Chapter 6

Spirit City.

Guang Ling sat at the highest point of Spirit Hall, his feet swinging rhythmically as he toyed with an oval-shaped golden stone in his right hand.

He held it up to the sun, watching as the changing angles refracted different rays of light.

He wondered if that little one was settling in well in Soto City.

"Guang Ling." Qingluan walked to the edge of the balcony and sat down beside him.

"Third Brother." Guang Ling tilted his head and smiled.

"Why do I get the feeling you've been a bit unhappy since you got back?" He looked at the eighty-year-old man with a baby face beside him, his sword-like brows slightly furrowed.

"I don't think so." Guang Ling lowered his head and swung his feet.

"Thinking about that little radish? She is quite cute. If you like her, you could bring her back to raise as your own," Qingluan suggested after a moment of thought.

"That is also Big Brother's intention. The Young Master is all alone; he would likely be happy to have someone of his own age around."

In their Elder Hall, aside from the Great Protector, the Second Brother, and the Fourth, the rest were just a bunch of rough men.

Guang Ling was the best-looking among them, but unfortunately, his temperament was like a child's, and he was completely oblivious to matters of the heart.

The Young Master was the only child in the entire Elder Hall, so it was inevitable that he would be lonely. As for the children in the Pope Hall, they weren't close due to Bibi Dong.

Raising another child would be quite nice; two little girls would have more in common.

"A child?"

Guang Ling tilted his head, and the image of a little baby tugging at his pant leg and calling him "Daddy" involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

Then, a few years later, a graceful young girl appeared, dragging a two-meter-tall muscular man before him.

"Daddy, this is my boyfriend."

"Father-in-law!"

"No, no, no..." Guang Ling shook his head, so terrified that he tumbled right off the balcony.

What kind of nightmare was that?

"Heh..." Qingluan couldn't help but laugh as he watched the "child" tumble down.

Seeing his distraught expression, he had no idea what kind of scenario the man had been imagining.

After a while, Guang Ling wobbled his way back up, flying through the air.

"Third Brother, stop joking. I'm never going to raise a child in this lifetime."

He was still a child himself.

And Third Brother actually wanted him to raise a kid.

What a joke!

Qingluan chuckled from the side, "Fine, we won't raise one. Our Fifth Brother is still just a child himself."

"Hmph!" Guang Ling snorted, lifting his chin in a haughty manner before adding, "But I did promise the little girl that if she awakens her spirit in half a year, I'll go pick her up."

"Pfft..." Qingluan couldn't help but scoff. So, the Fifth Brother really did intend to raise a child!

"What is this? Gold?" Qingluan picked up the small golden stone left on the balcony to examine it.

"Oh, that?" Guang Ling glanced at it indifferently. "It's a gift from the Little Gold-Swallowing Beast."

"Little Gold-Swallowing Beast?"

What kind of spirit beast was that?

Guang Ling dangled his small feet, gazing out at the sea of clouds stretching for ten thousand miles. "That's right, a Little Gold-Swallowing Beast that can eat an incredible amount."

It had been several days since they parted; he wondered if Bishop Wenge had been eaten into poverty by her yet.

"What are you two chatting about?" A deep voice sounded from behind them. Qian Daoliu walked out from the corridor, draped in a golden robe.

"Big Brother!" The two jumped down from the balcony and bowed slightly in greeting.

"Hmm." Qian Daoliu nodded, his gaze landing on Guang Ling. "If you like that child, you are welcome to bring her back to raise."

Qian Daoliu had noticed Guang Ling's unhappiness over the past few days.

In Qian Daoliu's mind, the Fifth Brother was likely feeling the urge to be a grandfather.

Thinking of his own soft and adorable granddaughter, who was both clingy and sensible, Qian Daoliu felt deeply gratified.

"Big Brother!" Guang Ling stomped his foot in anger.

Don't think he didn't understand what Big Brother meant.

Qingluan burst into laughter, chiming in from the side, "Exactly, our Spirit Hall can certainly afford to raise one."

Guang Ling glared at him. "I'm done talking to you both! I'm going into seclusion!!"

Watching the furious "child," Qian Daoliu and Qingluan exchanged a look and laughed in unison.

Six years later.

In those six years, the continent had undergone earth-shattering changes, the most conspicuous of which was...

