A Textbook Example of Sweet-Talking?

Is this over?

Hearing Sky Azure Bull Python's words, Xiao Xuan was slightly surprised as well.

What exactly had the Three Illusion Gods talked to them about, that even the host had no authority to know?

Still, complaints aside, he needed to leave.

His martial soul was attached to his own body. There would be plenty of chances to study it later.

Right now, staying alive was what mattered.

The atmosphere might seem friendly at the moment, but who could predict what soul beasts would do?

If he delayed by even a second and Titan Giant Ape suddenly had a screw loose and gave him a farewell hug—

One slap, and his life would probably be over.

"Go. If fate allows, we'll meet again."

"Carry my aura with you. The other soul beasts won't dare touch you."

"I hope that next time, we won't become enemies."

As Xiao Xuan withdrew his martial soul, Sky Azure Bull Python also recovered from its shock.

It gave the human, as tiny as an ant, a complicated look.

Then, one of the tentacles buried beneath the water suddenly crept toward him.

It gently crawled up before him, wrapping around him in a sticky, slimy embrace.

It left behind great patches of mucus, making him look like a drenched rat.

Who knew whether it had properly washed its feet even once in its hundred thousand years of life?

"Woo... woo woo woo."

After doing this, Sky Azure Bull Python suddenly raised its head.

It let out a strange roar that instantly startled the entire forest.

Though he could not understand it, it probably meant: This human is under my protection. No one is allowed to touch him.

"Ahem. Until we meet again."

Seeing this, Xiao Xuan did not linger any longer.

Having his fate in someone else's hands was truly an unpleasant feeling.

He really was still too weak.

Before he could turn all his talents into solid strength, he had no right to be fearless and reckless.

"Sister Xiao Wu, are you really willing to let it go?"

"Actually, things are quite good as they are. We should give Auntie..."

Just as Xiao Xuan's figure disappeared, Xiao Wu emerged from atop Sky Azure Bull Python's back.

Her expression was complicated, and tears faintly welled in her eyes.

Chrysanthemum Douluo's appearance had clearly stirred up painful memories.

Seeing this, Titan Giant Ape, who had remained silent the entire time, pounded his chest fiercely as though standing up against injustice.

Using a language only soul beasts could understand, he voiced his thoughts to Xiao Wu.

"Every grievance has its cause, and every debt has its owner."

"If we act recklessly, how would we be any different from Spirit Hall?"

"Besides, that detestable bastard has a martial soul bestowed by a god."

"Even as a human, he may still become the hope for the revival of soul beasts."

"From now on, I'll continue observing his movements in the human world."

"I hope everything we just heard was true..."

Xiao Xuan's departing figure quietly surfaced in Xiao Wu's mind.

In the end, she sighed and did not agree with Titan Giant Ape's thoughts.

Without realizing it, an impression of Xiao Xuan had already been branded into her heart.

It was not entirely positive, but he had nevertheless claimed a place there.

At present, this was something even Tang San had not accomplished.

"A profound lesson—stay vigilant at all times!"

"We may be exceptionally talented, but we have yet to grow strong."

"From now on, I absolutely can't be this reckless again."

"Good thing I ran into Xiao Wu. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"

Xiao Xuan had no way of knowing what the bunny girl was thinking.

As he retraced his steps, he had been quietly reflecting on everything.

This time, there had been an element of gambling involved.

Though he had been right, he did not want there to be a next time!

After spending several days on the road, he finally returned to the place where he had been separated from Hu Liena.

With the lingering aura from when the Titan Giant Ape had passed through earlier, the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse still lay exactly where it had been, with no magical beast daring to approach.

As for Chrysanthemum Douluo, Xiao Xuan had no idea whether he had returned.

In any case, no one had the time to care about a two-thousand-year soul beast.

Xiao Xuan was Bibi Dong's disciple, the only holder of the Three Lives Martial Soul on the entire continent.

If he had suddenly died, the blame would have been far too great!

Who would still have been in the mood to think about spoils of war?

It just happened to benefit Xiao Xuan, at least leaving him with a consolation prize.

"Not bad. The thing's still here. Too bad I probably can't use it."

"Bibi Dong's martial souls are indeed two spiders, but she fused with an External Soul Bone long ago."

"Fine, I'll count it as making trouble for Tang San."

Too lazy to dwell on it, Xiao Xuan walked straight over.

He looked at the shriveled Man Faced Demon Spider, its Soul Power completely drained.

The dead flesh gave off a rancid stench that was truly unpleasant.

But then he thought that his entire body was already covered in the Sky Azure Bull Python's "foot-washing water" anyway.

So he did not care about getting a little spider blood and flesh on himself.

He reached in and started rummaging around, quickly finding the External Soul Bone.

He casually stuffed it into his pocket and headed outside.

Though he did not know whether Chrysanthemum Douluo had returned to look for him, given Hu Liena's personality, she probably would not have strayed far from the Star Dou Forest.

If he went out now, he might be able to reunite with her.

Just as he was thinking this, before he had gone very far, a familiar fluctuation of Soul Power appeared, and patches of golden light flashed across the sky.

They were the petals formed from Chrysanthemum Douluo's Martial Soul Avatar.

"Xiao Xuan! It really is you!"

"I just sensed a similar Soul Power fluctuation nearby."

"I thought I'd gone mad these past few days."

"You brat, you actually survived!"

"Hurry up and tell me what happened!"

Xiao Xuan could sense Ju Hua Guan's Soul Power fluctuations.

As a Titled Douluo, his perception was naturally no worse.

When Xiao Xuan had been digging out the External Soul Bone earlier, he had used his martial soul and Soul Power to save time and effort.

It just so happened that Chrysanthemum Douluo, who had been lingering nearby these past few days while clinging to a sliver of hope, discovered him.

That effeminate face nearly burst into tears from excitement.

Naturally, their relationship had not reached that level.

But as the guardian of Xiao Xuan and Hu Liena, the unease in his heart was something outsiders could not possibly imagine.

If he returned carrying such a result, even as a Titled Douluo, Bibi Dong would not let him off easily.

Every day, he had prayed that the Titan Giant Ape had merely captured Xiao Xuan without intending to kill him.

Perhaps after it got tired of playing with him, Xiao Xuan might still return alive.

Even if the odds were one in a hundred million, it was still a comfort before any final conclusion was reached.

Yet he had never expected heaven to answer his prayers.

A mere level-thirty Soul Elder had been captured by a hundred-thousand-year soul beast and actually returned completely unharmed.

Though he did look a little bedraggled.

But it was precisely this posture that kept Chrysanthemum Douluo from considering it at all.

Xiao Xuan had actually only exchanged a few words with the soul beast overlord before being easily released.

If he explained it like that, the other party would absolutely never believe him.

They might even develop all sorts of suspicions.

Xiao Xuan had long since prepared an excuse for this.

There was nothing particularly sophisticated about it—just a textbook-grade bluff.

He simply repeated Xiao Wu's lines from the original work.

"Actually, I don't know what happened either."

"After that gorilla captured me, it ran toward the depths of the forest."

"I don't know how many days passed when, all of a sudden, I heard a bull's roar."

"It became extremely nervous. Without even looking, it threw me away and ran off."

"Fortunately, I'm pretty good at finding my way."

"After figuring out the direction, I barely managed to make it out alive..."