Douluo Continent: The Ice King's Resurrection

Chapter 99, Section 98: The Millennium-Old Mutant Star Moon Vine

Led by Ling Bingtian, the four of them soon arrived at the outer edge of the valley that Ling Bingtian remembered.

This is a valley shaped like a U, and the soul beast that Ling Bingtian mentioned is inside the valley.

Instead of rushing into the valley, Ling Bingtian led the three up a side mountain path and quietly crouched behind a bush, allowing them to observe the appearance of the soul beast in the valley.

Ling Bingtian squinted to find his bearings, then made a gesture to the three of them, pointing in a certain direction ahead.

Following the direction Ling Bingtian pointed, Bei Bei and the other two looked ahead and saw a peculiar plant-like soul beast.

It was a vine.

Unlike its other vines, which are normally bluish-green, this vine is a peculiar star blue, adorned with three black and gold five-pointed stars.

Because of his Spirit Eye Martial Soul, Huo Yuhao, who had the best eyesight, even saw a round, black-gold star deep within the core of the vines.

Seeing Bei Bei and Ling Bingtian still observing the vines, Huo Yuhao wanted to show off, so he said, "Brother Bei, Brother Ling, Sister Xiaoya, I also saw a round, black-gold star at the core of this vine."

Upon hearing this, Ling Bingtian looked at Huo Yuhao with some surprise. He had not expected that Huo Yuhao would be able to see the round, black-gold star located at the core of the vine.

"As expected of a top-tier body-type martial soul!"

No matter how Ling Bingtian thought about it, he could only attribute Huo Yuhao's ability to see that star to his Spirit Eye Martial Soul. The enhancement that Spirit Eye Martial Soul gave to his eyesight was truly terrifying!

However, since Huo Yuhao had brought it up, Bei Bei and Tang Ya also looked over. They only felt that the soul beast in front of them looked familiar, but couldn't immediately recall its species. Seeing this, Ling Bingtian didn't keep them in suspense any longer and directly explained it to the three of them.

"You should have learned about this vine in the Soul Beast course at Shrek Academy, right? Its scientific name is Star Moon Spirit Vine, a powerful nocturnal plant-type Soul Beast with extremely strong vitality."

As soon as Ling Bingtian mentioned the name "Star Moon Spirit Vine," Bei Bei immediately recognized it. He, a diligent student in the outer courtyard of Shrek Academy, could recall the existence of this plant-type spirit beast. However, Tang Ya could only lament that she usually slept too soundly…

The Star Moon Spirit Vine is a very special kind of spirit beast. Unlike most plant-type spirit beasts that grow rapidly during the day, the Star Moon Spirit Vine mainly cultivates at night by absorbing the star spirit power and moon spirit power that descend from the sky. At the same time, it combines the nutrients absorbed during the day with the star spirit power and moon spirit power to form life force, which is stored in its trunk. This strengthens its trunk and enhances its cultivation.

The common Star Moon Spirit Vine is born as a high-level ten-year soul beast, and after a very short period of cultivation, it can reach the level of a hundred-year soul beast.

Once a Star Moon Vine reaches the level of a hundred-year-old soul beast, it signifies that the vine has matured. Its original greenish-blue skin will transform into a star-blue skin in a very short time. The most prominent change is that a five-pointed golden star will appear on its skin, representing its one hundred years of cultivation.

Subsequently, each time the Star Moon Spirit Vine breaks through a century barrier, a five-pointed gold star will appear on its skin. Until it becomes a thousand-year soul beast, the nine five-pointed gold stars on its body will disappear, and a round gold star will be born at its core, symbolizing its thousand years of cultivation.

At this moment, the cultivation level of this Star Moon Life Vine corresponds to 1,300 years of cultivation, which is perfectly in line with the absorption level of a normal Soul Venerable bottleneck of more than 1,700 years.

Even if Tang Ya is weak, she is still a third-year student in the outer academy of Shrek Academy. Absorbing a soul ring with a cultivation level of 1,700 years would not be a big problem for her, let alone a cultivation level of 1,300 years.

