Spirit City, the Papal Palace.
A suffocating tension hung over the entire hall. Even the dust in the air seemed frozen with fear.
Bang!
The crack of a staff striking the floor echoed through the hall.
"Useless!"
Bibi Dong stood atop the high steps, glaring down at Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, who knelt below her, trembling. Cold fury burned in her eyes.
"I sent you to protect them in secret, and this is how you did it?!"
"Four Soul Grandmasters barely above level twenty, facing a Beast Tide thousands strong! If that reckless boy Xuan Hao hadn't risked his life activating Golden Dragon Body to hold them off and buy the others time to escape, Spirit Hall would have lost an entire generation of its brightest prospects!"
"Yue Guan, has your seat as an Elder grown too comfortable? Would you like a visit to the Punishment Tribunal to toughen you up?!"
Cold sweat poured down Yue Guan's forehead. He did not dare raise his head, and his voice shook as he tried to explain.
"Please calm your anger, Your Excellency! I... I truly had my reasons!"
"Xuan Hao was absorbing his Soul Ring at the time. I had already driven every Thousand Year Soul Beast out of the surrounding area for several kilometers to ensure it was completely safe. I only left because... I sensed a highly unusual presence!"
"An unusual presence?" Bibi Dong gave a cold laugh. "That's your excuse for abandoning your post?"
"It... it was the presence of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!" Yue Guan said urgently. "But not a fully mature overlord. Its presence was extremely faint, yet frighteningly pure. It was as if... as if it had only recently taken human form, or was in an extremely weakened state!"
The anger Bibi Dong had been about to unleash faltered. Her brows drew together sharply. "Why would a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast be in the Mixed Zone? Are you certain you didn't sense it wrong?"
"I would stake my head on it! I couldn't be mistaken!" Yue Guan looked up, certainty filling his eyes. "Your Excellency, do you remember when we pursued Tang Hao and that transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor?"
"After giving birth, the Blue Silver Emperor was so weak she couldn't fully suppress her presence. The distinctive fluctuations of her essence that leaked out... were exactly like what I sensed this time in the Star Dou Great Forest!"
"I thought that if this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast dared appear in the Mixed Zone, it must have only recently taken human form and still be weak. Capturing it and presenting it to Your Excellency would have been an enormous achievement!"
At that, some of the anger faded from Bibi Dong's eyes, replaced by a deep, keen gleam.
A newly transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast...
That meant a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and a guaranteed Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, without too much effort!
For her, at a crucial stage in cultivating her Twin Martial Souls, the temptation was immense.
"So..."
Bibi Dong fixed her gaze on Yue Guan. "Did you catch this Soul Beast?"
Yue Guan went rigid.
His expression crumpled.
"I... I had narrowed down its approximate location. I could feel that I was close. But... that was when the Beast Tide suddenly erupted near Xuan Hao and the others."
"I didn't dare delay any longer. I had to abandon the search and rush back to save them... and then..."
"..."
Bibi Dong drew a deep breath and closed her eyes, her knuckles whitening as she clenched her hands.
So they had failed to capture the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. A prize all but in their grasp had slipped away.
And four of Spirit Hall's geniuses had nearly died because of it. Xuan Hao, in particular, was still lying unconscious in bed.
What a disaster. Nothing gained, and so much nearly lost!
"Good... very good." Bibi Dong laughed in fury. "Yue Guan, you've given me quite the surprise."
Yue Guan shuddered and pressed himself against the floor, hardly daring to breathe.
Yet the punishment he expected never came.
After a long silence, Bibi Dong slowly opened her eyes.
Now that they had confirmed it was a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, it could not have gone far, nor could it recover its full strength in such a short time.
"I'll set this matter aside for now," Bibi Dong said coldly. "Since you found the lead, you'll see it through."
"Take Gui Mei and return to the Star Dou Great Forest at once. Search every inch of that area."
"Remember: keep a low profile. Don't alert your quarry, and above all, don't disturb the two Forest Kings in the Core Zone. Search in secret, and report back the moment you find a trace!"
