Celestial Beast Taming

As he spoke, Zhong Yi reached into the Gu Mother’s soft, vibrant red bristles and took out an insect egg that was red with faint golden undertones.

"Here. This is a parasitic, Soul Element Guardian Beast. I can give you one of its Insect Eggs."

"I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to restore your two Guardian Beasts’ Origin, but keeping them alive won’t be a problem."

"If you choose to accept my help, then let this Insect Egg hatch in your Soul Base."

Zhong Yi’s words made Zhao Kai’s pupils constrict. He snapped his head up, his gaze sharp as he stared at Zhong Yi.

"Why should I trust you?"

In Zhao Kai’s gaze, Zhong Yi saw not only scrutiny, but even more so, hope and yearning.

Zhong Yi smiled and spread his hands.

"You’re already in such a miserable state. What could I possibly want from you?"

"Am I after this broken body of yours, or the wood and stone carvings in your shop?"

"It’s up to you. If you’re not willing, then just as you said, I won’t come to your shop again."

The trip to the Horned Demon Secret Realm had allowed the Soul-Controlling Flower to form only a single Soul Taming Seed.

However, a new Soul Taming Seed should be able to form within the next couple of days.

Zhong Yi had given his only Soul Taming Seed to the Soul Contracting Gu Mother before coming over, which caused it to grow from the size of a strawberry to its current fire dragon fruit size.

After consuming the Soul Taming Seed, the Soul Contracting Gu Mother had become one of Zhong Yi’s Guardian Beasts.

Not only did its Bloodline advance, but its Quality also rose to Silver.

This confirmed to Zhong Yi that using a Soul Taming Seed to form a Contract with a Guardian Beast allowed it to break through its limits at the Mortal Beast Level, raising its Quality to Silver.

Because Zhong Yi had been in a hurry to get here, he hadn’t paid attention to or witnessed the Soul Contracting Gu Mother’s evolution process after feeding it the Soul Taming Seed.

Now, Zhong Yi turned his gaze to the evolved Guardian Beast, using All Things Exploration to inspect its data.

[Guardian Beast Name]: Soul-Catching Gu Mother

[Guardian Beast Species]: Thorn Gu Species/Mother Gu Species

[Guardian Beast Level]: Mortal Beast Level (1/10)

[Guardian Beast Type]: Soul Element

[Guardian Beast Quality]: Silver

Skills:

[Soul-Stealing Soul Host]: Implants its self-produced Insect Eggs into a target’s Soul Base. The eggs rapidly connect with the target’s Soul Base, allowing it to take control by releasing a special pheromone.

Exclusive Traits:

[Soul Imprisonment Breakdown]: When an Insect Egg is unable to control the target’s Soul Base by releasing pheromones, or when control is delayed, the egg itself will break down to completely imprison the target’s soul.

[Insect’s Gift]: Both the main body and its Insect Eggs can secrete a special Insect Protein. This protein dissolves into the soul, nourishing it and increasing Soul Sensitivity.

Upon inspection, Zhong Yi’s expression was first one of surprise. After a moment of thought, that surprise turned into irrepressible ecstasy.

Even as Zhong Yi tried his best to control his expression, the joy was still written all over his face.

The Soul Contracting Gu Mother had evolved into the Soul-Catching Gu Mother after its Bloodline advancement.

The Exclusive Trait, Soul Imprisonment Breakdown, increased the Soul-Catching Gu Mother’s ability to control a target’s soul via its Insect Eggs.

If a target’s soul had special protective measures, relying solely on the skill Soul Stealing to implant an Insect Egg in the target’s Soul Base and control it with pheromones could easily be delayed by those very protections.

Although it was rare to be completely unable to control a target’s Soul Base, if control did fail, the Soul-Catching Gu Mother’s hatched egg could still destroy the host’s Soul Base.

But if a delay in control occurred, any number of accidents could happen.

The appearance of the Exclusive Trait, Soul Imprisonment Breakdown, effectively strengthened the Insect Egg’s methods for controlling a target’s soul.

If special measures blocked the control process, the Insect Egg could break down to instantly and completely imprison the target’s soul.

This dual-control method greatly enhanced the Soul-Catching Gu Mother’s ability to control a target’s soul.

But what made Zhong Yi excited, even ecstatic, wasn’t the Exclusive Trait Soul Imprisonment Breakdown.

It was because of the Support-Type Exclusive Trait: Insect’s Gift.

The Exclusive Trait, Insect’s Gift, meant that when the Soul-Catching Gu Mother’s Insect Eggs parasitized a target’s soul, they wouldn’t just control the target, but would also nourish and support their soul.

Many Soul Element Guardian Beasts had abilities that could support the soul, but this was the first time Zhong Yi had ever heard of one that could increase Soul Sensitivity.

For a Creator to concoct potions, they had to rely on precise control over their Soul Power.

Increasing Soul Sensitivity was practically the same as increasing a Creator’s control over their own soul.

When the Soul-Catching Gu Mother and its Insect Eggs released their special Insect Protein via the Exclusive Trait Insect’s Gift, a Creator could leverage the enhanced Soul Sensitivity to attempt concocting potions beyond their normal capabilities.

Zhong Yi couldn’t be sure of the degree to which Insect’s Gift increased Soul Sensitivity without testing it, but even the slightest boost would be immensely useful to a Creator.

Even if that slight boost in Soul Sensitivity wasn’t enough to allow a Creator to perform Tier Jumping by concocting potions, it could still drastically increase the success rate for potions within their own skill level.

After all, the more High-Tier a potion was, the more valuable its ingredients. Increasing the success rate was equivalent to saving an immense fortune.

Moreover, the ingredients for some High-Tier potions were incredibly rare. A single failure could make it impossible to gather the necessary components for another attempt.

From the moment Zhong Yi began to speak, Zhao Kai’s gaze had been fixed on his face.

Seeing the sudden joy that flashed across Zhong Yi’s face, Zhao Kai felt as if he were looking at a demon whose scheme was about to succeed.

But regardless of whether Zhong Yi’s promise was true or false, Zhao Kai no longer had a choice.

’Just as Zhong Yi said, what do I have left that’s worth scheming for?’

’He can’t really be after my broken body, can he?!’

’But once I take this magnificent, golden-red Insect Egg and fuse it into my Soul Base... regardless of whether this young man can fulfill his promise, I’ll be under his control.’

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but his hands did not hesitate.

He took the Insect Egg from Zhong Yi and activated his Soul Base. The moment he did, it was as if he’d been struck by lightning.

His left hand subconsciously pressed against the hollow in his skull as large beads of sweat rolled down his weathered face.

But in the end, the Soul-Catching Gu Mother’s Insect Egg successfully parasitized Zhao Kai’s Soul Base!

After confirming that the Soul-Catching Gu Mother’s Insect Egg could control Zhao Kai’s Soul Base, Zhong Yi observed his condition.

After determining that while Zhao Kai’s body was badly damaged and his skull injury severe, he was still relatively sturdy, Zhong Yi summoned the Resurrection Celestial Lord.