Ultimate Chatterbox Lang Xingying (4.3k)

"Hi, everyone!" The youth squeezed in and sat between Wang Rui and Huo Yuqing, casually throwing an arm around each of their shoulders as he introduced himself with a grin. "My name is Lang Xingying. You heard it earlier. I also heard your names while I was over there. You're Huo Yuhao, and you're Rui Rui... Your name is so cute!"

Wang Rui's mouth twitched. "My name is Wang Rui, thank you."

"Mm-hm, Wang Rui, Wang Rui." Lang Xingying nodded haphazardly. "Now that we know each other, we're good friends. I know you're from the same generation as my aunt, but let's keep things separate. You look about two years younger than me, right? So I won't call you Uncle."

Zhang Lexuan, standing nearby, slapped a hand over her face. She had only thought that Lang Xingying and the Auspicious Beast's chosen contractor were close in age and might have some common topics to discuss, but she had forgotten that this brat was a complete chatterbox who acted familiar with everyone, and...

You little wolf pup, do you know you're slinging an arm around a ten-thousand-year-old senior and treating him like a peer?

I can only hope the Auspicious Beast is magnanimous enough not to hold it against a childish brat.

The dark-blue giant wolf lying at her feet let out a snickering laugh. Lazily swishing his tail, he said, "Don't worry. The Auspicious Beast won't do anything to that kid. At worst, he'll get beaten up. But he definitely won't be beaten to death."

"Where did you guys come from?" Completely unaware that his aunt was worried about him getting thrashed, Lang Xingying asked with the enthusiasm and curiosity of a husky. "Hey, let me smell you..."

He leaned closer and took a deep sniff of the air, then began chattering away on his own. "Mm, a Brocade Rat. Is that your companion? And Silver-Spot Trout from the little river to the south, right? Right? Hey, let me tell you, those are delicious. You're a pretty good cook, huh? This smell is incredible. But what did you use to grill it? Why doesn't it smell like charcoal? Weird. Mm... There's rabbit and roast chicken too."

Lang Xingying sniffed again, and his whole face wrinkled up. "Hm? Why is there a smell of rotting Blue Silver Grass too? Where exactly did you come from? And there's another scent... It should have been left behind by a very powerful soul beast. I don't recognize this kind of soul beast. But the scent is a little like one of my dad's keepsakes. He says it's a strand of fur from an Imperial Auspicious Beast, though I don't know if he got scammed... If that thing is real, it's a family heirloom. Sigh, both my dad and mom have met the Auspicious Beast, but I haven't. They won't even tell me what it looks like."

The Auspicious Beast, Wang Rui: ...

Huo Yuqing, who had just cuddled with the Imperial Auspicious Beast: ...

This wolf kid was beyond merely being socially fearless. He was a full-blown social terrorist!

Lang Xingying alone was worth a thousand ducks!

"Uh... I came from around Star Luo City." Seeing that things were going badly, Huo Yuqing swiftly changed the subject.

Lang Xingying stared at her with wide eyes. "Yuhao, you're from the Star Luo Empire?" He eagerly grabbed Huo Yuqing's hand and shook it. "Oh, we're fellow townsmen! I'm half Star Luo Empire myself! My dad is from the Star Luo Empire. He was sickly, so when he was little, my grandfather stripped him of his inheritance rights and sent him to Jade City for treatment. That's how he met my mom. I heard he—"

A shadow fell over his head.

Lang Xingying's voice abruptly cut off. Trembling, he turned around.

A beautiful white giant wolf was crouched behind him, staring coldly at him. Her soft, snowy fur stirred despite the absence of wind.

"Ahaha, Mom, you came over..." The white-haired youth, who had been talking nonstop just moments ago, stood up with an awkward laugh and slowly tried to edge away.

"You'll be running later," the white wolf said coldly.

"Ahaha, got it..." Lang Xingying lowered his head and replied dejectedly, looking like a large dog that had been kicked twice by its owner, ears drooping and tail tucked between its legs.

Wang Rui showed an undisguised, gloating smile. What was that saying again? The wicked would get what was coming to them.

"I'm very sorry. This little brat has been spouting all sorts of nonsense at you," the white wolf said, lowering her head to Wang Rui.

"It's fine, it's fine." Wang Rui waved his hand.

The white wolf curiously examined Huo Yuqing. Every well-informed soul beast in Star Dou Forest knew that the Auspicious Beast had taken human form and was preparing to find a human contractor. This human before her must have been the one.

"Young man, would you like to pet my fur?" The white wolf bared her teeth in a friendly, adorably goofy smile like an enormous Samoyed.

"Huh? Can I?" Huo Yuqing asked a little shyly.

Of course she wanted to touch the giant wolf before her, who looked like a cloud. No human could resist such a fluffy assault. But this white wolf was not an ordinary animal. She was intelligent, and such thoughts felt rather impolite.

"It's fine. You can pet me. Consider it an apology."

