Talent Domain: Purple Imperial Bamboo Forest

This epiphany allowed the Purple Imperial Bamboo Martial Soul to fully merge with the bloodline of the "Emperor," evolving a Talent Domain—Purple Imperial Bamboo Forest.

At the same time, his comprehension of the sword had crossed the threshold, reaching the first realm of swordsmanship—Sword Momentum.

Although his Soul Power had not improved, his combat strength had risen considerably.

Gui Mei would surely need to recover some Soul Power before he could continue flying. If Chen Xing used his flight skill during that time, he still had a chance of escaping...

With that thought, Chen Xing quietly formed a plan.

He only had to wait for Gui Mei to land and lower his guard.

As time passed, Chen Xing suddenly felt solid ground beneath his feet.

He knew they had landed.

The instant the black mist dispersed and his vision returned, he shot forward like a spring.

[Soul Bone Skill: Flight]

[Second Soul Skill: Purple Imperial Sword Domain]

In this critical moment, he truly could not worry about whether he would expose his Soul Bone.

Rather than fearing that Gui Mei would see through his ability to fly, he was more afraid of falling into Bibi Dong's hands.

A forest stretched before him. As long as he could leave Gui Mei's sight—

he could remove the ring, hide in the grass, Disguise himself as a Soul Beast, and surely escape.

Chen Xing's plan was practically perfect, so perfect that even he could find no flaw in it.

Unfortunately!

After being wounded by Chen Xing's sword, Gui Mei, as a Title Douluo, had become extremely wary of the boy.

What a joke!

A level 32 Soul Elder had managed to react to his ambush even while he was under a buffed state, then countered with a sword strike. How could he possibly underestimate such a monster?

The instant Chen Xing burst forward, Gui Mei fired a strand of Soul Power.

"You brat! You really don't know what's good for you!"

With a helpless sigh, the black Soul Power streaked like a meteor, catching up to the boy in the blink of an eye and entering his body.

While flying, Chen Xing suddenly felt his entire body tighten, and he could no longer mobilize the Soul Power within him.

His meridians were still intact, but everything inside had completely frozen.

"Damn it! My Soul Power has been sealed..."

Chen Xing had just flown into the air. Without Soul Power to support him, he dropped straight toward the ground.

Gui Mei's figure gradually enlarged in his vision.

Finally.

Another stream of black Soul Power wrapped around Chen Xing, slowly reducing the speed of his fall so that he would not be injured.

Gui Mei sighed helplessly.

After catching Chen Xing, he directly knocked him unconscious.

This boy was simply too difficult to deal with. What six-year-old child was supposed to be like this?

Over his many years in Spirit Hall, he had assassinated quite a few enemies.

There had indeed been people capable of reacting to his ambush, but there was no way someone Chen Xing's age should have been able to do so.

It had nothing to do with Soul Power Level. It was purely combat awareness.

What Gui Mei did not know was that Chen Xing had been able to react because of the Talent Domain—Purple Imperial Bamboo Forest.

[Purple Imperial Bamboo Forest: Deploy the domain, causing a bamboo forest to rapidly grow centered on the user. Attack, defense, and speed increase by 100%. Within the bamboo forest's range, all enemies have nowhere to hide.]

This domain was somewhat similar to spiritual detection, though Purple Imperial Bamboo Forest could only detect information about enemies.

That was how Chen Xing had been able to react to Gui Mei's ambush.

Unfortunately, the gap in strength between them was simply too great. As a Title Douluo, Gui Mei would not have been threatened even if that sword strike had landed squarely on him.

Elsewhere.

She Long rushed as fast as he could and finally returned to Heaven Dou City.

Yue Guan had already left some time ago, and She Long happened to run into Qian Renxue, who was preparing to return to Spirit Hall.

"Young Mistress! The Grand Pontiff asked me to bring you and Chen Xing back to Worship Hall together..."

The moment they met, he hurriedly relayed Qian Daoliu's order.

Seeing his respectful expression, Qian Renxue's already irritated mood became even more stifled.

Her blood and energy churned, and she nearly coughed up blood from holding it in.

Feeling somewhat dizzy, she hurriedly braced herself against the nearby wall.

"Young Mistress... are you all right...?"

Seeing his young mistress in this state, a bad premonition rose in She Long's heart.

Chi Xue cautiously sent him a spiritual message, explaining what had just happened.

"What else did Grandfather say?"

Qian Renxue clenched her pearly teeth, desperately suppressing the emotions threatening to erupt as she questioned She Long.

After learning the full story, She Long realized that he had returned too slowly, allowing the people from Pope Hall to seize Chen Xing first.

With a guilty expression, he said, "The Grand Pontiff... also told the two of us that we must ensure the safety of you and Chen Xing..."

"..."

The moment those words fell, Qian Renxue could no longer endure it.

She hurriedly activated Martial Soul Possession with the Six-Winged Angel, Soul Power flowing through her meridians as she tried to settle her roiling blood and energy.

She feared that if she did not do so, she might truly faint from anger.

That She Long... He had already received the order, so why could he not have returned earlier!

And the scouts from Pope Hall had already delivered the information to Bibi Dong. They had even dispatched Gui Mei and Yue Guan, yet these two had noticed absolutely nothing.

She held her heaving chest and forced herself to take deep breaths.

After a long while, it finally had some effect.

By then, She Long and Chi Xue barely dared to breathe.

Clearly, the responsibility for this mistake rested on the two of them.

One had delivered the message too slowly, while the other had failed to notice that a Title Douluo had been lurking in the Spirit Fighting Arena.

"You two will take turns using your Soul Power to bring me back to Spirit Hall right now."

"Within two days! We must arrive!"

Years of infiltration had given Qian Renxue the habit of quickly regulating her emotions. Even so, She Long and Chi Xue had never seen their young mistress speak in such an icy tone.

Neither of them doubted that if they failed even at this, Qian Renxue might truly do something extreme.

Chi Xue did not dare waste time. She Long had only just returned and might not have much Soul Power left, so Chi Xue would take the lead.

He immediately wrapped the two of them in Soul Power, shot into the sky, and flew toward Spirit City.

At the same time, Qian Renxue was desperately considering a solution.

There was only one shortest route from Heaven Dou City back to Spirit City. As an agility-type Title Douluo, Gui Mei would certainly be faster.

However, she had two Title Douluo on her side, which meant they would not need to rest along the way.

If they were lucky, they might even encounter him midway.

As long as Yue Guan was not with him, they still had a chance of taking Chen Xing back in a two-against-one fight.

Even if they did not encounter Gui Mei along the way, they could still return to Spirit City ahead of him.

Elsewhere, the unconscious Chen Xing still did not know that he had become a resource contested between Worship Hall and Pope Hall...

Two days later.

Worship Hall.

She Long and Chi Xue's lips had turned pale, dark circles surrounded their eyes, and their entire bodies trembled uncontrollably.

Two consecutive days of high-intensity flying had pushed even these two Title Douluo beyond their limits.

Fortunately, they had arrived before nightfall on the second day.

Seeing the pair looking as though they were about to die, the elders of Worship Hall took out several herbs that restored Soul Power.

The two treated them as priceless treasures. After swallowing them whole, their parched meridians finally felt somewhat better.

"Xue'er? What are you doing?"

"And didn't I tell you to bring that boy back with you?"

"Where is he? Has he not awakened from his epiphany yet?"