122: Chapter 122 Refining Star Radiance

Action is better than hesitation.

Qin Ce took a deep breath and landed directly beside the two corpses.

He first walked to the location of the Fire Lion's crystal core—though it was nearly drained of energy, as the core for refining, it still contained remnants of its source power.

Qin Ce closed his eyes, his mental strength sinking deep into his mind.

He activated his Soul Talisman once again.

Wind-element energy surged into the Soul Talisman.

From the void slot, the now-familiar energy once again flowed from his mind, along his meridians to his arm, finally gathering at his fingertips.

A cyan speck of light the size of a grain of rice condensed.

Qin Ce pressed his finger against the Fire Lion's crystal core.

Then, he prepared to continuously input energy to activate the crystal core.

He had already gone through this process eight times before.

Qin Ce was long accustomed to it.

However, this time...

The speck of light touched the Fire Lion's crystal core.

But there wasn't the slightest reaction.

The crystal core was like a dead stone, showing no reaction at all to the energy from his Soul Talisman.

Qin Ce was stunned.

He refused to believe it.

He tried again, switching to the bat's crystal core.

But the result...

...was also no reaction.

Why?

He clearly had an empty pet slot.

The fierce beasts had clearly been dead for no more than two hours.

Why was there no reaction?

Furthermore, Nine-Star Insight had clearly identified that they could be refined into fierce beast eggs.

If the possibility of refining wasn't the issue...

...then where was the problem?

Qin Ce's brow furrowed tightly as his mind raced.

Then, he suddenly recalled the knowledge about Beast Egg Refining that Teacher Wei had taught.

"A Beast Tamer unlocks a new pet slot every time they break through a major realm. When they have an empty slot, they can refine fierce beasts that do not exceed their own level by more than two major realms."

The key point was...

"...do not exceed their own level by more than two major realms."

What rank were these two fierce beasts?

Suspected Starlight!

How much higher was Star-Glow Rank than Bronze Rank?

It was exactly three major realms.

So...

...the inability to activate the fierce beast crystal cores before him was his own problem!

Qin Ce's pupils constricted sharply.

The rank he could refine had exceeded the limit!

And by a wide margin!

At the Bronze Rank, he could at most refine Gold Rank fierce beasts.

But these two before him were Star-Glow Rank!

No wonder the Soul Talisman didn't react.

It wasn't a problem with the crystal cores; it was that his own rank was insufficient.

Now, there were only two paths before him.

The first was to give up.

The second was to find a way to reach Silver Rank, so he could refine Star-Glow Rank fierce beasts.

Qin Ce didn't want to give up.

But was Silver Rank really that easy to reach?

Even if he reached it, would the resulting fierce beast egg still belong to him?

Reach Silver Rank...

Wait...

Qin Ce's gaze fell upon Qing Luan.

Qing Luan could temporarily reach the Silver Rank energy level through Flowing Wind Surge.

Then what if...

What if he let Qing Luan inject Silver Rank energy into his body, and then he used that energy to stimulate the Soul Talisman?

If the Soul Talisman was stimulated by Silver Rank energy, would the energy flowing out of it be considered elevated to Silver Rank?

Would the crystal core recognize it?

If it did, then he might be able to refine a Star-Glow Rank fierce beast egg!

Qin Ce gritted his teeth.

Treating a dead horse as if it were alive.

Give it a try!

"Xiao Qing!" he shouted. "Go, absorb the Phoenix Flow, as much as possible!"

Although Qing Luan didn't understand what its master wanted to do, it didn't hesitate.

With a flap of its wings, Qing Luan soared into the sky and circled above.

There was a vast amount of wind-element energy scattered in the surrounding air due to the battle.

Then, this energy began to converge frantically toward it.

One phoenix tail formed.

Two phoenix tails formed.

Three, four, five...

When all nine phoenix tails had formed, the energy stored by Qing Luan had reached its limit.

It landed beside Qin Ce, its golden eyes filled with questions.

Qin Ce didn't explain.

He simply reached out and pressed his hand against Qing Luan.

"Transfer the energy to me. One by one, keep it steady."

Qing Luan closed its eyes and began to guide the energy stored in those nine phoenix tails into Qin Ce's body through their contract.

Boom—!!!

A massive surge of energy flooded into Qin Ce's body!

The empowered energy reached the Silver Rank stage.

The powerful energy caused Qin Ce's meridians to swell instantly!

He skillfully guided this energy toward the Soul Talisman in his mind!

As soon as the empowered energy touched the Soul Talisman...

...the Soul Talisman actually began to spin frantically!

The incoming energy was absorbed, compressed, and converted by the Soul Talisman—

Then, a wisp of Soul Power, far purer and stronger than before, surged out from the Soul Talisman!

In the next moment, a dense flow of energy, far exceeding what had come before, flowed out from the cavity of the void slot.

The density of that energy...

...was clearly much higher than before.

This might actually have reached the Silver Rank!

Qin Ce opened his eyes, which now burned with a faint silver light!

With his previous experience controlling the gold-level crystal core tower, he was already well-versed in this state of temporary enhancement.

He wasted no time and directly reached out, pointing at the Fire Lion's crystal core!

A cluster of silver-white light condensed on his finger, soul energy that clearly possessed Silver Rank qualities!

Buzz—!!!

This time, the Fire Lion's crystal core was ignited!

The Fire Lion's corpse jolted violently, and those long-dead meridians began to light up once again!

As the meridians were activated, the residual energy within the Fire Lion's corpse began to converge toward the crystal core!

At the same time, as if it had a life of its own, the energy spread toward the Ghost Bat's corpse through where the two bodies were entangled!

The bat's corpse was also activated!

Two different meridian systems began to fuse at this moment!

Qin Ce's face instantly turned pale.

Because he felt it.

The sum of those two energies far exceeded his expectations.

It wasn't a simple case of "two Star-Glow Ranks added together."

A certain chemical reaction had occurred during the fusion process, causing the total energy to double!

What he was controlling now wasn't two Star-Glow Ranks, but a monster that exceeded the limit of Starlight!

"Damn it..."

Qin Ce gritted his teeth hard, desperately trying to maintain the stability of his Soul Power.

But those energies were too massive.

They were like a violent torrent, surging frantically within the "vessel" formed by the two corpses, threatening to collapse everything at any moment!

His arm began to tremble.

Cold sweat poured down his forehead like rain.

Tiny cracks began to appear in his meridians, the pain like the pricking of needles.

Three seconds.

Only three seconds.

Qin Ce was already drenched in cold sweat.

The impact of that energy grew stronger and stronger.

It was as if it had a life of its own, resisting his control and trying to break through that fragile bond to erupt completely!

Ten seconds.

Twenty seconds.

Thirty seconds.

Qin Ce's body began to tremble and convulse.

His face was as pale as paper.

His lips were completely bloodless.

His eyes began to become bloodshot.

That energy was about to go out of control.

Once it went out of control, the energy backlash would strike his Soul Talisman first.

If the Soul Talisman were damaged, his career as a Beast Tamer would be completely over.

But he couldn't let go.

Once he let go, that massive energy would instantly explode, blowing him to pieces.

What should he do?

This refining was a hundred times more dangerous than he had anticipated!

...