Douluo Dalu 3: Legend of the White Fox

While Qian Gu Dong Feng went to meet the Ghost Emperor, Leng Yaozhu appeared in an absolutely confidential laboratory within the Spirit Transferring Pagoda.

The laboratory was enormous, with a single side spanning over three hundred meters. As far as the eye could see, it was filled with various precision instruments.

Most striking was the ceiling, which was covered with thousands upon thousands of glowing crystal orbs—more than ten thousand in total.

Each orb emitted a different hue of light, making the entire laboratory look like a dreamy, fairyland-like scene.

But if one looked closely, they would see that the glowing entities inside the orbs were actually beast-shaped soul forms.

These souls varied in strength; the stronger the soul, the brighter the light. Among them, the most powerful one shone as dazzlingly as a miniature sun, its radiance blinding.

The pressure it emitted was comparable to that of a Title Douluo.

However, being sealed within the crystal orb, its spiritual power was severely suppressed, forcing it into a deep slumber.

Looking up at the countless imprisoned soul beast spirits before her, Gu Yue clenched her fists tightly in her heart.

She tried her best to keep her expression calm as she reached out toward a crystal orb emitting a cyan glow.

The orb flew directly into her hand, and inside was the soul of a bird-type soul beast—the Windriding Divine Eagle, a wind-element flying soul beast.

Judging by the spiritual pressure it exuded, this soul beast had at least a thousand years of cultivation while it was alive.

Gu Yue carried the crystal orb into an isolated laboratory. Placing it onto a specialized instrument, she conjured a cyan light in her palm—wind-element soul power, just like the Windriding Divine Eagle.

As she injected the wind-element soul power into the instrument, the soul within the crystal orb suddenly opened its eyes wide.

"Chirp——"

A soul-piercing screech erupted from the crystal orb.

Inside, the Windriding Divine Eagle began struggling frantically, its cold, glinting eyes filled with an intense ferocity as it locked onto Gu Yue.

There was no doubt—if it could break free from the orb's seal, it would tear Gu Yue apart even if it meant its own soul would be completely annihilated.

Although Gu Yue felt a pang of sympathy under the eagle's gaze, she forced herself to suppress her discomfort and continued pouring wind-element soul power into the instrument.

After the time it took to burn an incense stick, with a "bang!", the crystal orb shattered.

The freed soul of the Windriding Divine Eagle lunged at Gu Yue in an instant.

However, as if anticipating this outcome, Gu Yue had already pressed a switch on the instrument just before the orb exploded.

A translucent barrier instantly appeared.

The Windriding Divine Eagle's soul crashed straight into the barrier.

Immediately afterward, a new crystal orb rose from the instrument and absorbed the Windriding Divine Eagle's soul back inside.

The soul struggled a few times before sinking into slumber once again.

"You're being too hasty. A thousand-year soul beast's spirit isn't something you can handle yet." Leng Yaozhu's voice rang out.

"I just wanted to give it a try." Gu Yue replied solemnly.

Leng Yaozhu smiled indulgently and said, "For hundred-year and ten-year soul spirits, converting a soul beast's spirit into a soul spirit is actually easier than creating an artificial soul spirit. But once it reaches the thousand-year level, artificial soul spirits become significantly easier to make than converting real soul beast spirits. You've already mastered the technique of creating artificial thousand-year soul spirits; it's just that your soul power cultivation isn't high enough yet. Once you reach five rings, you'll be able to create artificial thousand-year soul spirits on your own. There's no need to waste time on converting thousand-year soul beast spirits into soul spirits."

Leng Yaozhu was increasingly satisfied with Gu Yue.

Although she had just failed, Leng Yaozhu knew better than anyone how remarkable it was for Gu Yue to even reach this stage.

After all, converting a thousand-year soul beast's spirit into a soul spirit was something that only a six-ring Soul Emperor could achieve.

Yet Gu Yue only had two rings!

"Artificial soul spirits can only be made up to the thousand-year level. True ten-thousand-year soul spirits must either come from converting ten-thousand-year soul beast spirits or be upgraded by soul masters through the Ascension Platform or other methods. Currently, the Spirit Transferring Pagoda is completely incapable of producing artificial ten-thousand-year soul spirits. That's why I still want to explore the method of converting soul beast spirits into soul spirits," Gu Yue said firmly.

Leng Yaozhu nodded.

Creating ten-thousand-year artificial soul spirits had been one of the Spirit Transferring Pagoda's primary research goals for a long time.

The Pagoda had invested an immeasurable amount of manpower and resources into this endeavor.

Although they had made some progress, even Leng Yaozhu herself was still unable to manufacture ten-thousand-year artificial soul spirits.

"For now, your approach isn't wrong. But your soul power and spiritual strength are too low. Even if you want to experiment, you should start with milder soul beast spirits." Leng Yaozhu chuckled and placed another crystal orb in front of Gu Yue.

Inside the orb was the spirit of a Seven-Colored Deer.

Compared to the ferocious Windriding Divine Eagle, the Seven-Colored Deer was undoubtedly much gentler.

"Try this one." Leng Yaozhu said.

"Alright." Gu Yue took a deep breath and placed the orb containing the Seven-Colored Deer onto the instrument.

This time, she summoned two types of soul power simultaneously—blue water-element soul power and yellow earth-element soul power.

As the two elements continued flowing into the instrument, the Seven-Colored Deer soon began struggling like the Windriding Divine Eagle before it.

However, its resistance was significantly weaker.

After the time it took to burn two incense sticks, Gu Yue's face had turned pale, and sweat was dripping from her forehead like raindrops.

Although converting a soul beast's spirit into a soul spirit required less soul power and spiritual energy than creating an artificial soul spirit, it was much more difficult because it demanded an intense level of sustained mental focus.

Given Gu Yue's current cultivation, lasting this long was already impressive—so much so that Leng Yaozhu unconsciously nodded again in approval.

With a "bang!", the crystal orb shattered once more.

Gu Yue, now quite practiced, swiftly pressed the switch, re-sealing the Seven-Colored Deer's spirit into another crystal orb.

"I'm sorry, Teacher. I failed again." Gu Yue lowered her head.

"It's fine. You've already done very well." Leng Yaozhu shook her head and smiled. "Tell me about your observations. Being able to analyze the cause of failure is an important step forward."

Gu Yue glanced at the re-sealed Windriding Divine Eagle and Seven-Colored Deer, then said solemnly, "For ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts, their spirits instinctively cooperate when encountering a soul power of a similar element. But for thousand-year soul beasts, their resentment is too strong. Even if they encounter soul power of an identical attribute, they still reject it. And right now, I'm not capable of maintaining the instrument's operation while also suppressing a thousand-year soul beast's spirit."

Leng Yaozhu nodded. "You're both right—and wrong."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Gu Yue asked, puzzled.

Leng Yaozhu smiled. "Your method of suppressing the spirit was correct—but only for hundred-year and ten-year soul beasts. Those spirits are not only unintelligent, but their memories are often incomplete due to their weak spiritual presence. However, thousand-year soul beasts are different. Though not highly intelligent, they retain complete memories and vividly recall being killed and having their spirits extracted. So, once they awaken, they will never willingly cooperate.

At that point, what you need is empathy.

Put simply, you must use your spiritual power to project emotions identical to theirs—to trick them into believing that you share their suffering. Only then will they cooperate."

"I see…" Gu Yue nodded.

Seeing that she understood immediately, Leng Yaozhu smiled again and said, "Knowing this is one thing, but actually achieving it is another."

"I want to try." Gu Yue said seriously.

"No!" Leng Yaozhu refused instantly.

But Gu Yue remained firm.

"I still want to try."