A Trap

Had Jiang Xuan deliberately failed to mention that the pill had side effects, or had he simply overlooked it?

Answer: he had deliberately overlooked it.

Once he realized that Qian Renxue also harbored ill intentions toward him, his mind began racing as he tried to determine the identity of this mysterious young man before him.

Young, yet holding considerable power in the Heaven Dou Empire; accompanied by two powerful guards suspected to be Title Douluo; speaking with a gentle warmth while hiding blades behind his smile...

Based on what he knew of the original plot, all those clues combined matched Qian Renxue, disguised as Xue Qinghe, with a ninety-nine percent certainty!

If his prediction was right, then his luck truly was something else.

He had just encountered an important figure from the original protagonist group, only to run into the major villain who was supposed to appear much later in the original plot...

It seemed even fate was supporting him in stirring up a massive mess!

If he accepted Qian Renxue's invitation, he would most likely become part of Martial Soul Hall in the future.

Weighing the pros and cons, if he absolutely had to join a new faction, Jiang Xuan would much rather go to Shrek Academy.

After all, the people at Shrek Academy could barely be considered normal, whereas Martial Soul Hall's current pope, Bi Bidong...

She was an out-and-out lunatic!

Other women could at least still be saved, but that crazy Bi Bidong's mind had already been almost completely twisted by the Rakshasa God's power. She might not be entirely devoid of familial feeling, but she was not far from it.

Just imagining himself working under that madwoman's control made cold sweat break out along Jiang Xuan's spine.

Some might say that Qian Renxue hated Bi Bidong, so why not join forces with Qian Renxue and get rid of Bi Bidong?

Jiang Xuan could only say that anyone who thought that way did not understand women well enough.

In the eyes of some women, no matter how awful someone had been in life, once that person died, their terrible deeds would likely be gradually forgotten over time. What remained in their memories would instead be the few moments of gentleness and kindness that terrible person had once shown.

The dead would gradually approach perfection in one's memories.

Jiang Xuan could not be sure whether Qian Renxue was that sort of person, but if he remembered correctly, when Bi Bidong was about to die, Qian Renxue seemed to have forgiven her mother for her past choices.

After all, no matter what, they were biological mother and daughter. Their blood tie was still there.

From this, he could infer:

After joining Martial Soul Hall, Jiang Xuan would either endure Bi Bidong's madness and live in misery until death, or join forces with Qian Renxue to kill Bi Bidong—only to risk being resented by Qian Renxue afterward, forever walking on thin ice.

It could be said that once he joined Martial Soul Hall, there would be cliffs both ahead and behind him. As for playing it safe and standing in the middle?

Sorry, there was no middle option in Martial Soul Hall. Fence-sitters who tried to remain neutral would absolutely be the first to get purged!

Therefore, knowing full well that Martial Soul Hall was a bottomless pit, Jiang Xuan was not about to stupidly jump into it.

As for why he had given the Soul-Gathering Pill to Qian Renxue...

Naturally, it was because Jiang Xuan wanted to try turning her into one of his own.

As for how he intended to do that...

Looking at Qian Renxue, who had now been completely turned into a little girl by the Soul-Gathering Pill's side effect, Jiang Xuan put on a panicked expression.

"Big brother? Y-you turned into a girl? I clearly remember that the side effect of this pill only makes people shrink from large to small. It shouldn't cause a change in gender! Could it be that big brother... no, big sister, was originally a girl?"

She stared at her now chubby little hands.

Then at the boy, whom she had once only needed to lower her head slightly to speak with, but whom she now had to strain to look up at just to see his face...

Qian Renxue was completely dumbfounded.

No! This could not be real!

This was an illusion. It had to be an illusion! How could something so utterly against common sense happen in reality?

Seeing Qian Renxue absorbed in doubting her own life and ignoring him, Jiang Xuan simply stepped forward, picked up the clothes that had fallen straight to the ground after her body shrank, and wrapped them around her tiny body again.

Sensing Jiang Xuan's approach, Qian Renxue froze for a moment. Then she abruptly unleashed the soul power within her, sending Jiang Xuan flying.

At that moment, the Soul-Gathering Pill had raised Qian Renxue's soul power from level sixty-eight to level seventy. If she put even a little effort into it, Jiang Xuan would have no chance of resisting.

"Ow! Big sister, what are you doing? I don't mean you any harm. I just sincerely wanted to thank you for helping me."

Though her body had shrunk, her thoughts had not been affected much.

After hearing Jiang Xuan's scream when he was sent flying, Qian Renxue quickly regained her senses.

The absurd reality of her body shrinking was actually true!

This would directly disrupt the plans she had painstakingly laid out in the Heaven Dou Empire after years of patient endurance.

She had to find a way to change back as soon as possible, or all her efforts over the years would be wasted!

At that thought, Qian Renxue instinctively clutched her clothes tighter. Then, in a flash, she appeared before the pained-looking Jiang Xuan, grabbed his collar with her chubby little hand, and demanded through gritted teeth:

"Tell me! What exactly is going on with this pill's side effect? Do you have any way to remove it?"

To be honest, being pinned down by such a sweet and adorable little girl, having his collar seized, and being unable to resist...

For some reason, Jiang Xuan found it strangely enjoyable.

Perhaps it was only human nature. It definitely was not because he had any unusual preferences!

After quickly casting those distracting thoughts aside, Jiang Xuan seriously answered Qian Renxue's question.

Of course, the explanation he gave was the same one he had given Chen Xin not long ago.

After all, Chen Xin was most likely still eavesdropping in the room. Changing his story recklessly would undoubtedly bring him trouble.

After hearing his explanation, Qian Renxue relaxed slightly.

It was fine as long as the side effect could be removed!

As long as she could quickly return to her original appearance, her current state would not be a major problem.

After all, this pill had genuinely raised the soul power within her by two levels.

"Tell me! How can this pill's side effect be removed?"

Seeing that Qian Renxue had finally led the conversation to this point, Jiang Xuan took a deep breath and said sincerely:

"Well... I assume you know too, big sister, that removing the side effect will require a pill I refine."

"So?"

"The problem now is that I don't have the medicinal ingredients needed to refine a pill capable of removing the side effect..."

"Hm?" Qian Renxue's little hand tightened slightly.

"Hiss! To be honest, big sister, one of my family members was also shrunk by this pill's side effect not long ago. The main reason I left home this time was to search for medicinal ingredients so I could help my family member remove the side effect!"

Seeing Qian Renxue fall into thought, Jiang Xuan pressed his advantage.

"Big sister, why don't you wait here for now? Once I find suitable medicinal ingredients and refine a pill that can remove the side effect, I will immediately return here and give it to you, helping you resolve this trouble. I swear I will not break my word!"