The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.
Only the wind rustled through the leaves.
Yuanen Yehui stood rooted to the spot, dazed.
She looked at the golden beast that had torn the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear apart with ease, then at the handsome, impossibly calm young man beside it. For a moment, she had no idea how to react.
Then the young man's warm, clear voice rang out.
"Are you all right?"
Yuanen Yehui came to her senses. Instinctively, she tucked away her emotions and returned to her usual cold, unapproachable self.
"I'm fine. Thanks."
Her reply was terse, as if she hadn't just been rescued.
"Good." Luo Yang nodded. His gaze lingered briefly on the black energy wings behind her, then swept over her pale, delicate profile and stubborn expression. He had already guessed her identity with considerable confidence.
The Fallen Angel Martial Soul, and such cultivation and a cool, aloof air at her age...
Who else could it be but Yuanen Yehui?
Just then, Yuanen Yehui couldn't help looking back at the majestic, terrifying Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff Emperor.
Curiosity overcame her wariness. She hesitated, then asked, "Th-this is your Soul Beast?"
She had never seen a "Soul Beast" of this kind accompanying a Soul Master.
"It's not a Soul Beast."
Luo Yang smiled and casually reached out to pat the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff Emperor on the head.
The beast seemed to enjoy it. It let out a contented purr and rubbed its head against his palm, nothing like the ferocious creature that had just killed the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear in an instant.
"This is my Soul Spirit."
"A Soul Spirit?!"
For the first time, astonishment clearly appeared in Yuanen Yehui's usually cold black eyes.
A Soul Spirit? And it looked like that?! Whose Soul Spirit could grow four or five meters tall, gleam with golden light from head to toe, bear a kingly marking on its brow, and radiate an aura more terrifying than that of a thousand-year Soul Beast overlord?!
Whose Soul Spirit could possess such high intelligence and fight independently, taking down in just a few moves the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear that had nearly driven her to her death?!
The Soul Spirits she had seen, whether her own or other people's, were mostly energy phantoms or miniature forms that accompanied their Soul Masters and provided Soul Ring abilities.
At most, they could assist in an attack when urged on by their Soul Master. None were like this, as lifelike as a top-tier Soul Beast.
As if to confirm her disbelief, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff Emperor seemed to "hear" her doubts. Its golden eyes turned toward her, and it gave a disdainful snort that seemed to say, "What's so strange about that?"
This Soul Spirit could actually understand what she was wondering?!
Was its intelligence really that high?
Yuanen Yehui: "..."
"Maybe... our Soul Spirits are a little different." Luo Yang smiled faintly at her bewildered expression.
"Little different" didn't even begin to describe it. These were practically two entirely different species!
Yuanen Yehui: "..."
Amid her shock, an indescribable envy quietly welled up inside her.
She couldn't help thinking of her own two Soul Spirits. Compared with this one, they were like ornaments beside a fortress of war.
Power. She yearned for power, and she longed for a reliable, powerful partner like this...
"You came to the Spirit Ascension Platform to raise your Soul Spirit's age, too, right?" Luo Yang said with a smile. "From what happened just now, there may be even stronger Soul Beasts farther in. Exploring alone is a little dangerous. Why don't we team up?"
In the original story, Yuanen Yehui would become one of the Shrek Seven Devils, and she had two very powerful Martial Souls.
Her potential was boundless. She was an ally worth befriending.
Yuanen Yehui shook her head at once, without the slightest hesitation. "Thanks, but no. I prefer to act alone."
She was used to going it alone, to relying on no one, and to distrusting any "kindness" that came out of nowhere.
"Don't be so quick to shut me out."
Luo Yang spread his hands, his harmless smile still in place.
"I'm not hostile. I just want to make a friend, and we can watch each other's backs. With more people in the Spirit Ascension Platform, we'll be safer."
"I said I'm used to being alone." Yuanen Yehui's tone turned stiff. She warily took a small step back, her illusory Fallen Angel Wings drawing in slightly.
Her instincts told her this young man was no ordinary person. His gaze seemed to pierce through her layers of disguise and see the secrets she wanted no one to know.
Without either of them noticing, the distance between them had narrowed to less than two meters.
For a Soul Master, that was already a rather sensitive "danger zone."
Just as Yuanen Yehui was considering turning and leaving, Luo Yang suddenly took another small step forward, almost entering her "personal space."
He leaned in slightly, bringing his handsome face closer, still wearing a smile.
Then, in a voice neither loud nor soft, just quiet enough for only the two of them to hear, he said:
"By the way..."
"You wouldn't want anyone else to find out you're an 'Evil Soul Master,' would you?"
"Boom—!"
A bolt of lightning seemed to explode in Yuanen Yehui's mind!
The wind, the rustling leaves, the distant roars of beasts... Every sound fell away in an instant.
It was as if the world had been muted. Only the young man's casually spoken words, heavy as a thousand jun, echoed again and again in her ears!
Her identity as an Evil Soul Master... found out by others...
Yuanen Yehui's pupils contracted sharply.
An icy chill shot from her spine straight to the crown of her head.
Then came a towering rage and... naked murderous intent!
Her secret!
Her greatest secret, known to no one outside her immediate family!
As far as the Douluo Continent knew, the Fallen Angel Martial Soul was the unmistakable mark of an "Evil Martial Soul"!
If it were exposed, what would await her?
Merciless arrest by the enforcement squad, fear and contempt from the public, endless pursuit, a lightless prison—or even execution in the name of "purification"!
She had survived until now thanks to her family's secret protection and her own extreme caution. This secret was the line between her and death, as well as the curse she bore!
And this person in front of her had seen through it—and was threatening her?!
Yuanen Yehui jerked her head up, her usually cold black eyes fixed on Luo Yang.
Killing intent surged from her like a tangible tide of cold. The Fallen Angel Wings behind her suddenly solidified.
In the next instant, the air around them plummeted in temperature, and even the light seemed to dim.
She could barely stop herself from erasing the young man before her from existence.
Yet faced with this terrifying killing intent, enough to make a Soul Master of the same rank tremble, Luo Yang only blinked, as though he were looking at a little kitten trying to bare its teeth without the slightest menace.
"Tell me..."
Luo Yang's voice remained calm.
"If I leave the Spirit Ascension Platform right now and go straight to the enforcement squad at the Spirit Pagoda, then tell them there's a girl in here whose Martial Soul is the 'Fallen Angel'..."
He paused deliberately, savoring Yuanen Yehui's increasingly pale, increasingly twisted expression.
"Wouldn't someone come rushing in to 'apprehend the fiend' before long? And then you might spend the rest of your life in some lightless place."
Every word was like an icy dagger, stabbing precisely into the nerve Yuanen Yehui feared most.
Her chest rose and fell slightly. Her clenched fists had gone white at the knuckles.
Her killing intent was about to break free of her reason!
"What... exactly do you want?!"
Yuanen Yehui's voice scraped out between her teeth, hoarse and filled with malice.
"If you think you can use this to threaten me, forget it! Even if I have to die, I'll never submit to a despicable bastard like you!"
The instant she finished speaking, the Fallen Angel Wings behind her spread fully. Dark purple light blazed, and her powerful fallen aura mingled with her killing intent, forming a pressure that made the heart tremble!
"Roar—!"
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff Emperor immediately let out a warning growl and stepped forward half a pace, its golden eyes fixed on Yuanen Yehui.
The tension was razor-sharp. One spark would set it off!