Domain of Eternal Love

"That mouth of yours will get you beaten sooner or later." Liu Erlong withdrew her hand and looked back toward the main road ahead.

"I've already been beaten plenty of times." Deng Tianxin rubbed his cheek and muttered under his breath.

Thanks to Bibi Dong, his skin had been rubbed until it was thicker than the corner of a city wall, both in a physical and a metaphorical sense.

"Alright, alright, let's go."

"Mm."

Liu Erlong held Deng Tianxin's hand, and the two headed toward Heaven Dou City.

The sky gradually darkened, and the last sliver of the setting sun was swallowed by the mountain ranges.

Liu Erlong found a wind-sheltered hillside, cleared a patch of ground next to a flat boulder, and gathered some dry wood to start a campfire.

The firelight danced in the darkness, stretching their shadows out long.

Deng Tianxin sat by the fire, took a few bites of dry rations from his storage Soul Tool, and was just about to lean against the rock to nap when he suddenly jolted, sitting bolt upright.

A sense of malice.

This malice felt like a cold needle, piercing his perception range without any warning.

His God of Love Martial Soul was naturally hypersensitive to emotional fluctuations; while this pure predatory desire didn't fall under the category of emotional bonds, the intense malice itself burned like a ball of black fire within his perception.

"Sister Liu." Deng Tianxin put down his dry cake, his voice lowering instinctively.

"Hm?" Liu Erlong was poking the campfire with a stick, not even looking up.

"Something is watching us."

Liu Erlong's poking motion stopped.

She didn't ask if he was sure or if he was just overthinking it; instead, she calmly set the stick down and silently rested her right hand on the hilt of the short sword at her waist.

"How long?" Liu Erlong's voice was very low, audible only to the two of them.

"Not long," Deng Tianxin's small face lacked its usual playful expression. "In my perception, the malice is growing stronger, and it's approaching us."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a fishy wind swept through the forest.

The campfire flickered violently, sparks scattering everywhere as several burning twigs were whipped up by the wind, tumbling in the air before landing on the ground.

Choked by the foul-smelling gust, Deng Tianxin coughed and hurriedly covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve.

Liu Erlong had already stood up abruptly, scanning the surroundings with vigilance.

Dull thuds echoed from deep within the forest, each footstep causing the ground to tremble slightly.

The tree crowns swayed violently, and several night birds perched in the branches shrieked as they took flight, circling in the night sky.

Then, a massive black shadow slowly emerged from the thicket.

It was a black bear of astonishing size.

Even on all fours, its back stood two heads taller than Liu Erlong. Its entire body was covered in a thick, tough layer of dark brown fur, crisscrossed with old scars that looked like a battle record etched into its hide.

Its left eye was a ghastly vertical scar, clearly long since blinded, but the remaining right eye glowed with an eerie, scarlet light, staring straight at the two people by the fire.

The black bear opened its gaping maw, revealing a mouth full of sharp fangs. A thick, bloody stench mixed with the odor of rotting flesh washed over them, and a low, rumbling growl emanated from its throat.

"One-Eyed Violent Bear," Liu Erlong's voice sank. "How could such a powerful soul beast appear here?"

Liu Erlong slowly adjusted her stance, shielding Deng Tianxin behind her. "This guy has at least seven thousand years of cultivation; its strength and defense are terrifying. I'll hold it off, you run."

Bear-type soul beasts were the kind most soul masters hoped never to encounter, primarily because of their immense power; average soul masters simply couldn't beat them.

If they were hunting for a soul ring, that would be a different matter entirely.

Deng Tianxin swallowed hard as he looked at the One-Eyed Violent Bear and said, "It's okay, I can support you."

With that, he activated the Domain of Eternal Love.

A pink-gold light suddenly radiated from beneath Deng Tianxin's feet, spreading a gentle field of light across the hillside, which was flickering in the glow of the campfire.

Countless tiny, heart-shaped light particles floated and swirled within the domain like pink fireflies scattered by the wind, landing on the grass, the stones, and the thick fur of the One-Eyed Violent Bear.

Liu Erlong felt her entire body lighten, her nerves, which had been taut to the breaking point, feeling as though they were being gently stroked by a soft hand.

She subconsciously glanced back at Deng Tianxin, seeing the little one fully focused on maintaining the domain, the dragon horns on his forehead gleaming with a faint luster under the pink-gold light.

Liu Erlong could clearly feel the intense killing intent radiating from the violent bear opposite them dissipating at a visible rate, as if it were being drawn away bit by bit by something.

The scarlet eye of the One-Eyed Violent Bear trembled violently.

Its movements stopped abruptly; the bear paw it had half-raised hung in mid-air, its sharp claws reflecting a soft sheen under the pink-gold light.

It shook its massive head vigorously, a low rumble vibrating in its throat as if it were struggling to dispel some invisible hallucination.

But the more it shook its head, the clearer that feeling became.

The scene before it was changing; standing before it were no longer two intruders to be driven away, but a figure that haunted its dreams.

It was the mother bear killed by a more powerful soul beast years ago. Her fur was exactly the same as his mate's, that same dark brown that shimmered in the moonlight.

They had lived in this forest together for a long time, hunting together, catching fish in the creek, and snuggling for warmth in their den during the winter.

Then she died, dying in a battle over territory. When he arrived, he found only a mess of fur and blood on the ground.

Ever since then, it had never allowed any living creature to approach this territory, driving away all intruders in the most savage manner, as if by guarding this land, it could hold onto everything she had left behind.

And now, she was standing right before it.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear let out a low whimper, the scarlet glow in its single eye fading away entirely, replaced by an emotion Deng Tianxin had never anticipated.

It walked up to Deng Tianxin, lowered its head—which was larger than Deng Tianxin's entire body—and cautiously nudged his face with its wet nose.

Deng Tianxin froze completely.

Before he could react, a tongue as rough as sandpaper scraped across him.

"Hiss—"

Deng Tianxin gasped, leaning back from the force of the lick and nearly falling flat on his back.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear clearly took this as some form of positive response, a glimmer of delight flashing in its single eye.

Then, it extended a massive bear paw, scooped Deng Tianxin up from the ground with a gentle motion, and tucked him into its thick fur as if holding a cub.