Hostage, Star Dou's Riot

"Brother Lie Xu, let's go over there and test our soul skills."

Without waiting for Lie Xu to answer, Qian Renxue grabbed him and ran toward a more open area nearby.

"Xiao Xue, wait a moment, don't be so impatient. Have you forgotten what Great-Grandfather said?"

Hearing this, Qian Renxue finally remembered the instructions her grandfather had given Lie Xu inside the carriage.

"I'm sorry, Brother Lie Xu, I got too excited and forgot."

Qian Renxue lowered her head, tugging at the corner of Lie Xu's clothes.

"It's alright. Although I can't help you test your new soul skill for the time being, Sister Chi Yuan can."

Lie Xu ruffled Qian Renxue's lowered head.

As soon as he finished speaking, the previously dejected Qian Renxue immediately looked up, the unhappiness on her face swept away.

"That's right! Why didn't I think of that?"

Saying this, she shouted toward the campsite: "Sister Chi Yuan, come over here for a second!"

"Coming!"

Chi Yuan, who was helping pack up the tents, turned around to respond, stood up, and walked quickly toward them.

"What is it, Xiao Xue?"

Seeing Chi Yuan approach, Qian Renxue immediately took her arm and began to act spoiled.

"Sister Chi Yuan, I just wanted to test my new soul skill, but since Brother Lie Xu can't use his soul power right now, I had to call you."

"Is that so? No problem, I'll accompany you."

Chi Yuan said nonchalantly; to her, it was just playing with children, it made no difference.

The two retreated to opposite sides, while Lie Xu brought the already shrunken Xiao Jiu to a towering tree nearby and leaned against the trunk.

This position allowed him to see both of them clearly.

Once the two women stood their ground, they simultaneously activated their martial souls.

The area was instantly divided between light and heat.

Behind Qian Renxue, the angel descended, looking like a deity, radiant with holy light;

On the other hand, Chi Yuan was surrounded by raging flames and a surging sea of fire, with the Blazing Fire Spirit Crow circling above, its golden eyes fixed intently on the front.

"Sister Chi Yuan, get ready, here I come!"

After Qian Renxue gave a warning, her soul power surged instantly, and she let out a soft cry.

"First Soul Skill, Dance of Holy Light!"

As her first soul skill activated, many pure white feathers appeared out of thin air around her. The wings of her Eight-Winged Angel martial soul instantly doubled in size, and her speed surged, with the angel martial soul following closely behind her.

Every randomly falling white feather seemed to possess foresight, precisely appearing under Qian Renxue's feet every time. As her dance steps shifted, light and shadow chased the hem of her dress, fluttering like wind-blown snow or the wings of a butterfly...

The martial soul and she approached and rotated around each other, the transition between solid and ethereal making it look like a beautiful dance, elegant as an orchid and graceful as a swimming dragon...

"Clang! Clang, clang!!!"

Each flash of her dance was accompanied by pale golden light blades shooting toward Chi Yuan. Seeing this, Chi Yuan's expression became slightly solemn; she was no longer as casual as before.

"Fourth Soul Skill, Flame Wave!"

As Chi Yuan stomped her foot, the Blazing Fire Spirit Crow circling above the sea of fire suddenly twisted its body and dove toward the direction Qian Renxue was rushing from. The sea of fire surged, bringing up a monstrous wave behind it, making the surrounding air feel significantly drier.

"Hiss!!!"

The moment the pale golden light blades made contact with the monstrous fire wave, they invaded and dissolved each other...

Just as Lie Xu's full attention was captured by the duel, a strange fluctuation occurred in the space behind him, and a massive black shadow quietly arrived at his back.

The golden line on the black shadow's forehead had transformed into a vertical eye, glowing with a mesmerizing, enchanting golden light, staring fixedly at Lie Xu's back.

"Boom!!!"

At the moment the two women's soul skills canceled each other out—when the old force had vanished and the new had yet to be born—the black shadow moved instantly. Seizing this brief opening, the vertical eye on its forehead unleashed a profound and mysterious wave toward Lie Xu.

Sensing the anomaly behind him, Lie Xu immediately triggered his soul bone domain skill.

"Ten... Thousand... Beasts..."

But with an attack launched at such close range, Lie Xu could not mount an effective counterattack. The soul bone domain skill only activated for a split second before he and Xiao Jiu both fell into unconsciousness.

The giant beast shadow opened its blood-red maw, picked up Lie Xu, and turned to leave, leaving behind only a young beast curled up at the foot of the towering tree...

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

"No, Brother Lie Xu!!!"

"Little Brother!!"

With a painful scream, Qian Renxue collapsed to the ground.

At the same time Qian Renxue and Chi Yuan cried out, Qian Daoliu and Lion Douluo instantly appeared where Lie Xu had vanished.

"How could this be?"

The two looked at each other, seeing disbelief in one another's eyes.

Qian Daoliu moved his palm slightly, waving a strand of soul power to gently lift Xiao Jiu from the base of the tree.

"It's fine, there's still a pulse. Lie Xu should be alright."

Hearing her grandfather say that Lie Xu should be fine, Qian Renxue felt a little more at ease. Supported by Chi Yuan, she walked over, slowly picked up Xiao Jiu, and grabbed Qian Daoliu's arm, saying with a tearful voice, "Grandfather, w-we must go find Brother Xu quickly..."

Qian Daoliu said no more. He channeled his soul power to envelop Xiao Jiu, sensed the faint connection between Xiao Jiu's soul origin and Lie Xu's, and pointed toward a direction in the dense forest. "This way, follow!!!"

At this moment, deep within the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest, inside a special space beneath the Lake of Life, a pair of golden eyes slowly opened.

"It is the Emperor Auspicious Beast. How did this child suddenly wake up and break through space to run out? No, there is also the scent of humans."

Suddenly, those golden pupils instantly narrowed into thin slits.

"The Emperor Auspicious Beast's aura has vanished. Who is it? Who on earth is it???"

A black, jade-like dragon body thrashed incessantly as a wave of aura, far exceeding that of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, instantly burst through the spatial seal and surged into the Lake of Life above.

"Big Brother, someone has entered Star Dou..."

Before the Titan Giant Ape could finish his sentence, an extreme pressure pinned both him and his companion firmly to the ground by the lakeside.

A voice, cold to the extreme and filled with killing intent, rang in their ears.

"Search. Find the human who took the Emperor Auspicious Beast for me. Even if you have to turn Star Dou upside down, you must find them!!!"

These two soul beast kings, who had dominated the Lake of Life for tens of thousands of years, did not even dare to look at the owner of the voice. Driven by the instinct to survive, they lowered their heads and rushed toward the outer perimeter.

On this day, the once quiet and deep Star Dou Great Forest erupted into chaos in an instant. The two most core kings of the Star Dou Great Forest were now furiously driving the soul beasts of the core layer, sweeping toward the outer perimeter.

"ROAR!!!"

"Damned humans, it's all their fault. They just had to go and capture some nonsense Auspicious Beast."

The Titan Giant Ape let out a roar that startled away a group of eighty-thousand-year soul beasts lurking ahead, then, still unsatisfied, he smashed a towering ancient tree in half.