Journey to Heaven Dou City

Early the next morning, Zhao Xiaotian and Liu Jin appeared outside Shrek with Ghost Charm, who had only recently been thawed. Xiao Wu stood beside Ghost Charm. Zhao Xiaotian had already said earlier that he would take her with him to Heaven Dou City.

After bidding farewell to Flender and the others, they boarded the carriage that had previously been parked at the Spirit Hall Branch Hall in Suotuo City and set off toward Heaven Dou City.

Xiao Wu had been deeply worried, afraid that Zhao Xiaotian would kill her when he one day broke through and needed a soul ring. Zhao Xiaotian had clearly noticed her concern, so he spoke gently. "Don't worry! I won't do anything to you. On the contrary, you have two choices!"

Xiao Wu asked, "What choices?"

"First, follow the person I arrange for you and cultivate diligently until you enter maturity and become a true human. That way, you won't have to fear powerful soul masters seeing through your identity. Of course, before you reach maturity, I'll help conceal the soul beast aura on your body."

"Second, I can have someone send you back to the Star Dou Great Forest. Naturally, I won't concern myself with your affairs after that. If you are discovered by a powerful soul master who wants to hunt you, I can still have someone protect you once and keep you from dying. Of course, if you reach maturity, powerful soul masters naturally won't discover you—but what if you don't?"

After Zhao Xiaotian laid out the two choices, Xiao Wu immediately fell into hesitation. Seeing this, Zhao Xiaotian waved his hand. "No rush! Take your time thinking. The carriage will slow down until you give me an answer."

Xiao Wu nodded, trusting Zhao Xiaotian's words. Zhao Xiaotian then closed his eyes and calmed himself, beginning to regulate the excess Spirit Energy left over from refining Spirit Weapons.

He considered whether to use the excess Spirit Energy from refining Spirit Weapons to raise his Tai Chi Art cultivation or to strengthen his physical body. After some thought, Zhao Xiaotian sank his Spiritual Power into his mind while the Spirit Energy throughout his body began probing the strength of his physique.

After a while, once the Spirit Energy had circulated through his body for half an hour, Zhao Xiaotian finally opened his eyes. His physical strength was already comparable to that of an ordinary Soul Sage.

The Spirit Energy he had absorbed before had all been used to strengthen his body, which was why he could repeatedly defeat opponents several times stronger than himself despite being at a lower level.

Zhao Xiaotian took a deep breath and thought, Looks like I need to raise my cultivation technique realm!

With that, Zhao Xiaotian sat cross-legged and began cultivating his technique. Dense spiritual energy of heaven and earth spread around his body. The appearance of this dense spiritual energy instantly threw Xiao Wu's thoughts into disarray as she pondered which option to choose, making her forget what she had been thinking about.

Half an hour later, Zhao Xiaotian suddenly opened his eyes. His cultivation technique realm had risen by an entire major realm, successfully breaking through to the peak of the Minute Subtlety Realm.

In other words, it would not be long before he could successfully advance into the next realm, the Spirit Communion Realm. The spirit sea of the Spirit Communion Realm could rely on its own Spirit Energy reserves to directly contend with a Titled Douluo.

Although Zhao Xiaotian had never tried it, he had already been able to trade blows evenly with, or even crush, Soul Sages while still in the Entering Dust Realm. From that, it was clear just how powerful he would become after breaking through to the Spirit Communion Realm. Moreover, the Spirit Communion Realm could condense a spirit sea within the Sea of Consciousness.

The Spirit Energy reserves of one spirit sea could match the total Spirit Energy of eight peak Minute Subtlety Realm cultivators. Zhao Xiaotian felt a little excited inside and wanted to push onward in one burst to break directly into the Spirit Communion Realm.

Just as Zhao Xiaotian was about to enter another round of meditation, Xiao Wu moved. She walked straight up to him and respectfully said, "Um, Brother Tian, I choose the first option. I'll follow the person you arrange for me and cultivate until I reach maturity."

Zhao Xiaotian nodded in satisfaction. "Good! In that case, I'll make arrangements for you once we reach Heaven Dou City."

Xiao Wu nodded and thanked him before returning to her seat and beginning to cultivate. She no longer had the lively, impulsive personality she had before and instead immersed herself in cultivation.

Before cultivating, Zhao Xiaotian took out a Concealment Talisman and handed it to her. After explaining the talisman's function, Xiao Wu directly stuck it to her chest in front of Zhao Xiaotian.

Zhao Xiaotian's face reddened slightly as he entered meditation. He had not expected Xiao Wu to be so open and entirely without reservations.

A day later, the carriage entered Heaven Dou City. The residents along its streets lived and worked in peace and contentment—of course, that was only when that wastrel Xue Beng was not appearing before them.

The carriage stopped outside the Heaven Dou City Spirit Hall Branch Hall. Two Soul Ancestor guards at the entrance stopped Zhao Xiaotian and Xiao Wu when they saw them. Zhao Xiaotian took out the Holy Son Token and handed it to one of the guards.

After verifying his identity, the guard reported the matter to Salas, the hall master of the Heaven Dou City Spirit Hall Branch Hall. Upon learning that His Highness the Holy Son had arrived, Salas hurried outside to welcome him.

Zhao Xiaotian waved his hand. "Send word to my sister and tell her I'm here!"

Salas replied humbly, "Understood! Your Highness the Holy Son, I'll see to it at once!"

Zhao Xiaotian waved him away, then casually found a room in the Spirit Hall Branch Hall, tidied it up, and lay down on the bed.

At that moment, Salas walked outside and gave a guard a meaningful look. The guard immediately understood the hall master's meaning and headed for the underground chamber of the Spirit Hall Branch Hall.

There was no need to ask what that meant. Anyone who had risen to Salas's position would have more or less such needs, not to mention that Salas was already nearing eighty.

Within the Eastern Palace of the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Qian Renxue, disguised as Xue Qinghe, returned to her room after handling memorials for an entire day. It was already late at night. Having just finished bathing, Qian Renxue sat before her desk and began reading.

Before long, Snake Lance Douluo pushed open the door and placed a letter before Qian Renxue. Puzzled, Qian Renxue picked up the letter and began reading it.

After reading the letter, Qian Renxue learned that her younger brother, Zhao Xiaotian, had arrived in Heaven Dou City and was currently waiting for her at the Heaven Dou City Spirit Hall Branch Hall.

After tidying her appearance, Qian Renxue called Snake Lance and Pufferfish and headed together for the Heaven Dou City Spirit Hall Branch Hall. At that moment, a pair of eyes outside the Eastern Palace witnessed Qian Renxue's departure.

Although Qian Renxue had still left dressed as Xue Qinghe, the owner of those eyes departed as though they had seen through everything.

Zhao Xiaotian was leafing through a book, reading the page on something called Divine Slaughter's Domain. Upon hearing movement outside the window, he closed the book, walked over, and opened it.

The moment he opened the window, a golden figure suddenly threw herself into his arms. Zhao Xiaotian was hugged so tightly that he could barely breathe, and he patted Qian Renxue's back.

Qian Renxue realized her loss of composure and let go. Then she asked, "Xiaotian, I didn't expect you to come see me."

Zhao Xiaotian nodded. "Yes, Sister. You didn't tell me why you left back then."

After Qian Renxue and Zhao Xiaotian joked around for a while, they finally got back to the matter at hand. Zhao Xiaotian looked into Qian Renxue's eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Sister, I need your help! This was also a last-minute decision!"