Secret-trained soul essences cannot exist independently for long periods. Jiang Kai directly threw the soul essence to Hu Yan, "You guys eat it first. 5000 experience isn't a small amount."
Holding the soul essence, Hu Yan trembled as he said, "This thing can replace mutated blood crystal, and that stuff is expensive. I'm just going to eat it like this?"
Jiang Kai looked indifferent, his gaze distant as he looked far away, and said, "No problem. I've eaten even more expensive things before…"
Back then, he ate the equivalent of a whole Calm Lake Villa in one bite. Jiang Kai still remembered it clearly.
The difficulty of killing the first secret-trained Black Panther Essence exceeded Jiang Kai's expectations.
From the killing process, even when caught off guard, the secret-trained Black Panther Essence still possessed qi-energy body protection.
However, if it's in a controlled state, the qi-energy body protection can be pierced, but it requires precise repeated hits to the same spot.
Once the qi-energy body protection is pierced, its physical defense becomes extremely low. As long as it's a critical hit, it can be instantly killed.
"Looks like the qi-energy defense of the secret-trained Black Panther Essence is different from regular armor. If the qi-energy protection isn't broken, even Chasing Death can't land critical hits. But repeated attacks can destroy its defense, and their own defense is very weak." Jiang Kai thought for a moment and said to Hu Yan, "Old Hu, next time you directly use Ghost Wail Howl control. Let's see if there are three or four gathered together, maybe we can wipe them out in a group."
"Ruan Yu, you protect Old Hu. The secret-trained Black Panther is much faster than the beasts outside!"
"Understood!"
After formulating the tactic, the Fire God Squad continued deeper into the Immortal Trace Valley.
As they went deeper, they began to encounter panther packs.
Jiang Kai first avoided the larger groups and found a smaller group with five or six gathered together.
"Old Hu, control them first!" Jiang Kai said as he began forming the Chasing Death seal with both hands.
Hu Yan nodded. After a brief preparation, he shouted lowly, "Ghost Wail Howl!"
Shadows rose from the ground and swirled in the air, numbering more than a hundred.
Under Hu Yan's control, these spirits quickly pounced on the panther group.
The spirits attacked silently. In an instant, many shadows pierced through the Black Panther Essences, and two of them showed fear state.
The remaining three Black Panther Essences immediately became alert. They quickly located Hu Yan, who was casting, and lunged toward him.
Hu Yan immediately controlled the spirits again to launch a second attack on the remaining three Black Panthers.
At the same time, Jiang Kai jumped out from the bushes. He first threw three throwing knives to attract the attention of the three Black Panther Essences, then sprinted rapidly while launching a fierce attack on the two frightened Black Panther Essences.
Given the defensive traits of qi-energy body protection, Jiang Kai didn't use Quenching Fire. He directly relied on his precise projection ability to repeatedly attack a single point.
After four or five attacks, the qi-energy body protection was finally pierced by Chasing Death.
Seeing the protection broken, Jiang Kai continued to launch attacks.
Puff puff puff puff—a series of strikes—and the two Black Panther Essences instantly died!
At this moment, Hu Yan used Ghost Wail Howl again to frighten the remaining three Black Panther Essences. Jiang Kai repeated the same method and killed the three Black Panther Essences.
[Obtained secret-trained Black Panther Essence corpse *1, obtained secret-trained soul essence (12 years) *1]
[Obtained secret-trained Black Panther Essence corpse *1, obtained secret-trained soul essence (11 years) *1]
[Obtained secret-trained Black Panther Essence corpse *1, obtained secret-trained soul essence (14 years) *1]
…
Jiang Kai collected the Black Panther Essence corpses and five soul essences, then walked over to Hu Yan and Ruan Yu.
"Ruan Yu, this thing can be fused. How do we fuse it?"
"I don't know either… I'll give it a try." Ruan Yu said as he took out a small iron furnace from the card pouch, "This is the fusion container. Most fusible items can be fused through it."
"Just not sure if other fusion materials are needed. Let's just test it first."
After speaking, Ruan Yu picked up one 11-year and one 12-year soul essence and placed them into the fusion container.
Then Ruan Yu covered it with a metal lid and waited for about a minute. A white light emerged from the container, then faded.
"Did it work?" Even Ruan Yu was surprised, and then he took out the item inside.
The two crystal-like small balls had fused into a single larger ball.
Jiang Kai used an appraisal card to identify it.
[Secret-trained soul essence, 17 years (artificially fused), can replace mutated blood crystal in beginner attribute potion materials. Direct consumption grants 8500 experience. No additional attributes present.]
[Secret-trained soul essences below twenty years can only endure one artificial fusion.]
"11 plus 12 should be 23. One year equals 500 experience—we lost out!" Ruan Yu frowned.
However, Jiang Kai's gaze remained fixed on the last sentence.
No additional attributes present…
"Wait, I suspect that during the fusion process, some energy might be lost, so it doesn't reach 23 years. But there's also a benefit—new attributes might appear!" Jiang Kai looked at Ruan Yu.
"Yeah, otherwise the appraisal result wouldn't specifically mention that." Hu Yan also pondered.
After thinking, Ruan Yu said, "With Captain Kai helping us level up, experience isn't that important. But if we can get new attributes, it might be very useful… Captain Kai, how about you two slow down the killing a bit. Old Hu can protect himself, and I'll focus on fusing the soul essences."
Jiang Kai thought for a bit and nodded, "Alright."
"Old Hu, is the consumption manageable?"
"Captain Kai, Ghost Wail Howl mainly communicates with spirits, the consumption isn't too bad."
"Good, then let's continue! Your fear rate with Ghost Wail Howl is quite high—we can speed up the hunt!"
"Let's give the fused soul essence to Hu Yan to eat too."
The Feng Shui Master already had the tier-four job-change material. Giving the experience to Hu Yan had the least waste potential.
After the new division of labor, the Fire God Squad sped up their hunting.
Ruan Yu kept putting soul essences into the fusion container non-stop.
After over twenty fusions, not a single new attribute appeared.
At this time, Captain Kai and Old Hu were locked in a fierce fight with a group of Black Panther Essences. Ruan Yu sat alone in the bushes, holding four more soul essences.
"Over twenty times, and not a single new attribute?" Ruan Yu frowned and was about to put in two more soul essences but suddenly stopped.
"Damn it, screw it, I don't believe I can't fuse one with a new attribute!" He gritted his teeth and directly threw in the remaining four essences.
There was never any rule that said only two could be fused together.
Moments later, a strong red light burst from the fusion container!
Ruan Yu was so startled he fell back into the bushes.
After confirming the container hadn't exploded, he leaned over and took out the product.
"Red? They were all white before!"
He quickly pulled out an appraisal card to identify the soul essence.
[Secret-trained soul essence, 24 years (artificially fused) (Premium), can replace mutated blood crystal in beginner attribute potion materials. Direct consumption grants 24000 experience.]
[Premium Trait: Increases 10 points of Flame Intensity after consumption.]
[Flame Intensity: Enhances flame temperature (damage), increases destructive power against physical and energy-form defenses.]
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