Lord of the Magical Beasts

Sometime later, after feeling a chilly gust blow past and a few freezing snowflakes falling onto his neck, Yang Ling shuddered and opened his eyes.

Could this be the effects of the Fire Dragon Fruit?

He stood up to test his body, feeling that he was as light as a sparrow. Yang Ling wanted to find out how much his constitution had been strengthened. He teleported outward using the Earth Evasion Technique, then started moving quickly through the forest. He sometimes jumped from one large tree to another, sometimes perched himself on a thumb-sized branch like a bird, and sometimes teleported to various places using his Wood Evasion or Earth Evasion Technique.

The radius of the Earth Evasion Technique had been a mere twenty steps around him, but he found that it had more than doubled, allowing him to immediately appear more than fifty steps away from where he was if he wished. In the past, he could only use the Earth Evasion or Wood Evasion Technique two or three times a day, but now, there was no obvious depletion to his mental energy or Wizard Power even after he used it a dozen times.

Could it be that he had not only just broken through to the level of a high level Earth Wizard, but instead reached the level of beginner level Heaven Wizard?

In his elation, Yang Ling sat on a branch and observed the changes to his body. His Wizard Core had grown by thirty percent, pulsing as it released a magnificent Wizard Power. Under the effects of his protective Wizard Power, his muscles were hard as steel, and even a sharp dagger might not be able to pierce his flesh.

Compared to the Wizard Core, the changes in the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda were astronomical!

The entire space of the Wizard’s Pagoda had at least tripled in size, the hills laced the background spanning outward to seeming eternity. The small clear lake had grown several times over. If it were the size of a reservoir previously, it was now a large calm lake.

Originally, the Tree of Life and the Fire Dragon Tree had been growing at the shore of the small lake. Now, the two trees were situated right in the middle of the water, forming a beautiful island.

Perhaps it was because it had absorbed a massive amount of energy, or perhaps it had been nourished by the water of the lake, but the sapling of the Tree of Life had grown several times larger. A layer of sturdy bark and sharp spikes had grown on the trunk of the tree, and there were increased signs of it turning from a Tree of Life into an Ancient Tree of War.

If it could evolve into an Ancient Tree of War in such a short span of time, that would also mean that it could soon evolve into an Ancient Tree of Intelligence. Then, he would be able to obtain more of the precious Water from the Spring of Life. It would be even better if it could one day evolve into an Ancient Tree of Wind.

According to the explanation from the Forest Elves, the Tree of Life was the source of their power. With every stage of evolution, their tribesmen would receive ever greater abilities. As the Tree of Life evolved, they would be able to train or summon powerful warriors and Magical Beasts such as Huntresses, Clawed Druids, Mountain Giants or Fairy Dragons.

Legend had it that in ancient times, the Forest Elves were the lords of the Tailun Continent. Back then, nearly every one of their tribes had their own Tree of Life, and tribes that had an Ancient Tree of Wind were fairly common. The large numbers of Huntresses, Clawed Druids, Mountain Giants and Fairy Dragons gave them abilities far superior to the other races.

But as these things sometimes do, the elites of the race of Forest Elves were nearly exterminated after the Great Battle of the Gods and Demons, and the many high level Trees of Life vanished completely. Even though their descendents had tried to find ways, they had been unable to nurture high level Trees of Life at a large scale, rendering them incapable of rebuilding their past glory.

After once again confirming that the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda could greatly boost the speed of growth of the Tree of Life, Yang Ling was filled with hope and anticipation for the mysterious tree.

Yang Ling went back to inventorying the changes he had personally undergone. Unlike the main evasion techniques he was training at the level of Earth Wizard, the level of Heaven Wizard gave him a preliminary exposure to Wizard Techniques that could control the souls of others. After sitting in meditation in the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda, he read closely the Soul Tampering Technique that he could only train when he was at least at the level of Heaven Wizard.

The Wizard Techniques recorded on the stele were broad and profound, as well as mysterious. One would be unable to understand the next level of the Wizard Techniques if they were not at that level, or if they were not yet strong enough. Yang Ling had tried to master the Soul Tampering Technique when he had advanced to the level of Earth Wizard and created the Wizard Core. But he was unable to understand the technique, and he nearly succumbed to his inner demons and died vomiting blood.

But it was different now. After silently reciting the Wizard Mantra for the Soul Tampering Technique several times, he felt as though he had grasped a critical concept. Looking at the tarantulas crawling around in the forest of Arrow Bamboo nearby, Yang Ling summoned one to use as a guinea pig.

After commanding the tarantula to crouch, Yang Ling released a tendril of mental energy, closely observing the situation within its body. From its veins and bones to its innards, from its thumb sized Essence Crystal to its pituitary gland… He did not miss anything.

Steal its soul and devour its spirit?

After a moment’s hesitation, he silently recited the Soul Tampering Wizard Mantra, forcefully infiltrating the tarantula’s pituitary gland using his mental energy, and slowly tampered with its soul.

