It was impossible to say how much time had passed before Old Jack was the first to recover.
The hand gripping his cane began to tremble violently. His wrinkled old face turned deathly pale, then flushed the color of pig liver.
He pointed at Li Hao, his finger shaking. His lips quivered for a long moment before he managed to force out a complete sentence.
"Li Hao! You, you... you little brat! Where did you abduct that child from?!"
His shout was so loud and forceful that it startled all the birds nearby into flight.
Li Hao jerked out of his petrified state.
Abduct?
"Abduct my ass!"
"I'm the victim here, okay?!"
He was about to explain, but then realized he couldn't possibly make anyone believe him.
How could he explain?
That the little girl was the rabbit from just now, transformed?
That he had a system that could turn Soul Beasts into humans?
If I said that, Old Jack would have to call a healing Soul Master tomorrow to fix his brain—and then use that old cane of his to knock some sense into himself.
Among the crowd, Tang San stood out.
He didn't join the villagers in exclaiming. He simply stood there quietly, deep black eyes filled with suspicion and scrutiny.
He remembered clearly that half a year ago, when Li Hao awakened his Martial Soul, he had been alone.
Holy Soul Village wasn't that big. If someone had a new child in their family, the whole village would know within half a day.
This exquisite little girl looked as if she'd been carved from pink jade. She had definitely appeared out of nowhere!
And then there was that pillar of light that had shot into the sky just now...
There was more to this than met the eye.
"Grandpa Jack, let me explain..."
Li Hao felt as if his head had grown twice as big. It was like getting yellow mud in his underwear: even if it wasn't a big deal, it was still a pain in the ass.
"Explain? What is there to explain? We have witnesses and evidence. You still want to deny it?"
Old Jack was so furious that even his beard was trembling.
"Tell me, did you get sick of scraping by in the village and go to the city to do something shameful?"
Li Hao: "..."
With an imagination like that, you'd deserve a whole chapter in a novel. What a waste of talent.
Just as Li Hao was being backed into a corner and preparing to give up trying to explain, the familiar synthesized voice sounded in his mind again.
But this time, it wasn't cold and emotionless. There was even a hint of humanlike... self-congratulation?
[Social predicament detected.]
[Soul Beast Girl Identity Protection Protocol activated.]
[Generating an identity background consistent with the logic of the current world... Implanting...]
[Implantation complete. Piece of cake. Please carry on, host.]
Almost the instant the system's message faded, Li Hao noticed the anger on Old Jack's face disappearing at a visible speed.
In its place came a look of bewildered realization.
"Huh? What was I saying just now... Oh, right."
Old Jack scratched his head. The reprimand he'd been about to deliver took a sharp turn.
"Li Hao, you really are something. Your distant cousin entrusted her daughter to you, and you didn't even tell the village about something this important?"
"Exactly! The little girl must be two or three years old, right? You sure kept her well hidden."
"She's adorable, like a porcelain doll. Even prettier than the young ladies from the wealthy families in the city."
"Brother Li Hao, you're impressive! You're raising a kid at such a young age!"
"I may be six, but I'll shield the road for a two-year-old—remember my name, Li Hao!"
The villagers started chattering among themselves, but all the hostility and shock in their voices had vanished without a trace.
It was as if, in their memories, it was only natural that Li Hao had a distant cousin's daughter. They simply hadn't remembered it until now.
Li Hao was completely dumbfounded.
His distant cousin's daughter?
System, that backstory of yours is... surprisingly down-to-earth.
You really think highly of me. I'm only six and a half, and you've got me looking after a toddler.
The most absurd part was that everyone had accepted this explanation.
He glanced at Tang San.
Tang San was frowning too, as if trying hard to remember something. In the end, however, he wore the same bewildered yet vaguely enlightened expression as the villagers.
Li Hao secretly let out a breath of relief.
Even this cheat-level guy could be affected.
This system really had something to it.
With the crisis over, Li Hao relaxed and began sizing up Xiao Wu.
Seeing that Li Hao wasn't on guard, Xiao Wu trotted over on her little legs and wrapped her arms around his thigh.
She tilted up her face and looked at him with clear, innocent eyes, then sweetly called out again.
"Daddy, pick me up."
That single basic attack wiped out Li Hao's entire health bar.
He stiffly bent down and, with some effort, picked up the soft little bundle.
She felt warm in his arms and carried a faint milky scent.
Watching them, Old Jack's expression shifted completely from anger to a deeply moved, approving look.
"Ah, forget it. So there's suddenly one more mouth to feed. At least she'll keep you company. Li Hao, you're a father now. You can't keep being the lazy fisherman you used to be. You need to get your act together!"
"That's right, Li Hao. You've got to earn money for the baby's formula!" one village aunt joined in.
Li Hao's mouth twitched.
"Thanks, I guess. Baby formula, huh?"
"I can barely feed myself as it is."
Smelling the faint milky scent on Xiao Wu, Li Hao looked perfectly content.
Mm. It wasn't clear which of them was feeding whom.
Just then, the system's self-congratulatory voice sounded again.
