Soul Beast Paradise

The smell of blood mingled with the scent of earth and crept into his nostrils.

The clearing at the village entrance had become a slaughterhouse.

Li Hao forcibly suppressed the nausea churning in his stomach.

He grabbed Cailin with one hand and scooped up Xiao Wu, who was still clinging to his leg, with the other, then fled back to the dilapidated little wooden hut.

Bang.

The wooden door slammed shut, shutting out the carnage outside—but not the sense of danger that had sunk deep into his bones.

Inside the hut, the three of them—or rather, one person and two Soul Beast Girls—fell into an eerie silence.

An urgent family meeting, one that concerned their very lives, began in that oppressive atmosphere.

"No. We have to leave right now!"

Li Hao was the first to break the silence. His voice went slightly shrill with urgency.

He paced back and forth in the cramped hut, making the floorboards creak beneath his feet.

"Spirit Hall! That's Spirit Hall! We've gotten ourselves into huge trouble!"

Xiao Wu was frightened by the tense atmosphere. Her little hands clutched Li Hao's clothes tightly, and her big eyes brimmed with worry.

Cailin stood quietly in place. Even in the dim hut, her purple robe made her look noble and aloof.

She watched Li Hao teetering on the verge of a breakdown and spoke calmly.

"Master, where would we run?"

Her question stopped Li Hao in his tracks.

He froze where he stood, the urgency on his face instantly turning to confusion.

Right.

Where would they run?

The Heaven Dou Empire? The Star Luo Empire?

Spirit Hall's influence stretched across the entire continent. Its eyes and ears were everywhere.

Where wouldn't a six-year-old boy traveling with two stunning beauties—one of them a pink-cheeked little girl—stand out like a sore thumb?

They would probably only just step into a city before Spirit Hall's wanted posters covered its walls.

A profound sense of helplessness clutched Li Hao's heart once more.

"The Star Dou Forest."

Cailin offered her suggestion.

"We should return to the core area. It's Soul Beast territory, teeming with powerful Soul Beasts. Even a Titled Douluo wouldn't dare venture in lightly. It's the safest place on the entire continent for us."

The suggestion sounded perfectly reasonable.

Before Li Hao could think it over, he felt a little tug at his leg.

He lowered his head and saw Xiao Wu gazing up at him, shaking her head vigorously.

"No, Daddy."

The little girl's voice was tinged with tears.

"The core area is scary. There are so many powerful Soul Beasts there. They... They don't like Soul Beasts from outside, and they'll bully us."

She paused, then added in a small voice,

"And there's nothing there. It's too lonely."

Those words tugged painfully at Li Hao's heart.

Looking into Xiao Wu's clear, pleading eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say yes.

He couldn't take Xiao Wu somewhere that terrified and lonely just to escape danger.

That wasn't a home.

It was a cage.

What could he do?

They couldn't run, and they couldn't hide.

Was he really supposed to sit here and wait for Spirit Hall's Titled Douluo to come knocking, then have the whole family neatly turned into Soul Rings and Soul Bones?

Despair swept over him like a rising tide.

Just then, an inexplicable fury welled up inside Li Hao.

It was aimed straight at the culprit responsible for all this!

"System!"

"Are you even still there?!"

"You damn Soul Beast Girl Raising System—do you only care about killing, not cleaning up after yourself?"

"You just dumped two ancestors on me, then expect me to drag them around the world while we're hunted?"

"Are you a raising system or an extermination system?"

"Give me an explanation! Otherwise, I can't go on like this!"

Li Hao roared in his mind, unleashing every ounce of his lifelong talent for complaining.

But this time, the system did not maintain its usual silence.

A cold notification, yet one with a strange, lilting cadence, rang out in his mind.

[Host detected successfully protecting Soul Beast Girls and resisting an enemy invasion.]

[Host detected harboring a strong desire to protect and establish a home.]

[Homestead Module activation conditions met.]

The string of notifications abruptly silenced Li Hao's mental tirade.

He froze.

Homestead Module?

What was that?

Before he could react, the system interface before his eyes underwent a complete transformation.

On the interface, which had previously offered only two crude options—Characters and Inventory—a brand-new icon slowly appeared, glowing with a gentle green light.

It showed a cute little wooden hut beside a hot spring.

Beneath the icon were three bold, sweeping characters:

[Soul Beast Paradise]

Li Hao's breath caught in that moment.

Trembling, he focused his thoughts on the new icon.

A detailed description unfolded.

[Soul Beast Paradise: An independent dimensional space that can be carried with you.]

[The environment inside the space can be altered and upgraded according to the host's wishes and abilities.]

[From its humble beginnings as a little wooden hut and hot spring to mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, the sun, the moon, and the stars in the future.]

[This space is the perfect habitat for Soul Beasts, capable of blocking all external detection and karmic ties.]

[It is a true paradise apart from the world.]

A paradise apart from the world.

Li Hao turned the words over and over in his mind. His eyes grew wider and wider until they shone with startling brightness.

This...

Wasn't this like having a wise old master at his side... no, wait!

Wasn't this the ultimate cheat for someone with a portable-base setup?

A world of his own, completely beyond anyone's reach!

With this, why the hell would he run?

What was Spirit Hall to him? What was a Titled Douluo?

If they had what it took, they could cross the dimensional barrier and come beat him up!

An overwhelming burst of joy erupted like a volcano, sweeping away every trace of gloom and despair in his heart.

He nearly let out a piglike squeal right there.

But he held it in.

As an extreme social recluse, he couldn't bring himself to act so unrestrained.

He forcibly suppressed his excitement, took a deep breath, and struggled to keep up an outward appearance of calm.

Then he turned to face the two beautiful figures before him, one tall and one small, who were watching him with concern and curiosity.

Xiao Wu was still torn over whether they should go to the Star Dou Forest.

Cailin was considering where they might hide next.

They both saw him as their one and only support, unaware that this support had nearly crumbled just moments ago.

An unprecedented sense of pride and responsibility welled up inside Li Hao.

He cleared his throat and spoke slowly in a deliberately solemn tone.

"We don't have to run."

"I have a way to give us a home that no one will ever find."

Xiao Wu blinked curiously.

A flicker of barely perceptible confusion crossed Cailin's golden, slit-pupiled eyes as well.

With their gazes fixed on him, Li Hao no longer hesitated.

He focused his thoughts and pressed down hard on the brand-new option in the system interface.

[Activate Soul Beast Paradise (Initial Space)]

In an instant,

the world before his eyes began to twist.

The dilapidated wooden door, the crude wooden bed, the mottled earthen walls...

Everything seemed to dissolve like ink dropped into water, spreading and fading in a strange manner.

In their place came an endless, pure, warm light.