It Was Because of Fortune

Spirit Hall, Li Pu's quarters.

As the instigator of the whole affair, Li Pu hadn't expected that changing such a small part of the plot would bring about such a huge upheaval. Not only was Tang Hao now reviled by everyone for getting involved with a Soul Beast, he had even killed members of his own clan.

At this rate, Tang Hao really was going to become Tang Waste.

"I wonder, when Tang San brings Xiao Wu to attack Spirit Hall, whether you idiots will still support him."

That was how it had gone in the original story. The leaders of the various organizations were too stupid to think there was anything wrong with Tang San being all lovey-dovey with a Soul Beast.

And it really was normal. Tang San was going to become a god, after all. Who would dare say otherwise in front of a god?

His strength spoke for itself. You could refuse to accept it all you liked, but it wouldn't matter!

All they could do was follow Tang San blindly. Besides, they had a common enemy, and they could protect—or even claim a larger share of—their interests.

Here, without overwhelming strength on your side, having a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast as your lover was a mistake.

No one would think your love was so moving it could make heaven and earth weep.

Just then, a servant came to summon him. "Elder Li, the Grand Protector requests your presence!"

"The Grand Protector wants to see me? All right."

Li Pu didn't bother wondering why Qian Daoliu had summoned him. He simply went.

As he climbed the steps to the Worship Hall, he spotted Qian Renxue in the distance. When she saw him, she could hardly contain her joy and waved her little hand.

"Brother Li Pu!"

"Xue'er."

Li Pu raised his hand and smiled back.

Little Qian Renxue ran over, then suddenly leaped toward him as if to throw herself into his arms. Li Pu could only reach out and catch her before setting her down.

"Looks like our Xue'er is in a great mood!"

Little Qian Renxue nodded. "Of course! And I have to thank you, Brother Li Pu."

"What happened?" Li Pu asked.

Little Qian Renxue immediately showed him her Soul Rings. Three deep-purple rings lit up, circling her like hula hoops. Li Pu seemed to understand.

"Thanks to the inner core you gave me, my first two Soul Rings increased in age too!" Little Qian Renxue said proudly, beaming with joy.

"When you absorbed and refined that inner core, you diverted some of its energy into your existing Soul Rings? I don't know what attributes your first two rings have, so that's just a guess," Li Pu said.

Little Qian Renxue giggled. "As expected of Brother Li Pu! No one even told you, and you figured it out. But it's fine, isn't it?"

When Little Qian Renxue had reached level thirty and absorbed part of the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent, she had boldly experimented by injecting energy into the Soul Rings she had already absorbed. At first, something went wrong, and they nearly burst. But soon the process stabilized, as if she had grasped some kind of method.

Only after the energy in the first two Soul Rings reached the limit of what she could inject did she begin absorbing her third. She had been just a little short of raising it to ten thousand years right away.

"You really are bold. If something had gone wrong, weren't you afraid your grandfather would kill me?" Li Pu said with a helpless smile. In a world where practically every Douluo was a doting grandparent, Li Pu had no doubt that Qian Daoliu would forgive him—then grab the Heaven Measuring Sword and split him in two.

"He wouldn't. With me around, Grandpa would never do that," Little Qian Renxue declared, hands on her hips.

"But you're incredibly lucky, too, to have pulled this off. If you ever figure out how to condense Soul Rings yourself, you'll be a miracle without equal in the history of the continent," Li Pu said with a smile.

After all, Qian Renxue had fortune on her side. She was the Angel God's heir, though her luck was nowhere near Tang San's. Otherwise, she wouldn't have needed only part of an inner core to raise the age of her first two Soul Rings.

But could she still carry out the Nation-Stealing Plan in the Heaven Dou Empire after this?

Probably. The abilities of the Angel Head Soul Bone could even change a Martial Soul, so changing the color of a Soul Ring shouldn't be a problem.

Besides, Soul Ring age was only useful for bluffing before ascension—or for showing that someone had greater potential to become a god. After ascension, the rings all became divine rings.

Little Qian Renxue heard him mention condensing Soul Rings and asked, "But no matter how you look at it, condensing a Soul Ring needs enough energy, right? Like the inner core you gave me."

Li Pu knew that, of course. But he vaguely remembered that Tang San's fifth Soul Ring came from himself, with the Blue Silver King helping him condense it. Its age could even increase along with his cultivation. So in theory, Spirit Masters could condense their own Soul Rings. Tang San simply hadn't noticed and had forgotten about it.

If Tang San had noticed and made that technique available to the public, Li Pu might have thought a little better of him.

Still, knowing Tang San's nature, he probably wouldn't share it. Of course, no one else would, either. It was practically a sect's most precious secret. How could anyone casually hand it over to outsiders?

It wasn't as if he were some bizarre transmigrator from another world, printing a hundred thousand copies of the Evil-Warding Sword Technique and scattering them across the land.

Come to think of it, if the secret technique had been the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Tang San would have stolen it and learned it without hesitation.

He'd have said, "I'm exceptionally talented, but the sect rules say an outer disciple can't learn it. So I'll steal it. If I get caught, I'll kill myself." Just to piss them off.

Li Pu didn't think Tang San had tried to kill himself to uphold the Tang Sect's rules, or because he was afraid the sect would change its rules for him and let disciples get away with stealing techniques as long as they succeeded. He'd simply feared the Tang Sect's brutal punishments and wanted to put an end to it quickly.

"Take it slowly. I'm still studying the subject myself. It might be a long process with no answer. And you should stop experimenting on yourself. Spirit Hall has plenty of prisoners; using them for experiments is much better." Li Pu gently patted Little Qian Renxue's head.

"Mm!"

"I need to go see your grandfather. He said he had something to discuss with me."

"Okay, I won't keep you, then. I'm going to find Auntie Bibi Dong."

Little Qian Renxue skipped off to find Bibi Dong. Li Pu watched her go. It wasn't that Bibi Dong had fully accepted Qian Renxue now; she just didn't hate her as much as she used to.

When Li Pu entered the Worship Hall, Qian Daoliu had already been waiting for him for quite some time.

Naturally, Qian Daoliu knew that the upheaval in his old friend Tang Chen's sect couldn't have been thought up by his foolish son. After looking into it, he learned it was because of Li Pu.

"Grand Protector."

Li Pu gave him the courtesy of a greeting.

"Don't be so formal." Qian Daoliu waved him over. "Come have some tea."

"Then should I call you Old Shut-In?" Li Pu asked with an innocent look.

Qian Daoliu nearly spat out his tea.

"I'm the Grand Protector, not some old shut-in."

"You said it, not me."

"Forget it. I was hoping you'd call me Grandpa."

"I'm just a Support-type Spirit Master. How could I be so honored?"

Li Pu couldn't tell what the old man was after.

"I wonder what the Grand Protector wanted to see me about. Is it because of Xue'er's Soul Rings, or something else..."

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