A Sudden Assassination

Several days passed like this.

Aside from checking when the Heaven Dou Auction House would be held, Xu Qianqian stayed holed up in the hotel, making thousand-year soul beast cards.

After hundreds of attempts, Xu Qianqian finally created a thousand-year soul beast card.

Xu Qianqian wiped the sweat from her forehead and ground her teeth. "Anyone who didn't know better would think I was making Clow Cards!"

Not only did she have to imprint the Gale Wolf King's appearance onto it, she also had to give it a home.

Otherwise, she could not keep the thousand-year heaven-and-earth essence from dissipating.

By now, the Gale Wolf King card had undergone tremendous changes from before.

"Gale Wolf King, wind-element attribute, cultivation 1,000 years, uses 3/3, soul skill..., shelf life 3 months."

From the heaven-and-earth essence contained in the card, as well as its faint connection to the Book of Wind, Xu Qianqian knew that the real card had succeeded.

It was no longer the half-finished card that could only function within her domain, but a genuine thousand-year soul beast card.

When the card was summoned, any soul beasts it killed would also be recorded in the Chronicle of Time.

That was true for hundred-year cards, so it should be true for thousand-year ones as well.

However, the process of making thousand-year cards was far more complicated than that of hundred-year cards.

Without her control over the wind element and the Thousand Winds, Myriad Clouds domain's exquisite shaping rules, there would have been no way to create a stable structure.

Not even a Titled Douluo could accomplish what she had done.

"Other than me, any other user can summon the Gale Wolf King through soul power as long as they write their name on the card."

Naturally, she held the highest authority over cards she had made herself.

Xu Qianqian infused soul power into the card and began the activation ritual.

The card floated into the air as wind-element energy flowed out and rapidly took shape.

A vicious wolf with brownish-black fur appeared before Xu Qianqian.

Good thing she had covered the room with her domain, and that the room was large enough. Otherwise, it would have been terrifying!

"Its fur is glossy, and it looks lifelike. Other than its subpar AI and simple combat instincts, it's no different from a real soul beast."

"It can even absorb heaven-and-earth essence from its surroundings, so it can sustain itself in battle for a long time."

Xu Qianqian refused to believe that this would not attract Ning Fengzhi. How could a catgirl possibly be cooler than the Gale Wolf King?

At Xu Qianqian's command to return, the Gale Wolf King's body dissolved into an illusion and swiftly returned to her palm, becoming a card once more.

The original 3/3 had also become 2/3.

Xu Qianqian once again used exquisite soul power control to guide heaven-and-earth essence into it, restoring its uses to 3/3.

The Gale Wolf King was already a superior replacement for the Gale Wolf. Even at only a thousand years, it rivaled ordinary soul beasts that were two or three thousand years old.

Although it could only be used for three months, some rich fool would definitely be interested. Xu Qianqian put away the card and stored it in the Book of Wind.

Once she dismissed her martial soul, Xu Qianqian stood up.

"Someone wants to kill me?" She vaguely sensed a faint trace of killing intent.

"Not very strong. This is a good chance to test the card's effectiveness."

Xu Qianqian left the hotel and wandered aimlessly.

The hidden watcher also spotted Xu Qianqian and followed after her.

"So it wasn't an illusion. Someone really has come to kill me."

But who could it be?

If it were Tang Hao, he should not have waited until now. But if it had something to do with the crystal, then...

What reason could there be?

Xu Qianqian calmly walked toward the outskirts. She did not know whether the owner of that gaze realized it, but they continued following her all the way.

Suddenly, a black shadow launched a sneak attack from behind Xu Qianqian.

Just as the attack was about to strike Xu Qianqian directly, the man in black was sent flying.

Bang!

The man in black reacted quickly, crossing his arms and activating his martial soul to defend himself.

Even so, he crashed heavily onto the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Who sent you?"

The Gale Wolf King returned to Xu Qianqian's side, warily watching the man in black across from them.

Where the black-clad man's clothes had been torn, blood seeped from his chest.

The man in black coughed several times. A flash of surprise crossed his concealed face, but it quickly vanished as he attacked Xu Qianqian again.

