As she watched.
The softness in Bibi Dong's eyes had already faded, replaced by a layer of icy cold.
Become stronger.
Those two words were carved into her bones, scorching her nerves every moment of every day.
She had to become stronger.
Only by becoming stronger could she kill Qian Xunji.
Only after killing Qian Xunji could she return, blade by blade, the humiliation, the disgust of those nights, and the pain she could never tell anyone about.
She had waited far too long for this day.
Originally, according to her plan, there had been a clear path ahead.
Her Soul Power was currently at Level 83.
Her First Martial Soul, the Death Spider Emperor, already had eight Soul Rings, while her Second Martial Soul, the Soul-Eater Spider Emperor, remained empty.
The greatest advantage of Twin Martial Souls was that every Soul Ring for the second Martial Soul could be a high-year one—ten thousand years, thirty thousand years, fifty thousand years, or even older.
Once she became a Titled Douluo, she could fill all nine Soul Rings of her second Martial Soul.
With the two Martial Souls stacked together, her strength would undergo a qualitative leap.
By her estimate, if she had enough Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts to hunt, she could break through the Level 90 threshold within a few years and become a Titled Douluo, then quickly fill her second Martial Soul with Soul Rings.
By then, she would find a chance to kill Qian Xunji and devour him until not even dregs remained.
But becoming a Titled Douluo took time.
And suitable Soul Beasts were far too difficult to find.
Soul Beasts over ten thousand years old were already rare. To find one whose attributes matched the Soul-Eater Spider Emperor, with a sufficiently high age, was even more of a matter of luck than effort.
There might be some in the depths of Star Dou Forest.
But she had no freedom to move around.
Qian Xunji had sent a Titled Douluo to watch her in secret.
Officially, it was to protect her safety. In reality, it was house arrest.
The elders and enshrined elders of Spirit Hall treated her with utmost respect in public, but who knew how many pairs of eyes were secretly keeping watch over her every move for Qian Xunji?
If she dared leave Spirit City alone for Star Dou Forest, the news would reach the desk at Pope's Palace before she had even taken two steps beyond the city gates.
All she could do was endure.
She endured year after year, until the hatred in her heart fermented into a pool of poison.
She endured the revulsion, the murderous intent, and countless sleepless nights spent tossing and turning.
But now—
Bibi Dong's gaze returned to Luo Dong.
A new path had suddenly opened up before her.
Not hunting Soul Beasts. Not years of arduous cultivation.
It was this child.
Bibi Dong took a deep breath and made up her mind.
She raised a hand to her collar.
Her fingertips pinched the edge of the fabric. The cloth rustled softly as it brushed against itself.
Her movements paused for a moment.
This was the first time she had done this.
The first time she had willingly opened her collar to feed a child.
It felt a little... strange.
She couldn't explain where that strangeness came from.
Her body had clearly been a mother once, but from pregnancy to childbirth, all she had felt toward that child was revulsion and resistance.
Qian Renxue's existence constantly reminded her of that unbearable past, so she had rejected anything related to the word "mother."
But now, for a baby she had found, she was about to do something she had never done for her own daughter.
She pulled open her collar, and the cool air brushed against her skin.
A faint blush appeared on Bibi Dong's cheeks.
Along with the strangeness came a strange, inexplicable shyness.
There was no reason for it.
She wasn't an innocent young girl, but when she really opened her collar—
A hard-to-describe discomfort still crept quietly over her.
She bit her lower lip and pushed the feeling down.
Then she bared her breast.
Luo Dong, who had been crying from hunger, felt the arm holding him shift. Then his eyes fell upon a stretch of snow-white skin.
His eyes lit up at once.
Not for any other reason.
As Bibi Dong opened her collar, a new quest prompt appeared on the Main System Panel in his mind:
[Quest Triggered]
[Quest Objective: After you finish feeding, make your mother feel your happiness]
[Quest Reward: +100 points, special constitution: Flawless Body]
[Flawless Body: Allows you to perfectly digest all food and energy without needing to excrete, while also perfectly improving your physical constitution and laying a solid foundation for the future]
Luo Dong's eyes grew brighter and brighter as he read the quest description.
One hundred points.
And a special constitution.
He already knew very clearly what points were for—the pills, cultivation methods, Soul Bones, constitution enhancers, and all sorts of magical items in the system shop could only be exchanged for points.
More importantly, he could use points to issue quests to Bibi Dong.
Points were the equivalent of having a say in this world. They were his trump card, allowing him to influence the course of events even while swaddled in a blanket.
And the Flawless Body would let him perfectly digest all energy without needing to excrete, while continuously improving his physical constitution.
This constitution was practically a cheat skill tailor-made for infancy.
While Luo Dong was calculating in his mind, Bibi Dong had already adjusted her hold and brought his little face closer to her chest.
Here it came.
Warm liquid slid down his throat and into his empty stomach.
The feeling of being filled started in his abdomen and spread little by little through his limbs, as though he were soaking in warm water, heat flowing from head to toe.
He silently marveled to himself.
An infant's bodily instincts were truly carved into the bones. He didn't need to learn; his body simply knew what to do.
Right now, he was like a fully automated eating machine. All he had to do was suck and swallow, at maximum efficiency.
Bibi Dong's body stiffened slightly for a moment.
A tingling sensation spread through her chest.
It was a sensation she had never experienced before.
A faint current seemed to flow from that tiny point of contact, spreading in every direction along the nerve endings beneath her skin.
It didn't hurt, but it was unfamiliar.
So unfamiliar that she felt a little at a loss.
She bit her lower lip unconsciously.
She endured it.
She told herself, This is how I become stronger.
She had endured Qian Xunji for all these years. What was so difficult about putting up with this little thing?
But despite her efforts to endure, she couldn't help glancing down at the baby in her arms.
He was feeding very seriously.
His grape-black eyes were half-open and half-closed, his expression relaxed with complete trust.
The blush on Bibi Dong's face deepened.
She turned her gaze away and stared at the candlelight on the wall, forcing herself not to think about the strange sensation.
The feeding went on for quite a while.
Luo Dong felt his stomach, once empty and sunken, grow full and round. The warm current had filled his entire abdomen and was even beginning to seep deeper.
He knew he was full.
His little mouth let go, and he gave a loud burp.
That burp was purely an infant's instinctive reaction and had absolutely nothing to do with his transmigrator's soul.
The air in his stomach was forced out, rushing up his esophagus and making a crisp sound.
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