Xiao Xiao's Twin Martial Souls caused a huge commotion in the Xiao Clan. Some even wondered whether it was too great a sacrifice to marry such a promising talent into the imperial family.
In the end, Xiao Xiao's great-grandmother—the Xiao Clan's only Titled Douluo—stepped in and put a stop to the matter.
A person must keep their word.
Xiao Xiao was still the future Crown Princess.
Eastern Palace, Xue Yuheng's bedroom
A young man and a young woman in cartoon bear and little white rabbit pajamas sat cross-legged facing each other, all four palms pressed together.
Faint Soul Power rippled through the bedroom like a light mist, their auras blending as they slowly guided their Martial Souls into resonance.
After Xue Yuheng returned from the Xiao Clan with Xiao Xiao, they each took a bath and began exploring their Martial Souls.
[Detected opposite-sex C-Grade Talent. Bind as Dao Companion?]
As his Wordless Heavenly Book Martial Soul fused with the Soul Power of Xiao Xiao's two Martial Souls, a line of text suddenly appeared on the White Jade Scroll in Xue Yuheng's Spirit Sea.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xue Yuheng clicked the option below:
[Bind]
Information about Xiao Xiao appeared on the Wordless Heavenly Book.
[Dao Companion: Xiao Xiao Bone Age: 6 years Level: 10 Cultivation: 0 rings Martial Souls: Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron (Deduction), Nine-Phoenix Flute (Deduction)]
At the sight of the word "Deduction," a flash of understanding came to Xue Yuheng.
Deduction: Can deduce a target's preferences, talent, and future trajectory; perceive the essence of things and uncover opportunities and fortune.
Xue Yuheng guided the fused Soul Power between them into the deduction of the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron. At the same time, the word "Deduction" disappeared from after the Nine-Phoenix Flute.
It seemed that the Wordless Heavenly Book could only deduce information about one Martial Soul at a time.
And so, Xue Yuheng guided Xiao Xiao through their Martial Soul Fusion, improving their Soul Power while using it to advance the Wordless Heavenly Book's deduction.
Xiao Xiao knew nothing about this, but she could clearly feel the purity of her Soul Power increasing. Most importantly, she could actually achieve Martial Soul Fusion with Xiao Xue!
If Innate Full Soul Power occurred once in ten million, and Twin Martial Souls once in a hundred million, then the chance of Martial Soul Fusion between two Soul Masters was one in a billion.
As the Xiao Clan's legitimate eldest granddaughter, Xiao Xiao knew that the Soul Suppressing Family had a trump card: a seven-person Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
It was a coordinated attack that the clan elders, all wielders of the Soul-Suppressing Sword Martial Soul, had spent decades mastering. It could shake even a Titled Douluo-level powerhouse.
But they were blood relatives. Across this vast continent, she had actually met a Soul Master whose Martial Soul could fuse with hers.
And he was Xiao Xue, the boy she liked.
Was this fate?
A faint blush spread across Xiao Xiao's snowy neck, like morning dew settling on winter plum blossoms. She was so shy that she didn't dare speak.
Half an hour, an hour, two hours...
It wasn't until late at night, when a palace maid came in to remind His Highness the Crown Prince that it was time to rest—as Queen Su Weiwei had instructed—that they finally stopped.
Xue Yuheng had just finished deducing Xiao Xiao's Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron Martial Soul.
[Deduction Target: Martial Soul, Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron Deduction Result: Its initial form is a top-tier weapon-type Martial Soul on the Douluo Continent. The optimal direction for its next stage of Martial Soul Evolution is—the Four Symbols Heaven-Suppressing Cauldron. Four Symbols Heaven-Suppressing Cauldron: A God-Level Martial Soul. Its body is forged from the bloodline essence of the four divine beasts—the White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Azure Dragon, and Xuanwu. It possesses the power to guard a nation, sever rivers, fill seas, and rend the heavens.]
On Xiao Xiao's panel in the Wordless Heavenly Book, five more conditions for evolving the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron appeared in the Martial Soul section.
White Tiger Essence (0/1), Phoenix Essence (0/1), Xuanwu Essence (0/1), Dragon Clan Essence (0/1), Creation Points (5/1000)
As for Creation Points, Xue Yuheng surmised that they were the essence of the Soul Power produced when he and Xiao Xiao performed Martial Soul Fusion. His own status panel had gained the same entry, also displaying five points.
Xue Yuheng mused:
Five hours of cultivation had earned five Creation Points, so a thousand points meant a thousand hours of cultivation. Soul Masters mostly relied on meditation to cultivate, so this didn't seem too difficult.
It seemed the hardest part would be obtaining the essence of the four divine beasts.
Xue Yuheng already had some ideas about how to obtain the divine beast essence. He just didn't know whether they would meet the Wordless Heavenly Book's standards.
Could the White Jade Scroll really be the legendary Daoist innate supreme treasure, if it could evolve a Martial Soul into a God-Level Martial Soul?
Contentment was a virtue. Xue Yuheng didn't dwell on it further and ended his Martial Soul Fusion with Xiao Xiao.
Across from him, Xiao Xiao opened her eyes too and pouted. "Xiao Xue, did you already know about my Martial Soul?"
Some things didn't stand up to scrutiny. Xiao Xiao was clever, and Xue Yuheng had kept hinting that her Martial Soul had mutated...
Xue Yuheng pretended to think it over, then said solemnly, "Of course. Everyone in the Soul-Suppressing Sword Family has a face like a dead fish, and they're rigid in everything they say and do. How could anyone there be as cute as my Xiao Xiao?
