The instinctive resistance to enslavement, combined with such intense hostility, made it virtually impossible for an ordinary Beast Soul Master to subdue a beast soul that had been personally killed by their own hands—one bound by deep blood feud.
"Futile resistance." Lei Lin shook his head. When it came to cultivating the True Spirit, wizards and warlocks were far beyond the natives of the Purgatory World in ways that defied comparison.
With his methods and his precise operational technique, he could even extract the hatred embedded within this beast soul like the most delicate of surgical procedures, drastically reducing the difficulty of subduing it.
However, compared to using the True Spirit to crush it outright, this surgical approach was considerably more difficult and consumed far more time.
So Lei Lin opted for brute-force subjugation rather than the slow-and-steady approach.
"If I could strip away all the resistance and hatred within this beast soul, then even a fourth-level Beast Soul Master might be able to subdue a fifth-level soul. Especially
Lei Lin felt he had perhaps inadvertently uncovered a far more terrifying method of utilizing the Beast Soul Technique of the Purgatory World. Unfortunately, he wasn't from this world, and his primary discipline wasn't the Beast Soul Technique, so he simply filed the idea away.
"Hsss..."
As Lei Lin's spiritual power invaded the crystal ball, the phantom of the white serpent inside grew violently agitated, its scarlet tongue flickering again and again.
"Like a mantis trying to block a chariot." Lei Lin snorted coldly. His overwhelming spiritual force immediately drove the little serpent into a corner as though struck by lightning, dimming even the light within its eyes.
"Maintain this pace. About half a month should be enough to fully tame it, and before we reach the
Lei Lin estimated the progress and nodded.
For an ordinary Beast Soul Master, subduing such a beast soul would typically require years. His previous method of extracting resentment fragments would take roughly the same amount of time. Only this crudest and most direct approach required the shortest time of all.
"Crossing the Ten Thousand Serpent Plains to reach the Holy City should take about a month. In that case, before we arrive, I should be able to push my True Spirit to the Full Moon level..."
Lei Lin stroked his chin.
Originally, the feedback power from a fifth-level beast soul would have been just about enough to advance his True Spirit to the Full Moon level. But now, with the Ten Thousand Serpent Curse Mark in the equation, he would likely need some additional preparations.
"Subduing a beast soul isn't something that can be done in a single day. I need to give it breathing room to prevent the soul from collapsing outright..."
After finishing the day's work, Lei Lin put away the crystal ball, a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes.
"Now that we've entered the Ten Thousand Serpent Plains, 'that thing' should be starting..." A piercing cold radiated from Lei Lin's pupils, carrying an aura of extreme malevolence that seemed to cause the surrounding temperature to drop.
Fortunately, he had set up a barrier, or this anomaly would surely have been noticed by Belinda and her sister.
If that happened, whether Sofia would still be as fond of Lei Lin after seeing her "brother Nick" like this was very much an open question.
--- Whoosh! Whoosh!
The yellow-green grass rustled ceaselessly, and then a plump animal shadow darted past, drawing an excited squeal from Sofia.
Due to her limited intelligence—or perhaps because she had spent her entire life confined within the family—this young woman was amazed by everything she encountered during the journey, causing more than a few embarrassing incidents along the way.
"Sofia!" Belinda called out in disapproval, though she didn't scold her outright.
With both herself and Lei Lin present, she could easily confirm that the creature that had just passed was entirely harmless and posed no threat to Sofia whatsoever.
After all, Sofia was a hybrid of the fifth-level White Phosphorus Devil Serpent. With her bloodline power alone, reaching the level of a second or third-tier wizard would pose no difficulty whatsoever.
She could even reach that level without any training, simply by growing older—truly an extraordinary gift. But her childlike mind meant she had no idea how to make proper use of it.
"A grey-powder rabbit!" Lei Lin identified the creature with ease.
With the Chip's terrifying learning capabilities, Lei Lin was no longer the clueless newcomer who had first entered the Purgatory World.
[Grey Powder Rabbit — Strength: 1.3, Agility: 2.5, Constitution: 1.9, Spirit: 0.7. A creature native to the Heir Continent, omnivorous, with an extremely broad diet. Innate Ability: Proliferation — as long as sufficient food is available, the grey powder rabbit's reproductive capacity is unlimited, remaining in a state of estrus year-round. (Note: Anomalous genetic profile detected. Signs of artificial optimization found in reproductive gene segments!)]
Even in the Magus World, such rabbits would be considered genuine magical beasts among ordinary people. But in Lei Lin's eyes, they were still as insignificant as ants. What caught his attention was the modification flagged by the Chip's annotations.
"It's not just the grey-powder rabbits!"
