Of course, it would have been even better if Bai Chen had been holding only 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 sister, this young master had no particular fondness for Bai Chen.
And Bai Chen had just kicked him again. Could it be—
"Thank you."
"..."
Looking at Xiao Hongchen's reddened 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 gave a loud snort, then turned and left.
Watching his retreating back, Bai Chen could not help laughing.
Though it had been very quiet, Bai Chen had indeed heard his words of thanks just now.
It seemed this brat was not entirely without redeeming qualities.
Old Ma also walked over at this point 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."
Hearing this, 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?
Just then, Xiao Hongchen abruptly cut in coldly,
"If he wants some, just give him some. Our academy is not that stingy."
"Exactly, exactly." Meng Hongchen quickly echoed him. "He is our benefactor. If he had not brought Senior Sister Jing and Senior Ji here, we could not have ended this battle so easily, could we?"
"That is true."
Having received the approval of the two little ancestors, Old Ma finally relaxed.
He smiled kindly.
"Very well. Since you want some, giving you a portion is no issue."
"Thank you, Old Ma."
"Hmph! What about me?"
Seeing that Bai Chen had thanked only 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 get back to the academy, I will come play with 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 on the night it goes premium may be delayed for a while, so please wait patiently.
Now then, let's talk about some plot and setting-related matters.
By now, everyone should be able to see that this book has a core concept: children of different versions who are not in their own version can instead turn misfortune into fortune.
Three-Eye being in the Douluo I Era directly resulted in Tian Meng being absorbed for ten thousand fewer years, greatly enriching his origin energy. The benefits of that will be explained later.
Lion Dog is in the Douluo II Era, which happens to be the era where humanity is least lacking in resources. In that regard, it is stronger than both the Douluo I Era and the Douluo III Era, making it extremely friendly to body cultivators.
Meanwhile, Evil God Tiger is in the Douluo III Era. It may seem as though he has to face the restriction of insufficient Soul Beasts, but his various advantages have already begun to gradually reveal themselves over these past chapters.
There will also be interactions between the different eras in the future.
For example, the Divine Trial on the Douluo III Era protagonist is not hard to figure out if you think carefully. The answer to solving the problem of inheriting the Divine Trial lies with the protagonist himself, does it not? (laugh)
The Evil Godhood in the Douluo III Era has indeed already been inherited by Ji Dong, but Evil God Tiger possesses Spacetime Authority, while the position of Evil God King in the Douluo I Era has not been inherited. I do not need to say any more, do I?
Then there is the matter of the Divine Trial. Some sharp-eyed readers have already noticed that it 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 one click back then. The conditions were that Soul Beasts or Soul Masters possessing that Martial Soul were all qualified to begin the Divine Trial. However, because he had been in a hurry to flee at the time, he forgot to cancel it. Later, Evil God Tigers went extinct, and Soul Masters could no longer awaken that Martial Soul, so he completely forgot about it.
As for the Divine Trial itself, it was actually a product of the old Evil God's twisted sense of humor. From that perspective, the Divine Trial truly does have a problem. However, that twisted sense of humor has no negative effect on the protagonist. On the contrary, it will even help him, allowing him to truly gain the qualifications to inherit the Evil Godhood.
As for exactly what that twisted joke 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.
At present, the plan is to post ten thousand words on the first day after going premium, then decide the number of bonus updates based on first-day subscriptions.
One thousand first-day subscriptions will add three chapters, fifteen hundred will add six chapters, two thousand will add nine chapters, and so on. Every additional five hundred average subscriptions will add three more chapters.
Note: bonus chapters are added on top of the daily ten thousand words.
There have actually been a great many things going on this month. I finally finished getting busy recently, only to run into going premium.
I really cannot catch a break for even a moment. (laugh)
I am organizing the protagonist status panels that some readers requested. They will update in real time with the various abilities and current activities of the protagonists from all three eras. If you are curious, you can take a look tomorrow.
That is all for now. Good night, everyone.
Wisdom Soul Ring
At this point, the purpose of everyone's journey had been fully accomplished.
Old Ma collected the azure-blue crystals from deep within the cave. After giving some to Bai Chen, he led the children out of Qiling Mine Cave and headed back toward the Sun-Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.
