Four Years, Changes in the Two of Them

"What are you being polite for? I'm your brother!" Zhao Linchuan grinned even more brightly, looking entirely unrepentant.

Xiao Wu rolled her eyes at him, hard enough that her head tilted along with them.

Then, her eyes darted around as she cautiously asked,

"Brother, if I successfully condense a thousand-year second ring, can I play with that 'toy' again?"

The smile on Zhao Linchuan's face instantly froze.

"Didn't I explain it to you?" Black lines formed across his forehead, and the veins at his temples throbbed twice. "Is that something you can play with?"

"But... according to what you said, I've already become your child bride..."

Xiao Wu twisted her hands together, all ten fingers tangled up.

"What's wrong with playing with a toy... Worst case, I'll let you play with mine too..."

"What did you say?! Say that again!" Zhao Linchuan's face darkened even further.

"N-Nothing..."

Xiao Wu secretly glanced at his expression, and her heart skipped a beat. She had a bad feeling about this.

That familiar warning signal from her instincts flashed frantically in her mind—run!

She instinctively backed up two steps, spun around, and bolted.

"Brother! I'm going to condense my Soul Ring!"

"Stand guard for me outside! See you later!"

Her voice was still echoing through the courtyard when she had already darted into the inner room and slammed the door shut with a bang.

"You'd better not come out for the rest of your life...!"

In the blink of an eye, another four summers passed.

The jujube tree in the courtyard had long since grown taller than the roof. Its dense canopy spread a vast patch of shade in summer, while the cicadas cried louder with every passing year.

The morning glories on the fence bloomed wave after wave, the moss by the wall grew thicker and thicker, and even the hinges on the wooden gate had been worn smooth and rounded by time.

Over those four years, Zhao Linchuan had secretly made a fortune selling a pill called "Wild Donkey Is Not As Good As Me."

Though the name of the pill was laughably crude, its effects were genuinely astonishing.

After taking it, one could become as strong as a wild donkey for two hours without any side effects, earning widespread praise from its users.

He had not sold it through legitimate apothecaries. Instead, he released small batches through the black market, never enough at once to draw attention.

Over four years, "Wild Donkey Is Not As Good As Me" had earned him more than a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.

And because Zhao Linchuan spared no expense on her, Xiao Wu's life had only grown more and more comfortable.

She ate and drank only the best, and nothing she wore or used was ever cheap. She even added a few drops of Hundred Flower Essential Oil shipped from the north into her bathwater.

Her body shot up like willow branches in spring—full where it should be full, curved where it should be curved, slender where it should be slender. When she walked, her waist swayed lightly like a spring breeze brushing across a lake.

Not only had she grown into a graceful young woman, but the attack techniques she had learned from Zhao Linchuan had also steadily improved. Her Soul Power Level had reached the terrifying level of thirty-six.

That was more than six levels higher than she had been at this point in the original timeline.

Her Soul Ring configuration was even more outrageous: yellow, purple, purple.

In the current Douluo Continent, excluding Soul Masters who had received divine trials and been enhanced by them, she was the only Soul Master besides Zhao Linchuan to possess a thousand-year second ring.

That configuration alone was enough to make those sect disciples who called themselves geniuses hang their heads in shame.

Yet compared to Xiao Wu, Zhao Linchuan's Soul Rings were even more absurd, to the point of being incomprehensible.

His third Soul Ring was directly a black ten-thousand-year Soul Ring!

And the process of obtaining it had been unbelievably easy—so easy that even Zhao Linchuan himself found it unreal.

That day, as he wandered through Sunset Forest, he came across a grievously wounded, dying ten-thousand-year Soul Beast lying beneath an old tree, like a cake carefully placed by the roadside, waiting for him to take it.

The same went for his fourth and fifth Soul Rings.

Either he encountered a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast that happened to be on the verge of death, or he somehow stumbled into an enormous bargain through a bizarre twist of fate.

His luck was so good that he began to wonder whether he was the chosen son of fate. Whenever he walked, he would lower his head to see if any Gold Soul Coins had fallen onto the ground.

After absorbing his fifth Soul Ring, his Soul Power Level had reached the shocking level of fifty-three!

Level fifty-three at the age of twelve—this was an astonishing level that absolutely should not have appeared in a Soul Master his age on this continent!

Those so-called peerless geniuses, Innate Full Soul Power, Twin Martial Souls, sect heirs—they were not even worthy of carrying his shoes!

It was worth mentioning that his fifth Soul Ring had come from a Moon-Chasing Silver Fox with an age of fifty thousand years.

This Soul Beast's Soul Ring had not granted him a powerful Soul Skill. Instead, it gave him a second domain skill—Heaven and Earth Loss of Color.

Moreover, this domain differed somewhat from other domains. Besides suppressing an enemy's strength, it could also deprive them of their five senses for a short period of time.

This domain could also receive a certain degree of enhancement at night according to the phases of the moon.

When used under a full moon, it could directly increase the domain's overall power by as much as fifty percent!

At that moment, Zhao Linchuan was lying in an old man's recliner in the courtyard, squinting at the sky above, fragmented by the jujube leaves.

One foot rested over the other, his hands folded atop his stomach. He looked like a carefree tabby cat, utterly relaxed and content.

"Brother, I'm back!"

Xiao Wu's clear voice came from outside the courtyard.

"Creak—"

The wooden gate was pushed open. Xiao Wu walked in with a small shoulder bag on her shoulder, her steps light as she said happily,

"I saw so many fun things at the market today. It was really interesting!"

"Didn't you go sell watermelons?" Zhao Linchuan opened his eyes, his gaze settling on her graceful figure. His voice was lazy as he asked, "Did you make any money?"

"I did!"

At the mention of it, Xiao Wu smiled even more happily.

"I sold two Silver Soul Coins' worth today!"

"I used the money to buy five pounds of pork ribs. I'll braise ribs for you at noon!"

"Alright, my Xiao Wu is capable now. You can even earn money." Zhao Linchuan teased her before continuing, "After lunch, pack up. You're coming with me on a long trip."

"How far?" Xiao Wu asked casually.

She took off her shoulder bag and hung it over the back of a chair, then removed the five pounds of ribs from the Storage Soul Tool on her hand.

"Should we bring more clothes or something?"

"Quite far." There was a trace of melancholy in Zhao Linchuan's voice. "Bring everything you can. We may not return here for a while."

"This afternoon, we'll do a thorough cleaning and tidy up the house properly before we leave."