"So your Martial Soul must have mutated."
A Martial Soul did influence a Soul Master's personality to a considerable degree. It was a kind of stereotype, too: Evil Soul Masters' Martial Souls looked evil.
A certain two-hundred-year-old granny and a certain vampire Super Douluo could attest to that.
Xiao Xiao burst out laughing and threw herself into Xue Yuheng's arms. She pinched the little boy's face and said fiercely:
"You little rascal, Xiao Xue! So that's what you think of my Soul Suppressing Family?"
Yikes... His kidneys hurt. Xiao Xiao's pinch was painful.
"Xiao Xiao, are you trying to murder your husband?" Xue Yuheng said helplessly.
"Go to hell!"
The two of them played around on the bed for a while. In the end, Xue Yuheng had the maid waiting outside take Xiao Xiao to a side hall to wash up and rest.
The room gradually grew cold.
Xue Yuheng took a dossier about a family in the Dou Ling Empire from the writing desk and studied it carefully by the light of a Soul Guidance Lamp.
A plump woman in a close-fitting black leather suit appeared in a dark corner.
She was part of the guard force the emperor had assigned to his only son in the Dou Ling Empire.
This secret squad of seven, led by an eighty-ninth-level Quasi-Titled Douluo and with no member below Soul Saint, had once belonged to the Dou Ling Empire's intelligence organization, Blood Moon Hall.
"Your Highness, Prince Gan."
The newcomer was the captain of the Moon Shadow Squad.
Xue Yuheng had well-defined features, sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, a high nose bridge, and deep-set eyes. His voice was icy.
The Moon Shadow Squad had helped the young Crown Prince of the Dou Ling Empire carry out many unsavory tasks. After witnessing Xue Yuheng's methods, the seven women had pledged their loyalty to him completely, breaking away from the emperor's direct command.
After all, the Crown Prince would sooner or later ascend the throne and rule the empire. They were simply showing their support early.
"Take my order as Crown Prince and go to the White Tiger Duke Mansion to borrow something. Whatever Lady White Tiger asks in return, you may decide for yourself."
"Yes."
"Lady White Tiger has two sons. Her younger son, Dai Huabin, only awakened his Martial Soul not long ago, didn't he... I've long admired him from afar. Give him my regards."
Xue Yuheng's brow relaxed. He had found what he wanted in the dossier in his hands.
"Wouldn't that be..." The woman hesitated.
The White Tiger Duke Mansion wasn't like the minor factions in the empire. It was a colossal power, a den of dragons and tigers.
"This Holy Shadow Stone can make up for the flaws in your Martial Soul... I had Innate Full Soul Power this time, so the Offering Hall gave me a chance to choose a treasure.
"I specifically took this reward from the imperial treasury."
"After you fuse with it, you should be able to advance to Titled Douluo."
Xue Yuheng took a black-and-white jade stone that glimmered with a strange light from his Soul Guidance Ring and spoke calmly.
The woman's eyes seemed to shimmer. She looked at the jade stone on Xue Yuheng's desk with even more fervor than she'd shown when looking at her girlfriend the night before.
Throughout history, countless geniuses on the continent had been stuck at the peak of Soul Douluo and had never managed to reach the rank of Titled Douluo.
There were many reasons for this. In the case of Xiao Yu'er, the imperial executioner, it was simple: her Martial Soul was too powerful, making it extremely difficult to condense a Soul Core.
She had already reached the peak of Soul Douluo when she left the Elite Hall at forty. Nearly ten years later, she was still stuck at the same level.
"Thank you, Your Highness. Xiao Yu'er will complete the mission." Xiao Yu'er accepted the generous gift without hesitation.
In truth, Xue Yuheng himself hadn't expected the Holy Shadow Stone Xiao Yu'er had long coveted to be in the imperial treasury.
From the nation's perspective, they couldn't just let the empire's powerful figures who needed rare treasures wander through the treasury, could they?
"Go break through first. Just bring the item back within three months."
"Yes."
The woman disappeared into the darkness, and the Crown Prince's bedroom fell quiet.
Xue Yuheng tapped his fingers, long and distinct, against the desk.
As for the White Tiger Essence, sending Xiao Yu'er to the White Tiger Duke Mansion should work out. Given Lady White Tiger's temperament, there shouldn't be a problem.
As for the Phoenix Essence, there was the Golden Crow Family, one of the three great families in the Dou Ling Empire. It was also the family of Shrek's Golden Crow spinster, Wu Ming. Xiao Xiao's great-grandmother, Soul-Chasing Douluo, was an old friend of the family's ancestor, so there shouldn't be a problem.
As for the Dragon Clan Essence, there were no five-clawed Azure Dragon bloodlines on the continent, only Western dragons. The Wordless Heavenly Book must have adjusted the requirement itself.
Apart from Dragon Valley, the only place Xue Yuheng could think of that might have Dragon Clan Essence was Dragon City, where the Heavenly Dragon Gate and Earth Dragon Gate were located.
It seemed he would have to make the trip to Dragon City and the Xuanming Sect, which possessed the Black Tortoise Bloodline, himself.
Come to think of it, Xu Sanshi's mother was his aunt, which made Xu Sanshi his cousin.
There shouldn't be any problem with the Xuanming Sect either.
Raising Xiao Xiao's God-Level Martial Soul would be a long and arduous undertaking.
Before you continue