Long Xiaoyao landed in front of Wang Lin, handed the wooden tray to Wang Lin, and at the same time, his rosy face carried a profound gaze.
"Little Linzi, guess what this is?"
"Soul beast embryo?"
Wang Lin looked at the ball of white airflow, surprised. He did not reach out to take it. Instead, he took out the Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone from his storage soul tool.
"You brat, you could even guess this?"
Long Xiaoyao looked surprised, noticing Wang Lin's gaze scanning back and forth between the wooden tray and the Ice Jade Scorpion soul bone.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing."
Wang Lin's mouth twitched. He suddenly realized that this old Black Dragon might be the powerhouse in the original work who sealed the Snow Empress during her rebirth.
"Do you know what this soul beast embryo means, Little Linzi?" Long Xiaoyao pointed at the wooden tray in his hand and said in a deep voice.
"When a soul beast's cultivation reaches a hundred thousand years, there are two choices. One is to continue cultivating, endure the heavenly tribulation, and break through the bottleneck."
"The second is to undergo rebirth. Soul beasts that choose this method need to transform themselves into the most primitive human state, survive starting from the fetal form, and then gradually cultivate and improve their own cultivation."
Long Xiaoyao explained, a look of excitement appearing on his face. "When this old man rushed over, this soul beast was precisely at the most crucial moment of rebirth, completely incapable of resisting. This old man just happened to have the Level 9 soul tool, the God Sealing Platform."
"With all the right conditions—timing, geography, and human factors—coming together, this soul beast embryo, at the very least, means a hundred-thousand-year soul beast and a hundred-thousand-year soul bone."
"At the very least?" Wang Lin knew what Long Xiaoyao was going to say, but he still played the role of the straight man.
"Legend has it that a soul beast embryo in this state, with its memory also sealed during the rebirth, has the possibility of being directly absorbed by a human. Do you want to try? Maybe you, brat, will be the first human with Three Lives Martial Souls. With the help of the Level 9 soul tool, the probability of success is not low."
Long Xiaoyao looked at Wang Lin, with an expression that challenged him to try.
"You really aren't afraid of me being blown up." Wang Lin shook his head. "A legend is a legend after all. A reborn soul beast embryo is still a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. If it had the chance to resist, since this soul beast is going to die anyway, it would inevitably choose to self-detonate."
"Some self-awareness, not bad. You weren't blinded by the enormous immediate gain. For a Soul Master, the purer the power of their own martial soul, the further they can go in the future."
Long Xiaoyao nodded, placed the God Sealing Platform in Wang Lin's hand, "Take it. Keep it for yourself. You decide how you want to deal with it."
"Uh..." Wang Lin was stunned, holding the God Sealing Platform.
"Why the wishy-washy behavior? Do you think a person of my cultivation would still need this embryo?" Long Xiaoyao waved his hand.
"Thank you, Master. I will certainly take care of you until the end of your life." Hearing the somewhat familiar words, Wang Lin was not polite with Long Xiaoyao and put the God Sealing Platform containing the Snow Empress embryo into his storage soul tool.
"Mn. Your Master will wait for you to take care of me until the end." Long Xiaoyao nodded. The master and disciple did not linger in the Far North. Guided by Elder Yi, they headed straight south.
On the way, Wang Lin seriously contemplated how to deal with the Snow Empress embryo. First of all, cooperation was likely impossible. The Snow Empress was a soul beast, and she was ambushed by humans during her rebirth.
It could be said that she held deep hatred for humans. In the original work, the Snow Empress self-detonated without hesitation as soon as she found an opportunity. If the Ice Empress hadn't appeared, the Snow Empress wouldn't even have left her origin power.
Wang Lin didn't think he had the personal charisma to subdue the Snow Empress unless Elder Yi intervened.
The simplest option was to just kill the Snow Empress, extract the soul bone and soul ring. But the Snow Empress was a top-tier fierce beast with nearly seven hundred thousand years of cultivation. Just for the soul bone and soul ring, it felt somewhat wasteful.
The other option was to auction the Snow Empress, just like in the original work. Wang Lin remembered it sold for a high price of one hundred and fifty million.
But Wang Lin didn't want Huo Yuhao to ultimately benefit from it. In this trip to the Far North, Huo Yuhao lost the Skydream Exoskeleton Shedding and a 400,000-year soul ring.
Although the culprit was Long Xiaoyao, given Huo Yuhao's personality in the early stages, as long as Wang Lin exposed his identity as Long Xiaoyao's disciple, he would inevitably be subject to guilt by association.
Not to mention that Wang Lin had also fused with the Ice Silkworm Exoskeleton Shedding, which was definitely impossible to return.
Wang Lin could now be passively standing on the opposite side of Huo Yuhao, which was somewhat tricky. So he had to think carefully about how to maximize his benefit from the Snow Empress embryo.
...
Three days later, at a small tavern in a frontier town in the northern border of the Heaven Soul Empire, two figures shrouded in black robes sat by the stove, warming themselves by the fire.
"Little... Yanzu, are you really going to Star Luo City to sell the soul beast embryo?"
"Of course I'm selling it. It's useless to keep it on me anyway. I might as well sell it for money to buy resources for cultivation." Yanzu, which was Wang Lin after altering his appearance, looked up and said.
After consulting with Elder Yi for three days, Wang Lin also made his final decision on how to deal with the Snow Empress embryo.
That was to go to Star Luo City and sell it directly, aiming for a small fortune first.
If Wang Lin remembered correctly, the Snow Empress embryo in the original work was bought by people from the Illustrious Virtue Hall. Only people from the Illustrious Virtue Hall would have one hundred and fifty million in funds.
"You make your own plans; this old man won't interfere with you. But it's best to keep it. You are not young anymore. Some things should be kept with you; you can consider the future. A soul beast embryo with the ice attribute is also worthy of my disciple's status..."
Long Xiaoyao rambled on, leaving Wang Lin completely confused. What was this old Black Dragon talking about?
"Yanzu, is there a girl you like at school?" Long Xiaoyao suddenly asked, becoming energized immediately.
Wang Lin: ...
"Master, I'm only thirteen!" Wang Lin said helplessly. This old Black Dragon was clearly trying to rush him into marriage, and seemed to have already picked a candidate for him.
"Thirteen is not young." Long Xiaoyao said faintly. "Otherwise, why do you think I gave you both the soul bone and the embryo directly? I hope you use them for the right purpose!"
"She's only fourteen!" Wang Lin was speechless. He didn't know why this old Black Dragon seemed particularly fond of Meng Hongchen, constantly hinting for him to pursue Meng Hongchen over the past year.
He completely ignored the age difference, and the techniques he taught him felt like they were only suitable for a bootlicker.
"Master, how much do you think the soul beast embryo is worth?"
Wang Lin abruptly changed the subject. Long Xiaoyao sighed softly and did not continue to dwell on the matter.
The master and disciple rested simply and then headed straight for Star Luo City. At the same time, this year's All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Competition had kicked off.
Academies across the continent had sent teams to Star Luo City to participate in the competition. At the gate of Shrek Academy, the seven main team members and reserve team members, all ready to go, formally departed with full confidence under the leadership of Xuan Zi.
They embarked on an extremely bright path!