"Yes! I'll go at once!" Yue Guan scrambled out of the hall, relieved to have escaped her wrath.
After dealing with Yue Guan, Bibi Dong rubbed her brow. She reined in her murderous air and headed toward the back of the Papal Palace.
A faint scent of medicinal herbs filled Xuan Hao's room.
The room had a warm, welcoming feel. A window stood half open, and a breeze stirred the white gauze curtains.
Xuan Hao lay quietly in bed. His face was still somewhat pale, but his breathing had grown much steadier. He wore clean pajamas, and the covers were tucked snugly around him, leaving only his delicate face visible.
Hu Liena sat beside the bed, slumped over its edge. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and she held one of Xuan Hao's hands tightly, letting out the occasional sob.
Hearing footsteps, Hu Liena looked up. When she saw Bibi Dong enter, tears spilled from her eyes again.
"Teacher..." Hu Liena called hoarsely through her tears. "It's all my fault... If he hadn't been trying to save us, Junior Martial Brother wouldn't have..."
Bibi Dong walked to the bedside and looked at Hu Liena's guilt-stricken face. She sighed softly and stroked her hair.
"That's enough. Don't cry. You'll ruin your eyes."
Bibi Dong's voice was unusually gentle. "Hasn't a healing-type Soul Master already examined him? This boy is hard to kill."
She placed her fingers on Xuan Hao's wrist and checked him briefly.
"The Golden Dragon Martial Soul has given him a physique and healing ability far beyond an ordinary person's. A few ribs are broken, and his internal organs took a jolt, but there's no lasting damage."
Bibi Dong tucked in Xuan Hao's covers. Looking at the hint of stubbornness that remained on his sleeping face, she felt a flicker of complicated emotion.
"Let him sleep. After another couple of days' rest, this little troublemaker will be running around collecting his protection fees again."
Two mornings later.
Sunlight streamed through the window, and the delicate scent of calming incense filled the room.
Xuan Hao struggled to lift his heavy eyelids. The first thing he saw was Bibi Dong's beautiful face, still cool in expression but unable to hide her concern.
On the other side of the bed, Hu Liena slept with her head resting at its edge, her breathing slow and even. She had clearly kept watch for so long that exhaustion had finally overcome her.
"Awake?"
Seeing Xuan Hao open his eyes, Bibi Dong set down the book in her hands. Her voice was unusually soft. "How do you feel? Does anything still hurt?"
Xuan Hao shifted. His bones still ached faintly, but the tearing agony had eased considerably.
"Not bad..." Xuan Hao's voice was a little hoarse. "Just a bit dizzy."
"That's from exhausting your Spiritual Power. Lie still." Bibi Dong reached out to tuck in his covers.
Just then, hurried but quiet footsteps sounded outside the chamber door.
"Come in," Bibi Dong said without looking back.
The door opened, and Yue Guan strode in. He glanced at Xuan Hao in bed and the sleeping Hu Liena, then hesitated, as though unsure whether to speak.
"Your Excellency, about..."
"Just say it," Bibi Dong cut in. "There's no one here who shouldn't hear."
"Yes." Yue Guan bowed, then said gravely, "Your Excellency, I searched deep within that part of the Mixed Zone. I didn't catch our target, but... beside a secluded pool not far from the center of the Beast Tide, I found this."
As he spoke, Yue Guan took several bloodstained scraps of cloth from his Soul Tool.
The fabric and color were identical to the clothes Xuan Hao had worn that day.
"I found these scraps there, and there were obvious signs that someone had cleared away traces nearby," Yue Guan said quietly. "That spot was also where the presence of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast had been strongest."
Bibi Dong's hand stopped abruptly as she adjusted Xuan Hao's covers.
Slowly, she turned to look at Xuan Hao.
In a Beast Tide of that scale, a Soul Grandmaster at level twenty would have been lucky to leave a body intact, even with Golden Dragon Body protecting him.
Yet Xuan Hao had survived. Someone had given him a rough bandaging, and he had then made his own way to the outskirts, where Yue Guan found him.
What had happened in the time between?
Before you continue