Nuoding City, a secluded, gloomy dead-end alley in the west of the city.
Xiao Wu was led into the depths of the alley by Xue Yao.
Her ruby-red eyes darted about, and she sniffed hard, but caught no scent at all.
"Big brother, where's that old shop you mentioned that sells the best crispy radishes? There's clearly nothing here, not even a person in sight."
Xiao Wu pouted, turned around, and eyed Xue Yao suspiciously.
Xue Yao didn't answer right away.
He let go of Xiao Wu's sleeve and snapped his fingers lightly in the air.
"Snap."
A crisp sound rang out.
An invisible surge of azure wind element burst from Xue Yao's body, completely sealing off the alley.
Only after doing all that did Xue Yao slowly raise his head. His usually gentle eyes had turned as cold as an abyss.
He looked at Xiao Wu, the corner of his mouth curling into a mocking smile.
"There really isn't a radish shop here."
"But there is a transformed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit Emperor, stupidly running around without a care for her own safety..."
Boom!
The moment those words fell, Xiao Wu, who had still looked so sweet and innocent, froze in place.
The blood drained from her face in an instant, and her watery eyes filled with utter terror and horror.
"You... you..."
Xiao Wu's voice shook violently.
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast had taken human form!
That was her greatest secret, the trump card she'd risked everything to keep hidden!
She'd been in Nuoding City for so long, and not even the Soul Elder teachers at the academy had ever seen through her disguise.
How could this boy, who looked about her age—at most a few years older—have seen through her at a glance?!
Unless...
A terrifying thought seized Xiao Wu's mind.
By the ironclad rules of Douluo Continent, only one kind of person could see through a transformed Soul Beast's disguise and recognize its true form!
A lofty Title Douluo!
"You... are you a Title Douluo?!"
Xiao Wu let out a shrill, strangled scream.
Overwhelmed by terror, her Soul Beast instincts instantly overpowered her reason.
Pink Soul Power erupted from her body, and a yellow Hundred-Year Soul Ring rose from beneath her feet.
"Waist Bow!"
Xiao Wu drove off with both legs, her long legs lashing toward Xue Yao's neck to clamp down and crush it.
She hadn't expected to defeat a Title Douluo. She only wanted to force him back half a step, then seize the chance to escape!
But faced with Xiao Wu's desperate attack, Xue Yao didn't even raise an eyelid.
"Fool."
Xue Yao snorted. He didn't even summon his Martial Soul, merely lifting one hand.
"Whumm—"
A violent azure whirlwind instantly formed in his palm.
Xiao Wu's fierce kick struck the whirlwind as if it had hit an invisible wall of steel. The powerful rebound sent her flying.
"Thud!"
Xiao Wu slammed onto the stone-paved ground, nearly crying from the pain.
"Don't waste your strength."
Xue Yao looked down at her, utterly composed, as if he had everything under control.
"If I really were a Title Douluo, or if I wanted your Soul Ring and Soul Bone, you'd already be a corpse. You wouldn't have had the chance to fight back."
Xiao Wu froze. She was still trembling, but a flicker of confusion appeared in her eyes.
"You... you're not a Title Douluo? Then how could you see through my true form?"
Xue Yao gave a soft laugh.
He held out his right hand, and a loud, majestic eagle cry rang through the alley.
A moment later, a small but magnificent Little Griffin, its wings beating against a storm of azure wind, landed steadily on Xue Yao's shoulder.
The Little Griffin could adjust its body size at will.
Pure laws of the wind element flowed through its body, and its sharp eagle eyes fixed coldly on Xiao Wu on the ground.
"I'm not a Title Douluo. I can see through you because of it."
Xue Yao stroked the Little Griffin's feathers, his voice turning distant and mysterious.
"I possess an exceptional wind-type Martial Soul. To me, the wind is my eyes and ears."
"The wind flows through the world, recording every trace of scent. The pure origin power of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast on you shines in the wind's perception like a torch in the dead of night."
"The moment you stepped into the market, the whisper of the wind had already told me who you were."
Xiao Wu was stunned by his explanation.
She'd never heard of anyone having such an absurdly powerful wind-sensing ability. But seeing the Little Griffin radiating pure wind element, and recalling Xue Yao's astonishing Wind Barrier, she found herself believing him seven-tenths of the way.
As long as he wasn't a Title Douluo, that was all that mattered!
Xiao Wu let out a long breath, and her taut nerves relaxed a little.
