spoke, the Auspicious Spirit Capybara slowly climbed down from the Golden Crocodile King and casually mounted a Greenshadow Godly Eagle instead.
Riding a golden crocodile through the waves, soaring on an azure eagle into the skies!
Now that was the presence of an Auspicious Beast!
"Several thousand years ago, the Final War erupted. The Dou Spirit Empire and the Star Luo Empire fled overseas in defeat, while the victorious Sun Moon Empire established the Sun-Moon Federation. The Douluo Continent entered a new era of peaceful development."
Leng Yaozhu continued, "Even after unification, the human world never stopped advancing. Spirit Guidance Technology continued to develop. Mecha and Battle Armor techniques gradually matured. Great Beasts were no longer the fearsome existences they had once been.
Some Spirit Master scholars argue that Spirit Guidance Technology was the core reason for the decline of spirit beasts. Others have proposed a different view entirely: fortune.
They believe the decline truly began when the Emperor Destiny Beast sacrificed itself for Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao. The fortune of the spirit beasts was swallowed by the fortune of mankind. From that day forward, humanity prospered without cease, while spirit beasts fell into decline and never recovered.
Of course, the spirit beasts did not simply accept their fate. Beast God Di Tian, for example, once attempted to nurture a second Emperor Destiny Beast..."
"Wishful thinking," Zhao Xuanzhen cut straight to the heart of it. "The Emperor Destiny Beast is a heaven-born sovereign, unique under the heavens."
"Exactly." Leng Yaozhu's voice turned heavy. "Star Dou failed. Di Tian could not raise a second Emperor Destiny Beast. But during that process, he discovered an auspicious beast capable of sheltering a region of the forest: the Auspicious Spirit Capybara.
Its destiny power naturally cannot compare to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's, but it far surpasses beasts such as the Golden Tortoise. Once its cultivation broke through 100,000 years, it would have been able to stabilize a portion of the spirit beast race's fortune. It was the one lifeline Star Dou Forest had managed to grasp."
"And now it's fallen into the Spirit Pagoda's hands," Zhao Xuanzhen observed.
"To obtain more high-quality Spirit Souls, the Pagoda Master of that generation joined forces with the Sun-Moon Federation and launched a surprise assault on Star Dou Forest." Leng Yaozhu's expression grew solemn.
"Every Titled Douluo in the Spirit Pagoda took part. The War God Temple's Hall Master and Vice Hall Master fought alongside all eighteen War Gods. Four of the eight great legions were mobilized, and many other forces across the continent answered the call.
'A different heart beats in those not of our kind.' And the Great Beasts of Star Dou had launched beast tides against humanity more than once. That battle counted as humanity's heavy and forceful retaliation against Star Dou Forest.
Among the Great Beasts, only Di Tian had condensed a Yin-Yang Complement dual Spirit Core. On the human side stood six Four-Word Battle Armor Limit Douluo and over thirty Three-Word Battle Armor Titled Douluo.
The amplification that Battle Armor granted Spirit Masters was truly astonishing. Even Di Tian, the undisputed number one Great Beast under heaven, fell in defeat beneath their combined siege.
Neither side wished to fight to mutual destruction, so both ceased hostilities and reached an agreement. The Great Beasts swore never to leave the Core Region or endanger the human world. Humanity, in turn, preserved Star Dou Forest's Core Region. But after the war ended, vast numbers of spirit beasts were still seized and converted into Spirit Souls.
After that battle, Star Dou Forest no longer possessed the Auspicious Beast known as the Auspicious Spirit Capybara. The Spirit Pagoda simply gained Unyielding Spirit Soul number ninety-nine."
The Bai sisters exchanged a glance and saw the same quiet melancholy reflected on each other's faces. They had witnessed the high walls the Spirit Pagoda had built with their own eyes. Star Dou Forest had been penned in by humanity. Sooner or later, another war would come. When that day arrived, the Great Beasts of Star Dou would either die in battle and leave behind spirit rings and spirit bones, or become Spirit Souls bound to serve Spirit Masters.
