Qian Daoliu's Shock, Angel Martial Soul!

Shen Zhou interrupted her. "Your right arm is fractured, and the tendons in your left leg are damaged. If you don't treat them promptly, there will be lasting effects."

Yu Mengdi gave a bitter smile. "I know, but the nearest city is three days away from here. I..."

"I have an academy, just east of White Tiger City."

Shen Zhou said calmly, "Martial Soul Academy."

"It has the best medical facilities, as well as an Angel Martial Soul wielder stronger than you."

Yu Mengdi's pupils suddenly contracted.

An Angel Martial Soul wielder?

Someone stronger than her?

She was already at the peak of the fourth ring, just one step away from becoming a Soul King.

An Angel Martial Soul wielder stronger than her had to be at least a six-ring existence.

"Senior, the person you mentioned..."

"You'll know when you get there."

Shen Zhou did not explain further. "Your classmates need treatment too."

"In your condition, you won't make it out of the Star Dou Great Forest."

Yu Mengdi fell silent.

She turned to look at her group. Their teacher was unconscious; two students were severely injured and unconscious; three had only minor injuries but had exhausted their Soul Power; and one could barely still walk, but would not last much longer either.

Without the protection of the senior before them, they truly would not make it out of this forest.

"Senior, why are you helping us?"

Yu Mengdi asked.

Shen Zhou glanced at her.

"Because of your Martial Soul."

Yu Mengdi froze.

"An Angel Martial Soul should not be buried in obscurity."

Shen Zhou turned and walked toward the edge of the forest.

"Whether you come or not is up to you."

"But after dark, the forest will become even more dangerous."

Yu Mengdi bit her lip, glanced at the classmates looking at her expectantly, and finally made up her mind.

"Let's go."

She helped her teacher up, while the other lightly injured students supported one another as they rose.

Tang Ya and Bei Bei stepped forward to help, each supporting one person.

Huo Yuhao could not help much, so he ran to the front and followed beside Shen Zhou.

Er Ha picked up the Phoenix Tail Snake's corpse, then grabbed the Gale Wolf it had bitten to death. Its mouth was stuffed full, yet its four legs moved swiftly.

"Not a single piece of This Emperor's snake meat or wolf meat can be left behind!"

Yu Mengdi looked at the Slender Dog with its cheeks puffed out, its speech garbled but still brimming with vigor, and could not help revealing a helpless smile.

This dog was more formidable than many Soul Masters she had met.

And its master...

She looked at that upright figure ahead of her, a complicated emotion she could neither describe nor understand rising within her heart.

Martial Soul Academy.

What kind of place was that?

And who was that "Angel Martial Soul wielder stronger than her"?

She did not know.

But her instincts told her that this journey would bring earth-shaking changes to her life.

The sun sank beneath the horizon, its final sliver of light vanishing from the sky.

The group stepped into the night and walked out of the Star Dou Great Forest.

In the distance, the lights of White Tiger City could vaguely be seen.

The night was as dark as ink. Across the wilderness outside the Star Dou Great Forest, the group pressed forward with difficulty.

Yu Mengdi supported her unconscious teacher, her steps unsteady.

Sharp pain repeatedly shot through her right arm and left leg, cold sweat breaking out with every step.

Yet she gritted her teeth and persevered—her teacher was unconscious, so she could not fall.

Tang Ya supported a severely injured student as she walked ahead, while Bei Bei helped another. Though both were exhausted, neither uttered a word of complaint.

Huo Yuhao followed at Shen Zhou's side, occasionally turning back to look at the majestic structure drawing ever closer.

Martial Soul Academy.

The White Jade Steps glowed softly beneath the moonlight, while the golden-tiled roofs shimmered like stars.

The entire academy was enveloped in a faint halo, like a sleeping beast—quiet yet imposing.

At the highest point of the academy, atop the Spirit Pagoda, a figure stood with his hands behind his back.

Qian Daoliu slowly opened his eyes.

His brilliant golden eyes were like two lamps in the night, piercing through layer upon layer of darkness as they gazed toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

He had sensed it.

A faint yet incomparably familiar aura.

An Angel Martial Soul.

It was the power flowing through his bloodline, the Martial Soul mark passed down through the Qian Family for generations.

Even separated by thousands of miles, he could clearly sense the existence of a Martial Soul from the same source.

Qian Daoliu's body trembled slightly.

In this unfamiliar era, on this continent where Spirit Hall had been destroyed for ten thousand years, there was still an inheritor of the Angel Martial Soul?

He closed his eyes and sensed it carefully.

That aura was weak, at most at the peak of the fourth ring, and mixed with a heavy stench of blood—the Angel Martial Soul wielder was injured.

Farther away, several weak fluctuations of Soul Power could also be felt. Some were unconscious, some injured, and all were moving toward his location.

One of them...

Qian Daoliu's senses settled on Shen Zhou, and his brow relaxed slightly.

It was Eighth Brother.

It seemed Eighth Brother had encountered someone in the Star Dou Great Forest and brought them back.

Qian Daoliu withdrew his senses, moved, and drifted down from the top of the Spirit Pagoda.

His feet landed on the White Jade Steps before the academy's main gate. He stood with his hands behind his back, his golden hair fluttering gently in the night breeze.

Though he had not released his Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, the pressure belonging to a Peerless Douluo had already spread naturally through the air.

"Big Brother?"

Golden Crocodile Douluo walked out from the academy. Seeing Qian Daoliu standing at the entrance, he was slightly startled. "So late at night, why are you..."

"Someone is coming."

Qian Daoliu's voice was calm, but Golden Crocodile Douluo could hear the suppressed excitement within it.

"Who?"

"An inheritor of the Angel Martial Soul."

Golden Crocodile Douluo's pupils contracted. He fell silent and quietly stood behind Qian Daoliu.

Under the moonlight, the group's figures gradually appeared in view.

Shen Zhou walked at the front, followed by Huo Yuhao, Tang Ya, and Bei Bei. Behind them were Yu Mengdi and her classmates.

Qian Daoliu's gaze passed over everyone and landed directly on Yu Mengdi.

That golden-haired woman.

Her face was pale, her right arm hanging limply at her side, her left leg dragging as she limped along. Yet she still gritted her teeth and supported an unconscious middle-aged man.

There were wounds all over her body, and her clothes were stained with blood. But her eyes carried an unyielding stubbornness.

More importantly—

Qian Daoliu could feel her Martial Soul resonating.

It was the response between angel and angel, an inseverable bond from the depths of their bloodlines.

Yu Mengdi raised her head, and the moment she saw the golden-haired middle-aged man on the steps, her entire body jolted as if struck by lightning.

What kind of eyes were those?

Brilliant golden pupils, like two blazing suns, containing boundless majesty and holiness.

He stood there with his hands behind his back. Though he had clearly released no Soul Power, Yu Mengdi felt that she was not facing a person, but a mountain, an ocean, an entire world.

Her Martial Soul was released beyond her control.

Two Wings spread from her back, white as snow, their feathers glowing faintly beneath the moonlight.

Not because of battle, but because... of submission.

Her Angel Martial Soul was submitting to that man.

Yu Mengdi's knees weakened, and she nearly dropped to the ground.

It was not fear, but awe from the depths of her soul, as if the being before her was not human, but the ancestor of angels, the source of Martial Souls.

"This is..."

Yu Mengdi's voice trembled.

Qian Daoliu looked at her, at the Two Wings behind her, at the faint light flowing over them.

His eyes reddened slightly.

Ten thousand years.