On the way back, Bai Chen pretended to casually ask Meng Hongchen,
"Senior Sister Meng, when I see you use your Martial Soul sometimes, it seems like you are in pain. What is going on?"
"Ah..."
Meng Hongchen froze upon hearing that. She scratched her cheek and smiled bitterly.
"So you noticed... Actually, it is related to my Martial Soul. My Martial Soul is a highly poisonous Soul Beast. Though it is very powerful, the burden it places on me is also great. Even now, I have not fully adapted to this Martial Soul. My grandfather also told me to use it less for the time being and wait until he finds a suitable solution."
"I see..."
Bai Chen nodded in realization.
So that was indeed the case.
Meng Hongchen's Martial Soul was the poison-attribute Vermilion Radiance Ice Toad. Because it had a pair of red eyes, it was easy to mistakenly remember its name as Vermilion-Eyed Ice Toad.
In truth, the reason this Martial Soul was called the Vermilion Radiance Ice Toad was because the principle behind the production of its intense poison was the conflict between ice and fire attributes. Vermilion Radiance referred to the fire attribute that clashed with the Ice Attribute.
The Vermilion Radiance Ice Toad was undoubtedly an incredibly powerful Martial Soul, but powerful figures with this Martial Soul were rare in the world. The most important reason was that, like most poison-attribute Martial Souls, its poisonous nature affected the Soul Master themself.
The cold poison inherent to the Vermilion Radiance Ice Toad constantly eroded the body of its wielder. A moment of carelessness could lead to the cold poison thoroughly permeating their body and causing sudden death.
Meng Hongchen had clearly found some way to resolve this issue later in the original story, but at present, she still appeared to be suffering from the cold poison.
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.
However, he still needed to lay some more groundwork. There was no need to rush such a thing.
As evening approached, everyone 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 Soul Tool proficiency rapidly improved. Though his talent in this field did not match 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, Core Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Brother has finally done it! Brother really is a genius! Hahahahahaha!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's smug voice suddenly rang throughout the Core Zone.
Bai Chen, who had been sitting not far from him, jolted in surprise and hurriedly stood up to ask,
"Brother Sky Dream, you mean..."
"That is right! I have successfully traced back the method for condensing a Wisdom Soul Ring!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm proudly raised his head, wearing an expression that clearly said, "Praise me already."
Bai Chen immediately gave him the praise he wanted.
"As expected of Brother Sky Dream. 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."
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was thoroughly delighted by the praise. He chuckled and asked,
"Then when do we begin the ritual? Now?"
"No, wait a moment. I will go call Senior Di Tian over."
"Oh..."
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's originally soaring mood immediately cooled considerably.
He liked Bai Chen, this human, very much, but he still had not the slightest favorable impression of Di Tian.
That was only natural. After all, he had a grudge against these Ferocious Beasts.
However, he also knew whose territory he was currently in. Thus, he lowered his head gloomily, signaling for Bai Chen to hurry up and deal with it.
Bai Chen ran out of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's cave and quickly brought Di Tian over.
Di Tian was still dressed in black today. Following Bai Chen into the cave, he raised a hand, and the chains binding Sky Dream Ice Silkworm all withdrew, briefly restoring his freedom.
Di Tian said indifferently,
"Begin."
With him present, even if there was a problem with the ritual Sky Dream Ice Silkworm created, he could stop the losses in time.
"Hmph."
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm snorted unhappily and said to Bai Chen,
"Bai Chen, come closer."
"Alright."
Bai Chen followed the instructions and stepped before Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm raised his head. The ten Golden Veins on his body suddenly shone with intense light, gradually turning into ten spheres of golden radiance.
Under Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's control, all the spheres of light rushed into Bai Chen's body. Bai Chen only felt his mind suffer an enormous shock before he lost consciousness.
Under the influence of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's million-year-level energy, the sky above the Core Zone of the Star Dou Great Forest visibly darkened. Di Tian looked up at the sky, and a trace of emotion rose in his eyes.
"So this is the million-year realm that our kind has dreamed of... Why did the first one to truly reach this realm have to be an Ice Silkworm like this..."
No one answered his question. Before him, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's enormous body was gradually becoming transparent, replaced by a mass of pure white light.
Looking closely, 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 that would not take up a slot for this boy? How thoughtful."
Di Tian shook his head and turned to leave the cave.
Before you continue