"Woof…"

Big Yellow's bark roused Ou Yangming from his reflections.

When he turned to look, the big yellow dog had unknowingly approached him and was drooling at the black soil beside the coffin.

Ou Yangming was slightly stunned, and he could not help but laugh. The black soil seemed to have a unique attraction toward spirit beasts, hence Big Yellow could not hold back when it saw it.

Nonetheless, before verifying what the black soil was, Ou Yangming rejected the big yellow dog's request after thinking thrice and put away the black soil and the coffin.

Big Yellow looked bitterly at Ou Yangming, but he was not swayed.

Ou Yangming would not mind using another spirit beast as a lab rat, but Big Yellow was definitely out of the question.

After sensing how firm Ou Yangming was, Big Yellow turned around helplessly and lay lazily on the ground in the courtyard as though its life had become meaningless. Even so, it could distinguish good from bad and understood the young fellow's intention. Therefore, while the big yellow dog was unhappy, it did not complain at all.

Ou Yangming shook his head bitterly. He later picked up the shield and pondered again.

The young fellow pointed his finger in front of him after a brief moment, then a strange giant head appeared.

It was not an illusion; the head was gathered from his mental power based on the skull with only a large mouth in his sea of consciousness.

In actuality, Ou Yangming was not certain that he could succeed before he released the weird head. He did not imagine the mysterious skull from nothing as it was formed from the mysterious energies from the Devouring attribute, the round shield, and the coffin.

Honestly, Ou Yangming had an intriguing feeling the moment the giant head appeared. He felt that his Military Fire, which had become one with his body, was fearful of it.

His Military Fire did not have emotions, but it somewhat became intelligent after it merged with Ou Yangming's mental conception and body. It was "fearful" as it was the young fellow's subconscious reaction. Nevertheless, given that even the Heavenly Phoenix Fire was fearful of the head, it must not be taken lightly.

Having said that, when the Devouring attribute combined with mysterious energies and formed the giant head, it had also absorbed Ou Yangming's mental power. In a way, the head was constructed from the young fellow's mental power and was not much different from the Military Fire.

They were 2 dissimilar powers from the same body, but their origin was the same.

When the giant head detached from Ou Yangming's sea of consciousness and emerged in the real world, he could not help but sigh a breath of relief because he could control the unusual thing.

Fortunately, this was the case, or the giant brain would be a hidden trouble and a thorn in his flesh.

The giant brain circled the round shield twice, then it widened its mouth abruptly and bit the shield.

Ou Yangming was dumbfounded, and he shook his head. The head was acting on its own; he had not controlled it to do that. Moreover, the young fellow could vaguely sense that the head seemed to be acting like that due to its nature, where it probably liked to keep eating something.

'The Devouring attribute is peculiar indeed; the thing that it formed is very unreliable too.'

However, the round shield's outer shell was unordinary. It was a treasure that could not be burned by even the Military Fire, so how could it be broken by the giant head?

Just as Ou Yangming shook his head and wanted to summon the head back to him, he widened his eyes because the shield's outer surface was undergoing an odd change as the large mouth munched.

Mystifying colors emerged from the round shield, and they were extremely different from the shield's surface.

When Ou Yangming took a closer look, he was surprised yet overjoyed.

The outer shell was being munched away!

Yes, the mysterious outer shell, which could not be penetrated by the Heavenly Phoenix Fire, could not withstand the chews from the large mouth. As such, several holes appeared on it, causing the inside and the outside of the round shield to be detached from each other, revealing what was really underneath the shell.

Needless to say, the large mouth had not chomped off much of the outer shell, thus the real shield was not fully revealed yet.

Ou Yangming did not know to cry or to laugh. According to his original estimation, if he were to burn the outer shell with his Military Fire, it would take at most a month for it to be fully burned and come off bit by bit.

It was his first time encountering an outer shell that could withstand the Heavenly Phoenix Fire, so he must study it thoroughly.

Who knew, the Big Devouring Head appeared in the blink of an eye and swallowed the outer shell without effort.

Yes, it ripped the outer shell and swallowed it little by little.

Despite that, it was clearly a skull. Ou Yangming looked for a long time, but he could not tell where the head had swallowed the outer shell too. It seemed like the head was a bottomless pit that could never be filled, and anything that it devoured could not be retrieved anymore.

Seeing as another section of the outer shell was ripped off, Ou Yangming released his conception after a moment of hesitation.

