Xiao Wu Was Actually My Daughter!

What?

The instant he heard Er Ming's words, Jiang Li sprang to his feet.

The wicker chair toppled over behind him, and the foxtail grass in his mouth drifted to the ground. All the calm and leisure vanished from his ever-serene face in an instant, replaced by a gaze so piercing it was suffocating.

"What did you say? Say it again."

The gaze nearly forced Er Ming's eyes shut, but he still gritted his teeth and repeated, "Xiao Wu is Aunt Xiao Rou's daughter. Aunt Xiao Rou left Xiao Wu behind before she took human form to cultivate again."

Jiang Li finally connected the invisible threads.

Soft Bone Charm Rabbit. Xiao Rou.

She had married him a hundred thousand years ago, and over the long years that followed, she had left behind a child of her own.

That child was called Xiao Wu!

Xiao Wu was actually his, Jiang Li's, daughter!

And yet his own daughter had been manipulated by Tang San into going to Spirit Hall?!

Jiang Li knew the story in the book far too well.

What kind of place was Spirit City?

The headquarters of Spirit Hall, where Titled Douluo gathered.

Once Xiao Wu's identity was exposed there, there could only be one outcome.

Sacrifice!

That little rabbit would give up everything she had—her Soul Ring, her Soul Bone—all of it becoming stepping-stones for that brat called Tang San to reach the summit.

And it had all been a foregone conclusion long before that brat brought Xiao Wu into Spirit City.

Good!

Very good!

Tang San, you actually dared to scheme against my daughter!

Jiang Li's aura spiraled out of control in that instant.

Boom—

A force too terrifying to describe erupted from within him.

It was the killing aura he had accumulated over a hundred thousand years guarding the Abyss, the bloodshed and savagery left behind after countless Abyssal creatures had been slaughtered.

The plants in the little courtyard bent over all at once. The divine stone tiles trembled with a low hum, and the air was crushed until it let out a piercing wail.

In the basement, behind the great gate, the countless Soul Beast armies all prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling from head to toe.

The Abyssal creatures that had fought them for countless years were even more terrified. Those crimson monsters barely hesitated before turning tail and fleeing deep into the Abyssal rift. They didn't even have the courage to look back.

At that moment, every living creature in the entire Abyss Plane seemed to see a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

This sight was nothing new to the Abyssal creatures.

A hundred thousand years.

A full hundred thousand years.

Although this human called Jiang Li spent most of his days lazing in a wicker chair, looking like he wanted no part in worldly affairs, his temper wasn't as steady as a Soul Beast's.

Over the long span of a hundred thousand years, this man would fly into a rage every now and then. When he did, he slaughtered his way through the Abyss at any cost.

Sometimes, he'd be drinking, suddenly feel like going mad, and charge into the Abyss with his sword.

Sometimes, he'd gaze at the sky and say he missed Xiao Rou, then go mad and turn the Abyss upside down with slaughter.

The Abyssal Demon Emperor felt utterly helpless about it.

If you miss your wife, go find her! Why take it out on us?

Sure, we're Abyssal creatures, but we're not masochists!

Besides, you've blocked the Abyssal rift tight. How are we supposed to get out?

Can we stop you from going to find your wife?

Now, this man had gone mad again.

And this time, he was even more out of his mind than ever before.

That terrifying aura swept through the Abyss like a tangible force. Countless low-ranking Abyssal creatures burst into clouds of blood where they stood.

The Abyssal Demon Emperor curled up on his throne, felt the fury that seemed capable of flipping the entire plane upside down, and sighed in silence.

What was he angry about this time?

This taboo existence called Jiang Li was growing less and less human, his moods harder and harder to fathom.

If this went on, sooner or later he'd become a Heaven with no feelings.

Forget it. He was used to it...

On the ground, Jiang Li's fury was nowhere near subsiding.

He looked up at the sky, his gaze piercing through the Heavenly Concealment Array and layer upon layer of clouds, as if he meant to stab straight into the Divine Realm.

"Damn system!" he cursed under his breath, his voice filled with a violence and resentment suppressed for a hundred thousand years. "I'm done guarding the Abyss! Get someone else to do it!"

"I've suppressed the Abyss for a full hundred thousand years. I might not be the Child of the Plane, but surely I count as the Father of the Plane by now? For a hundred thousand years, I've worked diligently and never left this rift, guarding it for you. And this is how you treat me? You let my daughter get manipulated?"