Zhao Xuanzhen's expression was hard to read. Everything Leng Yaozhu had described was the blood-soaked history spanning the eras from The Unrivaled Tang Sect through Legend of the Dragon King, a hatred that had wound on without end.
"Auspicious Beasts are often born with certain wondrous and powerful innate abilities," Leng Yaozhu continued. "The Three-Eyed Golden Lion possessed the power of destiny. The Golden Tortoise wielded the Invincible Barrier. The Auspicious Spirit Capybara possesses a near-Ultimate yin-yang attribute, and one of its innate abilities is called 'Stability.' It ignores bloodline suppression from any living creature."
Zhao Xuanzhen's eyes lit up at once. Leng Yaozhu saw immediately that her disciple had truly taken interest and snatched the Auspicious Spirit Capybara straight off the Greenshadow Godly Eagle's back, bringing it into the room.
"The Auspicious Spirit Capybara's body is tougher than that of ordinary spirit beasts, but its spiritual power is its most outstanding trait. At just six hundred years of cultivation, it can already establish a spiritual link with a Spirit Master and communicate without barriers.
At the level of an Auspicious Beast, only the Pagoda Master and Vice Pagoda Master have the authority to dispatch it.
Because the Auspicious Spirit Capybara's attributes are so powerful, and because its auspicious fortune can bless its host with success in all things, two or three yin-yang attribute Spirit Masters within the Spirit Pagoda have attempted fusion. Without exception, every one of them was fiercely rejected.
A spirit beast resisting a Spirit Soul contract is a life-threatening matter, so they had no choice but to give up. Xuanzhen, Teacher respects your decision. I only suggest you first communicate with the Auspicious Spirit Capybara through your spiritual power and try to persuade it."
"I'll try."
Zhao Xuanzhen guided a thread of spiritual power toward the Auspicious Spirit Capybara. Memories from his previous life surfaced unbidden.
Honestly... can a capybara really feel something as intense as 'fierce rejection'?
"Hello, Auspicious Spirit Capybara."
"Hello, human."
The spiritual link formed successfully. The Auspicious Spirit Capybara's voice entered Zhao Xuanzhen's ears, soft and mellow, with barely any rise or fall to it.
"I want you to become my Spirit Soul."
"No."
The human got straight to the point, and the capybara refused just as cleanly.
An Unyielding Spirit Soul indeed. It really did live up to the name...
Zhao Xuanzhen's gaze sharpened. The Stability ability alone, with its power to ignore bloodline suppression from any creature, was enough to set the Auspicious Spirit Capybara apart from every other candidate, and that was before even considering how perfectly its other abilities suited him.
True Self, release!
Plan B. Lure it with my aura. Get in the bowl already!
"Capy-capy."
Zhao Xuanzhen adopted a coaxing tone. "You and I are a perfect match. Together we can explore the Dao of Yin and Yang, a hundred times better than being cooped up in this virtual space. Wouldn't that be delightful?"
"Better not."
The Auspicious Spirit Capybara glanced at a certain Zhao and remained as unmoved as a stone maiden. In the past, this was the point where every other Spirit Master had chosen to bow out. An Auspicious Beast was precious, yes, but life was more precious still!
"What if I insist?"
Courtesy first, force second. Zhao Xuanzhen closed the distance, his shadow falling squarely over the Auspicious Spirit Capybara. He stared down at it with open, unabashed intensity, blazing with a resolve anyone could feel.
I have strength, and I have methods!
That wolf-and-tiger stare, sharper than a scythe, greedier than a rat diving into grain, fiercer than a dog spotting dung, made the Auspicious Spirit Capybara's body go rigid for just a moment.
"If you insist on forcing the matter..."
A brief standoff. Then the Auspicious Spirit Capybara spoke, slowly and evenly:
"That's fine too."
Who said capybaras were unyielding? This capybara was far too soft!