From the antique gold coin, a faint, illusory vortex appeared. Nanfusheng reached inside and soon pulled out a bag.
The bag seemed to be woven from fine green vines, glowing with vitality. Despite who knew how many years had passed, it still radiated a dense life aura, with a faint luster flowing along its surface. Clearly, this bag itself was also quite valuable.
The bag's mouth was drawn tight, two cords dangling at the sides.
Nanfusheng tugged the opening loose and pulled it open. As the bag parted, Qiangu Buba leaned closer, curiosity flickering in his eyes.
Inside the green vine-woven bag lay only one thing—or rather, one body.
The small figure was curled up, covered in sparse pale-yellow fur. It looked frail, almost sickly, like some kind of animal… or perhaps a soul beast?
Nanfusheng reached out and touched it. The body was still warm. A living creature, stored inside this soul tool for who knew how many years, and yet it still retained body heat!
Qiangu Buba also touched it in surprise.
"Alive?!"
"Of course it's alive. Why else would I go to all this trouble to find this storage soul tool?" Nanfusheng gave him a look.
"But… that doesn't make sense! This soul tool clearly isn't the type that can preserve living creatures."
As a Titled Douluo of Spirit Transmission Tower and a scion of the Qiangu Clan, Qiangu Buba had vast knowledge. He could easily judge the function of a storage soul tool—and this one shouldn't have been able to store life.
"Who said it was thanks to the soul tool?" Nanfusheng smirked. He held the bag out. "Look closely. Recognize it? I recall it being a kind of heaven-and-earth treasure, but I don't know the specifics."
Qiangu Buba frowned and examined it. "This bag… it does look familiar. I've seen records of something like it. I'll have my other avatars check. But, main body, this ape-like thing—this is what you were searching for?"
The creature looked like a small ape, but without the aura of a soul beast. Its fur was thin and dull, its emaciated frame curled tightly, eyes shut, fragile and ugly in appearance.
"That's right. Don't underestimate this little guy. He may look unimpressive now, but his name carries weight." Nanfusheng smiled mysteriously.
"What name?" Qiangu Buba asked quickly.
"The Behemoth clan. And not just any Behemoth—this one has royal blood. A Golden Behemoth."
"What?! The Behemoth clan?!" Qiangu Buba almost jumped.
He only held a fragment of Nanfusheng's memories, not the entirety. So for him, discovering that this frail creature was a legendary Behemoth was genuinely shocking.
Even a Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear, merely possessing a trace of Behemoth blood, could rip dragons apart with its claws.
Ten thousand years ago, the Bear King, ranked sixth among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, was a Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear. It was said that even Di Tian, the Beast God, had once been wounded by its golden claws. And that was only a partial bloodline.
So one could imagine the true terror of a pure Behemoth. And this one before them was no ordinary member—it was royalty, a Golden Behemoth.
"Main body, you're planning to parasitize this Golden Behemoth, right? Make it a clone of ours? Do you mean to use it as a soul spirit in battle, or to let it transform into human form?" Qiangu Buba asked.
"Yes… and no," Nanfusheng replied calmly.
"What's that supposed to mean? Stop being cryptic!" Qiangu Buba snapped. He hated riddlers the most.
"I do intend to make it into a clone, but not as a soul spirit. Nor do I plan to raise it to the point where it transforms into human form."
Before Qiangu Buba could complain further, Nanfusheng continued:
"I plan to use the powers of the Error Pathway—to steal its bloodline and even its fate—and transfer them to a new clone. Now that I've reached the level of a demigod, I can accomplish this. At the same time, I'll use the Fool Pathway's ability, Restructure, to bind it firmly with the clone."
High-sequence abilities of the Error Pathway could steal many things—even abstract concepts such as distance, life, and position. These could then be wielded in combat for unfathomable effects. Once stolen, they could be retained and unleashed when needed.
Meanwhile, the Fool Pathway specialized in deceiving and reshaping reality. One of its abilities, Restructure—also called "Rewrite" or "Grafting"—could fuse entities or concepts that normally had no connection, altering definitions, logic, and rules themselves.
With these abilities, Nanfusheng was confident he could create a brand-new clone—one bearing the bloodline of the Golden Behemoth, but something beyond it as well.
Still, before that, experiments were needed.
"Qiangu Buba," Nanfusheng said, "compile a list of strong soul spirits available at the Spirit Transmission Tower here in Seagod City, and any powerful soul beast bloodlines you can find. Also, keep an eye out for civilians with strong martial spirits but no background. If not, orphans will do."
"Understood. You're the main body—I'm just the servant horse. Whatever you say, goes."
…
The next day, when Qiangu Buba arrived at a laboratory specially prepared for Nanfusheng in the Spirit Transmission Tower, he was stunned to find Nanfusheng looking haggard, with dark circles under his eyes.
"Main body, what did you do? With your demigod-level physique, pulling an all-nighter shouldn't make you look like you're about to drop dead!"
"You wouldn't understand." Nanfusheng glared at him. "I was experimenting with grafting soul beast bloodlines."
"Really? Did you succeed?" Qiangu Buba glanced at the experiment table—and his eyes widened.
On it lay a bloody, unrecognizable clump of flesh… a dog with rabbit ears… and a mushroom that was actually spraying milk.
"Damn it, main body, what kind of abominations did you create?!"
That's not important. Nanfusheng waved dismissively. What matters is—I've proven that the grafting of soul beast bloodlines is possible.