Jade Spirit Fox Recovers

"Whew—"

With the "Ring Borrowing" successful, Tang Liu let out a deep breath. At that moment, the system suddenly spoke up.

"Host may attempt to inject approximately 2% of the soul power within your body into the Jade Spirit Fox via the Hao-Lan Mark."

Hearing this, Tang Liu felt somewhat confused, but he followed the instructions nonetheless. He mobilized the power of the Hao-Lan Mark and injected an amount of soul power equivalent to a rank ten Innate Soul Power into the Jade Spirit Fox.

A layer of blue-black light slowly began to glow on the Jade Spirit Fox. The next moment, the creature suddenly stood up, giving both Tang Liu and a certain someone observing from the shadows a start.

If the Jade Spirit Fox hadn't remained motionless after standing up, Tang Liu would have already teleported away, and the fox would have been on the receiving end of a hammer blow.

The fox's face was filled with utter shock.

"This, what is this power..."

At this moment, the Jade Spirit Fox discovered in horror that the period of weakness it had just entered upon reaching one hundred thousand years had abruptly ended!

An incredibly astonishing pressure erupted from its body in an instant, spreading aimlessly in all directions.

The pressure of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast swept over Tang Liu's body almost instantly, but his four blue-black soul rings appeared around him, shielding him in the center, leaving him unmoved by the fox's aura.

The next moment, a figure appeared before Tang Liu, a tall and burly frame shielding him completely from behind.

Nine soul rings coiled around him, and he gripped a large iron hammer, the pressure he radiated faintly suppressing even the hundred-thousand-year pressure of the Jade Spirit Fox.

Who else could it be but Tang Hao, who had been observing from the shadows?

"Xiao Liu, you go first," Tang Hao said in a deep voice.

As soon as he finished speaking, four soul rings on Tang Hao's body lit up rapidly, and the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand grew several times larger.

Tang Liu: "..."

The Jade Spirit Fox, on the verge of being hammered, was instantly stunned. It hurriedly retracted its pressure and prostrated itself on the ground, begging for mercy: "My lord, please show mercy! I had no intention of harming your descendant!" I'm being wronged, my lord~

"Alright, Dad, it just released its pressure subconsciously after passing its period of weakness. Put your Clear Sky Hammer away."

Fortunately, Tang Liu grabbed Tang Hao at that moment, stopping the hammer he was about to swing.

Tang Liu's intervention was effective; although Tang Hao did not retract his martial soul, he did withdraw his soul skill.

Having successfully stopped Tang Hao, Tang Liu looked at the Jade Spirit Fox and said, "I have already obtained the soul skill I needed. Once I finish absorbing the soul ring, I will send you back to the Star Dou Great Forest."

The Jade Spirit Fox glanced cautiously at Tang Hao, then back at Tang Liu, seemingly hesitating.

"If you have something to say, just say it. Don't mind him; I'm in charge here, and I believe you wouldn't do me any harm," Tang Liu said with an air of bravado.

The Jade Spirit Fox's eyes welled up, feeling deeply moved.

Then step out from behind that Title Douluo! If you're so brave, stop clutching the hem of his robe, you jerk!

Tang Hao: My son is so empathetic toward beasts, isn't it touching?

Jade Spirit Fox: I dare not move, I dare not move...

The Jade Spirit Fox finally spoke hesitantly, looking at Tang Liu: "I... I want to follow you. I don't want to go back to the Star Dou Great Forest."

Hearing this, both Tang Hao and Tang Liu were surprised.

"You want to follow me? Why?" Tang Liu vaguely felt it was the result of the soul power the system had him inject, but he asked anyway.

"The Star Dou Great Forest is very boring," the Jade Spirit Fox said, a very serious expression appearing on its fox face. "Although it is my home and very beautiful, I have stayed there for one hundred thousand years; eventually, one grows tired of it. I want to see the human world, but I never dared to before. Also... I feel that if I follow you, I can break through to two hundred thousand years in less than a millennium, and I am certain of it."

"Oh?" A look of surprise appeared on Tang Hao's face.

Ah Yin had told him that the threshold of two hundred thousand years was one that few soul beasts could cross unless they possessed an extremely noble and powerful lineage or great fortune.

The Jade Spirit Fox was definitely not considered powerful among soul beast clans. For this species, it was already a feat to live to one hundred thousand years like this one; surviving the heavenly tribulation at two hundred thousand years was practically impossible.

Moreover, after reaching one hundred thousand years, soul beasts could cultivate on their own like humans to increase their cultivation. Thus, those soul beasts with hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation hadn't necessarily lived for that long.

The true way to distinguish the age of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast was to see how many heavenly tribulations it had survived.

For instance, Di Tian had survived eight heavenly tribulations, making him an eight-hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

Although a soul beast only faces its first heavenly tribulation when moving from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand years, strictly speaking, this is already considered the second tribulation.

The fact that a soul beast could live to one hundred thousand years, or possess one hundred thousand years of cultivation, was itself equivalent to having survived one heavenly tribulation.

The name of this tribulation is life, and it is called time.

"You must think this through. You are a hundred-thousand-year soul beast; you should know how crazy soul masters will become once you appear in the human world," Tang Hao said, his tone heavy, perhaps recalling the days he and Ah Yin spent fleeing after her identity as a hundred-thousand-year soul beast was exposed.

The Jade Spirit Fox looked at Tang Hao and said cautiously: "That is not a problem. After reaching one hundred thousand years, I gained several new innate abilities. One of them is the ability to disguise my aura."

"But you cannot deceive a Title Douluo," Tang Hao said flatly.

Indeed, it was he who had identified the Jade Spirit Fox as a hundred-thousand-year soul beast while in the Star Dou Great Forest.

"It would be impossible relying on myself alone, but... if I add the power of your descendant, my lord, then it will be no problem," the Jade Spirit Fox continued.

"Xiao Liu, is what it says true?" Tang Hao asked.

Tang Liu nodded, looking at the Jade Spirit Fox: "Yes, my Hao-Lan Mark can indeed mask its hundred-thousand-year soul beast aura."

Tang Hao hummed, then fell into deep thought.

Should he agree?

But that was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

Although this one was the type that feared death and didn't seem to have a bad heart—almost like a blank sheet of paper—what if this was all just an act?

Xiao Liu was about to leave; if this hundred-thousand-year soul beast were to turn against him, he would be unable to protect him.