Zhu Jiuyang carefully observed the array Su Ming was carving; it indeed looked properly formed.
After Su Ming finished carving it, he could indeed feel that contractual power.
It really was a contract array?
Zhu Jiuyang was surprised.
Su Ming, of course, did things thoroughly. This was a set of arrays designed by his Douluo 3 self after specializing in the study of Spirit Soul arrays, allowing him to use it for contracts in the Douluo 1 era.
Most crucially, it genuinely had the effects Su Ming described.
However, it was also prone to accidents, potentially becoming an array for converting Spirit Souls.
After ten thousand years of development, by the Douluo 3 era, the Spirit Transmission Pagoda had long since researched arrays different from the ones Huo Yuhao needed, which required the Spirit Beast's consent. These new arrays could forcibly convert unconscious Spirit Beasts into Spirit Souls, without age limit. Of course, if one wanted to absorb a ten-thousand-year Spirit Soul converted this way, it was best to gain its recognition; otherwise, there might be backlash.
The Dark Gold Bear was only a thousand years old. Even with a forcibly converted Spirit Soul array, he could absorb and fuse with it without worrying about backlash.
Su Ming had no intention of seeking the Dark Gold Bear's consent anyway.
Regardless of your agreement, we'll fuse first and talk later.
Su Ming killed the Dark Gold Bear. The array began to operate. As the array's lights lit up sequentially, Su Ming's Spirit Power was drawn into the array, followed by the Dark Gold Bear's Spirit Power. A contract quickly began to form between the two.
Zhu Jiuyang, seeing everything proceed smoothly, was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he suddenly sensed something wrong.
He stared at the array and noticed parts of it were crumbling, as if Su Ming hadn't carved those sections properly during the process.
That alone wouldn't be a big deal; the array effect would just be lost.
The critical issue was that Zhu Jiuyang heard the Dark Gold Bear's roar.
He looked at the Dark Gold Bear's corpse and saw that no Spirit Ring appeared above it. Instead, its spiritual entity manifested!
It now existed in spiritual form.
Where was the Spirit Ring?
Zhu Jiuyang knew more and thus worried more. Seeing this scene, he directly thought of Ghost Douluo Gui Mei. Gui Mei died accidentally as a child, but his soul remained, later repossessing a body, reviving, and his Martial Soul awakening into Gui Mei.
Could this Dark Gold Bear do the same?
Zhu Jiuyang worried that when the Dark Gold Bear's spiritual entity returned to its body, the dark golden phantom was directly absorbed by Su Ming.
Su Ming kept his eyes closed throughout, seemingly unaware of what was happening.
Three hours later.
A Spirit Ring emitting a noble purple halo gradually condensed outside Su Ming's body.
Watching this, Zhu Jiuyang let out a sigh of relief.
The Spirit Ring absorption was successful. It was just the anomalies during the process that still concerned him. He planned to ask Su Ming about the situation after he woke up.
Su Ming awoke.
He looked at Zhu Jiuyang and asked, "Teacher, why do you look uneasy? Did something unexpected happen?"
Zhu Jiuyang stared seriously at Su Ming, asked a few questions, and then described everything that had happened.
Su Ming was greatly shocked.
"What? The Dark Gold Bear's spiritual entity fused with me?"
"First, feel your body. See if there are any changes. Find that Dark Gold Bear's spiritual entity. If it hasn't been completely absorbed by you, it must still be lurking within, waiting for an opportunity to harm you," Zhu Jiuyang urged.
Su Ming said upsetly, "I won't recklessly try this kind of thing next time."
While upset, he also sensed the changes within himself.
The changes were very obvious because, in his perception, he had gained an extra space. After sinking his consciousness into his body, he clearly felt a summoning intent.
He very obediencely entered that space.
Sea of Consciousness.
Su Ming condensed his own consciousness form within his Sea of Consciousness. After a quick scan, he was relatively satisfied with his Sea of Consciousness.
His attention focused on the constantly roaring dark golden phantom within the Sea of Consciousness.
"Stop yelling. You can yell until you're hoarse, no other bear will come to save you," Su Ming said.
