A Fateful Duel Between Support Soul Masters! Please Follow! Please Vote!

"Look, Soft Bone Rabbit Marrow. Brewed into medicine and drunk, it strengthened bones and nourished the marrow. It was the core ingredient in Mom's Black Jade Bone-Breaking Paste."

In the main pharmacy behind the Suspended Pot Medical Center, Chen Hong crouched amid medicinal ingredients scattered across the floor, holding a finger-sized piece of bone as he explained it to the curious Ye Lingling beside him.

"Bones can be used as medicine too? Brother Hong, you're amazing! Not only do you know so many metals, you can even explain every kind of medicinal ingredient here so clearly!" Ye Lingling bent down and crouched beside Chen Hong, her heart filled with surprise as she looked over the strange ingredients covering the ground.

Still, she was curious, so she asked Chen Hong in her soft voice, "Brother Hong, if a patient breaks a bone, shouldn't the best solution be to find a Healing Soul Master?"

Chen Hong picked up a long Soft Bone Rabbit leg bone from the floor and lightly tapped Ye Lingling on the head three times.

"Ow! Brother Hong, why are you hitting Lingling?" The little girl clutched her head and squatted on the floor, looking up at Chen Hong with aggrieved, watery purple eyes.

Ye Lingling: aggrieved, pitiful, helpless, but able to eat.

Chen Hong tossed the leg bone aside and said to Ye Lingling, "In the dead of night... Ptooey, ptooey! I was just knocking some sense into that waterlogged brain of yours. Didn't I just say it? Healing Soul Masters were rare. Patients couldn't just run into one whenever they needed one, so wasn't that exactly when Black Jade Bone-Breaking Paste showed its worth?"

"And not every Healing Soul Master could heal all of someone's injuries the way your Nine Heart Begonia could. Most Healing Soul Masters could only stimulate the injured person's vitality and let them slowly recover through their own healing ability. At times like that, Black Jade Bone-Breaking Paste could still play an important role. Healing soul skills healed the injured from within, while Black Jade Bone-Breaking Paste healed them from without. With both working together, the injured could recover quickly."

"Isn't that much better than relying on a Soul Master's healing alone?"

Ye Lingling held her head in both hands and squatted there miserably. "But you still shouldn't knock Lingling on the head. What if you knock me stupid? Mom already says I'm not smart."

Chen Hong rolled his eyes and scratched his head. "I only tapped you lightly. You could've dodged. What Soul Power Level are you at now? If you're unhappy, you can argue with me or teach me a lesson!"

"You know, you have to resist. You need a spirit of resistance. Next time your mom says you're dumb, resist her too. You can't just take unfair treatment for no reason."

"I'm Level 18," Ye Lingling said weakly from where she crouched.

"Where there is oppression, there is resistance. If my mom scolds me, I'd definitely talk back—wait! What level did you say you were?" Chen Hong, who had been about to continue lecturing, suddenly froze. Then he instinctively leaped backward and warily watched Ye Lingling slowly rise to her feet. "You're Level 18?!"

"Mm. I just reached Level 18 this year." Ye Lingling lowered her head and picked up a large bone from the ground.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" Chen Hong abruptly grabbed a bamboo pole from the floor and pointed it at the silent, head-lowered Ye Lingling like a sword. He earnestly advised, "Bullying the weak—no! Bullying your brother is wrong, you know!"

"But... didn't Brother Hong say Lingling needed to learn how to resist?" Ye Lingling lifted her head, her beautiful light-purple eyes glistening as she looked at Chen Hong.

"Or does someone as smart as Brother Hong also want Lingling to keep being obedient forever?" Ye Lingling's tone was low and melancholy, while a faint mist clouded her light-purple eyes.

"You..." Chen Hong wanted to say something more, but the moment his gaze met Ye Lingling's purple eyes, he suddenly froze.

Did Ye Lingling really understand nothing?

If Ye Lingling understood nothing, why did Ning Lu think everyone in this world matured far too early?

If ten-year-old Ye Lingling understood nothing, why were all those little brats around ten years old in the Martial Soul Schools of those towns already competing over love and jealousy? Why did this damn Douluo Continent have a reputation as Early Romance Continent?

So... Ye Lingling actually understood everything. Perhaps she did not understand many things deeply, but she at least understood the situation she currently faced.

But did Ye Lingling of the Nine Heart Begonia have the ability to resist?

Ever since Ye Lingling had become aware of the world, her mother's teachings had always been the same: do not resist; bravely accept environments and things she disliked.

Why? The Nine Heart Begonia was indeed cherished by Soul Masters across the continent, but that kind of care had another name—a canary in a cage!

As long as Soul Masters on this continent had a need, they could find these two caged canaries and force them to sing for them, serve them, until their voices were hoarse and they coughed blood—yet they still could not refuse!

Because canaries with no freedom and no power to govern themselves had no right to refuse!

The cost of refusal was... that the Nine Heart Begonia, cherished by Soul Masters across the continent, would no longer enjoy their protection!

Ye Lingling knew that her mother perhaps intended for her to form some connection with Aunt Ning Lu's family. From Aunt Ning Lu's surname and martial soul alone, it could be guessed that she had an unclear yet undeniable connection to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, one of the Upper Three Sects.

Although outsiders all said that Ning Lu had given birth to a useless son, because of the Nine Heart Begonia's unique nature, even if Chen Hong were merely an ordinary person without Soul Power, Ye Lingling's descendants would still be girls whose martial souls were Nine Heart Begonia and who possessed Soul Power.

Therefore...

Amid the medicinal ingredients strewn across the floor, Chen Hong flicked the bamboo pole in his hand in a flourish, then pointed it like a sword at Ye Lingling, who held a bone club.

Chen Hong did not know the pressure Ye Lingling bore in her heart, but as an immature adult in thought, he could sense the defiance buried deep within her eyes.

It was... unwillingness to submit to fate; a caged canary's longing to control her own destiny; a bird in a cage's thirst for the freedom of the world beyond it.

Chen Hong pointed his bamboo sword at Ye Lingling and fell silent. He understood clearly that if he ordered Ye Lingling to give up resisting now, then this girl destined to become a canary would never again sing the song of the free soul within her heart.

The strong save themselves; the saints save others.

Chen Hong did not think he was a saint.

Therefore...

"Chen Hong, Level 11 Support Soul Master!"

Chen Hong pointed his bamboo sword at Ye Lingling. A Bright Yellow Soul Ring slowly rose behind him, his tone calm and his gaze placid.

Ye Lingling stared at Chen Hong in that state. Her beautiful purple eyes widened slightly, and without realizing it, a faint warmth rose within her heart.

"Ye Lingling, Level 18 Support Soul Master!"

Ye Lingling answered Chen Hong. This was a battle between two little Support Soul Masters.

Level 11 Chen Hong vs. Level 18 Ye Lingling!