In the quiet room, Yuan Shu sat cross-legged on the soft couch.
Before her, the silver-white Lingxi floated quietly. The spiritual energy attached to the longsword was being slowly stripped away, strand by strand.
As if sensing danger, Lingxi began to tremble madly. Spiritual energy surged on the blade as it struggled to break free from Yuan Shu's spiritual restraint.
At the same time, in her divine sense, the faint roar of an ancient beast soul could be heard!
"Roar..."
It shook the heart!
Yuan Shu had expected this. The small confinement array she had set up around the room emitted a dazzling light.
The surging spiritual energy transformed into a powerful pressure, smashing ruthlessly onto the trembling Lingxi.
Lingxi was pressed down a fraction.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yuan Shu stripped the last trace of defensive spiritual energy from the Lingxi sword.
Then, her hands formed seals, transforming into strands of pulling force that entangled the beast soul within the blade, and she yanked it outward fiercely!
"Roar!"
The beast soul struggled violently but could not break free from Yuan Shu's overwhelming power. It was compressed into a silver-gray soul orb the size of a fingertip.
After the beast soul was stripped away, the light on the Lingxi sword dimmed, and all its spiritual energy dissipated. With a clatter, it fell onto the bed, becoming nothing more than an ordinary longsword made of decent materials.
Yuan Shu looked at the soul orb in her palm, a smile appearing on her face.
This sword, which she had obtained from Su Lingxi back then, had now been put to its best use.
By consuming this soul orb, her soul power should be able to break through the Soul Infant Realm and reach the Soul Fusion Realm!
Perhaps her own strength would also increase!
Without further delay, Yuan Shu paused only briefly before getting up to modify the array in the room, turning it into a Spirit Gathering Array.
Then, she sat cross-legged back on the couch, circulated the cultivation method within her body, and swallowed the soul orb.
As soon as the soul orb entered her body, it consciously transformed into pure soul power and began to dart around wildly, trying to escape.
Yuan Shu calmed her breath and focused her mind, gathering her spiritual energy to force it to a halt.
Then, just like when she extracted the defensive spiritual energy from the Lingxi longsword earlier, she began to extract the soul power from the soul orb.
This process was very draining on her mental energy, but the rewards were obvious to all!
As strands of soul power merged into Yuan Shu's soul, she clearly felt the perceptual range covered by her divine sense expand and become clearer!
As everyone knew, the soul was the hardest to cultivate.
Some people had reached the Soul Formation Realm in strength, yet their soul power remained at the Foundation Establishment Realm. Despite trying every possible method to bridge the gap of several levels, they couldn't improve it.
The beast soul struggled with all its might, but it ultimately could not escape Yuan Shu's strand-by-strand extraction.
Slowly, the beast soul's roaring weakened.
And then, it completely turned into nourishment for Yuan Shu's soul power, falling silent.
Yuan Shu let out a breath of relief, retracted her spiritual energy, and drew the soul power into her sea of consciousness.
Looking inward, her soul had indeed entered the Soul Fusion Realm!
Moreover, her newly advanced Golden Core Realm strength had also improved.
As expected of an ancient beast soul. Even after the wear and tear of time, having lost more than half of its soul power, its strength was still incomparable to ordinary treasures!
Yuan Shu was in a great mood. Just as she was about to exit her inward vision, a strange throbbing suddenly came from deep within her body!
At the same time, a cry of alarm came from the Hehuan Divine Tree within her body.
"Shushu, the original body of this beast soul is a lustful tiger. Even after a thousand years, the lecherous power within its bloodline still exists."
"When you were absorbing it just now, did you feel the Yin-Yang dual cultivation power in your body disobeying your commands?"
Yuan Shu's expression changed slightly, her tone somewhat in disbelief. "A lustful tiger? Lecherous power? This is a beast soul from a thousand years ago, and it still has something like this?"
When she was absorbing the beast soul earlier, she did indeed feel the Yin-Yang dual cultivation power in her body become slightly restless.
However, because she bore the Hehuan Divine Tree, she thought this restlessness was normal and didn't pay it much mind.
She never expected this to happen!
In the span of a few sentences, the throbbing in her body became increasingly obvious. Yuan Shu originally wanted to get up and drink some water to relieve it.
Upon getting out of bed, she stumbled and fell toward the ground, her legs going completely soft.
"Shushu, you need to dual cultivate. Hurry, go find someone!"
The Hehuan artifact exclaimed in her mind, making Yuan Shu's heart skip a beat.
This was the first time she had heard the Hehuan Divine Tree sound so anxious.
"If it's just dual cultivation, my soul and Xiushe..."
"No! It must be Yin-Yang dual cultivation power, and it must be a cultivator!"
Before Yuan Shu could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the serious tone of the Hehuan Divine Tree. "I can feel this lecherous power affecting your soul."
Although Xiushe could dual cultivate, it was only a soul body.
The lecherous power of this beast soul had already affected Yuan Shu's physical body.
Relying solely on Xiushe wouldn't be able to cure it!
Inside the sea of consciousness, Xiushe's raised head shrank back down, its beautiful snake eyes revealing a hurt expression.
But it also sensed the extraordinary nature of this beast soul. If things went wrong, it could hurt Yuan Shu, so it didn't dare to casually interject.
Yuan Shu bit the inside of her cheek hard, stumbling and supporting herself as she reached the table, her eyelids twitching constantly.
"In this condition, how do you expect me to go out and find someone?"
Right now, her legs were so weak they were trembling; one careless move and she would fall back onto the ground!
Let alone going out to find someone, just moving to the door of this room had exhausted almost all her strength!
The Hehuan Divine Tree was also somewhat dumbfounded.
The influence of this beast soul was actually this powerful?
What... what should they do?
Just as Yuan Shu was panting heavily, a soft moan escaping her lips, a slight fluctuation of spiritual energy suddenly came from outside the door.
Yuan Shu frowned. At a time like this, someone had actually broken into the courtyard!
The movement was very light. It must be someone unfamiliar with the terrain who accidentally touched the defensive array in the courtyard.
The other party very promptly used spiritual energy to stabilize the fluctuation of the defensive array.
But Yuan Shu still noticed it.
What decent person would sneakily bypass a defensive array to break in?
Yuan Shu pursed her red lips, forcing herself to endure the throbbing in her body. She moved her feet and leaned behind the door of the room.
The person waited outside the door for quite a while. After confirming there was no one in the room, they carefully pushed the door open.
"Creak."
A sneaky figure walked into the room.
"Clang!"
With a flash of cold light, the dagger in Yuan Shu's hand was already pressed against the person's neck.
The dagger just barely pierced the person's skin, drawing a thin line of bright red blood.
At this moment, Yuan Shu saw the intruder clearly, and her expression froze.
"Ji Yun?"
This tall, slender man with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, wearing a dark purple robe, was none other than Ji Yun!
His black hair looked as if it had been meticulously groomed, adorned with an exquisite silver hair crown.
Two red silk ribbons hung from the hair crown, adding a bit of heroic spirit to his already handsome face.
It was precisely this silver hair crown that made Yuan Shu fail to recognize him at first glance, almost causing her to slice his neck!
Ji Yun was also startled. Recovering his wits, he glared at Yuan Shu with wide eyes.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to kill me? You cold, heartless woman who pulls up her skirt and walks away! You're trying to murder your own husband!"
Yuan Shu, "..."
Ji Yun was still the same Ji Yun. Wearing a hair crown made him look a bit more handsome, but it couldn't change his sharp-tongued and arrogant nature.
