"..."
The old man's expression froze, utterly stunned by Chen Shu's reply.
"It's acceptable, but the Bat Emperor is primarily poison-attributed. Are you sure your contracted spirit is suitable?"
"Uh..."
Chen Shu pondered for a moment, glancing at his contracted spirit.
It seemed... not quite suitable...
The old man shook his head and muttered to himself, "Let's see what skills it has first. Perhaps it's a divine skill."
"Alright... Huh? Divine skill?!"
Chen Shu nodded instinctively, but then his body trembled, shock widening his eyes.
"You don't know?"
The old man turned to look at him, a hint of bewilderment in his gaze.
"How would I know?"
Chen Shu's eyes bulged as he asked, "Divine skills are produced by Beast Emperors?!"
"What else?"
The old man shrugged and explained,
"Divine skills are essentially the highest-tier King skills, naturally originating from the strongest Kings, that is, from within the Beast Emperors."
"Then my [Spatial Secret Power]..."
The old man said calmly, "Came from a Great Fiend of the space element."
"..."
Chen Shu's mind cleared; he finally understood the source of divine skills.
Instantly, his interest in Beast Emperors surged...
"However, as legendary creatures, they typically don't leave behind their corpses. You're quite lucky, kid."
As the old man spoke, he beckoned towards the distance.
A deep shadow streaked across the ground with incredible speed, arriving before the two in an instant and transforming into a humanoid figure.
It was the legendary contracted spirit, the Shadow King!
Its expression was indifferent, but upon seeing Chen Shu, it still gave a nod of acknowledgment.
Chen Shu glanced at the Shadow King, feeling that its aura remained as unfathomable as the vast ocean, making it impossible to estimate its true strength.
At this moment, the Shadow King's body twisted, suddenly morphing into a shadowy long saber.
The old man grasped it firmly, simultaneously flying up to the Bat Emperor's abdomen, where he began to carefully process the corpse.
Chen Shu, riding on Little Yellow, followed behind and said,
"I don't know what happened. It just died suddenly."
He hadn't even considered this matter before. After all, the corpses of the previous two Beast Emperors had vanished. Yet, the Bat Emperor had been preserved intact.
"Did you do something, kid?"
The old man, while working on the corpse, asked,
"I saw the celestial phenomena, and you were chattering incessantly. Was it your contracted spirit's skill... or something else?"
"Uh..."
Chen Shu recalled the battle scene at that time, then said,
"At the time, I was offering my most sincere greetings to the Great Bat..."
"???"
The old man turned to look at him and immediately understood.
Liu Feng's guess was indeed correct...
Chen Shu exclaimed, "Could it be that it was so infuriated by me that it forgot to destroy its own corpse?"
"Well... perhaps..."
The old man was also a little unsure. As knowledgeable as he was, he had never experienced anything like this...
"If there's a chance to kill a Beast Emperor in the future, you'll join me..."
"Really?!"
Chen Shu's body trembled; this was a rare and precious opportunity!
"Don't worry, old man. When the time comes, I will definitely do my utmost to 'greet' the ferocious beasts!"
"..."
The old man nodded, but somehow, the words sounded a bit odd...
However, in reality, the primary factor wasn't Chen Shu's psychological torment, but the enhanced death potion from the system...
"By the way, old man, do you also have no way to preserve a Beast Emperor's corpse?"
Chen Shu asked with a hint of regret in his eyes, "That Nine-Tailed Fox didn't..."
"We still managed to obtain some spoils of war."
The old man said lightly. Even he hadn't been able to preserve the complete corpse of a Beast Emperor.
"What a pity..."
Chen Shu shook his head. If he had known earlier, he would have tormented the Nine-Tailed Fox a bit more; perhaps its corpse could have been preserved...
*Poof!*
At that moment, the old man's eyes narrowed, and the shadowy saber in his hand thrust out abruptly.
The Bat Emperor's body was cleaved open, and a large amount of purple blood gushed out. However, there was no pungent smell of blood; instead, a faint fragrance permeated the air.
"Meow~"
At this moment, a small yellow cat appeared on the old man's shoulder.
A gravity domain manifested, continuously gathering the splattering purple blood.
In an instant, the purple blood in the air flowed like a pool, exuding a refreshing aroma.
And then, the Bat Emperor's terrifying thousand-meter-long body instantly shriveled significantly.
"Old man, what is this..."
Chen Shu looked at the purple blood, a trace of curiosity in his eyes.
He hadn't expected processing a Beast Emperor's corpse to be so troublesome. Fortunately, he hadn't acted rashly himself.
"Core material."
The old man said calmly, and the little cat beside him acted again.
Its eyes emitted a brilliant golden light, and the power of the gravity domain before it surged exponentially.
*Buzz buzz buzz—*
The purple blood in front of them was continuously and forcibly compressed, shrinking to a small mass in an instant.
Just then, a venomous roar emerged.
A phantom image of a small bat appeared, glaring fiercely at Chen Shu, filled with unwillingness and resentment.
"Meow~"
The yellow cat meowed indifferently. The gravity instantly intensified manifold, crushing the small bat into pieces and returning it to the purple blood.
With the obstruction removed, the compression of the purple blood became incredibly smooth.
Before long, it had shrunk to the size of a fist. At this point, no matter what, its form did not change.
With a wave of his right hand, the old man summoned a clear cry from the distant horizon.
The Vermillion Bird, bathed in flames, arrived in an instant. Under the old man's command, it exhaled red flames from its mouth.
*Hiss hiss hiss—*
The fist-sized purple blood sizzled, shrinking further.
A good portion of the day passed.
The Vermillion Bird abruptly ceased its burning, retracting its flames.
Chen Shu immediately looked ahead. Suspended in the air was a drop of purple blood, emanating a terrifying, unknown power.
"This is the Beast Emperor's core material?!"
He stared at the purple blood, a flicker of excitement in his eyes.
The old man nodded, took the blood, and began to examine it carefully.
After a while, a smile touched his lips. "Good fortune. It's a divine skill..."
"Really?!"
Chen Shu's body jolted, his eyes filled with avarice, wishing he could swallow it on the spot.
The old man asked, "However, it's poison-attributed. Are you sure you want to use it?"
"Mmm..."
Chen Shu instantly calmed down, a thoughtful expression on his face. He then said,
"Old man, well, do you happen to have any divine skills of other attributes? We could exchange..."