Parting

Flying over the town, they saw more and more villages appear. After passing through a long canyon, they spotted a magnificent city in the distance.

It was Suotuo City, known as the "Granary of Barak."

Qingxi looked around the city curiously. Blue Star had no buildings like these; its architecture leaned more toward the style of a city in the sky.

They didn't enter through the city gates. Guang Ling carried Qingxi straight into the city and landed in front of the Spirit Hall Branch.

"Who goes there?" the knights at the main hall entrance shouted, aiming their spears at the pair.

Guang Ling gave a cold snort and flashed his Elder Token.

Recognizing it, the knights at the entrance were startled. They immediately put away their weapons and dropped to one knee. "Greetings, Fifth Consecrate!"

"Mm!" Guang Ling nodded haughtily and led little Qingxi into the branch hall.

The bishop received word and hurried over at once.

"May I ask what brings the Fifth Consecrate here? I'll do everything in my power to carry out your orders." The bishop bowed slightly in greeting. A terrifying chill enveloped him, and a little cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

He had often heard that although Guang Ling Douluo was already eighty years old, he still looked like a child and had never aged, with a child's temperament. But now, it seemed the rumors might not be true.

Guang Ling's face was as cold as frost, his expression stern.

He pulled Qingxi out from behind him, his voice icy and edged with warning. "This child is an orphan. I'm leaving her in your care. Raise her well. Understood?"

"Rest assured, Fifth Consecrate. I'll do everything I can." The bishop was drenched in cold sweat. The pressure on him somehow grew even heavier, and he hurriedly added, "I—I'll raise her as my own daughter!"

"Mm, that's more like it." The corner of Guang Ling's mouth lifted, and he seemed quite pleased.

The bishop felt the weight lift from his body and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"I remember you're an auxiliary medicine Soul Master, skilled in the healing arts. This little one was frightened in the Star Dou Forest and seems a bit dazed. Take a look at her and see if anything's wrong."

Guang Ling's voice rang out above them.

"Yes!" The bishop bowed slightly and looked at the little girl beside Guang Ling.

Her hair and eyes were an exceptionally pure black, as though eternal night had descended. Such an appearance was rare across the entire Douluo Continent. With her fair skin, she looked like a dazzling pearl.

"Be good, little miss. Uncle will have a look at you." The bishop took Qingxi's small hand, then closed his eyes.

Qingxi watched him curiously, feeling a surge of spiritual power pass over her extraordinary meridians.

The bishop slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the girl before him, who seemed only three years old, he knitted his brows. "Her bone age is five and a half. Her meridians are strong, so she's a good candidate for cultivation. It's just that... she may be a little malnourished."

The child was almost six, yet looked only three. Who knew how much she'd suffered to become so tiny?

"Five and a half?" Guang Ling looked at the little one, a trace of barely perceptible heartache flashing in his eyes.

Throughout it all, Qingxi had behaved impeccably.

With her Nascent Soul power under perfect control, and no cultivation system in this world, they could never discover what made her special.

"Take good care of her. I'm entrusting her to you." He ruffled Qingxi's hair, his gaze deep.

"Please rest assured, Fifth Consecrate." The bishop looked at the tiny girl with pity.

Guang Ling crouched down to meet Qingxi's clear, dark eyes, then took a small brocade pouch from his robes and hung it around her neck.

"This Storage Soul Tool is for you. Inside are the clothes and food I bought for you, as well as one of my arrows. If you're ever in danger, take it out. It could save your life."

"What about you? Will you come back?" She gazed at the silver-haired youth before her, her eyes free of sorrow or joy.

"If you awaken your Martial Soul in six months, I'll come get you."

She thought for a moment, then slipped a small hand into her sleeve, as if searching for something.

"Here. This is for you." She opened her little hand, revealing a golden stone.

Guang Ling picked it up and held it to the sunlight. It was quite pretty; he had no idea where the little one had found it.

He didn't reject it. He put the stone into his Soul Tool and ruffled the little girl's head. "You're a good girl. Listen to Bishop Grandpa and eat your meals on time. When I have some free time, I'll come visit you and bring you something tasty."

"Mm..." She watched the youth fly away, then touched the small Soul Tool at her neck.

Even though it wasn't what she wanted, the youth had still made arrangements for her.

"Do you have a name?" Bishop Wenge ruffled Qingxi's hair.

He looked like a middle-aged man in his forties, but was actually almost eighty. He was a level seventy-six auxiliary Soul Saint.

"Qingxi." She glanced coolly at Bishop Wenge, showing little emotion.

"Good. From now on, you're my adopted daughter. You should call me Father, understand?"

"Mm." Qingxi thought for a moment, then hesitantly said, "F-Father."

"What a good child. Now Father will show you around the place where you'll be living. Our Spirit Hall doesn't belong to either the Heaven Dou Empire or the Star Luo Empire. Most of our Soul Masters are commoners or orphans left behind by war."

"Orphans left behind by war..."

"That's right. The two empires have been waging war for years, and countless children have been orphaned in the flames of battle."

Behind the Spirit Hall Branch was a building much like an academy. It had no name, and was filled with children around ten years old or Qingxi's age, alongside a few Soul Masters in white robes who looked like teachers.

"That's right. And the place we're in now is one of the three Spirit Hall Branches in Suotuo City..."

Star Dou Great Forest.

Dugu Yan looked at the big, drooping flower before her and gently poked it. "Master?"

Spirit Hall Branch in Suotuo City.

The dead of night.

Qingxi sat cross-legged on the bed. Her long black hair stirred without a breeze, and a strange spiritual energy enveloped her.

After several great cycles of cultivation, beads of sweat formed on her body, and her brows drew together.

A moment later, she slowly breathed out a mouthful of turbid air. The spiritual energy around her dispersed, and she opened her eyes, black as the night.

Inside her dantian, the inner core that had once been covered in cracks had been refined until not a trace of its former impurities remained. Its shape resembled an infant.

The remnants of the Heavenly Tribulation's power within her had also been expelled, and her cultivation had stabilized at the early Nascent Soul stage.

She got out of bed and walked to the window, looking at the Spirit Hall Branch beneath the night sky. Her brows furrowed slightly.

The next second, she had vanished from the room.

The evening breeze swept into the room. Pages fluttered across the table, and beneath the book lay a sheet of gray rough paper. The ink was still wet, the strokes flowing gently like a winding stream.