It was Spirit Hall that introduced a special method of refinement. Although the process was painful, through this refinement, even the physique of an ordinary person could be greatly improved, and the price was cheap—commoners only needed one silver soul coin.

Sunset Forest, located in the center of the Heaven Dou Empire, was one of the empire's properties; most of those who could enter to hunt soul beasts were people of status.

The terrain in the forest was complex, surrounded by towering ancient trees, and most of the various soul beasts were under ten thousand years old, making it a relatively safe soul beast forest.

A black figure flew over the jungle and finally stopped in front of a mountain range.

Thick poisonous gas obscured the true face of the mountains, yet the figure seemed not to notice, lifting a foot to step into the toxic mist.

The woman wore a black hooded cloak, her long, jet-black hair simply tied behind her, a lotus flower adorning her forehead, and her fair face featured eyes like obsidian, clear and gentle.

She looked slightly travel-worn.

"In the blink of an eye, six years have passed." The woman raised her hand to catch a falling leaf, her eyes gentle.

In these six years, she had traveled to every corner of the world. The ocean's area was nearly nine times that of the land, and she had also seen some floating continents where spiritual energy was thin, the customs were barbaric, and civilization was low, still needing the baptism of time; among them, the Douluo Continent was the most vast.

This was a spherical planet like her hometown. She flew fifty thousand miles upward without seeing the galaxy, and this was already the highest point she could reach.

Finally, she returned to this land, her cultivation stagnant at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.

Qingxi slowly pulled up her hood, covering her face as she walked into the cave.

The Ice and Fire Spirit Pool remained the same as it had been, though the spiritual flowers and grasses around it had aged significantly, with many having already entered the ten-thousand-year realm.

On the stone wall to the side, a wooden sign hung crookedly, with the eight characters "Private territory, trespassers will be beaten to death" written on it.

Surrounded by spiritual grass, in the center, was a one-meter-tall red lotus, already in its mature stage, full of vitality, silently absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

As she approached the Strange Flower, a green shadow darted out instantly, baring its fangs as it lunged at her.

Qingxi raised her hand and grabbed the Little Green Snake by its seven inches; the next second, two fangs bit into the back of her hand, injecting venom.

She couldn't help but laugh, "Haven't seen you in a few years, don't you recognize me?"

The fierce light in the Little Green Snake's eyes vanished, and it blinked, looking at the sneaky person before it.

Seeming to recognize her, it retracted its fangs and gave a fawning lick to the wound on the back of Qingxi's hand.

"Ha..." She chuckled softly, using her spiritual energy to expel the toxin, then produced another hand to tap the Little Green Snake on the head, "You little thing, if I were an ordinary person, wouldn't I have been poisoned to death by you?"

The Little Green Snake rubbed against her docilely. Horns had already grown on its forehead, and four small bumps on its belly were bulging, showing the embryonic form of a dragon.

The person and the snake sat down before the flower. She placed her hand on the sachet at her waist, took out a few spirit stones, and set up a small spirit-gathering array around the Strange Flower.

These spirit stones were from a spirit stone mountain range she had discovered in a mountain range south of the Douluo Continent, and she had plucked quite a few to store in her storage bag.

In an instant, the surrounding spiritual energy surged toward the Strange Flower.

Qingxi brushed the dust off her robe, looking at the clear features and blood vessels visible on her skin; this was already a body identical to a human's.

She teased the Little Green Snake for a while, condensed a drop of essence to feed it, and placed it on the Strange Flower, "Little thing, with the spirit-gathering array, you can cultivate faster. Strive to become a dragon soon."

She stood up and walked to the edge of the Ice and Fire Spirit Pool. Just as she was about to undress for a bath, she suddenly sensed a fluctuation of spiritual energy behind her.

Qingxi dodged with a teleportation. She looked up to see that the spot where she had just been was struck by several wind blades that missed their mark and hit the opposite stone wall, causing rocks to tumble.

The grass and flowers under her feet grew wildly in an instant, entangling her hands and feet.

"Fourth Soul Skill—Snake Venom Pierce!"

Watching the hundreds of green poisonous needles shooting from mid-air, Qingxi withdrew the spiritual energy in her hand, the corners of her mouth curling upward.