Qian Xunji had known in advance which Martial Souls these heroes would awaken. He made arrangements ahead of time, forged their identities, and sent them away as infants. That was how he managed to make the fakes indistinguishable from the real thing.
Cai Wenji thought it over for a long time before turning down Qian Xunji's offer to take her back.
"I don't want to be a support anymore." Looking at the gorgeous Hujia Qin in her hands, which didn't have a shred of offensive power, Cai Wenji clenched her fists.
"Being a support won't save those idiots. I'm going to be a damage dealer!" Cai Wenji didn't want to be a frail little thing who needed other people to protect her anymore.
She wanted to protect herself.
She wasn't going back to Spirit Hall, either. Qian Xunji distributed resources like Double Experience Cards, equipment, and Inscription according to how much prestige each hero earned.
If she returned to Spirit Hall, then as a support, she was destined to be an afterthought, receive the fewest resources, and take the most damage.
So Cai Wenji simply brought Yao with her to Suotuo City.
It wasn't only geniuses who could earn prestige. Doctors could, too.
She needed Shrek Academy to help her get through the early stages.
"Sis Ji, you're going the wrong way. Shrek Academy is over there." Yao timidly raised her hand to remind her.
Love-Brain Syndrome Runs in the Family
Spirit City, Pope Palace
Qian Xunji looked at the adorable blonde girl in front of him, troubled. He didn't know if it was because of her earlier experience of being adopted.
Qian Renxue was especially starved for affection. She longed for family and wanted to be accepted.
Qian Daoliu was also very fond of his little granddaughter and doted on her. Qian Renxue was already on her way to becoming Spirit Hall's little princess.
Pope Palace and the Worship Hall were the places she visited most often, and she got along extremely well with the elders of the Worship Hall.
Her one flaw was that she wanted to know who her mother was.
The system had conjured her out of thin air. Where was Qian Xunji supposed to find her a mother?
Qian Renxue had investigated every woman around Qian Xunji, searching for someone who might be her mother.
To her disappointment, her father, His Holiness the Pope of Spirit Hall, seemed a little abnormal. He wasn't interested in women or men.
Qian Renxue had asked him why, and Qian Xunji affectionately patted her on the head.
"Silly child, the women in this world are all messed up in the head. Ruining their own lives is one thing, but passing love-brain syndrome on to their children would be even worse."
"Father, what's love-brain syndrome?"
"Someone with love-brain syndrome is a thankless wretch who'll betray anything for love."
Just then, Bibi Dong happened to pass by. She gave the dazzling golden-haired man, who seemed as holy as a god just sitting there, a complicated look.
How could someone so beautiful on the outside say such crude things?
Qian Xunji didn't even look at her. He continued threatening the child. "If you grow up to be love-brained, I'll erase you from the Qian family tree and have a new, more obedient and clever child instead."
The little girl, with golden hair and porcelain skin, looked like a beautiful little angel. Her eyes reddened and filled with tears, as if she were about to burst into tears at any moment.
Thump! Something smacked Qian Xunji on the head. He had long since mastered the Iron Head Skill. He scratched his head and looked over. It was his increasingly ill-tempered father, Qian Daoliu.
"Is this how you talk to Xiao Xue when I'm not around?"
"I'm stating the facts. Love-brain syndrome is abnormal. We need to correct it before this brain disease gets passed on to the next generation."
"Grandpa, Father, I'll be good and listen. I... I won't... get love-brain syndrome. Boo-hoo-hoo..." Qian Renxue's eyes finally spilled over with tears, and she tearfully promised Qian Daoliu, frightened.
"Good girl, Xiao Xue. Grandpa knows you're a good child. Come here and let Grandpa hold you." Qian Daoliu immediately comforted her.
"That won't do. Promises like that don't mean anything. She needs to sign a pledge..." Qian Xunji began wisely, but before he could finish—
"Brat! Get out of here!"
With a bang, His Holiness the Pope was sent away.
Bibi Dong, passing nearby, looked at the girl sobbing softly. For some reason, she felt a pang of sadness.
This wasn't the first time. Bibi Dong didn't know why she always wanted to see this child, watch over her, and worry about her.
Perhaps she couldn't help caring because the girl was her teacher's child.
Bibi Dong told herself this.
Heaven Dou Empire, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect
Li Bai had returned with Sword Douluo.
Ever since his return, Ning Rongrong had stuck to him, following him everywhere. Someone was with him at every moment, and Li Bai, who was used to being carefree and independent, found it hard to adjust.
The Missing Girl
Li Bai knew perfectly well that he and Ning Rongrong weren't the same sort of people.
She was the pampered little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, born into a life of luxury.
She couldn't endure hardship and didn't work hard at cultivation. She liked to slack off, go shopping, and spend money. Like every Soul Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, Ning Rongrong had a keen eye and could pinpoint the best and most expensive goods. Ordinary things never caught the little princess's attention. She was rebellious and willful, but she had the privilege to be that way, and everyone else had to indulge her.