[Congratulations, host. You have successfully raised your first Soul Beast Girl: Xiao Wu.]
[Xiao Wu's transformation is complete. Her Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring has stabilized.]
[Ability Sharing: Reverse Empowerment activated.]
[Soul Ring (Hundred-Thousand-Year · Soft Bone) has automatically adapted to the host's Martial Soul. No hunting required. Perfect absorption.]
Boom!
A string of cold prompts exploded inside Li Hao's mind, unleashing a mental tsunami!
A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!
And it had automatically adapted and been perfectly absorbed?
Li Hao didn't even have time to think about what that meant before an incomprehensibly vast torrent of energy erupted out of nowhere inside his body!
The power was utterly pure, yet it surged violently through his fragile meridians.
It wasn't anything like a feeling of his meridians opening up.
It was more like using a vast star river to scour a dried-up little ditch.
Every bone in his body let out an anguished creak under the strain. Every inch of flesh was torn apart, then instantly remade!
Pain and the power of rebirth intertwined, nearly driving him to roar aloud!
At that very instant, a profound, blood-red ring abruptly lit up around Li Hao's Tattered Fishing Rod Martial Soul, then vanished within one ten-thousandth of a second.
It was unbelievably fast.
Too fast for the naked eye to catch.
But not everyone present was an ordinary person.
"Hm?"
Tang San's body suddenly tensed!
Just then!
His Purple Demon Eye, which he kept in constant operation, had caught a fleeting flash of blood-red light!
It wasn't an ordinary red.
It was a profound, utterly deep crimson, as if it had congealed the endless years of eternity and the boundless vitality of life itself!
From just that fleeting glimpse, the Mysterious Heaven Skill inner force circulating within him had inexplicably seized up for an instant!
A sense of insignificance rising from the depths of his soul welled up within him, nearly choking him.
Tang San's heart clenched violently. His mind went blank.
What kind of power was that?
He prided himself on having mastered the Tang Sect Secret Arts and awakened with innate full Soul Power. He was already an undisputed prodigy of heaven in this world.
Yet before that flash of blood-red light, everything he was proud of seemed so laughable, so insignificant!
He didn't understand what that blood-red ring represented in the world of Soul Masters.
But his combat instincts, honed in his previous life as a top Tang Sect disciple, were blaring the sharpest possible warning!
It was absolute suppression at the level of life itself!
What in the world was that?
Tang San furrowed his brows. This was already beyond his understanding.
Before heading to Nuoding Academy, Tang San was still a complete novice, unfamiliar with many of the rules of the Soul Master world.
His father, who always reeked of alcohol, did nothing but smith and beat him, finding all sorts of ways to toughen his body.
As for common knowledge and theoretical lessons, his father had never taught him a thing.
So at that moment, Tang San had no idea what he had just seen!
Otherwise, his jaw would have hit the ground. That flash of red represented a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!
A hundred-thousand-year ring as his First Soul Ring!
Only a cheat-level freak who had rebuilt himself after shattering his Soul Rings or someone with a Second Martial Soul could pull that off!
As the storm's epicenter, Li Hao had no way of knowing what was going through Tang San's mind.
He was currently immersed in the joy of his surging power.
He could feel unprecedented strength filling his body.
Was this the sweet taste of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring?
It felt amazing!
But once the excitement faded, he lowered his head and looked at Xiao Wu, who was clinging to his neck with a dependent expression.
A great sorrow welled up in his heart.
His carefree life of eating his fill, waiting to die, and fishing whenever he pleased...
Had officially gone bankrupt!
From this day on, life was going to put him through the wringer!
Because he was going to be a father.
He had to raise a child.
"Daddy, what are you thinking about?"
Xiao Wu seemed to sense the shift in his mood. She rubbed her little head against him and asked softly.
As she snuggled close, a strange sensation flowed into Li Hao's awareness.
He suddenly "heard" the voices of the flowers and grass around him.
The little grass by the river complained that the sunlight was too harsh. The fish in the water discussed where the tastiest water plants grew. The trees in the distance stretched out their branches, enjoying the breeze.
The whole world came alive before him, vivid and full of depth.
Was this Xiao Wu's perception?
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's ability to communicate with nature?
Li Hao's thoughts stirred.
He looked at the exquisitely cute little girl in his arms and felt the surging power within him.
Fine.
He'd raise her.
So what if he had to be a father?
He could just treat it like a child-raising game.
Besides, he'd gotten a max-level character for free, along with a bonus piece of divine gear from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. No matter how he looked at it, it was a bargain.
Li Hao let out a long breath and accepted reality completely.
Just as he began worrying about whether dinner should be grilled fish or wild vegetables, and thinking about how to take the first step in his new life as a stay-at-home dad, Xiao Wu suddenly stirred in his arms.
She stretched out a small, fair finger toward Notting City, beyond Holy Soul Village, and pouted slightly.
"Daddy, I can feel that there's a special plant over there. Can we go take a look?"
Li Hao looked in the direction she was pointing. "Grass. Ah, what's so interesting about that?"
Before you continue