Children of Fate Gather, but the Eras Are Misaligned

Of course, it would have been even better if Bai Chen had only been holding her in his arms at the time.

Just then, Xiao Hongchen suddenly walked up to Bai Chen.

Bai Chen raised an eyebrow.

"What is it? Do you need something?"

Xiao Hongchen had given him plenty of dirty looks along the way. Clearly, unlike his younger sister, this young master had no favorable impression of Bai Chen.

And Bai Chen had just kicked him too. Could it be that—

"Thank you."

"..."

Seeing Xiao Hongchen's flushed face, Bai Chen fell silent for a moment and tilted his head.

"What?"

"N-Nothing!"

Xiao Hongchen immediately raised his voice to cover it up. He let out a loud snort, then turned and left.

Watching his retreating back, Bai Chen could not help but smile.

Though it had been quiet, Bai Chen had indeed heard his words of thanks just now.

It seemed this arrogant kid was not entirely without redeeming qualities.

Old Ma also walked over at this time and said warmly to Bai Chen and the others,

"Thank you all. I will report your outstanding performance to the dean. Once we return to the academy, rewards will certainly be arranged for you."

At that, Bai Chen raised his hand.

"Old Ma, could I buy some of these crystals?"

"This..."

Old Ma immediately hesitated.

These were meant for Xiao Hongchen's cultivation. How could he dare dispose of them on his own?

At that moment, Xiao Hongchen suddenly cut in coldly,

"If he wants some, just give him some. Our academy is not that stingy."

"Exactly, exactly." Meng Hongchen quickly agreed. "He is our benefactor. If he had not brought Senior Jing and Senior Ji here, we could not have ended this battle so easily, right?"

"That is true."

Having received approval from the two little ancestors, Old Ma finally relaxed.

He smiled kindly.

"Very well. Since you want some, it is no trouble to give you a portion."

"Thank you, Old Ma."

"Hmph! What about me?"

Seeing that Bai Chen had only thanked Old Ma, Meng Hongchen immediately became unhappy. She shook Bai Chen's arm, reminding him that there was someone else he needed to thank.

Bai Chen could not help but laugh.

"Thank you too."

"Hehe..." Meng Hongchen immediately beamed. "When we return to the academy, I will come find you again. You had better be ready to entertain me."

Thoughts on Going Premium

After discussing it with my editor, we decided to go premium at midnight on Sunday, which is tomorrow night.

Updates may be delayed for a while on the night it goes premium, so please wait patiently.

Now then, let's talk about some plot and setting-related matters.

By now, everyone should be able to tell that one core concept of this book is that children of fate who are not in their own versions may instead turn misfortune into fortune.

Three-Eye being in the Douluo I Era directly caused Skydream to be drained for ten thousand fewer years, greatly enriching his origin energy. The benefits of that will be mentioned later.

Lion Dog is in the Douluo II Era, which happens to be the era where humanity has the most abundant resources. In that regard, it is stronger than both the Douluo I Era and the Douluo III Era, making it very friendly to body cultivation.

As for the Evil God Tiger in the Douluo III Era, it may seem constrained by the shortage of Soul Beasts, but its various advantages have already begun to reveal themselves over these past few chapters.

There will also be interactions between the various eras in the future.

For example, regarding the Divine Trial on the Douluo III Era protagonist, if you think carefully, it is not hard to realize that the answer to the inheritance problem lies with the protagonist himself, does it not? Heh.

The Evil Godhood of the Douluo III Era really has already been inherited by Ji Dong, but the Evil God Tiger possesses authority over space-time. Meanwhile, the Evil God King's position in the Douluo I Era has not been inherited. I need not say more, right?

Then there is the matter of the Divine Trial. Some sharp-eyed readers have already noticed that this thing seems to have a problem.

Let me briefly explain some relatively unimportant settings concerning the Divine Trial.

First, this Divine Trial was set up by the old Evil God with a single command back then. The criteria were that Soul Beasts or Soul Masters possessing that Martial Soul were qualified to activate the Divine Trial. But because he had been in a hurry to flee at the time, he forgot to cancel it. Later, the Evil God Tiger went extinct, and Soul Masters could no longer awaken that Martial Soul, so he completely forgot about it.

Second, the Divine Trial itself was actually a product of the old Evil God's twisted sense of humor. From that perspective, there really was something wrong with it. However, that twisted sense of humor would not have any negative effect on the protagonist. It would even help him instead, allowing him to truly gain the qualifications to inherit the Evil Godhood.

As for exactly what that twisted sense of humor is, I will keep it secret for now. But if you have studied the old Evil God King, you can actually guess part of it.

Next are the rules for bonus updates.

Currently, I am planning to release ten thousand words on the first day after going premium, then decide the number of bonus updates based on the first-day subscriptions.

For one thousand first-day subscriptions, there will be three extra chapters; for fifteen hundred, six chapters; for two thousand, nine chapters; and so on. Every additional five hundred average subscriptions will add three more chapters.

Note: bonus updates are added on top of the daily ten thousand words.

There have actually been a lot of things going on this month. I finally finished dealing with them recently, only to run right into going premium.

I really cannot get a moment's peace. Heh.

I am organizing the protagonist status panels that some readers asked for. They will update in real time with the abilities and current activities of the protagonists from all three eras. If you are curious, you can check them out tomorrow.