"Hsss..." Just then, another serpent as thick as an arm slithered past along the roadside, a grey rat clamped in its jaws. The Chip's analysis revealed that while the grey rat's various stats differed from those of the grey powder rabbit, its similarly enhanced reproductive capability was identical—the same artificially boosted fertility, pushing their already formidable innate talent to an even more terrifying level.
"Wow..." Sofia was slightly startled by the grey snake, but quickly lost any fear and stepped forward, seemingly wanting to touch the serpent's head.
"Hsss..." The grey serpent offered no resistance whatsoever as Sofia reached out, drawing giggles of delight from the girl. In the end, the grey snake even placed its captured prey before Sofia in a gesture of submission, and only after she explicitly refused several times did it pick up the grey rat again and disappear into the tall grass.
The fifth-level White Phosphorus Devil Serpent bloodline exerted a suppressive effect over most ordinary serpent species on the Ten Thousand Serpent Plains, which was precisely why Belinda felt so at ease.
Lei Lin, however, watched the grey serpent's trail with a pensive expression.
"Someone tampering with the creatures at the very bottom of the food chain... that would likely be the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents. Word has it that the Ten Thousand Serpent Plains are home to all manner of colossal serpentine races that cannot assume human form—the Komoin Giant Serpent, the Twin-Ring Serpent, the Three-Headed Python, the Purgatory Fire Serpent—along with vast numbers of hybrids and subspecies. Such enormous consumption would be impossible to sustain, even with the Ten Thousand Serpent Plains' incredible fertility. And just manipulating the bottom of the food chain probably wouldn't be enough..."
Lei Lin plucked a stalk of wild grass. The stem was still coated with fresh soil, its pale yellow roots glistening with moisture.
"As I suspected. They've even accounted for the grey-powder rabbits' food supply, which means there must be further environmental modifications down the line—scheduled feeding programs, mass breeding, and the like..."
"Judging from all this, the entire Ten Thousand Serpent Plains is essentially one massive wild serpentine breeding ground..."
A smile tugged at the corner of Lei Lin's mouth. Just from observing the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' methods, he could tell that her expertise in bloodline experimentation was anything but ordinary.
"Individuals created in laboratories will always carry defects. The best approach is to seek out naturally occurring mutations born of chance! The Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents' thinking here actually aligns with the hypothesis the Chip previously proposed, except..."
A flicker of doubt slowly crossed Lei Lin's brow.
"What exactly is the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents trying to achieve with all this? If she's creating stronger individuals, isn't she afraid of a Sovereign emerging?"
"No! She wouldn't allow a Sovereign to arise from any single species. But excellent mutant individuals might be permissible... Or perhaps she's trying to cultivate a Sovereign bloodline that she can fully control..."
"There's also the possibility that she's simply driven by experimental curiosity, or that she herself is trying to break through her bottleneck and reach the ninth-level Eternal Realm... There are too many possibilities..."
Various possibilities flashed through Lei Lin's mind, causing his brow to furrow slightly.
"Regardless, the environment here is even better than I anticipated. Executing my plan shouldn't pose any problems..."
"Nick! What are you thinking about?"
Belinda walked over slowly. Ever since her great vengeance had been achieved, she seemed to have shed an enormous weight from her shoulders. Even her usual cold expression had nearly melted away—at least, when she was around Lei Lin and Sofia.
"Oh! Nothing. Just wondering whether the Ten Thousand Serpent Plains might hold any dangers."
Lei Lin smiled.
"For outsiders, this place truly is perilous. Among those serpentine races that cannot assume human form, there exist terrifying fifth-level and even sixth-level giant serpents... Even a sixth-level powerhouse, if besieged by these titanic pythons, would likely fall."
Belinda spoke with evident pride. "But we are different. The bloodline descendants of the Ten Thousand Serpents will not be attacked on the Ten Thousand Serpent Plains! Of course, this applies to those serpents that still retain their reason. If we encounter one of those stubborn, rock-headed types driven purely by instinct, then even we would be helpless. Fortunately, serpents affected that way rarely exceed the third level..."
Belinda clearly knew the Ten Thousand Serpent Plains intimately. She even had connections in the Holy City, which was precisely why Lei Lin had insisted on bringing her along.
"Mm." Lei Lin nodded, then looked at Belinda. "You have a bounty on your head from the Eye of Judgment. That contact of yours in the Holy City..."
"Relax! She's a very good friend of mine, and besides, this is still the Heir Continent!"
Belinda was brimming with confidence. "Nick, you've never been to the Holy City, have you? Then you'll need to register your identity. Someone like you who's been constantly on the move will find it a bit troublesome, but don't worry—my friend can help with that..."
Lei Lin had given Belinda the identity of a mixed-blood White Devil who had spent his life wandering and had never even visited the Holy City. While such cases were rare, the Heir Continent was vast and anything was possible. Moreover, the White Devil bloodline Lei Lin carried was genuine, so Belinda readily believed his story.