Soul Beast Leyline

Chen Xu took the feather out of the box and remembered the Appraisal skill that had been added after the job-holder panel update.

So, Chen Xu used Appraisal on the feather in his hand.

The Appraisal skill bestowed by the Blue Star World Will was a special skill.

【Appraisal (Level 100): Summon the Eye of the Heavenly Dao to appraise all things.】

Just as the skill description stated, the ability to appraise was not something the job-holder possessed themselves, but rather an invocation of the power of the Heavenly Dao.

Leveling up was equivalent to unlocking more permissions and being able to call upon more resources.

【Appraisal successful. Obtained item: Golden-Winged Great Roc Plume.】

【Golden-Winged Great Roc Plume: The Golden-Winged Great Roc is a divine beast of heaven and earth that feeds on dragons. This plume contains an extremely faint trace of the Golden-Winged Great Roc's bloodline, making it an excellent outdoor snake repellent.】

Chen Xu's guess was correct; it was indeed a Roc's feather, and from a noble Golden-Winged Great Roc at that.

But what was the use of this thing? Chen Xu wasn't a Beast Tamer, so he couldn't use this Roc plume to trigger some super-evolution for a pet.

Just then, Kunpeng leaned in, sniffing the plume around Chen Xu's hand as if it had discovered food.

"You little glutton, all you ever think about is eating."

Chen Xu reached out with his left hand, pressed down on Kunpeng's head, and pushed it away, prompting a series of whining protests.

But on second thought, Kunpeng's devouring ability was quite something; swallowing a divine sacrificial vessel had granted it divine power.

If it devoured this Golden-Winged Great Roc plume, which contained a trace of a bloodline, would there be an unexpected harvest?

So, Chen Xu pulled Kunpeng back and tossed the plume into its mouth.

Kunpeng opened its huge mouth and swallowed the plume in an instant.

After swallowing, Kunpeng smacked its lips twice, looking like it wanted more.

Afterward, the man and the Kun stared at each other.

After waiting for a long time, Chen Xu found that Kunpeng hadn't changed at all.

"Forget it. I can always draw more later anyway."

He would just treat it as a reward for Kunpeng's brave performance in battle.

Leaving the Inverted Sea, Chen Xu began to inspect the other special region, the Soul Beast Leyline.

【Soul Beast Leyline: A place where all souls return to silence, a lair where evil beasts are bred. The Land of the Undead draws in the homeless souls of the myriad worlds, containing all sorts of emotions—kindness, evil, hope, despair, destruction... Thousands of emotions merge at their extremes, and from this, a terrifying beast that feeds on the souls of living beings is born.

Soul beasts can sniff out the emotions deep within the souls of living beings; the more extreme the emotion, the more excited the soul beast becomes.

Soul beasts are a special species of the Land of the Undead; they are epic-tier in their infancy and mythic-tier upon reaching adulthood.】

"Soul beasts? Not bad."

These creatures were massive, lurking underground year-round and surviving by feeding on subterranean soul fragments.

Souls drawn from the myriad worlds into the Land of the Undead would be sucked into the soil, undergoing a magical transformation before becoming undead creatures.

The loss generated during this process served as food for the soul beasts.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and a massive head poked out from the earth.

"Roar!"

It was indeed a young soul beast.

Even in its infancy, the soul beast's head was nearly the size of a millstone. The part buried beneath the ground was even more gargantuan.

The soul beast's appearance was very frog-like, but its forelimbs were thicker and possessed sharp claws that helped them move freely through the earth.

On its back was an organ unique to soul beasts: the soul-face back.

As a soul beast grew, it would devour a large number of soul fragments; the residual vitality of these fragments would be transformed into soul faces that grew on the beast's back.

These eerie soul faces were the soul beast's specialized weapon for attacking soul bodies.

In the Land of the Undead, the reason ghosts were born in lakes or rivers was to avoid soul beasts.

Except for mythic-tier elemental ghosts, any other ghost encountering a soul beast was like a moth to a flame; once the soul faces shone upon them, the ghosts would have their souls snatched away, losing control and being left at the mercy of the soul beast.

Chen Xu flew over and reached out to touch the soul beast's face; it was very smooth, as if coated in a layer of grease.

"I'll call you Hades, since you both toy with souls."

"Roar!"

Hades let out a low growl in response.

Then, its eyes darted toward the sky, focusing on the scattered ghosts assisting the Whispering Tree with experiments.

Chen Xu also noticed its intent and felt that leaving Hades in the Land of the Undead might not be ideal, lest it crouched by the Wailing Lake and treated it like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Moreover, Chen Xu's Necrotic Kingdom didn't have the effect of drawing in souls, and there were no soul fragments in the soil for the soul beast to grow.

"I'd better throw you over to the Land of the Undead."

Chen Xu snapped his fingers and summoned Bone Guard Two, ordering him to take the soul beast to the Land of the Undead.

"Oh, a young soul beast. My Lord, does it have a name?"

As soon as Bone Guard Two arrived, he stared at Hades, the soul fire flickering in his skull revealing the fluctuations in his mood.

"Hades. Why? You seem very interested in soul beasts."

Bone Guard Two nodded and looked at Chen Xu.

"My Lord, may I establish a partner contract with Hades? A hunter who hunts souls needs a partner that feeds on them. I feel that Hades and I would be a perfect match."

"A partner contract? Suit yourself, but I believe such a contract requires mutual consent, right? Anyway, just take it to the Land of the Undead; whatever happens next is up to you."

"Thank you, My Lord."

After receiving Chen Xu's approval, Bone Guard Two took Hades through the portal in the Necrotic Kingdom and went to the Land of the Undead.

After reaching the mythic-tier, the authority of the Lord of the Undead had overridden the World Will's job-holder panel.

The restrictions on the promotion of the skeleton heroes had also been lifted.

They could now seek breakthroughs based on their own characteristics.

For example, Bone Guard One was following the path of a general.

As for the old hunter Bone Guard Two, although he had hunted many prey and gained bonuses, Chen Xu's strength had increased so rapidly that the major battles in the later stages were mostly handled by mythic-tier entities like Sindragosa and Kunpeng.

Those below the mythic-tier were mostly relegated to rear support.

Now that Bone Guard Two had found an opportunity for improvement, Chen Xu supported him.

After fusing the two fragments from the ultra-tier dungeon, Chen Xu also fused the remaining five fragments.

The five fragments were Underworld, Undead, Mystic Ice, Fishery, and Blood Sea.

【Necrotic Kingdom has fused with Dungeon Space Fragments. Space expanded. Obtained new region: Underworld.】

【Necrotic Kingdom has fused with Dungeon Space Fragments. Space expanded.】

【Overlord's Castle has merged with Undead to form a new region: Overlord's City.】

【Necrotic Kingdom has fused with Dungeon Space Fragments. Space expanded.】

【Extreme Ice Zone has merged with Mystic Ice. Extreme Ice Zone expanded, and the production of ice-attribute rarities has increased.】

【Necrotic Kingdom has fused with Dungeon Space Fragments. Space expanded.】

【Inverted Sea has merged with Fishery. Inverted Sea expanded, the generation speed of Bone Kuns has increased, and ten Bone Kuns have been obtained.】

【Necrotic Kingdom has fused with Dungeon Space Fragments. Space expanded.】

【Inverted Sea has merged with Blood Sea. Inverted Sea expanded, the speed at which the Inverted Sea digests corpses has increased, and fifty Bone Kuns have been obtained.】