"Brother Xu, let's go over there and try out the Soul Skill."
Without waiting for Lie Xu to answer, Qian Renxue grabbed him and ran toward a more open area nearby.
"Xiao Xue, wait a second. Don't rush. Have you forgotten what Great-grandpa said?"
Hearing this, Qian Renxue remembered what her grandfather had told Lie Xu inside the carriage.
"Sorry, Brother Xu. I got so excited that I forgot."
Qian Renxue lowered her head and tugged at Lie Xu's sleeve.
"It's okay. I can't help you test your new Soul Skill for now, but A-Yuan can."
Lie Xu rubbed Qian Renxue's bowed head.
As soon as he finished speaking, Qian Renxue, who had been dejected a moment ago, immediately lifted her head, all traces of unhappiness gone from her face.
"That's right! How did I not think of that?"
As she spoke, she called loudly toward the campsite, "Sister A-Yuan, come over here!"
"Coming!"
Chi Yuan, who had been helping Lie Xu pack up the tent, turned and answered. She got up and hurried over.
"What is it, Xiao Xue?"
As soon as Chi Yuan came close, Qian Renxue linked her arm through hers and began to plead sweetly.
"Sister A-Yuan, I want to try out my new Soul Skill. Brother Xu can't use his Soul Power right now, so I could only ask you."
"I see. That's fine. I'll try it with you."
Chi Yuan replied casually. She was just playing with a child, after all. It made no difference.
The two of them each retreated to opposite sides, while Lie Xu brought Xiao Jiu, who had already shrunk down, to a towering tree nearby and leaned against its trunk.
From this spot, he could see both of them at once.
Once the two women were in position, they activated their Martial Souls simultaneously.
The area was instantly divided between light and heat.
Behind Qian Renxue, an angel descended into the mortal world, godlike and radiant with holy light.
Meanwhile, on Chi Yuan's side, flames blazed and a sea of fire surged. The Blazing Fire Spirit Crow circled above it, its golden eyes fixed intently on what lay ahead.
"Sister A-Yuan, I'm ready. Here I come!"
After warning Chi Yuan, Qian Renxue's Soul Power surged in an instant, and she called out,
"First Soul Skill, Dance of Holy Light!"
As Qian Renxue unleashed her first Soul Skill, countless pure white feathers appeared out of thin air around her. The wings of her Eight-Winged Angel Martial Soul also doubled in size, while Qian Renxue's speed soared. The Angel Martial Soul followed close behind her.
Each white feather that drifted through the air seemed to know where to go, landing precisely beneath Qian Renxue's feet. As her steps shifted and turned, light and shadow chased the hem of her clothes. Her skirt fluttered like snow swirling in a passing breeze, like butterfly wings beating in flight...
The Martial Soul and Qian Renxue drew close and spun around each other, shifting between solid and ethereal. Together, they seemed to perform a breathtaking dance, graceful as jade-green orchid stems, elegant as a soaring dragon...
"Clang! Clang-clang!!!"
With every flicker of her dancing form, pale golden blades of light shot toward Chi Yuan. Seeing this, Chi Yuan's expression grew slightly more serious. She no longer seemed so casual.
"Fourth Soul Skill, Flame Wave!"
As Chi Yuan stamped her foot, the Blazing Fire Spirit Crow circling above the sea of fire suddenly twisted around and dived toward Qian Renxue. The fire surged, rising behind it in monstrous waves, and even the surrounding air grew drier.
"Hiss!!!"
The moment the pale golden blades of light met the towering waves of fire, the two forces clashed and devoured each other...
Just as Lie Xu's full attention was fixed on their contest, the space behind him rippled strangely, and a massive shadow silently appeared at his back.
The golden line on the shadow's forehead had become a vertical eye. It shimmered with a mesmerizing golden light as it fixed its gaze on Lie Xu.
"Boom!!!"
The two women's Soul Skills canceled each other out. In the instant before new strength could rise and the old had faded, the shadow moved in a flash, seizing the brief opening. The vertical eye on its forehead released a profound, mysterious wave toward Lie Xu.
Sensing something amiss behind him, Lie Xu immediately activated his Soul Bone domain skill.
"Ten... Thousand..."
But with the attack coming at such close range, Lie Xu had no chance to counter effectively. His Soul Bone domain skill had only just begun to activate when he and Xiao Jiu both fell unconscious.
The enormous beast-shaped shadow opened its gaping maw, snatched Lie Xu up, and turned to leave. At the foot of the towering tree, all that remained was a small beast curled up on the ground...
It had all happened in the blink of an eye.
"No, Brother Xu!!!"
"Little brother!!"
Qian Renxue cried out in anguish and collapsed to the ground.
As Qian Renxue and Chi Yuan cried out, Qian Daoliu and Mighty Lion Douluo appeared in an instant where Lie Xu had vanished.
"How could this happen?"
The two exchanged a stunned look, each seeing disbelief in the other's eyes.
Qian Daoliu moved his hand, and a wave of Soul Power lifted Xiao Jiu gently from beneath the tree.
"Thank goodness. It's still breathing. Xiao Xu should be all right."
Hearing her grandfather say that Lie Xu should be fine, Qian Renxue felt a little reassured. Supported by Chi Yuan, she walked over and gently picked up Xiao Jiu. Then she clutched Qian Daoliu's arm and said through her tears,
"Grandpa, we... we have to hurry and find Brother Xu..."
Qian Daoliu said no more. His Soul Power swirled around Xiao Jiu, and he sensed the faint connection between Xiao Jiu and Lie Xu's soul origin. Pointing toward a direction in the forest, he said, "This way. After them!!!"
At that moment, deep within the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest, in a special space far beneath the Lake of Life, a pair of golden eyes slowly opened.
"It's the Emperor Auspicious Beast. Why did this child suddenly awaken and break through space to leave? Wait, there's a human presence too."
Suddenly, the golden pupils narrowed into thin slits.
"The Emperor Auspicious Beast's aura has disappeared. Who did this? Who???"
The ink-black dragon body writhed incessantly. A wave of an aura far surpassing that of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast burst through the spatial seal and surged upward into the Lake of Life.
"Big brother, someone's entered Star Dou..."
Before the Titan Giant Ape could finish speaking, an overwhelming pressure slammed him and his companion to the ground beside the lake.
A voice, cold to the extreme and filled with murderous intent, rang in their ears.
"Find them. Find the human who took the Emperor Auspicious Beast. Even if you have to turn Star Dou upside down, find them!!!"
The two Soul Beast kings who had ruled over the Lake of Life for tens of thousands of years didn't even dare look at the speaker. Driven by their instinct to survive, they kept their heads down and hurried toward the outer forest...
That day, the once quiet and secluded Star Dou Great Forest erupted into chaos. The two most powerful kings in its core region flew into a rage, driving the Soul Beasts of the inner region ahead of them as they swept toward the outskirts.
"Roar!!!"
"Damn humans! This is all their fault, chasing after some stupid Auspicious Beast!"
The Titan Giant Ape's roar sent an eight-thousand-year-old Soul Beast group encamped ahead fleeing. Still not satisfied, he smashed a towering ancient tree clean in two...
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