At this moment, Bei Bei was puzzled as to why Ling Bingtian would say that this Star Moon Spirit Vine was suitable for Tang Ya to absorb. Even if it was for the sake of the bloodline and vitality of a high-level soul beast, there should have been better options.

Fortunately, Ling Bingtian didn't keep him waiting long and quickly explained why he thought the Star Moon Life Vine was suitable for Tang Ya to absorb.

"Beibei, you should have seen it too. The stars on this Star Moon Vine aren't pure gold, but blackish gold. This means that this Star Moon Vine isn't an ordinary Star Moon Vine, but a rare mutated variety." Ling Bingtian looked at Tang Ya, who was pretending to be deep in thought, and said to Beibei beside her with a smile. He couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Tang Ya's childish behavior at this moment.

"Based on my previous probing attack, the mutated attribute attached to this Star Moon Vine should be the Dark attribute."

"What? Dark attribute?!" Bei Bei and Tang Ya exclaimed in surprise, while Huo Yuhao, who was standing to the side, was still a little confused.

"Heavens, do you mean that the potential genes contained in Xiaoya's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul are actually of the dark attribute?" Beibei swallowed and quickly asked Ling Bingtian.

This is no joke. Thousands of years ago, dark attribute martial souls were not a big deal.

However, ever since more and more dark attribute martial souls appeared among evil soul masters, the reputation of dark attribute martial souls has been completely ruined.

In the original three great empires, once a Soul Master with a dark attribute martial soul awakened within their territory, the better nobles would choose to imprison them for future use or other purposes, while the other nobles would mostly choose to kill them on the spot.

This means that if a Soul Master's Martial Soul has dark attributes, they are easily labeled as an evil Soul Master, and it will be very difficult for them to shake off that label in their lifetime.

Therefore, Bei Bei was also filled with anxiety. He would rather his own martial soul had the dark attribute than Tang Ya's. Although the discrimination against martial souls with the dark attribute was minimal at Shrek Academy, it wasn't entirely nonexistent.

Tang Ya watched Ling Bingtian nervously from the side, hoping that he was just joking with the two of them when he said he was discriminating against them.

However, Ling Bingtian did not fulfill Tang Ya's expectations. He nodded and said bluntly, "That's right. The reason why Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul can be accompanied by Soul Power is, according to my guess, closely related to the dark attribute that comes with her Martial Soul. If it weren't for this phenomenon, which I don't know whether to call a mutation or a reversion, Tang Ya would probably be like the vast majority of Blue Silver Grass Soul Masters on the continent, unable to embark on the path of cultivation in her entire life."

As he spoke the last sentence, a glint of light flashed in Ling Bingtian's eyes. He thought to himself, 'However, that's all in the past.'

After hearing Ling Bingtian's words, Bei Bei and Tang Ya fell silent. They exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with bitterness and helplessness. They hadn't expected that Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass martial soul possessed a hidden dark attribute; that was hardly a good thing.

Seeing their disappointed and helpless reactions, Ling Bingtian knew that they had not grasped his true intention in bringing them here to hunt the Star Moon Spirit Vine.

Ling Bingtian coughed twice to draw Bei Bei and the other girl's attention back, and said directly, "I see you haven't figured out why I brought you here to hunt this mutated Star Moon Spirit Vine, have you?"

"Isn't it to sublimate my martial soul and evolve it into Blue Silver Grass with dark attributes?" Tang Ya's usually lively eyes had lost most of their luster. After hearing Ling Bingtian's words, she subconsciously asked back.

Beibei remained silent, clearly sharing the same thoughts as Tang Ya.

Upon hearing Tang Ya's answer, Ling Bingtian couldn't help but sigh and rub his forehead, "If it's just about evolving your dark attribute, there are other options besides this Star Moon Spirit Vine. There must be other reasons why I chose it..."

"Why is that?"

After listening to Ling Bingtian's words, Tang Ya couldn't wait to ask more questions. After all, this choice could affect her future career path, so she couldn't help but be anxious.

"That's because..."

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