According to the explanation on the stele, a beginner level Soul Tampering Technique was enough to tamper with the souls of his enemies and turn them into idiots. A mid-level Soul Tampering Technique could drag the souls of his enemies out of their bodies and turn them into puppets under his control. After developing the technique to the highest level, he could even directly devour the souls of his enemies to strengthen his mental energy and soul.

Chitter…

In intense pain, the tarantula sprawled before Yang Ling and struggled with effort. It was shivering, its limbs convulsing. Black symbols appeared all over its body.

After summoning two Withered Tree Warriors to secure the struggling tarantula in place, Yang Ling continued tampering with the spider’s soul. According to the explanation on the stele, stopping the Soul Tampering Technique suddenly midway would make it easy for him to be devoured by the spell if his abilities were not strong enough. At the very least, he would feel as though his head might split open. If it was more serious, he might vomit blood on the spot and die.

After attacking the soul of the tarantula several times, and seeing that there was only the last line of defense left, Yang Ling clenched his teeth and poured out his massive mental energy. The tarantula let out a pathetic wail, convulsing as it struggled with all its might.

Is this the power of the Soul Tampering Technique?

Yang Ling sucked in a deep breath and watched the convulsing tarantula, its pupils dilated and memories black. He thought for a moment. Then he produced the sharp Blood Dagger and sliced the creature’s throat with one strike, then ordered the Withered Tree Warriors to drag it off and bury it near the forest of Arrow Bamboo.

After successfully tampering with the soul of the tarantula, he confirmed that he had directly advanced to the level of beginner level Heaven Wizard after consuming the Fire Dragon Fruit. He had gained a preliminary exposure to the ability to control souls.

Having trained to a higher level meant that he could further cultivate the Soul Summoning Technique. Even if a Magical Beast was to meet with misfortune, he would be able to revive it with his Wizard Power and mental energy as long as he collected its soul in time. If Magical Beasts could be revived, then the same should work with humans. That was the reason why he had promised to revive Ashnamov’s lover Sylvia.

Yang Ling recalled the Horned Bee Beasts that he had sent out to guard the valley. According to the memories of the Twin-legged Flying Dragon, there was a lake toward the north with over a hundred Flying Dragon living there.

Over a hundred level eight Twin-legged Flying Dragon, if he could train all of them, he would be able to build an elite force of Magical Beasts. When that time came, Yang Ling believed that nobody would dare to attack him, even if he was a sage level expert, much less an assassin like Flowing Venom!

After having advanced to the level of Heaven Wizard, Yang Ling felt his speed reach new heights overnight, and he was able to travel through the forest as fast as the wind. His powerful abilities, staggering speed, and teleportation-like evasion techniques, made him confident that he would be able to face any high level Magical Beasts in the forest. Even if he was unable to deal with it all at once, he was at least confident that he could retreat to safety no matter the circumstance.

Following the memories of the Twin-legged Flying Dragon, he reached a tall, snow-covered mountain in just over a day’s time. There were jagged mountains all around him, covered in tall, silver trees. A river meandered around the area, carrying with it pieces of crystalline ice.

Yang Ling felt refreshed as he surveyed the vast mountain range with their snow-capped peaks and listened to the leaves rustle in the forest. He couldn’t help himself; he shot up to the top of a tree and let out a whoop.

He had joined a mountain climbing club while he was in college, and had once traveled across China during the winter and summer breaks with a group of friends. He had been to Mt. Changbai in the north, the perilous Mt. Tai, as well as the perpetual snow capped mountains in the west.

But he had never seen such a vast, primordial forest; he had never seen such a majestic mountain range that spanned thousands of miles. He had never seen such beautiful natural surroundings.

If this was on Earth, opening a place like this to tourists would make a person filthy rich!

Shaking his head and smiling, Yang Ling made his way to the riverbank like a swallow and drank a mouthful of the sweet alpine water. After washing his face with the ice cold river water, he started on his journey up to the lake in the mountains. The faint footsteps he left in the snow were quickly hidden by new snowfall.

As he got closer to the snow-capped peak, the route became harder to traverse. Sometimes, he would encounter a large sheet of ice with no landing point for his feet. He encountered a ninety degree cliff. And as the altitude increased, the air became increasingly thinner.

The higher he climbed, the fewer wild beasts there were around. Even common birds would have difficulty flying this high, let alone an ordinary wild beast. If this was someone else, they would have long given up midway. But after having advanced to the level of Heaven Wizard, Yang Ling no longer paid much heed to these difficulties. It just expended a little more of his stamina.

When he came across a sheet of ice where he couldn’t stay upright, or a cliff that was hard to scale, he opted to summon the Tarantula King. The Tarantula King could not fly as high as the vulture, nor could it compare to the Twin-legged Flying Dragon, but a mere few snowy mountains were not a problem for it.