"Fourth Soul Skill, Netherworld Thrust!"

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple—four soul rings declared that this person was a four-ring Soul Ancestor.

As soon as the words fell, she turned into a streak of black light and shot straight toward Xu Qianqian's neck.

The Gale Wolf King beside Xu Qianqian let out an angry roar and charged forward, only to be sent flying seven or eight meters by a single claw strike.

The black-clad figure drew ever closer to Xu Qianqian, yet Xu Qianqian's expression did not change in the slightest.

Two gusts rapidly gathered, and two Gale Wolf Kings attacked the black-clad figure from the left and right.

Bang!

The black-clad figure failed to dodge in time.

One arm was torn off by the Gale Wolf King on the right, and she let out a shrill scream.

The Gale Wolf King that had been knocked away by the black-clad figure flew into a rage. Borrowing the momentum, it lunged forward and slammed a heavy paw into the black-clad figure's back.

Crack!

The sound of breaking bones rang out, followed by more miserable screams from the black-clad figure.

Her body twisted in agony, causing the mask on her face to fall away and reveal a rather pretty face. She looked to be in her twenties, but pain had contorted her features.

"A Netherworld Spirit Cat martial soul? I don't recall ever offending the Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire."

"Talk. Who sent you?"

A martial soul like the Netherworld Spirit Cat usually only appeared in the Zhu Family of the Star Luo Empire or the Star Luo imperial Dai Family.

After all, the two families had intermarried for generations, so it was perfectly normal for someone to inherit the other side's martial soul.

"Don't even think about it. Cough, cough—"

The woman coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, unable even to maintain her martial soul.

Having been beaten by three thousand-year Gale Wolf Kings—even if they were only thousand-year Gale Wolf Kings—

their strength was, in essence, no weaker than that of an ordinary three-thousand-year soul beast.

With a three-on-one ambush, it would have been ridiculous if they still could not defeat her.

Seeing the woman glaring at her, Xu Qianqian said calmly, "Even if you don't tell me, I know. Tang Hao of the Clear Sky Sect, right? He's the only person I've offended lately."

"That's right. Since you already know, just wait for the retaliation of the number one sect in the world..."

After coughing several more times, blood continuously poured from the woman's mouth. Her life force rapidly faded, and her head lolled to one side as her eyes shut.

"Poison?" Xu Qianqian sighed inwardly as she looked at the lifeless woman.

Did she really think Xu Qianqian was stupid? She had admitted it far too quickly, so it definitely was not true.

Either way, she should check whether there was some token to prove her identity.

Xu Qianqian had the Gale Wolf King search the woman's corpse and found a token.

"Tiger."

There was only one character on the token.

"The Star Luo imperial family?" Xu Qianqian's eyes flickered. She felt that things were not so simple.

"I'll find someone and ask." Xu Qianqian pondered for a moment. "Still, no matter what use that crystal ball has, I can't keep it. It might be used by them to track me."

Otherwise, how could they have known about her when they had never even met?

On the way back, Xu Qianqian found a secluded place and had her summons dig a pit seven or eight meters deep. She threw the crystal ball inside, filled the earth back in, and left a marker.

"It's not that I don't want this crystal ball. I'm just hiding it strategically."

"Mm, that's it."

Her father's relic was valuable, but her life was more important.

After all, a Soul Elder had come this time. Next time, it might be a Soul King, or even a Soul Emperor.

After taking care of everything, Xu Qianqian looked at the token in her hand.

The character "Tiger" on the token looked exceptionally glaring.

Xu Qianqian raised her head to look at the sky and murmured, "Tomorrow is the start of the Heaven Dou Auction House. I heard they'll be auctioning off a catgirl."

"Ning Fengzhi has arrived too. Maybe I can learn more about this token from him."

Never underestimate a merchant's intelligence network, especially that of a sect as wealthy as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

"Fortunately, the one who came was Gu Rong. If it had been Chen Xin, who can use the Seven Kill Domain, things might have been troublesome."

Xu Qianqian had no desire to directly come into contact with people from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

With a domain spanning a thousand meters, creating a clone to attend the auction house would be enough.