As for Li Bai, he liked drinking, cultivating, practicing swordsmanship, composing poetry, traveling, and admiring the scenery of mountains and rivers. He was used to living freely and couldn't bring himself to grovel and deliberately fawn over a willful little girl.
Li Bai and Ning Rongrong had nothing in common. If they were together, one of them would have to accommodate the other.
If Li Bai wouldn't accommodate Ning Rongrong, then Ning Rongrong would have to accommodate Li Bai.
Watching Ning Rongrong, who was usually proud and willful in front of others, shyly look at him, Li Bai couldn't help feeling conflicted.
He knew plenty of girls liked him, but he was still a child right now!
Why did they still fall for him?
Li Bai practiced his sword beneath a tree, his sharp blade sweeping through the air and stirring up a breeze. Petals drifted on the wind and settled in his silver hair. The pink petals set off his handsome, jade-like face, and the carefree young man looked like a painting too beautiful for this world.
Ning Rongrong stared at him, her eyes shining. She didn't even blink.
This was the Li Bai she liked, strong and handsome. Even Sword Grandpa praised him as a genius.
Only someone like him was worthy of me.
Thinking this, Ning Rongrong happily read a collection of poems, hoping to find some common ground with Big Brother Li Bai.
Even Sword Douluo, Li Bai's master, could do nothing about Ning Rongrong, whom he had watched grow up.
All he could do was advise his disciple, "Look after Rongrong a little. She's still young and can be a bit playful."
"Master, I know." Li Bai nodded. Ning Rongrong might be spoiled and willful, but she wasn't a bad person. She was generous, too, and plenty of people were willing to indulge her.
Compared with the children of other powerful families, take Dai Mubai, the prince of the Star Luo Empire. His older brother kept him down, so he abandoned his fiancée and ran off to Shrek Academy, where he wasted his life in drunken revelry and carousing night after night. If someone upset him, he'd resort to violence. Tang San booked a room first, so Dai Mubai tried to take it from him. If Tang San had really been an ordinary Soul Master, he would have been beaten to a pulp. When Ning Rongrong struck a nerve, Dai Mubai threatened to rape and murder her.
Faced with people weaker than him or lower in status, Dai Mubai acted like a privileged bully. Faced with people of equal standing or greater strength, he was all courtesy and brotherly affection.
He embodied the Star Luo Empire's brutal law of the jungle to perfection.
Perhaps that was an unspoken rule throughout the Douluo Continent: money and beautiful women belonged only to the strong.
Tang San and Xiao Wu were close, and Xiao Wu had clearly rejected Tailong. Even so, Tailong kept pursuing her and even attacked Tang San.
If Xiao Wu hadn't been strong and had the school and Liu Erlong to protect her, it wouldn't have stopped at persistent pursuit. He would have forced himself on her.
These were only glimpses of this world. In reality, things like this happened far more often.
Among the reports Qian Xunji received from branch halls across the land were plenty of cases involving missing girls from ordinary families. They were pretty and had awakened cat-, fox-, or rabbit-type Martial Souls.
These Martial Souls affected their Soul Masters' physical condition, often making them more seductive and soft...
They might have been sent to auction houses, become servants to nobles, or ended up somewhere else entirely.
Every year, after the Martial Soul Awakening, Spirit Hall specifically warned people not to casually reveal their Martial Souls or Innate Soul Power. But the practice persisted.
Sometimes the culprits were criminals within Spirit Hall. Sometimes the children's families leaked the information. And in the most cruel cases, the parents sold their own children...
Anyway, back to the point. Compared with those disgusting people, Ning Rongrong, who merely liked pretty dresses and spent her own money, suddenly seemed like a good girl. Her willfulness and spoiled behavior really were minor flaws.
The Shoes Had to Fit
Qian Xunji had received reports of plenty of missing children that year.
Spirit Hall's branch halls across the land helped search for them, but with little success.
The traffickers were organized and had powerful backing. As soon as they got their hands on a child, they sent them away. The local nobles and criminal forces involved helped cover for them, too.
To be blunt, Spirit Hall was just a religious organization. It didn't even have the authority to enforce the law, so searching was extremely difficult.
Its efforts also kept provoking the displeasure and wariness of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire.
If Spirit Hall hadn't had a massive base of support and the strength to suppress its enemies, it would have been crushed long ago.
Just then, Qian Daoliu walked in. When he saw the report in Qian Xunji's hand, some of his anger faded.
"So many children went missing again this year!" Qian Daoliu sighed.
"Yeah. Most likely, we won't find them. Even if we do, we won't be able to get them back," Qian Xunji added coldly.
Even if these children turned up again, they would be in the hands of nobles or powerful organizations, with legally valid contracts of servitude in their names. Finding them wouldn't mean they could be taken back; doing so would mean opposing the entire nobility.
At most, Spirit Hall could arrest the traffickers and rescue the children who hadn't yet been sold.
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