Chibi Qian Renxue

After leaving the Sea of Consciousness, Shen Nanxun took a moment to calm his slightly excited emotions.

Going from being a good-for-nothing to someone else entirely had brought a huge shift in his state of mind. Even the most composed person would have found it hard not to get excited.

After all, not everyone was Yu Xiaogang, who could use the A-Q spirit of victory to spin a sugary line like, "There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters," and comfort himself with it, only to never break through level thirty.

When all was said and done, it was nothing more than a loser's philosophy of victory, an art of desperate self-deception.

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. After repeating this several times, his heartbeat finally returned to its normal rhythm.

Now that he thought about it, his Martial Soul was a top-tier version of Huo Kaoyu's. Compared to a Ferocious Beast like the million-year-old Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, Deities were on an entirely different level.

And although each Soul Spirit could only provide him with two Soul Rings, each Soul Spirit was, in a sense, equivalent to a Martial Soul.

Just then, a noise came from the doorway.

Shen Xing stepped inside first, followed closely by a young woman in military uniform. She looked to be in her early twenties and also had pale blue hair. Her appearance bore a six-tenths resemblance to Shen Xing's, though her bearing was more mature and composed.

It was none other than Shen Nanxun and Shen Xing's eldest sister, Shen Yue.

At just twenty-six, she had already been exceptionally appointed deputy commander of the North Sea Legion. Of course, in addition to her own excellence, this was also thanks to their father, a well-connected patron who had pulled strings behind the scenes.

One phone call to military headquarters had done it.

"Big sister."

Shen Nanxun called out obediently.

He wouldn't dare do otherwise. Shen Yue was very good to him in everyday life, but she was also very strict. That might have had something to do with her being in the military.

Shen Yue gave a slight nod, her eyes full of affection. She hurried to the bedside and asked, "Xun, how are you feeling? Have you recovered? Is anything still bothering you?"

"A little."

"Hmm? What's bothering you?"

"Uh... Second sister pinched me too hard."

"..."

Shen Xing gave an awkward little cough. She had been too excited. The moment she came into the room, she had rushed over and grabbed Shen Nanxun by the arm. She had only used a tiny, tiny bit of force.

Only after confirming that Shen Nanxun was unharmed did Shen Yue ask about what had happened.

"Xun, before you passed out that day, did you see what those two Evil Soul Masters were doing?"

"No. I fainted as soon as I saw them." Shen Nanxun shook his head, but he knew perfectly well that Qian Renxue must have dealt with those two Evil Soul Masters that day.

What he didn't understand was why Evil Soul Masters had attacked him in the first place. And why in the outskirts, not far from the North Sea Legion's base?

"Mm." Shen Yue only murmured in response. She didn't seem surprised by his answer, and she didn't press him for details.

Something stirred in Shen Nanxun's heart.

There were two possible reasons Big sister hadn't asked more. Either she had already reached her own conclusions and didn't need to question a six-year-old, or she knew things he didn't and had only asked to confirm something.

Either way, it meant Shen Yue knew more about the attack than he had thought.

Shen Yue pulled over the chair by the bed and sat down, her military uniform's shoulders squared to perfection. She reached out and gently tucked the blanket around Shen Nanxun, a tender gesture utterly unlike the way she gave orders at headquarters. Seeing this, Shen Xing also brought over a chair and sat on the other side. The sisters sat one to either side, hemming the hospital bed in.

"Don't worry," Shen Yue reassured him. "Based on our assessment, the Evil Soul Masters didn't have any particular goal in mind. It seems more like a chance attack."

"Xun, I hope you won't dwell on your Martial Soul or feel anxious about it." Unlike her usual stern self, Shen Yue spoke with great gentleness and earnestness. "No matter what your talent is, and no matter whether we share the same blood, you will always be our little brother. That will never change."

In truth, Shen Nanxun wasn't the Shen Family's biological child. They had found him. It sounded like an old cliché, and that was exactly what it was.

Six years ago, Father and Mother had found a one-year-old child by the seaside. The child was unusual, surrounded by a colorful halo that never faded. That child was Shen Nanxun.

Aside from the jade pendant he wore, he had nothing else on him.

"Me too, me too!" Shen Xing hurried to pledge her loyalty as well.

Feeling the warmth of his two sisters, Shen Nanxun knew full well how they felt about him. As for his Martial Soul, he didn't intend to hide too much. Some things would have to come out sooner or later.

