CHAPTER 644: CHAPTER 387: CONTINUOUSLY INCREASING STRENGTH_2

Because some energy had already been depleted, Yan Xiaobao felt much better. However, the Wolf Head continued to operate as swiftly as it had before, devouring rider after rider, until the riders finally turned around and retreated the way they came. Upon seeing this, Yan Xiaobao finally recalled the Wolf Head.

As it descended slowly toward Yan Xiaobao, the head grew smaller and smaller. At last, the Wolf Head seemed less like a weapon and more like the size of a mask. Slowly, the Wolf Head landed on Yan Xiaobao’s face. Yan Xiaobao had never before allowed the Wolf Head’s ability to fully display its terrifying effects, and now he marveled at how it could so easily handle the King Ranking Experts. But as the head transformed into a mask, Yan Xiaobao’s shock grew stronger, and the moment it touched his head, an intense burning pain erupted in his mind. It felt as though a thousand needles were being driven into his body at once. The sensation of needles piercing through his muscles gave way to them threading through his veins and gathering in the meridians leading into his Lower Dantian.

He consciously directed the energy into his Dantian as it entered. He saw it manifest as a white, cloud-like substance—thin wisps of Soul Energy, each taking the shape of a needle. Every needle aimed for the ever-twisting Qi Spiral within the depths of his Dantian Cave.

When the needles pierced the Qi Spiral, loud rumblings were heard one after another. Each needle carried an overwhelming force, disrupting his Qi Spiral repeatedly and causing it to constantly contort. This heavily slowed its rotational speed.

As the needles transformed from regular shapes into long strands of white energy, the pain was excruciating. Those strands of white energy starkly resembled Yan Xiaobao’s pure Qi, deceptively similar to other cultivators. When the final needle collided with the Qi Spiral, the pain was nearly unbearable for Yan Xiaobao, but gritting his teeth and with sweat pouring down his pale face, the young man managed to remain conscious.

"Retreat!" Wan Qiao’s voice ripped across the battlefield as the humans began their withdrawal. The Queen’s voice swiftly commanded every beast to abandon pursuit of the humans. Instead, they rushed back to reinforce their defensive line. Among the retreating chaos, satisfaction could be detected from the One-Horned Jasmine Eagle’s cry. But that satisfaction quickly turned into worry when Wan Qiao noticed a motionless figure on the battlefield.

Yan Xiaobao stood utterly still in the midst of blood-soaked earth, severed limbs, and the corpses of both humans and beasts. He had shed his beast form and stood upright like a human, completely naked, and seemingly powerless.

Upon closer inspection, when Wan Qiao saw the young man’s face, she couldn’t suppress a gasp. His handsome human features should have been covered by the wolf mask. Yet now, his eye sockets were hollow, fur intertwined with his skin as though someone had stitched them together. From the seams where the mask and his flesh appeared sewn together, streams of blood continuously flowed. Standing silently for a moment, Yan Xiaobao finally collapsed. Just before he hit the blood-soaked mud, Wan Qiao appeared behind him and caught him. Scooping him up, she quickly wrapped his body in clothes and rushed back to their camp, placing the young man in a tent.

"What happened?" Lord Pan burst through the tent’s entrance, followed closely by four other Forest Kings. Concern was evident on all their faces, growing paler by the second as sweat gathered on their foreheads. Their expressions turned grim as their eyes fell upon the figure lying on the bed, whose face was concealed by a massive Wolf Head mask, with blood still slowly seeping from his skull.

Inside his Lower Dantian, Yan Xiaobao finally endured the immense pain as he watched the white threads fuse with his Qi. His Lower Dantian’s Qi vortex surged with newfound strength. He felt every trace of Soul Energy merging with his energy and foundational cultivation base, making his body significantly stronger than before. His inner consciousness seemed to glow with a radiance it had never held prior. The Soul Energy had merged with both Yan Xiaobao’s and Lan Feng’s souls, strengthening them both to an unbelievable extent.

While they became stronger, the cost of this power weighed heavily on Yan Xiaobao’s thoughts. Such strength came from absorbing another’s soul—a soul that would never reincarnate or live again. Thinking of this, Yan Xiaobao resolved never to reveal the side effects of using the Wolf Head’s ultimate attack to anyone. If others discovered this path to gain power, humanity on this plane would soon descend into chaos as people slaughtered one another to elevate a select few experts.

Possessing a stronger soul enhanced his overall strength, improved his physical performance, and made it significantly easier to repel enemy attacks. Ordinarily, it would be impossible to fortify a soul, but through the integration of other lives, Yan Xiaobao’s soul had already far surpassed others at his level. Now, it had grown even more through consuming all the souls devoured by the Wolf Head.

Time within the Dantian Cave seemed to flow differently. Yan Xiaobao’s awareness observed the white threads slowly shifting to silver as they merged with his Qi vortex. Minutes later, the pain began to wane. As it faded, the color of the threads grew brighter and brighter. What had originally been as white as his Qi was now as silver as the spiritual energy in his Middle Dantian. Once the refinement process was complete, all the pain vanished. The reasons and mechanics behind this transformation remained unknown to Yan Xiaobao, but he could sense his strength increasing once more. He finally began to comprehend how the Wolf had wielded so much power. Absorbing countless souls allowed it to elevate its own soul far beyond its natural limits.

As the refined souls were fully integrated into the Qi vortex, Yan Xiaobao exhaled in relief. He felt the overwhelming intensity of the soul diminish, but to his surprise, he saw the silver threads melding gradually into the Qi vortex’s flow. The soul threads, radiating the brightest silver light, fused seamlessly with his Qi vortex. What had once been his pearl-like Qi now gleamed with threads of silver. Each thread seemed to expand, containing far greater power than ever before.

Remaining within his body, curiosity consumed the young man as he observed how his Qi further refined itself into spiritual energy. With every drop of spiritual energy produced from this enhanced Qi, a radiant glow accompanied it—an extraordinary brilliance that Yan Xiaobao had never witnessed before. Even without testing it, he instinctively knew that his power had more than doubled, possibly even tripled.

The final step was to refine this luminous spiritual energy into martial power. As he did so, golden light suddenly blazed, brighter than anything he had ever seen. It shone so fiercely that it seemed like staring directly at the sun, blinding yet irresistible.

At last, after completing the refinement into martial power, Yan Xiaobao let out a heavy breath as he exited his inner state. Only after opening his eyes did he allow himself to focus on his physical body once more.

Above him was a familiar tent, immediately letting him know he was within the camp. He was no longer on the battlefield.

Groaning faintly in mild pain, Yan Xiaobao began to move but quickly found himself immobilized by immense agony and rigidity, as though his body had been used to its utmost limits. This realization caused him to frown. In the midst of the war, even though he had gained strength, he was deeply anxious about what had transpired while he was unconscious.

He understood that waking earlier had been unlikely, as his body was focused on refining all the souls stored within the Wolf Head during combat. Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

Sitting up, he was startled to realize that his vision remained unnaturally sharp. The world was still bathed in shades of gray. Scents, vivid and fresh, flooded his senses. Reaching a hand to his head, he was shocked to find it didn’t touch his usual face; instead, he felt fur, a snout, and sharp fangs. Looking down at himself, his body remained human, yet for some reason, his face had undergone a drastic change.

Beneath the Wolf Face, he quickly discovered the area where it fused with his skin. A long and agonizing wound spiraled around his entire head. Yan Xiaobao did not panic, but his eyes darkened with a grave seriousness as the wound on his face tugged at his heart, casting a veil of melancholy over him once more.

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