"Thank you." Huo Yuqing replied softly. She gently stroked the white wolf's silky long fur, but quickly succumbed to the fluffy attack and buried her entire body in the white wolf's back.

"Sigh, my mom treats other people's kids much better than she treats me," Lang Xingying muttered sourly to Wang Rui.

The white wolf had clearly heard him and shot him an annoyed glare.

"Young man, would you be interested in settling down in Moon Shadow City?" Noticing that Huo Yuqing truly loved her fur, the white wolf slowly swished her tail and teased, "If you join Moon Shadow City, see over there? You can pet any of those wolves as much as you want. And if that isn't enough, there are plenty of wolf pups in the city too. You can pet whoever you like."

Wang Rui's mouth twitched. Why did the white wolf sound so much like the owner of a dog café soliciting customers...?

"Sure, sure!" Huo Yuqing nodded furiously, looking thoroughly bewitched by all the fluff as she remained buried in the white wolf's fur.

Wang Rui began to feel sour too. What was so great about the white wolf's fur? Wasn't my Three-Eyed Golden Lion fur nice too? It even had a crystal-like texture!

"But Auntie White Wolf, can I ask you a question?" Huo Yuqing asked. "I'm just really curious. If it concerns any secrets, please pretend I never asked."

"Go ahead," the white wolf said gently.

"Sister Lexuan is a Titled Douluo, right? I heard her title is Moon, so her martial soul should be the moon?" The girl hesitated. "I've heard the story of the Wolf Pack Douluo. Wasn't the Wolf Pack Douluo's martial soul a Moon Shadow Wolf?"

"Oh, that? It isn't a secret." The white wolf smiled and shook her head. "You may have some misunderstandings about Beast Sect contracts. To form a contract, a human soul master's martial soul does not necessarily need to be exactly the same species as the soul beast.

"For soul beasts that are particularly hostile toward their own kind, even a soul master and soul beast with the same type of martial soul will repel each other—for example, tigers, leopards, and bears. In that case, they can form a contract through other connections, such as a symbiotic relationship between their martial souls or an affinity of attributes."

"Like my dad and mom." Even after being scolded by his mother, Lang Xingying still stubbornly poked his head in to interrupt. "My mom is a mutated individual with the power of the stars, and my dad's martial soul can also draw upon the power of the stars. That makes them a perfect match, practically made for each other."

Those words hit the wolf right where she liked them. The white wolf gave him an indifferent glance and did not scold the child again.

"Little Lexuan's martial soul is the moon. To all of Moon Shadow City, she is a special existence," the white wolf said, her voice carrying a trace of pride. "The moon has extraordinary significance to wolves. On nights of the full moon, the pack's strength is enhanced, and their cultivation speed increases. Little Lexuan's martial soul strengthens every wolf in Moon Shadow City, while the wolves' howls at the moon also return power to her. It could be said that Little Lexuan is Moon Shadow City's undisputed queen."

"Wow, that's amazing!" Huo Yuqing praised.

"But the most important thing in forming a contract is mutual trust and care," Wang Rui added. "Without a solid emotional foundation, forming a contract will inevitably fail."

Huo Yuqing thought about it. "Then can I form a contract with Aunt Rat? The Brocade Rat I brought with me. She watched me grow up."

The white giant wolf shrank her neck and cautiously glanced at Wang Rui.

Wang Rui returned a puzzled look.

"What's your martial soul?" Lang Xingying rushed to ask. "Do you think your martial soul has anything that could form a connection with a Brocade Rat?"

"Uh, my martial soul is my eyes. I don't think so..."

"Then there's nothing to be done. But eyes, huh? There are quite a lot of suitable soul beasts for you. You could ask around about the Hundred-Eyed Peacock clan, or, if you have connections, you could go to the Sun Moon Empire and see whether any Evil Eye would be willing to come back with you—" Before Lang Xingying could finish, he suddenly felt a chill down his back.

He shuddered and looked back. Sure enough, his mother was glaring viciously at him.

"You've actually already promised yourself to someone," Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's lazy voice sounded in Huo Yuqing's mind. "You don't need to ask which soul beast you can form a contract with anymore. Didn't you already undergo Attribute Infusion with the Auspicious Beast? Although you haven't formally formed a contract, that's only a matter of time."

"Huh? Th-that's true." Huo Yuqing gave a silly smile. Then wouldn't her contract partner be the strongest in the world?

"My options are much broader." Lang Xingying chuckled. "I can form a contract with humans, or I can form one with soul beasts... I hope I can find a human partner, preferably a super beautiful woman. Mm, my standards aren't high. Someone as pretty as my aunt would do..."

Before his words had even settled, the dark-blue Wolf King rose to his feet and let out a long howl.

The giant wolves playing and resting in the clearing all got up.

"We should depart, children. Climb onto my back."

Wang Rui helped Huo Yuqing climb onto the white wolf's back, then sat behind her. Lang Xingying shamelessly climbed up as well.