"Big sister, Second sister, actually, my Martial Soul has already awakened."

"What?"

The two sisters exchanged a glance, undisguised shock in their eyes.

"Xun, are you sure?" Shen Yue's voice dropped very low, and there was a note of gravity in it. "Martial Soul Awakening is a serious matter. You can't joke about it."

Shen Xing leaned closer, her pale blue hair almost trailing onto the bedsheet. She took Shen Nanxun's hand, her icy blue eyes full of anticipation and her fingers trembling slightly. "Xun, you... you really awakened your Martial Soul? What is it? Can you eat it?"

"No, no, wait. Can you play with it?"

"Ah! I got it wrong again."

Shen Xing was so flustered that she was stumbling over her words, while Shen Yue wore an exasperated expression, though her eyes were full of hope.

He was the one with two levels of Soul Power who hadn't awakened a Martial Soul, yet his two sisters were the ones who were most anxious. They might not be related by blood, but their familial bond still surpassed blood ties.

Shen Nanxun said no more. He gently closed his eyes and, for the first time, felt the power that Qian Renxue, the Angel God, had given him. He still hadn't reached level ten and couldn't add his first Soul Ring, but she had already become his Soul Spirit.

He could at least manage a simple Martial Soul Possession and use a portion of her power.

Deep within his consciousness, the golden light suddenly brightened. Immediately afterward, a power he had never felt before surged from his heart, climbed along his spine, passed through his shoulder blades, and gathered on both sides of his back.

From beneath the thin hospital gown, two golden beams of light slowly stretched out and then gathered into a pair of golden wings.

At the same time, a mark appeared on Shen Nanxun's forehead.

It was a pair of outstretched golden wings.

Even his black eyes shone with brilliant golden light.

"This is..." Shen Yue straightened up, her eyes full of astonishment. She thought of the Angel Clan in the Southern Legion. The Angel Martial Soul seemed to look just like this.

"So pretty!" Shen Xing's blue eyes sparkled. She had a very different point of focus.

"My Martial Soul is..." Shen Nanxun hesitated over what to call it. Saying his Martial Soul was a Soul Spirit felt rather inconceivable. But calling it an Angel Martial Soul wasn't quite right either, since that was only one of his powers.

"Thousand Forms!"

Just then, a voice sounded in the depths of his mind.

"The Thousand Forms Martial Soul. A thousand changes, without form or appearance. What you possess has never been a fixed Martial Soul, but the embodiment of our powers. The angel form is only one of them."

Shen Nanxun opened his eyes. His golden pupils shone brilliantly in the dim hospital room.

"My Martial Soul is called Thousand Forms."

"Thousand Forms?" Shen Yue searched her memory for the name, but she couldn't recall ever hearing it.

"Innate Soul Power of two levels, a Martial Soul awakened after birth, and a unique, special Martial Soul."

Taken together, these details were enough to show that Shen Nanxun's Martial Soul was anything but ordinary.

"It probably means I can wield several different kinds of power, which is why it's called Thousand Forms."

Shen Nanxun gave a brief, rough explanation.

"Then, besides this power, are there others?"

"I'm not too sure myself yet."

"That's all right. Awakening a Martial Soul is good news. As your Soul Power grows, you'll learn more little by little," Shen Yue said. "I'll get someone to look into this Martial Soul later."

"By the way, Xun... Father has made some progress regarding your origins. Someone may come to see you in a few days."

Shen Nanxun didn't pay it much mind. The Shen Family was more than enough for him. Their bond was impossible to sever, and, practically speaking, the Shen Family held a high position in the Federation and could provide all the resources he needed to cultivate as a Soul Master.

The Shen sisters chatted with her a little longer before leaving one after the other, telling him to get some rest.

The room fell quiet again.

But Shen Nanxun had no desire to rest. His brows furrowed slightly as he asked inwardly, "Sister Xue, why does it feel like something was off about those two Evil Soul Masters attacking me? It seems like they were after me from the very beginning."

He recalled what the two Evil Soul Masters had said at the time. He had been too tense to think it through then, but now that he had a chance to reflect, something didn't sit right.

"No need to doubt it. They were."

Qian Renxue's voice rang out deep in his consciousness, as cool as ever.

As soon as she finished speaking, the golden wing mark on Shen Nanxun's forehead suddenly appeared of its own accord and flashed once. A ball of light detached itself from his brow and slowly took shape in the air before him.

The light faded.