The Big Devouring Head was struck dumb for a while, then it turned around and delivered the broken section of the outer shell to Ou Yangming. Its origin was still a mystery, but it was gathered from Ou Yangming's mental power, so it obeyed him when he ordered it through his mental conception.

Ou Yangming looked at the outer shell in his hand. He was considered well-informed, but he had no idea what the item was. That said, the young fellow could vaguely distinguish that the item's main composition was probably the black soil that Big Yellow and the other spirit beasts had drooled at.

After being smithed through a special technique, the black soil could actually be made into something that could resist the Heavenly Phoenix Fire. In this case, it could be deemed precious.

Ou Yangming studied the outer shell for some time but was disappointed to find that the wonderful abilities that he acquired from his Military Fire could not be performed on it. Hence, the outer shell was only a shell to him at this point as he could not identify anything from it.

Nonetheless, the Big Devouring Head did not slow down at all. It had only been a split second, but it had completely gnawed off the outer shell and devoured it into its bottomless mouth.

At last, the round shield's real form was revealed.

It was still a round shield, but there were drastic changes in its color and pattern.

The equipment turned out to be a small golden shield. Once its outer shield was removed, it became thinner than before. As the shield's real form was exposed, a queer yet forceful aura was released too.

Eccentric runes were carved on the shield. They looked simple but when Ou Yangming mulled over them, he suddenly felt dizzy.

He immediately curbed his thought and looked uneasily at the item.

The runes were so profound that Ou Yangming could not study them yet. Only by taking a close look at them and pondering for a while, he already felt like he could not hold on any longer.

Ou Yangming swallowed hard as countless thoughts crossed his mind. 'Are these runes more powerful and abstruse than those on a Venerable One's flying carpet? If that's the case, what level do these runes belong to?'

The young fellow reached out to pick up the shield but his heart pounded hard at once as if he had not taken a shield but an exceptionally horrifying thing.

He gritted his teeth and released his Military Fire.

This was a way to inspect a piece of equipment's properties, and it was simple yet effortless. Nevertheless, accidents kept happening; the moment his fire came into contact with the round shield, he did not gain anything at all because a natural and mighty power on it withstood the fire.

Ou Yangming clicked his tongue. He was suddenly stuck with an idea.

When he glanced at the giant head with a terrifying mouth, it vanished right away and returned to his sea of consciousness. Following that, a surging power gushed out from the head and entered the round shield.

With that, the runes that were engraved on the shield lit up. They were not intensely bright, but an unexplainable power circulated between them, causing one to shudder with fear.

Ou Yangming's eyes gleamed. It turned out that the shield's power, which repelled his Military Fire, was rather obedient toward the giant head's power.

Next, he rubbed his hand and released the Appraisal Light on the shield.

[Item: Ancient Dragon Shield]

[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, Common Grade, Rank Three]

[Attributes: Toughness +43, Durability +43]

[Unique Attributes: Unbreakable, Wear-proof]

[Skill: Dragon's Growl]

[Wish-fulfilling Degree: Free]

The shield, which could not be appraised by the Military Fire, was successfully appraised through ordinary appraisal art.

In spite of that, Ou Yangming was shocked by its properties.

Ancient Dragon Shield—it was a dragon shield.

Furthermore, it was a legendary magic weapon.

magic weapons were not items that could be used by Spiritualists; one had to at least be a top-grade Spiritualist to be able to maneuver a magic weapon, but only a Venerable One could truly unleash its might.

Ou Yangming smiled bitterly at the dragon shield in his hands. It might have seemed like he had just incited the magic shield's power earlier, but he knew it was due to the giant head's support. If not, his mental power alone would not be able to stimulate even the lowest limit of the shield's power.

The Unbreakable and Wear-proof attributes were appalling. Along with the free Wish-fulfilling Degree…

Ou Yangming did not know how he should describe the ultimate defensive treasure.

It seemed like the item would allow him to challenge even a Venerable One.

Of course, he would not do that foolishly.

As for the Dragon's Growl skill in the magic weapon, according to Ou Yangming's deduction, it was probably similar to the noise released by a Nine-ringed Saber. That being said, pieces of equipment with different equivalent ranks would certainly release very different powers.

Ou Yangming weighed the magic weapon, which he had fortuitously obtained, in his mind for a long time before he kept it in his interspatial bag. After all, he dared not cause any trouble here.