Attacking Bibi Dong

Jiang Li watched her reaction, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. A gentle smile appeared on his usually composed face.

"What, you can't believe it? Truthfully, I have no reason to lie to you."

"I am your father."

"And you are the strongest second-generation soul beast in this Star Dou Forest."

He wasn't exaggerating in the slightest.

As the true taboo ruler of the Star Dou Forest, just how powerful was he?

For starters, just look at what he'd done today. With a single order, he'd mobilized the myriad beasts and torn through space to deliver his will straight to Spirit Hall's most central territory. Such power was already beyond the bounds of what an ordinary Soul Master could comprehend.

Even counting Di Tian, who was feeding on the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, along with Xiong Jun and the others, as well as the Evil Emperor and Snow Empress, who among them could stand against him?

Even the Abyss, said to be undying and indestructible, had suffered bitter defeat at his hands. For a full hundred thousand years, it had been beaten into submission.

Xiao Wu was Jiang Li's daughter.

That made Xiao Wu the Imperial Princess of the Star Dou Forest.

Forget the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts—even the old monsters said to have cultivated for hundreds of thousands of years would have to lower their heads obediently when they saw Xiao Wu!

"My... father?"

Xiao Wu stood frozen in place, tears welling in her beautiful eyes. They kept gathering until she could no longer hold them back, and great drops rolled down her cheeks.

Ever since she could remember, she had lived with her mother in the Star Dou Forest. Her mother was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit, and their days had been simple and happy.

Countless times, she had asked her mother who her father was, but every time, her mother had only smiled and shaken her head, saying nothing.

She had thought she had no father.

She had thought her father had died long ago.

She had thought her future held only two paths:

Either cultivate alone in the Star Dou Forest for hundreds of thousands of years, until she died of old age.

Or risk everything by transforming into a human and attempt the ultimate breakthrough for a soul beast by the most dangerous means possible.

She had chosen the latter, because there were too many things in this world she couldn't accept.

Her mother had died at the hands of the Pope of Spirit Hall. She had to avenge her!

And transforming into a human was the fastest way to grow stronger, even if death might await her at the end of that path.

No one had protected her.

No one had stood in front of her to shield her.

She had been like a lonely little rabbit, facing the cruel world of the strong devouring the weak all by herself.

But it turned out that wasn't true.

It turned out her father was still alive.

It turned out her father was the taboo being who made the entire Star Dou Forest tremble.

It turned out her father could tell what she was thinking with a single glance, and with a single word, make tens of thousands of soul beasts trample Spirit City.

It turned out she had never been alone!

Xiao Wu's emotional defenses crumbled in an instant. She threw herself into Jiang Li's arms and sobbed her heart out, like a child who had drifted alone through wind and rain for so very long, finally finding a harbor where she could rest.

She cried so hard she couldn't speak. Only broken sobs escaped her throat, like an injured young rabbit finally letting down every defense in her father's embrace.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Li furrowed his brow.

Shouldn't a father and daughter meeting again be a happy occasion? Why was Xiao Wu so miserable?

Jiang Li sensed that something was wrong. He reached out to gently pat Xiao Wu's back, while his other hand had already produced a turtle shell without a sound.

The shell was ancient and mottled, its surface covered in densely packed markings.

It was another reward he had obtained through signing in, called the Heaven-Peering Turtle Shell.

Jiang Li traced a finger lightly over the shell. Its markings lit up on their own, like rivers flowing with golden light.

An image appeared on the shell.

A familiar figure was shown: a Soft Bone Rabbit, running through a dense forest.

She ran as fast as she could, pushing herself to the limit, her Soul Power burning at full force.

But a hand reached out from behind her, five fingers like iron hooks, clamping tightly around her neck...

The image on the shell froze.

As Jiang Li looked at it, the warmth in his eyes faded bit by bit.

Xiao Rou was dead?

And someone had killed her!

For the past hundred thousand years, he had buried himself in cultivation. He'd only known that Xiao Rou had taken their daughter away from the forest's core and gone to live in the outer reaches. He hadn't known she had died at the hands of human Soul Masters.

Even if he could bring Xiao Rou back to life, this was still unforgivable!

"Good... very good!"

Jiang Li reached out, and a throwing knife appeared in his palm from thin air.

The knife was pitch-black, thin as a cicada's wing, and its blade gave off not a glimmer of light.

It lay silently in Jiang Li's palm, looking even more inconspicuous than an ordinary dagger.

But the moment it appeared, Er Ming and the Golden Light Eagle both shrank back a great distance.

The pressure radiating from the knife was far too strong!

Its razor-sharp aura was enough to make your eyes feel as if they were about to bleed just from looking at it!

Jiang Li looked toward Spirit City and flicked the knife in his hand.

Whoosh.

The knife vanished into the void without a trace.

At the same time.

In front of the ruins of the Pope Palace in Spirit City.

Bibi Dong stood atop a platform, issuing orders to the senior members of Spirit Hall.

"By order of the Pope!" Her voice echoed above the palace ruins. "Tang San and Tang Hao are hereby classified as S-rank wanted criminals by Spirit Hall. All members of Spirit Hall are to kill them on sight!"

"As for the Star Dou Forest, the Titan Giant Ape and that Soft Bone Charm Rabbit are likewise..."

She had meant to say they were to be killed on sight, but halfway through the sentence, she was forced to stop.

Because she heard a shrill whistle!

It was a piercing whistle that tore through layer after layer of space, carving a black spatial rift across the sky.

Bibi Dong released her Martial Soul Avatar almost instinctively. In less than half a breath, her Soul Power surged to its limit.

All nine of her Soul Rings lit up at once, and golden light formed five full layers of defensive barriers in front of her.

But the whistle didn't slow in the slightest.

The five layers of defense were pierced in an instant.

The fourth.

The third.

The second.

The last.

All five barriers were pierced at the same time. Shattered golden Soul Power burst through the air in a brilliant shower of light.

Then came a dull thud.

Thwack!

The throwing knife embedded itself in the center of Bibi Dong's brow.

The terrifying force sent the Pope flying backward, lifting both her feet off the ground.

She flew over the platform and the shattered stone steps, then was slammed against the wall.

Crack.

Countless fine cracks burst across the wall, spreading from the point where Bibi Dong's back struck it.

Stone chips pattered to the ground as dust filled the air.

The knife hadn't pierced all the way through her skull.

Its tip had sunk into her brow, but after less than half an inch, it was blocked by a faint, dark-purple glow at the center of Bibi Dong's forehead.

But the terrifying force behind the strike had still hurled her body through the air and pinned her to the wall of the ruins like a broken doll!