In the end, Ling Tianchen had the Treasure Beast transform the silkworm molt into skin-like External Soul Bones.
He then removed the hand pressing on Huo Yuhao's shoulder. Huo Yuhao immediately slumped limply into his chair, his pupils unfocused, looking as though all the bones had been pulled from his body.
Ling Tianchen smiled apologetically at the people around him. "Sorry, I just pressed lightly, and this kid ended up like this."
With a flash, he appeared before Wang Dong.
"What did you just say?"
Wang Dong shuddered from his sudden approach. What speed was that?
She instinctively rose to her feet. A pair of large blue-gold moth wings abruptly spread behind her, while one yellow and one purple soul ring appeared, faintly showing signs of lighting up.
Ling Tianchen also spread his Frost Wings, deep blue on the inside and light blue on the outside. The light emitted by Wang Dong's gorgeous Light Goddess Butterfly wings instead made every pattern and feather on Ling Tianchen's ice wings shine even more brilliantly.
Wang Dong felt the bloodline suppression of the ancestor of all flying creatures descend upon her. Her Light Goddess Butterfly paled in Ling Tianchen's presence, even the tips of its wings trembling slightly, as though it wanted to turn from a butterfly back into a cocoon.
"The most beautiful martial soul on the continent? I don't think so. Before me, it can only serve as a green leaf to set off the flowers."
As his words fell, Ling Tianchen finally stopped concealing his aura. It burst forth—thirty-eighth rank Soul Elder!
In an instant, Class One fell silent once more. Though this was their second time seeing Ling Tianchen's martial soul, they were still stunned by its beauty and power.
Ling Tianchen simply stared Wang Dong dead in the eye.
Wang Dong felt as though a humanoid ferocious beast were staring at her. Her legs trembled uncontrollably, and she could already picture herself being cut down by Ling Tianchen.
"Father, Mother, First Dad, Second Dad, whoever it is, please come save me..."
She murmured with a hint of a sob in her voice, feeling like a small boat struggling amid towering waves, liable to be swallowed up at any moment.
Having been pampered and doted on by everyone in Haotian Castle, how could she ever have endured such terrifying mental pressure?
Yet the sobbing tone that spilled from Wang Dong in her despair exposed her most natural voice.
Everyone looked at one another. That voice was thin and soft—clearly a girl's voice!
But how could Wang Dong notice that she had already given herself away? She was on the verge of collapse. Finally, unable to hold on any longer, her legs gave out, and she dropped into a duck-sitting kneel before Ling Tianchen. Tears streamed down her cheeks and into the corners of her mouth.
That posture completely confirmed everyone's suspicions.
Ordinary boys simply could not sit like that. Combined with that feminine voice from earlier, there was only one truth: Wang Dong was a girl disguised as a boy.
Of course, there were always one or two mentally twisted people who stubbornly believed that she was merely a feminine boy, and still had the equipment.
However, the spot where Wang Dong knelt was rather awkward.
She had collapsed directly in front of Ling Tianchen's lower abdomen. Her slightly upturned face was aimed right at that embarrassing area, and with the glistening liquid smeared all over her mouth, from behind Ling Tianchen it looked as though she were doing something indescribable.
Zhang Lexuan happened to be standing at that angle. Her expression stiffened slightly as she walked over.
"Enough, Tianchen. Wang Dong is already like this, so stop scaring her. And Wang Dong, you need to learn a lesson from this as well. You can't keep acting impulsively and letting people with ulterior motives deceive you."
"Hmph. For Big—Teacher Zhang's sake, we'll let this matter end here."
Ling Tianchen retracted his wings and pressure, then turned and headed back to his seat, tossing out a sentence without looking back.
"If you dare challenge my authority again, we'll settle it in the soul fighting arena. I'll let you have a taste of the big stick!"
This should have been an entirely ordinary threat, but with Wang Dong's identity as a girl now exposed, no matter how innocent the students were, they could hear the implication behind it. They exchanged glances and smiled knowingly.
Ling Tianchen returned to his seat with an easy grace, leaving behind Wang Dong, still kneeling there and drooling, and Huo Yuhao, whose eyes were vacant.
