The Reason

As night fell, in a grove of trees within the Mixed Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest, two people and a beast were fleeing in haste!

Xiao Wu's mother, holding her daughter in one arm and Zhou You in the other, kept appearing and disappearing in the woods, gradually widening the distance between herself and the pursuers behind her.

"Teleportation" truly lives up to its reputation as a divine escape technique. Despite Bibi Dong and her two companions' impressive speed, they were still left far behind.

However, they always seemed to be able to pinpoint the target's location, constantly following behind, leaving Xiao Wu and her group running around in circles.

Zhou You noticed this, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. He was about to ask something.

Just then, Xiao Wu's mother suddenly stopped, and the strong inertia almost threw Xiao Wu and Zhou You off.

Suddenly, Xiao Wu's mother's legs went weak, she bent over, and vomited a pool of blood onto the ground.

Zhou You twitched his nose; the smell of blood was off.

He had learned a few Medicine, and although he wasn't an expert, he was still quite capable in treating common external injuries.

Xiao Wu landed on the ground and jumped around her mother anxiously, but she couldn't do anything in her current state.

This made her somewhat hate her beastly body, which was useless except for being able to eat and run.

"Please give me your hand," Zhou You said, adding a further explanation to dispel any doubts, "I know a little medicine."

"Thank you for your help... cough..."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Wu's mother extended her hand without hesitation. Her small, fair wrist, as delicate as a willow branch, exuded a sense of fragility.

But this slender wrist, when it mustered, was powerful enough to easily shatter the Heaven- and Earth-Harmonizing Umbrella enhanced by the First Soul Skill, giving it a similar feel to Lin Daiyu uprooting a willow tree.

Zhou You shook off the distracting thoughts in his mind, took the pulse, and his brows gradually furrowed.

[How is Mom?] Xiao Wu was so anxious that she lay down on Zhou You's knees and clung to his arms with her two front paws.

"This is not good." Zhou You's voice was somewhat heavy. "She has injured her heart meridian and must rest immediately. She absolutely cannot fight with anyone again for some time."

[Mom!] Xiao Wu Teleportation to her mother again, tears streaming down her face.

"You can no longer perform long-distance Teleportation; that skill puts a great strain on your body," Zhou You said seriously.

Xiao Wu's mother is very strong. Her strength lies in the fact that her low-level skills have almost no cooldown. For example, her early-awakened Talent, "Teleportation," allows her to easily Teleportation to a place more than a kilometer away after crossing the threshold of 100,000 years.

Of course, this is on the premise that she has been to the target location before and has a strong impression of it.

Despite its limitations, this mobility ability is still considered a bug, as it doesn't require a long cooldown and can be used an unlimited number of times as long as you have enough Soul Power.

Logically, with such abilities, she shouldn't have been cornered by Bibi Dong and the others. So how was Xiao Wu injured before she intervened in the battle?

Xiao Wu's mother didn't answer his question immediately. Instead, she smiled, her face, though not stunningly beautiful, full of gentleness, and looked at Zhou You.

"You don't have to keep calling me 'Xiao Wu's Mom.' My name is Rou, and people usually call me 'Ah Rou.' You can call me Aunt Rou."

Zhou You readily agreed, "Aunt Rou, I don't quite understand why you're trapped. Logically speaking, even if you couldn't win, you should be able to escape on your own."

This sounds somewhat sarcastic, but how many people on the Pan-Continent could escape the combined attack of a Super Douluo and two Titled Douluos?

This is undoubtedly a compliment.

Aunt Rou sighed, "Because I was misled by the false information they spread and willingly walked into their trap."

Fake news?

Xiao Wu suddenly perked up, her eyes widening: [Could it be a message from Dad?]

Ah Rou nodded and gently combed her fur. "Yes, I heard there was news about your father there, so I went, only to find out it was a trap set by the Spirit Hall."

She shook her head and sighed.

There were some things she didn't want to tell Xiao Wu.

Actually, a long time ago, a Soul Master once strayed into the Core Zone Star Dou Forest. There, she encountered danger and was on the verge of death when Ah Rou saved her.

After that, she took the human Soul Master to her Residential Zone to recover from his injuries, and they became friends and spent a wonderful time together.

Ah Rou learned a lot about the human world from that Soul Master, and even Human Form Transformation into a form that looked almost exactly like him.

She thought this beautiful moment would last forever, until the day the other party recovered from their injuries and suddenly attacked her, shattering her illusion.

Fortunately, Xiao Wu's father, Xiao Wu, discovered the situation in time, and the man failed to succeed.

Afterwards, Xiao Wu wanted to kill the Soul Master, but Ah Rou softened after the man pleaded with her.

In the end, she chose to forgive that person, but the broken relationship could not be mended. Ah Rou could no longer trust that Soul Master, so Xiao Wu drove him out of the forest.

However, out of consideration for their past relationship, Ah Rou did not leave her to fend for herself. Instead, she secretly escorted her until she left the Mixed Zone and entered the territory of the Spirit Hall before leaving.

But this left a huge hidden danger for their family.

Some time later, the place where Ah Rou lived was attacked by an unknown force, and her home was destroyed.

Fortunately, she and Xiao Wu happened to be out at the time, so they escaped unharmed.

However, Xiao Wu's father and several of her siblings have disappeared without a trace.

Ah Rou believes this matter is related to that Soul Master, and the force that attacked their home is most likely the Spirit Hall.

However, she had only recently Human Form Transformation and lacked the strength to investigate the matter.

Therefore, she waited until her cultivation had improved significantly and she was confident that she had the ability to protect herself before daring to go to the human world.

However, the Spirit Hall was such a heavily guarded place that Ah Rou had not been able to find a suitable opportunity to infiltrate it, so the investigation was progressing very slowly.

It wasn't until recently that she overheard some news about Xiao Wu, so she decided to bring Xiao Wu out to investigate secretly.

As a result, she first got separated from Xiao Wu, and then encountered an ambush by the Spirit Hall. If Zhou You hadn't intervened, she might have already been separated from Xiao Wu forever.

Therefore, Ah Rou was very grateful to him. Although she had experienced betrayal by humans, she always believed that there were still truly kind individuals among them.

But such people are ultimately too rare...

I'm sorry to have dragged you into this.

Upon hearing this, Zhou You felt a pang of emotion; this was Xiao Wu's mother.

Although she wasn't as innocent and naive as her daughter, she was just as kind-hearted, even though she was the real victim in this incident.

He shook his head. "This is all I can do. Please understand, I am, after all, only human. Helping you escape danger is the limit of what I can do."

He couldn't possibly have no stance at all and help the mother and daughter against Bibi Dong and the others.

Just as he decided to save the mother and daughter, he was also unwilling to completely oppose Bibi Dong and the others.

In truth, Zhou You knew that even if they successfully escaped this crisis, it would only be a temporary truce.

When the Spirit Hall begins its Soul Hunting Plan, those Overlord-level Soul Beasts roaming the Star Dou Great Forest will likely all be doomed.

But disregarding the future, he immediately brought up the question he'd wanted to ask from the beginning, "By the way, I have a question. The pursuers seem to be able to pinpoint our location accurately. Do you have any clue about it?"

After all, Ah Rou could teleport a kilometer away in a single Teleportation, and after dozens of such instances, she had long since left Bibi Dong and the others far behind.

However, just when they thought they could catch their breath, the pursuers would come again like persistent ghosts, as if they always knew their whereabouts perfectly.

There's definitely something wrong with this.

Ah Rou shook her head, a look of confusion on her face. "I don't know why either."