Make Your Move

"Aunt Rou." Nezha took Ah Rou's hand and looked earnestly into her eyes.

"I won't joke around with my life. Let's hunt some Soul Beasts first. Once we find a suitable one, let me try it. If I feel like I can't handle it, I'll stop immediately. I definitely won't force myself. All right?"

Looking into Nezha's clear yet determined eyes, Ah Rou ultimately couldn't withstand his persistence.

She sighed and smiled helplessly. "You child, how are you even more reasonable than an adult?"

Nezha's eyes lit up. "So Aunt Rou agreed?"

"Could I possibly refuse?" Ah Rou stood up and took Nezha's hand again.

"But we'll agree on this first. Once we find a suitable Soul Beast, let me inspect its age and strength. If I think there's a risk, you're not allowed to absorb it. Do you hear me?"

"I hear you!"

"Good boy." Ah Rou sighed again and muttered as if talking to herself, "You were so obedient when you were little. How come you've gotten more and more opinionated as you've grown up..."

Nezha smiled but said nothing.

The two continued walking toward the forest's outskirts.

Ah Rou walked ahead, spreading out her spiritual power and carefully sensing the fluctuations in the surrounding auras.

The Soul Beast density around the outskirts of Star Dou Forest wasn't low, but most were low-level Soul Beasts at the ten-year or hundred-year level.

Occasionally, they sensed one or two somewhat stronger auras, but those were only at the thousand-year level.

Ah Rou's goal was clear: Nezha's first Soul Ring had to be between five hundred and six hundred years old. Anything lower, Nezha wouldn't accept. Anything higher, she wouldn't feel at ease.

Over the next few hours, they encountered three Soul Beasts of suitable species, but none had the right cultivation age.

"Looks like we aren't very lucky today." Ah Rou smiled helplessly and turned to Nezha. "Let's head farther west. The environment over there is more likely to have the Soul Beast we need."

Nezha nodded without saying much.

Obtaining a Soul Ring depended on fate to begin with. It wasn't something that could be rushed.

After continuing west for the time it took to burn an incense stick, Ah Rou suddenly stopped.

Her brows furrowed slightly, and the smile on her face slowly froze.

"Aunt Rou?" Noticing something was wrong, Nezha looked up at her.

Ah Rou didn't answer. Within the range of her spiritual senses, one aura after another appeared among the surrounding trees.

They weren't Soul Beasts.

They were Soul Masters.

Three to the east. Four to the south. Two to the west. At least five to the north.

Those auras were closing in with an extremely organized rhythm, sealing every route of escape.

Ah Rou's heart sank sharply.

Her first reaction was to pull Nezha behind her and completely shield him with her body.

The moment she completed that motion, a figure slowly emerged from the forest ahead.

She wore a lavish dark-gold robe and a jeweled crown. Her face was exquisitely beautiful, yet cold.

She walked forward at an unhurried pace. She released no Soul Power, yet she carried a suffocating pressure.

Bibi Dong.

The current Pope of Spirit Hall.

Two figures appeared behind her, one on each side.

The man on the left wore a robe embroidered with golden chrysanthemum patterns. His features were effeminate, and a faint, ambiguous smile hung at the corner of his mouth.

The figure on the right was shrouded in a black robe, flickering in and out of sight. Two points of ghostly green light shone beneath his hood, chilling to the soul.

Chrysanthemum Douluo, Yue Guan.

Ghost Douluo, Gui Mei.

Farther behind them, five Soul Douluos and nearly ten Soul Sages emerged one after another from the shadows of the forest. They spread out in a fan formation, completely blocking every possible escape route for Ah Rou and Nezha.

Ah Rou's expression remained unchanged as she watched the scene before her, but the arm around Nezha tightened uncontrollably.

"So, you truly are a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in Transformation." Bibi Dong's voice was cold as frost. Her gaze fell upon Ah Rou as if she were assessing prey already in hand.

Ah Rou's heart pounded violently in her chest, but her expression remained calm.

In truth, at every stage of her cultivation after undergoing Transformation, she had rehearsed countless times in her mind what it would be like to encounter a Title Douluo.

She had long known that this day would come sooner or later.

She just hadn't expected it to arrive so soon.

And at the worst possible time, with Nezha by her side.

"What is Your Excellency talking about?" Ah Rou's voice was calm, even carrying a trace of appropriately timed confusion. "Why can't I understand you?"

Yue Guan gave a soft snort, speaking in a strange, mocking tone. "A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast sure knows how to argue."

His gaze swept over Ah Rou before landing on the corner of Nezha's clothes visible behind her. His tone grew even more cutting. "But why did you bring a child along? Could it be that you're imitating humans and learning how to be a mother?"

"You're doing a pretty convincing job of it, too."

Nezha's pupils suddenly contracted.

An uncontrollable fury erupted from the depths of his heart. He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palms hard enough to nearly draw blood.

Every word Yue Guan spoke was like a blade, precisely stabbing the place Nezha could least bear to touch.

What did he mean, "imitating humans"?

What did he mean, "learning how to be a mother"?

Ah Rou had raised him for six years. She fed him, clothed him, taught him to read, awakened his Martial Soul, and tirelessly searched through books day and night to choose his first Soul Ring.

Did that need to be imitated?

That was what a mother was.

But Nezha gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Because he knew very well that anger was anger, but there was nothing he could do right now.

He was only six years old. He had cultivated the Nine-Turn Mysterious Technique for just a few days. He hadn't even obtained his first Soul Ring yet.

Facing such a formidable lineup—three Title Douluos, five Soul Douluos, and nearly ten Soul Sages—he wasn't even qualified to make a move.

For the first time, he hated his own weakness so deeply.

If he had known he would run into Bibi Dong today, he would rather never obtain a Soul Ring for the rest of his life.

Ah Rou felt Nezha's faintly trembling body behind her, and her heart ached.

She understood that it was no longer possible for them to leave unscathed today.

A soft pink glow quietly lit up around her, like the gentlest rosy clouds of spring.

Within that glow, her figure became more slender. Two long rabbit ears rose from her hair, while a faint layer of pink fur covered her arms and calves.

Martial Soul Possession.

Immediately afterward, Soul Rings rose one after another beneath her feet.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black.

Two yellow, two purple, and three black.

Seven Soul Rings spread out in sequence, slowly rotating around her.

At the same time, an almost imperceptible fluctuation of Soul Power spread from beneath her feet like ripples, silently extending into the depths of Star Dou Forest.

It was her Soul Power signal.

As long as it reached Da Ming and Er Ming, they would know she was in danger.

Bibi Dong watched Ah Rou's Martial Soul Possession without the slightest ripple in her violet eyes, as though she were looking at a corpse.

"Make your move."

Her voice was casual, as if she were merely ordering servants to carry out some trivial task.