The white wolf glared at him. Still, it was not appropriate to discipline her pup in front of the Auspicious Beast, so she said nothing and let him be.

Just you wait until we get home, brat.

The wolf pack set off.

The giant wolves raced through the forest like a torrent, their synchronized steps carrying a faintly bloodthirsty aura. Although wolf soul beasts did not excel at speed, the pack moved with the swiftness of wind and lightning.

With several Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast-level powerhouses in the pack, they did not need to avoid any powerful soul beasts, nor did they need to take detours. They cut straight through the forest and ran northwest.

The scenery among the trees rushed past them.

As the wind, carrying the fragrance of plants and the earthy scent of soil, blew against her face, Huo Yuqing saw many strange soul beasts that she would never have encountered at her current cultivation level.

Seeing how intently she watched, Wang Rui began telling her amusing stories about those soul beasts. He was rewarded with Huo Yuqing's starry, admiring eyes, while Lang Xingying, sitting in the back, occasionally chimed in with a sarcastic remark. Naturally, the journey was not boring in the least.

There were also younger wolves with lower cultivation in the pack, so they did not travel at full speed and stopped once midway to rest.

At Lang Xingying's enthusiastic urging, Huo Yuqing also showed off her cooking skills. After all, she felt embarrassed to take a free ride on a wolf without contributing anything.

Then the looks in the eyes of every giant wolf and human in the pack changed—one could say that, in the giant wolves' hearts, their own contract partners ranked first, Zhang Lexuan ranked second, and Huo Yuqing ranked third. Even the Wolf King had to move back a few places.

Watching the tiny stars in the giant wolves' dog-like eyes, Wang Rui could not help but find it amusing.

Little Huo's grilled fish was just that magical, an indiscriminate attack effective against every species. Its reputation would probably soon spread through Moon Shadow City.

Interestingly, before the pack set off again, they chose two wolves to spar. Each wolf represented a group, and the losing group had to carry the luggage for the next stretch of the journey.

"The wolf pack is so nice, like one big family." Huo Yuqing could not help but sigh. The pure joy in those giant wolves' eyes seemed to spread to her as well.

After becoming a soul master, some of the gloom around Huo Yuqing had faded, but the regrets left behind in Duke's Mansion still clung to her soul and needed to be slowly filled in. Only once the void in her heart was filled would she no longer be emotionally manipulated by others.

These warm, adorable big creatures were just what she needed.

"Soul beasts' feelings are mostly very pure. They should not exist as reserves for humans to increase their strength," Wang Rui murmured, seeming to explain it to Huo Yuqing while also speaking to himself. "Humans and soul beasts can coexist harmoniously. That is why I want to gamble on such a future."

Lang Xingying ran gleefully past him. The red-haired youth's mouth twitched. "Though some people may be a little too pure."

Wang Rui's goal was not merely to bind Huo Yuqing to him through shared interests. A bond formed from benefits alone was not strong enough.

He needed one of the most gifted protagonists in the Douluo series to sincerely stand on the soul beasts' side. He would absolutely not use Shrek's brainwashing methods of first crushing someone down and then showing them favor. Instead, he would build an unbreakable, positive emotional bond.

Wang Rui had analyzed it. In the original story, Huo Hang had grown up in a distorted environment starved of love. Therefore, even the slightest kindness and care would make Huo Hang overwhelmingly grateful. Even when he later faced suspicion and misunderstanding, he would still consider it only natural.

That was unhealthy and wrong.

Wang Rui rubbed his head as he watched Huo Yuqing eagerly observing two wolf soul beasts beating each other up.

I should be able to raise this kid properly, right...? he thought uncertainly. After all, in the eyes of the Fierce Beasts of Star Dou Great Forest, he was a pup himself. This was also his first time raising a child.

He could give her both affection and power. It was just the matter of a wife... Tang San had used a daughter, along with repeated suppression, to firmly tie Huo Hang down.

Wang Rui mentally counted the female Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in Star Dou Great Forest that had recently chosen to take human form and recultivate. Huo Hang should be able to pick a wife from among those beautiful girls.

He thought sourly, though he had no idea what exactly he was feeling sour about.

By the time the wolf pack set off again, it was already late at night.

After such a turbulent day, Huo Yuqing was a little sleepy. She had wanted to cultivate on the white wolf's back, but a wolf's back was hardly a calm environment suited to cultivation. With all that jostling, she found it difficult to enter a meditative state, and eventually drifted off in a daze.

Half-awake and half-asleep, she felt herself leaning against someone's embrace, warm and safe.

Current Auspicious Beast: Trying to arrange a soul beast wife for Huo Lolita.

Auspicious Beast ten years later: I was so foolish, truly foolish. I only knew Huo Hang needed a soul beast wife. I didn't know she was a girl, and that her soul beast wife would be me!

Ah, it really hits the spot.gif

Also, Lang Xingying is not a passerby. He is a core Beast Sect team member participating in the second tournament. (A tiny spoiler.) (:з"∠)