Douluo Continent, Heaven Dou Empire, Sunset Forest.
The ancient forest blotted out the sky. Beneath the shadows of the dense woods, a young man stood off against a Soul Beast.
"I'm done for. That's a Ten-Thousand-Year Death Demon Spider. I'm only level thirty—how could I possibly beat it?"
The young man was named Ling Feng. He didn't dare move, afraid of provoking the Ten-Thousand-Year Death Demon Spider into attacking.
One man and one beast stared each other down. Ling Feng didn't run, and the Death Demon Spider didn't attack.
But the deathly aura radiating from its body made Ling Feng feel uncomfortable.
What Ling Feng didn't know was that the Death Demon Spider was just as bewildered.
"What's going on? Wasn't I dead? Why am I in Sunset Forest, and why have I become a Death Demon Spider?"
"Could it be because my Second Martial Soul was the Death Spider Emperor, giving me the chance to be reborn as a Death Demon Spider?"
"But I, Bibi Dong, was the dignified empress of the Spirit Hall Empire and a vessel of the Rakshasa God. How could I have become a Soul Beast? Fate really does play cruel tricks!"
Though she was the Rakshasa God, she had been born human, and humans were enemies of Soul Beasts.
In her previous life, she had killed so many Soul Beasts. Yet in this life, she had been reborn as one?
"I wonder what year it is in the Douluo Calendar, and how long I've been dead. Is Xiao Xue still alive? Is she doing well?"
Bibi Dong looked at the young man nearby, only to see him shiver.
It couldn't be helped. In this lightless ancient forest, the Death Demon Spider's several glowing green eyes were terrifying.
Bibi Dong was about to ask him a question, but then realized that in her current Soul Beast form, she couldn't speak. She could only communicate through her spiritual power.
But the young man was only a level-thirty quasi-Soul Elder. His spiritual power wasn't strong enough to communicate with her from a distance.
With no other choice, Bibi Dong had to find another way to communicate with the young man before her.
Deathly aura poured from the Death Demon Spider. The plants around it slowly withered beneath the green poisonous mist.
Ling Feng suddenly saw the Death Demon Spider move. His heart jumped. "I'm done for. It's finally attacking!"
He prepared to fight to the death, but then saw the Death Demon Spider use its spear-like legs to scratch a few marks into the ground.
"What's it doing?"
Ling Feng took a closer look and saw several words beneath the Death Demon Spider's feet.
"Human, what year is it in the Douluo Calendar?"
Ling Feng was stunned. "It's communicating with me? It even knows human writing? Has this spider become a spirit?"
He knew that the intelligence of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was already comparable to a human's.
But this was his first time seeing a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast write on the ground. He'd never even heard of such a thing before.
"If I tell you, will you let me go?" Ling Feng asked.
"Do you think I, Bibi Dong, am the sort of person who slaughters the innocent?"
Bibi Dong was deeply annoyed, but she still waved a spider leg to show that she agreed.
Ling Feng breathed a sigh of relief and answered, "It's the year 2612 of the Douluo Calendar!"
"The year 2612? How is that possible? When I died, it was already the year 2655!"
"Could I have been reborn forty-three years in the past?"
After learning this, Bibi Dong could no longer stand the slow method of communicating through writing.
She suddenly rushed toward Ling Feng, startling him.
"Didn't you promise to let me go?" Ling Feng shouted.
But his words weren't a Soul Skill. They couldn't stop the Death Demon Spider from charging toward him.
By the time Ling Feng finished speaking, the green fuzz on the Death Demon Spider's body was almost touching his face.
The green hairs were like rows of poisoned steel needles. If they pricked him, Ling Feng would surely die.
In her previous life, Bibi Dong had cultivated the Death Spider Emperor Martial Soul to god level, so she could control a spider's body with exquisite precision.
Just before she reached Ling Feng, she used her power to erase the fuzz between her brows and pressed her forehead against his.
Ling Feng had only just realized what was happening and was about to run when he heard a voice in his mind.
"You said it's the year 2612 of the Douluo Calendar. Is that true?"
It was a majestic woman's voice. Ling Feng could hardly believe it had come from a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
What a scare.
Ling Feng fought down his disgust at having his forehead pressed against a Soul Beast and breathed a sigh of relief. "It's true!"
"Then who is the current Pope of Spirit Hall?" Bibi Dong asked again.
Ling Feng answered, "I think it's Qian Xunji!"
Normally, a Soul Master of his level wouldn't have access to that kind of information unless he came from Spirit Hall.
But Ling Feng had another identity: he was a transmigrator. In his previous life, he had been a person from Earth and had read Douluo Continent.
So he knew some secrets.
"Is the Pope still my teacher? Then I must be just seventeen years old now?"
"Wonderful!" Bibi Dong was beside herself with excitement.
That year, Yu Xiaogang had only just been expelled from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. They hadn't fallen in love yet, and her teacher hadn't assaulted her.
None of the tragedies had happened yet.
She still had a chance to prevent them all.
"But right now, I'm only a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!"
Bibi Dong knew full well that if she left Sunset Forest now, human Soul Masters would surely kill her.
Even if she somehow made it to the outskirts of Spirit City, she couldn't enter the city to save her present self.
The only way to leave Sunset Forest was to cultivate for a hundred thousand years and then transform into a human.
After transforming, she would still need to enter her mature phase. Only then would no one be able to see through her true form, giving her a chance to enter Spirit City.
"Even if I use the Rakshasa Power to cultivate by devouring other Soul Beasts, I won't have enough time to reach a hundred thousand years and save myself!"
Just then, she suddenly sensed that the young man before her had a Demon Spider for his Martial Soul.
"Got it!" Bibi Dong suddenly thought of a plan.
"Human, do you want to live?" Bibi Dong asked in a threatening tone.
Ling Feng said, "Of course I do!"
"Good. Then agree to one thing, and I'll not only let you go, I can also offer you my Soul Ring. How about it?"
"What? Offer it to me?" Ling Feng was stunned.
"That's right. I'll offer you my Soul Ring, and I have a way to keep my mind intact. I can even teach you how to cultivate."
"Your Martial Soul is only an ordinary Demon Spider. I can teach you to cultivate it into a Death Demon Spider, or even a Death Spider Emperor!"
"You don't need to worry that I'll hurt you, either."
"Once I become your Soul Ring, your fortunes and mine will be bound together. If you suffer, I suffer. Hurting you would mean hurting myself."
What was there to hesitate about?
Afraid that the Death Demon Spider might change its mind, Ling Feng hurriedly agreed. "Fine, I agree!"
Bibi Dong worried that after offering herself, she might fall asleep for a while, so she stated her conditions in advance.
"After I offer myself to you, I want you to go to Spirit City, join Spirit Hall, and find a chance to get close to the Pope's disciple, Bibi Dong."
"Once you're close to Bibi Dong, persuade her to leave Spirit Hall as soon as possible and go out to gain experience."