A tiny figure appeared before Shen Nanxun's eyes.

It was a miniature Qian Renxue, no bigger than his palm.

She was so tiny she could sit in Shen Nanxun's palm. Her flowing golden hair had been cut to shoulder length and loosely tied into a small ponytail at the back, the ends curling up slightly. Her six golden wings had shrunk into six tiny little wings. Scaled down to her size, the sacred, imposing wings now looked rather like the thin wings of a dragonfly.

Her plain white palace dress had become a simple little skirt that barely reached her knees, revealing a small stretch of legs in white ankle boots.

Most captivating of all was her face.

It was still a miniature version of Qian Renxue's, with features as delicate as a porcelain doll, but the lines were much softer than those of her full-sized form. Her purple eyes were still as clear as crystal, but their enlarged proportions made them rounder and bigger. They had lost some of their cool aloofness and gained a soft, clingy sweetness.

She pressed her lips together slightly, folded her arms across her chest, and held her little legs together as they dangled in the air, her tiny wings fluttering to keep her aloft.

Though she was a miniature version of the same person, her bearing was completely different. The full-sized Qian Renxue was a god, high above all others, someone no one dared look at directly. This chibi Qian Renxue was like a golden cloud shrunk countless times over, making Shen Nanxun want to reach out and poke her.

Shen Nanxun was stunned.

He instinctively opened his right hand, and the tiny Qian Renxue flapped her little wings and slowly descended into his palm.

After landing, she even took pains to straighten her skirt before raising her head to look at Shen Nanxun with those big, round purple eyes.

"This conserves Soul Power." She spoke in Qian Renxue's voice, though her smaller body made it just a little higher-pitched, with a soft, childlike lilt beneath its coolness. "Your pitiful amount of Soul Power can't sustain my full form for long."

Shen Nanxun stared at the little figure in his palm and fell silent for a moment.

"Sister Xue."

"Hmm?"

"You look..." Shen Nanxun carefully considered his words. "A little cute."

Not just cute. If he punched this version of Qian Renxue, she'd probably cry for ages.

He really wanted to bully her...

Chibi Qian Renxue's little wings suddenly stiffened, and then she bristled all over. "Don't call me cute!"

She was the Angel God, sacred and noble. What in the world did cute mean?

"Okay." Shen Nanxun forcibly suppressed the urge to pinch Qian Renxue's little cheeks and sat up straight. "Please continue, Sister Xue."

Qian Renxue shot him a wary look before speaking. "As your Soul Spirits, even when we're asleep, we still possess ample divinity. This subtly influences you. The stronger a Soul Master is, the more sensitive they are to your aura. Soul Masters whose power attributes are similar to ours can sense it even more clearly."

"For example, with my Six-Winged Angel, anyone who possesses an Angel Martial Soul will be more drawn to you when they see you. The others are the same, even if their Martial Souls haven't awakened."

Shen Nanxun's expression turned strange. This meant that in this age, when the Deities had vanished, he seemed to have become the only...

Tang Monk's flesh!

Douling Continent.

Inside the stately, solemn imperial palace, the current emperor of the Dou Ling Empire, Xue Yuntian, stood before the throne with his eyes closed, his aura restrained and steady.

"Is there still no news?"

The attendant stepped forward with a bow and said quietly, "Your Majesty, there's still nothing."

"Five years, and still not a single clue." Xue Yuntian slowly opened his eyes, and his aura turned several shades colder.

Ever since the royal coup five years ago, when a fire had broken out in the Third Prince's residence, everyone else had been executed. But the youngest child, who had only just been born, had disappeared without a trace.

Now the matter had become a thorn in his heart, impossible to pull out.

The attendant said quietly, "Your Majesty, it seems most likely that the child is no longer within the empire."

"That's precisely what makes this so troublesome."

Xue Yuntian sighed. Even as the emperor of the Dou Ling Empire, he could only turn the world upside down within this continent. It was simply impossible for him to meddle in the affairs of the other two continents.

Send people to search?

That would be no different from trying to find a needle in the ocean.

The attendant wasn't so worried. He reminded him, "Your Majesty needn't fret. Even if the child grows powerful someday, there's no need to worry. The Third Princess Consort is still in our hands. We can use her to hold the child hostage then, and they'll have no choice but to obey."

Xue Yuntian said nothing. The attendant tactfully withdrew, and soon he was the only one left standing in the palace.

"Wildfire never dies; when spring winds blow, it rises again..."