The strings of causality had been forcibly plucked by Li Hao, then cut by his own hand.
The price was that his body had been completely drained.
Li Hao's vision went black. All his strength was sucked away with the crisp sound of something shattering.
He could no longer hold himself up.
His body went limp, and he toppled straight backward.
"Daddy!"
"Master!"
Two different voices cried out at once, both filled with panic.
A pink figure and a purple figure shot forward like streaks of lightning, one from each side, catching him just in time.
Li Hao's consciousness had already sunk into a haze.
His last thought was:
Good thing I didn't land face-first.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
Li Hao slowly came to amid a heated argument.
"I said no! Daddy's really weak right now. He can't eat something this hard!"
That was Xiao Wu's huffy voice.
"What do you know? This Gathering Yuan Pill contains pure, gentle energy. It's the best thing to replenish his depleted Soul Power. What use is that lousy carrot of yours besides filling his stomach?"
That was Cailin's cool rebuttal, tinged with disdain.
Li Hao struggled to open one eye.
He found himself lying on soft grass, his head resting on something... remarkably springy.
And right in front of him, the two girls were locked in a confrontation that left him torn between laughter and tears.
On the left, Xiao Wu stood with her hands on her hips, her little face flushed red. She held a fresh, dewy carrot high above her head, still carrying the earthy scent of the soil.
On the right, Cailin stood with her arms crossed, her expression haughty. A purple pill the size of a dragon's eye hovered above her fingertip, glowing faintly as its rich medicinal aroma wafted over.
One wanted to feed him a carrot.
The other wanted to feed him a pill.
They glared at each other, neither willing to back down, as if sparks were crackling in the air between them.
"What's going on here?"
"A clash between a traditional patriarch and his little sweetheart over how to raise a child?"
"Have these two started fighting over who runs the family before I've even died?"
"I... I'm not dead yet."
Li Hao let out a feeble groan, trying to get their attention.
Sure enough, their argument stopped dead.
"Daddy, you're awake!"
Xiao Wu rushed over in delight.
Cailin also relaxed. She made the pill vanish from her fingertip and silently stepped aside, though her concern was unmistakable.
Li Hao struggled to sit up, only to feel the place beneath his head shift.
Only then did he realize.
He'd been using Cailin's thigh as a pillow.
No wonder it was so soft.
His old face flushed red, and he hastily propped himself up with both hands.
"I'm fine. I'm just exhausted."
As soon as the words left his mouth,
a pair of soft little hands began gently pounding his legs on the left.
"Daddy, Xiao Wu will massage your legs. Then you won't feel tired anymore."
On the right, a piece of peeled fruit, glistening and translucent, was offered to his lips.
"Have some. You need to rehydrate."
Li Hao froze.
He looked at Xiao Wu on his left, her face practically begging him to praise her, then at Cailin on his right, whose expression was calm as ever even as she naturally tended to him.
An indescribable feeling, equal parts pain and bliss, swept through his entire body.
"So this is the legendary burden of happiness?"
A supreme introvert, wedged between two peerless beauties who were competing to pamper him.
"You want this kind of good fortune?"
When he saw Xiao Wu and Cailin's gazes start clashing in midair again, poised to escalate into another battle,
Li Hao's survival instinct went into overdrive.
I have to find a way to divert their conflict!
A thought flashed through his mind.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat and put on the air of the head of the household.
"We may be safe now, but this home is still too empty."
The two girls' attention shifted to him, just as he'd hoped.
"There are only three of us here. It's too quiet."
Li Hao gestured toward the open grassland and the lone wooden cabin.
"I have a plan. It's called the Homestead Construction Plan!"
"Together, we'll enrich the ecosystem here and make this place more like a real world—a real home!"
He tried to paint his grand vision in a passionate, stirring tone.
Xiao Wu blinked her big eyes, only half understanding.
Cailin, however, seemed thoughtful.
"How do we enrich it?"
Cailin had hit the nail on the head.
"Bring in new residents!"
Li Hao snapped his fingers.
"We can bring in some residents from Star Dou Forest!"
Carefully, he opened a tiny entrance at the edge of Paradise, just large enough for small creatures to pass through.
To avoid attracting anything dangerous, he precisely set the other end of the entrance in a quiet woodland at the very outskirts of Star Dou Forest.
Then, with the faint trace of Soul Power he'd just recovered, he sent out a welcoming signal, imbued with the aura of the Karma Rod and the promise of life.
Before long,
a miracle occurred.
A little deer with a coat as white as snow and three-colored light shimmering from its antlers timidly poked its head through the glowing entrance.
It curiously surveyed this new world, felt the pure and abundant life energy here, and finally stepped into this haven with careful, tentative steps.
Then came a second, and a third...
A group of endangered, gentle-natured Tri-color Deer became the first newcomers to Soul Beast Paradise.
Soon, flocks of Moonlight Butterflies, glowing with soft moonlight, fluttered in. They danced around the hot spring, making the wooden cabin's surroundings look like a fairyland.
"Wow!"
Xiao Wu's eyes lit up at once.
She gazed at the adorable, harmless little animals, and a brilliant smile she'd never shown before blossomed across her face.
The fear and unease she'd felt because of Spirit Hall were completely healed in that moment.
With a cheer, she carefully approached a Tri-color Deer fawn and reached out to stroke it.
The little deer wasn't frightened at all. It affectionately nuzzled her palm instead.
Xiao Wu's maternal instincts awakened in full, and she happily announced, "From now on, I'm their park keeper!"
She chased after butterflies and fed the little deer tender, fresh grass. Her bell-like laughter rang throughout Paradise.
Meanwhile,
as Cailin watched it all, her initial calm gradually gave way to a desire to plan and organize.
After all, she had once ruled over a whole tribe.
"Tri-color Deer prefer quiet. They need a peaceful patch of woodland."
"Moonlight Butterflies need plants rich in lunar energy to breed."
"The water supply needs to be diverted, with separate areas for drinking and living."
She began pacing around Paradise, her golden slit pupils inspecting every inch of land.
She began directing invisible energy, sectioning off different kinds of vegetation and diverting the stream, building an ideal habitat for the new little residents.
One took care of them with innocent enthusiasm.
The other planned their home with cold efficiency.
As they worked toward the shared goal of building a home, a goal full of creativity and hope, the little tension between them quietly vanished.
One played with the animals on the grass, while the other surveyed the whole area from the hillside, issuing commands as if directing an army.
It was unexpectedly harmonious.
Leaning against the wooden cabin's doorframe, Li Hao watched this lively, fairy-tale scene, and his heart filled with a satisfaction unlike anything he'd ever felt.
"This is the carefree life I've always wanted."
He closed his eyes and felt the flow of Soul Power within him.
After that extreme depletion and replenishment, his Soul Power had overflowed completely, reaching the peak of level twenty-nine.
He tried circulating the Mysterious Heaven Skill, hoping to break through the barrier in one push and enter the realm of a level-thirty Soul Elder.
But no matter how hard he tried, the invisible barrier remained as solid as a boulder, unmoved.
A sense of helplessness rose in his heart.
Just then,
the system's notification sounded in his mind at exactly the right moment.
[The host's Soul Power has reached its current bottleneck. A third Soul Ring is required to continue advancing.] [Based on a comprehensive assessment of the host's current physical condition and bond with Soul Beast Girls, the recommended Soul Ring age is five thousand years or more.]
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