Bibi Dong's Selfish Motives

"Oh."

Ye Xinyu nodded thoughtfully, her adorable little head swaying slightly as she finally asked the question that had been on her mind for a long time.

"By the way, Mom, I read the books you gave me before. I only need my first soul ring right now. A Hundred-Year Soul Beast should be enough, and the Soul Hunting Forest should do. Why did we come here?"

She had been holding that question in for half the day. Normally, a soul master's first two soul rings were around the hundred-year level, and the first soul ring only needed to be about four hundred years at most. The Soul Hunting Forest was completely sufficient; there was no need at all to come to the Star Dou Great Forest.

Besides, it would be a disaster if they ran into a Thousand-Year Soul Beast or a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast here.

A Thousand-Year Soul Beast was basically comparable to a level-forty soul master. She certainly did not think her mother was some high-level soul master.

Hearing her daughter's words, Bibi Dong stopped walking, a faint smile appearing on her lips.

"No, our target on this trip isn't a Hundred-Year Soul Beast."

"Not a Hundred-Year Soul Beast?" Ye Xinyu froze, her mouth falling slightly open as surprise appeared on her face.

"Mm." Bibi Dong smiled calmly and raised a hand to gently smooth the hair over Ye Xinyu's forehead.

"Ordinary soul masters can indeed only absorb Hundred-Year Soul Beasts for their first soul ring, around 423 years. But strictly speaking, a soul master's first soul ring isn't fixed. Its approximate limit is between three hundred and five hundred years, and the ring they can absorb differs according to their physique. However, if the body is stronger, the soul ring they can absorb naturally cannot be compared to that of an ordinary soul master. Even absorbing a thousand-year soul ring as one's first ring isn't impossible."

As she spoke, Bibi Dong's gaze grew distant. By now, Xiao Gang should have received the encyclopedia she had sent him, right?

She had read that Encyclopedia of Soul Masters as well. It basically encompassed information on soul master cultivation, the upper limits for obtaining soul rings, improving physical fitness, and more. It was a true encyclopedia in every sense.

Even Xiao Gang's Ten Core Competencies of Martial Souls could be found within it, and in a far more complete form. More importantly, those materials were not considered core knowledge in it at all; they had merely been classified as basic common sense.

With that Encyclopedia of Soul Masters, Xiao Gang should be able to use it to verify his ideas. He should be very happy, right?

After letting out a soft sigh, Bibi Dong grabbed Ye Xinyu's hand. Her eyes fixed directly on her as she spoke solemnly.

"Do you trust Mom?"

Ye Xinyu was stunned for a moment, then nodded in confusion.

"Mm."

Even if she did not, she had no choice. They had already come this far. She could not exactly turn back now; those people might be waiting for them at the entrance.

Seeing this, Bibi Dong continued.

"This time, I plan for your first soul ring to be a thousand-year one."

A thousand-year first soul ring???

Even as a transmigrator, those outrageous words made her brain crash for a moment. Ye Xinyu's eyes widened in disbelief.

A thousand-year soul ring for her first ring? That was putting way too much faith in her. She could sense that her martial soul was no ordinary Swan Martial Soul, but even if it had mutated into an Emerald Swan, there was no way she could obtain a thousand-year soul ring as her first.

"Mom, how about we play it safe? Just hunt a five-hundred-year one, okay?" Ye Xinyu tugged on Bibi Dong's clothes and looked up at her pitifully.

Absorbing a soul ring beyond her body's limit came with an extremely high chance of dying horribly. She did not want to become the first reborn person to explode to death. That would be way too embarrassing.

Bibi Dong could not help but smile. She reached out and lightly tapped Ye Xinyu's nose.

"With Mom here, what are you afraid of?"

Over the past few years, she had roughly learned about her daughter's previous life. Although she had initially felt somewhat uncomfortable about her daughter being a reborn person—

After spending time together, however, she realized that her daughter was not actually very old at heart. Even counting both lives together, she only had twenty years of life experience. Bibi Dong was already forty; having a twenty-year-old daughter was not so hard to accept. Only then had she gradually come to accept her daughter.

After all, people could lie, but who would lie to themselves?

Besides, her daughter seemed to have had a rather pitiful life in her previous world. No father, no mother. She had finally graduated from college, and then... well, she was killed by a Stone. Pretty unlucky, really.

"By the way, you still don't know what I had you eat before we came, do you?" Bibi Dong asked with a smile.

Ye Xinyu immediately thought of that black, sticky mass. Not only did it look disgusting, it tasted fishy and foul. Just recalling it made her feel nauseated.

After eating it, she had sweated all over, and a thin layer of dark brown grime had appeared on her skin. It had embarrassed her for quite a while. She had merely assumed she was too dirty and had not paid it any attention. But hearing this now, that thing seemed far from simple.

"What was it?"

Bibi Dong smiled slightly but did not explain.

"Take a guess. If you guess right, Mom will tell you."

Ye Xinyu was rendered speechless. If I could guess it, why would I need to ask?

"Alright, I'll stop teasing you. That was something good. Only after eating it could you possibly absorb a thousand-year soul ring. Otherwise, Mom wouldn't dare try it either. Now that we've truly entered the Star Dou Great Forest, we should find a soul beast suitable for you very soon."

As she spoke, Bibi Dong stopped walking.

They had now truly entered the Star Dou Great Forest. The trees here were hundreds of meters tall. Though it was still midday, the place felt distinctly gloomy. Not a trace of sunlight could be seen, all of it blocked out by the towering trees that covered the sky.

Although this was only the outer region, the surge in the world's spiritual energy over recent years had made even the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest extremely dangerous. Even Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts occasionally appeared here, and even Soul Kings risked losing their lives.

The reason their journey had been so peaceful was simply because Bibi Dong could not be bothered to slaughter anything, so she had used her spiritual power to drive away the soul beasts ahead of them in advance.

A slightly chilly wind blew past, and Ye Xinyu shivered.

"Mom, what soul beast are we hunting this time, exactly?"

Bibi Dong replied, "Your martial soul is the Emerald Swan, so naturally, we need to hunt a support-type soul beast for you."

Although her daughter's martial soul was the Six-Winged Angel, since it had not undergone its second awakening, its usual appearance was much like that of a swan.

Though she did not know why her Innate Soul Power was only level ten, the Soul Power fluctuations within her body were already comparable to Xiao Xue's at level twenty. Combined with the effects of several pieces of Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue, Bibi Dong had dared to consider obtaining a Thousand-Year Soul Beast for her daughter's first soul ring.

Ahem. Given Bibi Dong's personality, it was perfectly reasonable for her to send a book to Grandmaster, right?