Within Wang Dong's Spirit Sea, the divine consciousness of God King Tang quietly awakened.
"Why are Little Seven's emotions fluctuating so intensely? Who did this?"
With a slight movement of his divine consciousness, he understood the entire sequence of events in an instant.
"What an impressive young man! Thirty-eighth rank at eleven years old. He has some of the talent I had back then."
Tang San's tone revealed a rare trace of approval, but it quickly turned to confusion.
"But why is the fortune around him so hazy, as though obscured by clouds and mist? Is this also interference from the plane's consciousness? It seems the Douluo Plane has a death wish as well. I need Father's side to speed up the plan."
His divine sense swept to the side and landed on Huo Yuhao, slumped in his chair. His voice immediately carried a hint of disappointment.
"What happened to the original child of fortune? Just a few minutes out of sight, and he's already this dejected? His temperament is completely inferior to that person just now. Sigh, I invested too early. The two of them can already use a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, so it's too late to replace Little Seven's partner now."
Tang San pondered for a moment before saying,
"It would be such a pity for such an outstanding junior not to enter my, Tang San's, lineage. Fine, I'll make another small move. I'll let Little Seven gradually develop favorable feelings toward him as well. This way, Little Seven will have ties to both of them and form a triangular relationship."
The more he spoke, the more brilliant he found the plan, and his tone became increasingly confident.
"In the end, the one who fails will have Little Seven's other fragment of divine consciousness occupy the body of the Emperor Auspicious Beast, transforming into Little Seven's appearance to accompany him. It may be an imitation, but with the mindset of someone who lost in the competition for a mate, he will surely accept it gladly. That way, both the real and fake children of the plane will be tied to this God King's rope."
"Little Seven will suffer a bit, with her soul divided in two, but if I can ensnare both of them, that is nothing."
"Hahaha, Douluo Plane, you didn't expect this, did you? Your trick of swapping the beams for pillars has already been seen through by this God King. You first released an obvious child of the plane to draw all of this God King's attention to him, then concealed the aura of the true child of the plane. It was quite an ingenious method. Unfortunately, this God King sees everything clearly, and Little Seven has successfully met both of them. Whether real or fake, I, Tang San, will have both children of fortune!"
After saying that, this strand of divine consciousness released its power and quietly merged into Wang Dong's Spirit Sea.
On one hand, it stabilized her Spirit Sea and soothed the fear and trembling she had just experienced. On the other, it planted an exceedingly subtle seed deep within Wang Dong's heart, allowing her to quietly develop an indescribable fondness for Ling Tianchen during their future interactions.
As for Wang Dong nearly having her Dao heart shattered by Ling Tianchen's fright just now? In his eyes, that was not a big deal at all.
Fighting was affection, and scolding was love. Some conflict between a man and a woman might not be a bad thing.
He believed that with his daughter's charm, as long as he offered a little guidance and had her take the initiative to show her favor, no man in the world would be able to withstand it. They would all obediently fall at her feet.
He was already considering how to scheme against Rong Nianbing so that he would happen to discover an exceptional inheritor. While making Rong Nianbing owe him a favor, he could also add strength to his own faction.
It was just that he did not know where to find another Divine Seat. His Sea God Divine Seat was the foundation of his standing and absolutely could not be passed on, while the Shura God Divine Seat was at the God King level and even less transferable.
The Seven Deadly Sins belonged to Destruction's side, so he could do nothing about them. That meant he could only ask the Elemental Gods for help. With the strength of the person he had chosen, he should not be like that fatty and fail even the assessment of the First-Level God Fire God.
Or perhaps he could make use of the Ice God Ruins, where the Ice God had fallen in ancient times? It suited that boy perfectly.
Almost all the ruins on Douluo Continent had been thoroughly explored within a few decades after he became a god, including the Ice God Ruins in the Far North.
However, he had already been the Sea God at the time and had no interest in the ownerless Ice God Divine Seat, so he casually sealed it away again.
Now it could finally be put to use. When the time came, he only needed to have Little Seven guide him there. He would open a passage for that boy now.
Thinking this, he manipulated something. At the deepest point of Ice God Lake in the Far North, an ancient door that had been sealed for countless millennia quietly opened...
Before you continue