God Realm Conspiracy? Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform! Ten-Thousand Year Soul Ring!

Four years later, Spirit Pagoda, Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform.

The simulated illusion of the Star Dou Forest unfolded before them, ancient trees towering overhead and vines hanging down.

Gu Yuena stood in a clearing, her violet eyes brimming with impatience.

A mass of elemental power condensed in her hand, while beneath her foot lay the corpse of a Thousand-Year Soul Beast she had just dealt with. She turned and shouted behind her.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed, Bai Yuan?"

"Why aren't you coming over to ascend your own spirit?"

"Why have I been clearing everything along the way?"

"Are you some kind of young master?"

Bai Yuan sauntered out of the woods.

He walked over to Gu Yuena's side, tilted his head to look at the Soul Beast still twitching on the ground, then looked up at her with an outrageously innocent expression.

"Junior Sister, that's a strange thing to say."

"Look at my good intentions. Wasn't I giving you plenty of chances to hone yourself?"

"You're lacking actual combat experience."

"Otherwise, you wouldn't have never beaten me in simulated battles."

Gu Yuena's face flushed bright red.

Her fingers cracked as she clenched them, elemental power snapping and crackling in her palm. Her long silver hair drifted slightly despite the lack of wind.

She took a deep breath, then another, before roaring with all her might.

"Bai!!!! Yuan!!!!"

"You're finished!!!"

Gu Yuena gritted her teeth and forced out those three words through the gaps, then raised her hand and blasted him with fire elemental power.

Bai Yuan moved his feet, his figure shifting three feet sideways like a ghost. The fire swept past the hem of his clothes and exploded against the tree trunk behind him, leaving a charred black hole.

Before he could speak, Gu Yuena's second wave of attacks had already arrived.

Ice blades, wind blades, earth spikes, light spears—six elements attacked in succession.

"Junior Sister, are you trying to murder your Senior Brother?"

Bai Yuan shouted as he dodged, but there was not the slightest panic in his voice. If anything, he sounded like he was enjoying himself.

Gu Yuena said nothing, merely increasing the frequency of her attacks.

There was only one thought in her mind right now.

She would shove this Stinking Human's face into the dirt and let him learn what "honing" truly meant.

Bai Yuan dodged an ice blade, then suddenly halted.

Before Gu Yuena could unleash her next attack, she saw that Bai Yuan's expression had changed.

Instinctively, she turned around.

Behind her, an enormous Shadow Leopard silently pounced down from the canopy, its bloody maw wide open as it lunged straight for the back of her neck.

It was incredibly fast.

Bai Yuan flashed past her side, swift as a bolt of black lightning.

The instant Dawnmaker left its sheath, a silver-white sword light traced a perfect arc through the air, striking precisely at the Shadow Leopard's neck.

The blade sank through flesh and severed bone, bursting out the other side in a spray of blood.

The Shadow Leopard's massive body froze in midair for an instant before crashing heavily to the ground. It twitched twice, then lay still.

Bai Yuan sheathed his sword, turned around, and flicked Gu Yuena on the forehead.

"Pay attention. You're in a fight."

Gu Yuena covered her forehead and glared at Bai Yuan. Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but she swallowed the words back.

She knew he was right.

In that instant, she really had let her guard down. If Bai Yuan had not acted—

She would have been injured too.

But she would never admit it.

"Hmph."

Gu Yuena turned her face away.

"Who asked you to save me?"

Bai Yuan smiled and pinched her cheek lightly.

"Junior Sister, when will that mouth of yours soften up a little?"

Gu Yuena's face flushed red again.

She slapped Bai Yuan's hand away and retreated two steps.

Seeing Gu Yuena like this, Bai Yuan thought to himself.

Had this girl been conditioned by me?

Had she gotten desensitized to me treating her like this?

He turned and walked toward the Shadow Leopard's corpse, crouching down and pressing his hand against the remains that were still slowly dissipating.

Soul Power began to circulate. Spiritual energy separated from the remains, turning into pale green motes that gradually flowed into his palm.

Gu Yuena stood where she was, rubbing her reddened cheek. Her violet eyes were filled with complicated emotions.

Over the years, she had increasingly felt that there was something wrong with Bai Yuan.

Not the sort of wrong that came from being "extraordinarily gifted," but the kind that made no sense at all.

She was the Silver Dragon King, the Element Controller, the Co-Lord of Soul Beasts.

The blood running through her veins was among the most supreme bloodlines in this world.

She commanded the ultimate laws of the seven great elements. Her cultivation speed should have crushed everyone her age.

But what was reality?

She had given it her all, even secretly drawing upon a trace of the Silver Dragon King's origin power without exposing her identity, yet she still could not defeat Bai Yuan.

Not by a little. She truly could not beat him.

Every simulated battle, every sparring session, every real fight in the Spirit Ascension Platform—she was always the one being suppressed.

The occasional time she won once or twice was only because Bai Yuan had clearly gone easy on her.

Gu Yuena gritted her teeth.

It had nearly made the Silver Dragon King depressed.

She had even wondered whether she had awakened the wrong Martial Soul, whether something had gone wrong with the Silver Dragon King bloodline, or whether the Dragon God had cut away half her talent when he had been struck down all those years ago.

But every time she looked inward at the vast elemental power within her, so immense it was suffocating,

she became certain that the problem was not her. It was Bai Yuan.

So she had her subordinates thoroughly investigate Bai Yuan's identity.

They had checked countless times already. He came from an orphanage, his parents were unknown, and there was no trace of any outside force interfering.

What she investigated was his bloodline, his Martial Soul, and the source of his strength.

How could he possibly have no bloodline inheritance?

Someone so powerful, with an absurdly high-quality Martial Soul, an unnervingly rapid cultivation speed, and combat instincts that defied reason—

Who would believe he was an ordinary orphan with no background whatsoever?

Strange. It was far too strange!

Her astonishing wisdom gave her a vague sense of realization.

This might be a conspiracy!

Yet her subordinates' answer remained the same single word: none.

There were no records of a god-level Martial Soul, no traces of an ancient bloodline, and no known Martial Soul that corresponded to his Core Flame or Dawnmaker.

Bai Yuan was like someone who had sprung from a rock—spotless, innocent, with no known origin whatsoever.

Gu Yuena looked at Bai Yuan's back as he crouched before the Shadow Leopard's corpse and absorbed spiritual energy. A trace of confusion flashed through her violet eyes.

For a time, she had even suspected that he was some lackey of the God Realm sent down to the mortal world.

Or perhaps a pawn planted on Douluo Continent by some other God Realm faction?

But his conduct did not resemble that at all.

What kind of God Realm lackey would provoke her every day and pinch her cheeks?

Gu Yuena shook her head, tossing those chaotic thoughts from her mind.

No matter who he was, no matter where he came from, no matter what exactly was behind his strength.

One day, she would personally uncover his secret.

Then she would grind him into the ground.

Having finished absorbing the spiritual energy, Bai Yuan rose to his feet and glanced back at Gu Yuena, only to find her standing there in a daze.

"Junior Sister, what are you spacing out for? Let's go, next one."

Gu Yuena came back to her senses and shot him a glare. Her silver ponytail snapped out behind her in a sharp arc.

"What are you rushing me for? I'm coming."

She strode over, and as she passed Bai Yuan, she lowered her voice and said,

"Bai Yuan, don't get cocky.

"One day, I'll beat you."

Bai Yuan looked at her with a smile.

"I'll be waiting."