That is all for now. Good night, everyone.

Wisdom Soul Ring

At this point, the purpose of everyone's trip had been fully accomplished.

Old Ma collected the dark-blue crystals deep within the cave. After giving some to Bai Chen, he led the children out of Qiling Mine Cave and headed for the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.

On the way back, Bai Chen casually asked Meng Hongchen,

"Senior Meng, I noticed that you seem to be in some pain whenever you use your Martial Soul. What is going on?"

"Ah..."

Meng Hongchen froze at his question. She scratched her cheek and smiled bitterly.

"You noticed... It is related to my Martial Soul. My Martial Soul is a highly poisonous Soul Beast. Although it is powerful, it also places a huge burden on me. Even now, I have not fully adapted to it. My grandfather told me to use it less for the time being and wait until he finds a suitable solution."

"I see..."

Bai Chen nodded in understanding.

So that was indeed the case.

Meng Hongchen's Martial Soul was the poison-attributed Vermilion Radiance Ice Toad. Because it had a pair of red eyes, it was easy to misremember its name as Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad.

In truth, it was called the Vermilion Radiance Ice Toad because the principle behind the potent poison in its body was the clash between ice and fire attributes. Vermilion Radiance referred to the fire attribute that conflicted with its ice attribute.

The Vermilion Radiance Ice Toad was undoubtedly an immensely powerful Martial Soul, yet there were very few powerful Soul Masters in the world who possessed it. The main reason was that, like most poison-attributed Martial Souls, its poison also affected the Soul Master themself.

The cold poison innate to the Vermilion Radiance Ice Toad continuously eroded the body of its wielder. A moment of carelessness could cause the cold poison to completely permeate the body, resulting in sudden death.

Meng Hongchen had clearly found some way to escape this problem in the later stages of the original story, but it seemed she was still suffering from the cold poison now.

Bai Chen silently committed this information to memory.

With his current abilities, he actually had a way to resolve Meng Hongchen's concerns in this regard.

But he still needed to lay more groundwork. This was not something that could be rushed.

As evening approached, the group returned to the entrance of the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.

After exchanging some basic information, they parted ways.

After that, Bai Chen's life in the Douluo II Era settled down. Under Xuan Ziwen's guidance, his proficiency with Soul Guide Devices rapidly improved. Though his talent in this field was not as great as his talent for forging, it was still enough to leave Xuan Ziwen amazed.

Then, two months later, the moment Bai Chen had been waiting for finally arrived.

Douluo I Era, Star Dou Great Forest Core Zone.

"I finally did it! I really am a genius! Hahahahahaha!"

Skydream Iceworm's smug voice suddenly rang throughout the Core Zone.

Bai Chen, who had been sitting not far away from him, was startled and hurriedly stood up to ask,

"Brother Skydream, are you saying..."

"That's right! I have successfully traced back and figured out the method for condensing a Wisdom Soul Ring!"

Skydream Iceworm proudly raised his head, wearing an expression that practically screamed, Praise me already.

Bai Chen immediately gave him exactly the praise he wanted.

"As expected of Brother Skydream. You are a genius among geniuses! It is wonderful that a genius like you became a Million-Year Soul Beast!"

"Hehehe, good that you know."

Skydream Iceworm was delighted by the praise. With a chuckle, he asked,

"Then when are we starting the ritual? Now?"

"No, wait a moment. I will go call Senior Di Tian."

"Oh..."

Skydream Iceworm's soaring mood immediately cooled considerably.

He liked Bai Chen, this human, but he had no favorable impression of Di Tian whatsoever.

That was only natural. After all, he had a grudge against those Ferocious Beasts.

Still, he knew whose territory he was in. He lowered his head gloomily, signaling for Bai Chen to hurry up and settle things.

Bai Chen ran out of the cave where Skydream Iceworm was staying and soon brought Di Tian over.

Di Tian was still dressed in black today. He followed Bai Chen into the cave, raised a hand, and the chains binding Skydream Iceworm all receded, briefly returning his freedom.

Di Tian said flatly,

"Begin."

With him present, even if there was a problem with Skydream Iceworm's ritual, he could stop the losses in time.

"Hmph."

Skydream Iceworm snorted unhappily and said to Bai Chen,

"Bai Chen, come closer."

"Alright."

Bai Chen followed the instruction and stepped before Skydream Iceworm.

Skydream Iceworm raised his head. The ten golden patterns on his body suddenly emitted intense light, gradually transforming into ten clusters of golden radiance.

Under Skydream Iceworm's control, all those light clusters rushed into Bai Chen's body. Bai Chen only felt his mind suffer a tremendous impact before he lost consciousness.

Under the influence of Skydream Iceworm's million-year-level energy, the sky above the Star Dou Great Forest Core Zone visibly darkened. Di Tian looked up at the heavens, and a trace of emotion could not help rising in his eyes.

"So this is the million-year realm our kind has dreamed of... Why was the first one to truly reach this realm such an iceworm...?"

No one answered his question. Before him, Skydream Iceworm's massive body was gradually turning transparent, replaced by a cluster of pure white light.

Looking carefully, one could see that at the center of that light was actually his shed skin.

After spinning twice in the air, the shed skin also shot directly toward Bai Chen.

"Heh, he even prepared an External Soul Bone for this kid that would not take up any space. How thoughtful."

Di Tian shook his head and turned to leave the cave.