She climbed to her feet and watched Xue Yao warily.
"If you're not a Title Douluo and don't want to kill me, then why did you lead me here?"
"Why?"
"I brought you here to save your life. And to tell you what a foolhardy rabbit you are."
Xiao Wu frowned and puffed out her cheeks in protest. "How am I foolhardy? I've always been good at hiding myself at the academy. As long as I don't run into a Title Douluo, no one can discover who I am!"
"Is that so?"
"Then do you know that the wind also told me you've already been marked by someone terrifying?"
"That mark carries an immensely overbearing, heavy pressure, steeped in an aura of destruction. No ordinary Soul Master could possess such power. It belongs to a true—Title Douluo!"
Boom!
A bolt of lightning seemed to strike through Xiao Wu's mind.
The little color that had just returned to her face vanished, leaving her pale as paper.
"You... you're lying! That's impossible!"
Xiao Wu shook her head frantically, her voice shrill with terror.
"If I'd met a Title Douluo, I'd know! If he'd discovered who I was, he would've captured me already. How could he have let me live this long?"
Seeing Xiao Wu on the verge of breaking down, Xue Yao knew the moment had come.
This was exactly what he wanted.
Using the information advantage of a transmigrator, he'd planted a bomb in this mindless rabbit's heart—one she would never be able to defuse.
"Why wouldn't he capture you?"
Xue Yao looked at Xiao Wu with pity and contempt.
"Do you really think just anyone can absorb a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring and Soul Bone?"
"If that Title Douluo already has a ninth Soul Ring, or his Martial Soul doesn't need your attributes, wouldn't killing you be a waste of a rare treasure?"
Xiao Wu froze, her mind in turmoil. "Then... why did he mark me?"
A cruel smile curled Xue Yao's lips. He spat out two words.
"Raising livestock."
"What?!"
"How can you not understand, fool?" Xue Yao's voice turned icy.
"He's raising you! Just like a farmer raises a pig in a sty. He hasn't killed you because the person who's going to 'eat' you isn't qualified yet!"
"He's waiting. Waiting for someone he favors—perhaps a junior, perhaps an heir—to reach the level needed to absorb a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring. Then he'll slaughter you himself, you plump little rabbit he's raised, and turn you into someone else's Soul Ring and Soul Bone!"
"You think you're safe in Nuoding City? You think this is some make-believe game of humans?"
"The wind tells me that Title Douluo's aura has been circling around you a lot lately. Your every move, every friend you make, every word you say—it's all being watched by that person!"
Every word Xue Yao spoke drove a dagger straight into Xiao Wu's heart.
Raised like livestock.
Watched.
A Soul Ring reserved for an heir.
Xiao Wu clutched her shoulders, her wide eyes filled with sheer terror and wild suspicion.
She wasn't stupid.
As Xue Yao mercilessly pieced all the clues together, a horrifying conclusion began to take root in her mind, growing wildly beyond her control.
"A junior... an heir... someone near me lately..."
Xiao Wu bit her lip until it bled.
She suddenly thought of her time at Nuoding Academy.
She thought of the boy who always liked sticking close to her and had asked her to treat him like a little brother.
She thought of the strange Hidden Weapons that boy kept producing, and his composure beyond his years.
And she thought of what the boy had once let slip by accident...
That he had a mysterious, vanished father who was a drunk and a blacksmith!
"Th... Third Brother?"
"Tang San?!"
The name exploded in Xiao Wu's heart.
Could his father be the Title Douluo secretly watching her and marking her?
Was Tang San asking her to treat him like a little sister part of this livestock-raising scheme, too?
Had he known who she was all along, merely helping his father wait for this "pig" to grow up so he could claim her Soul Ring one day?
A deep chill shot from Xiao Wu's spine straight to her scalp.
Every memory of her time with Tang San over the past few years turned into a source of revulsion and fear unlike anything she'd ever felt.
Xue Yao smiled with satisfaction.
Once a seed of suspicion had been planted, all it needed was time to grow into a towering tree.
Tang San.
You liked asking girls to treat you like a little sister, didn't you? You prided yourself on your purity, didn't you?
Let's see how you'll stage that sickening "deep sibling affection" act with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Rogue Rabbit who's wary of you.
"That's all I have to say."
Xue Yao put away the Little Griffin and casually dispelled the Wind Barrier.
"Believe it or not, that's up to you. Take care, little rabbit."
Before you continue