The angrier he grew, the more his aura churned like boiling magma. Fine cracks even began to appear in the divine stone tiles beneath his feet.

"You sure know how to do the math! You make me guard the Abyss, make me your tool, and in the end I can't even protect my own bloodline? I'm done with this deal!"

With that, Jiang Li turned to leave.

In a hundred thousand years, he had never left this courtyard. But now, he was going to Spirit City.

Yet the instant he took his first step, that familiar notification rang in his mind.

[Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have completed one hundred thousand years of check-ins. A brand-new feature is now available—the Offspring Cultivation Module!]

Jiang Li stopped in his tracks.

The Offspring Cultivation Module?

For a hundred thousand years, the system's features had been the same old check-ins and rewards, with no new tricks. This was the first time a new module had unlocked.

Before he could think it through, the system's notification continued.

[Host bloodline detected—Xiao Wu. Identity: Soft Bone Charm Rabbit in human form. Current coordinates: Spirit City. Identity status: Exposed.]

Jiang Li's brow twitched.

[The first mission of the Offspring Cultivation Module is now available.]

[Mission objective: Help your daughter Xiao Wu escape Spirit City through her own strength or the strength of her friends.]

[Mission reward: Twin Martial Souls (deliverable to: Xiao Wu); +1 Humanity for the Host.]

Jiang Li stopped moving altogether.

Twin Martial Souls.

He understood better than anyone what those four words meant on the Douluo Continent.

It was a talent found once in a hundred million, a pass to the summit, an extraordinary opportunity capable of changing a Soul Master's fate. Which owner of Twin Martial Souls in the original story hadn't been a figure standing at the forefront of their era?

If that reward were for him, he wouldn't even give it a second glance.

After a hundred thousand years of check-ins, he had so many trump cards in his hands that he'd nearly lost count.

To others, this stuff was a rare treasure. To him, it was nothing more than dusty stock in a storeroom.

But—the recipient of this reward was Xiao Wu.

Jiang Li fell silent.

His feelings for this daughter he had never met were incredibly complicated.

For a hundred thousand years, he hadn't even known there was a child in this world who shared his blood.

While she grew up alone in the Star Dou Forest, while she made the decision to take human form and cultivate again on her own, while she faced every storm alone, he had been guarding the Abyssal rift in that little courtyard, completely unaware.

Guilt.

That was the first word that surfaced in his mind.

If he could give the child Twin Martial Souls as a gift when they first met, perhaps it would make up for at least a little of what he owed her.

And besides, this mission itself...

Jiang Li narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth slowly curving upward.

Help Xiao Wu escape Spirit City through her own strength or the strength of her friends?

What was so hard about that?

In the original story, even a Tang Hao who was only half his former self had been able to fight his way in and out of Spirit City and escape with Xiao Wu.

The real difficulty wasn't strength. It was the choice Xiao Wu made in that moment.

Back then, Tang San's trick of feigning injury had ensnared her completely, and she had willingly jumped into the fire.

But this life would be different.

Tang San's feigned injury, Tang Hao's desperate rescue—all those interlocking schemes would never trap Xiao Wu again.

Jiang Li saw it clearly.

The system's mission required Xiao Wu to escape "through her own strength or the strength of her friends." It was practically spelling it out for him:

Dad, don't step in yourself. Don't abandon your duty to guard the Abyss.

Put plainly, the system had set this restriction because it was afraid he'd stop guarding the Abyss.

But for Jiang Li, who had lived for a hundred thousand years, finding loopholes in the rules was easier than eating or drinking.

As a Beast Tamer, he was best at strengthening Soul Beasts. He could even strengthen them until they surpassed Bibi Dong!

Jiang Li turned around and strode toward the basement entrance.

He placed both hands against the stone gate and slammed it shut.

Rumble!

The stone gate closed with a heavy crash, sealing the Abyssal rift underground along with the countless Soul Beast armies and the fleeing Abyssal creatures.

He casually added a seal to the gate and dusted off his hands.

For the first time in a hundred thousand years, the gate was closed.

Then Jiang Li walked to the middle of the courtyard, grabbed Er Ming by the arm, and dragged the enormous Titan Giant Ape into the courtyard.

The sudden force made Er Ming stumble, and his huge body nearly knocked over the stone table in the courtyard.

"Er Ming," Jiang Li said solemnly, staring into his eyes. "You're a friend of my Xiao Wu, right?"