The Dark Gold Bear bared its teeth, showing a fierce expression towards Su Ming.
"A thousand-year Spirit Beast should have some intelligence,Logically speaking. We are in the Sea of Consciousness, communicating spiritually. You should be able to understand my meaning even better," Su Ming said very directly. "To put it bluntly, you have now become a Spirit Soul form, existing dependent on my Sea of Consciousness. As long as I don't die, you will continue to exist. It's just sleeping in a different place."
The Dark Gold Bear remained fiercely aggressive.
"Your bloodline was on the verge of transformation, and you were hunted by me, so you hold deep resentment towards me. That's understandable. Actually, you still have a chance to complete your subsequent transformation. I am a Spirit Master; I have more ways to help you complete this transformation. Your Spirit Soul form can still enjoy the effects of this transformation."
Hearing this, the Dark Gold Bear slowly convergenceed some of its ferocity.
"You need to understand that Spirit Masters, in our short hundred years, can traverse the path that takes Spirit Beasts thousands or tens of thousands of years, and some can even surpass the efforts of hundred-thousand-year Spirit Beasts. This is our advantage as Spirit Masters. Having turned into a Spirit Soul form, you still have the potential to progress. Under my cultivation, it will definitely be faster than you cultivating alone."
The Dark Gold Bear gradually calmed down, though it did not let its guard down completely, still harboring hostility towards Su Ming.
"Think about it slowly yourself."
For a first attempt at persuasion, this result was acceptable, and Su Ming was satisfied.
Opening his eyes, Su Ming heard Zhu Jiuyang's voice.
"How was it? Did you find it?"
Su Ming reassured Zhu Jiuyang, "Teacher, it's not a big problem. It transformed into a spiritual entity form and successfully contracted with me. It still exists in spiritual form but depends on me for existence. If I have problems, it can't survive either."
He briefly explained the existence form of a Spirit Soul.
"It's currently staying in my Sea of Consciousness. I will communicate with it often. Its intelligence isn't high, so persuading it should be easy. It might even become a combat asset for me in the future."
"Roar!" (The bear can hear!)
"Roar!" (Your intelligence is the one that's low! Your whole family's intelligence is low!)
The Dark Gold Bear instantly became Irritable, crazy pounding the surface of the water, formed from mental power, beneath its feet within Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness.
"Actually, I also hope its intelligence is higher. That way, it should better understand its current situation. Making peace and cooperating for mutual benefit is the best choice. Since its spiritual entity remains, there might even be a chance for resurrection in the future."
"Roar!" (That makes sense!)
The Dark Gold Bear stopped pounding the water surface and began waiting for Su Ming to enter next time for negotiations.
Waiting and waiting, it was the first to lie down and fall asleep.
"It can actually be like this," Zhu Jiuyang marvelled at the symbiotic form between Su Ming and the Dark Gold Bear.
"I plan to name the Dark Gold Bear's form 'Spirit Soul'. I feel the improvement brought by the Spirit Soul form is very significant."
"Oh? For example?" Zhu Jiuyang asked curiously.
What bonuses could absorbing a Spirit Ring in the form of a Spirit Soul possibly have?
"My changes will be deeper and more thorough. For example, my first Spirit Skill evolved from the previous Diamond Strength. It should now be considered Dark Gold Strength."
The yellow Spirit Ring outside Su Ming's body shimmered.
"First Spirit Skill, Dark Gold Strength!"
His body grew taller, showing a clear change from the previous Diamond Body. The color shifted from a black diamond-like hue to a dark golden hue. The light shield flowing outside his body also turned dark gold.
The external changes were like this, but the substantial changes were even greater.
In Su Ming's perception, Dark Gold Strength was at least twice as powerful as Diamond Strength.
"Under the Spirit Soul form, I feel it still has a chance to metamorphose into the bloodline of a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. If the evolution succeeds, my first Spirit Skill might be affected again, and Dark Gold Strength could improve further. And this is just the change it brought to my first Spirit Skill."
"What about the second Spirit Skill? What second Spirit Skill did you obtain?" Zhu Jiuyang asked.
(End of Chapter)