Permanence and Paths

"Slay evil... slay men..."

Ye Lulu murmured the words under her breath, seeming deeply affected.

Of course, if not for the clarity and confusion in her eyes that bore some resemblance to Er Gou and the others, Qian Mo might actually have believed her.

Qian Mo sighed inwardly at this, though he was not surprised.

After all, on Douluo Continent, all pursuits were deemed inferior save for becoming a Soul Master. If basic education had not been so lacking, how could so many people have been fooled by that fraud Yu Xiaogang?

That was why Qian Mo had deliberately explained his beliefs in such detail.

After a brief period of confusion, Ye Lulu finally understood what Qian Mo had meant and immediately asked in astonishment.

"So our Martial Soul feedback can work like this?"

As she spoke, Ye Lulu's expression became eager, and her gaze could not help drifting toward the human traffickers sprawled across the ground.

Heavens have mercy.

There was clearly a way to improve one's cultivation by killing Evil Spirit Masters, yet heaven knew what miserable days Ye Lulu had endured all these years.

She was already twenty-five, yet she still had not broken through to Soul Saint!

Ye Lulu truly wanted to improve herself!

Qian Mo raised a hand, signaling for Ye Lulu to help herself.

After all, even if he killed all this trash, it would not be enough to raise him by a single level. Qian Mo was not particularly interested in using them as leveling materials.

Having received permission, Ye Lulu's face lit up with joy as soul power surged around her. Two yellow, two purple, and two black—six soul rings in the optimal configuration appeared around her. The next instant—

A century-old soul ring lit up, and dozens of Light Cones abruptly condensed in midair.

With a thought from Ye Lulu, the Light Cones shot out and ended the sinful lives of those people.

Ye Lulu then closed her beautiful eyes, seemingly sensing something carefully.

Though it was faint, within Qian Mo's spiritual perception, Ye Lulu's cultivation had indeed risen by a small amount.

Seeing this, Qian Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief. His guess had been correct.

When he had killed the leader of the human traffickers earlier, Qian Mo had sensed his cultivation surge sharply.

However, with so many trivial matters on his hands, he had not had time to investigate.

After checking, Qian Mo, who had activated the Template Card, found the source of his sudden increase in strength.

The Permanence Path that originally represented Qian Mo's cultivation still read 28.37, but a new Path level had appeared beside it.

[The Hunt: 0.63]

The two added together made up Qian Mo's previous level twenty-nine.

At the same time, this conclusion confirmed some Aeon-related secrets Qian Mo had known in his previous life.

Among the Aeons, the Dragon of Permanence was the most ancient existence. It symbolized the beginning of all things in Daoist culture—the primordial origin of Paths, as well as the source of all gods.

Therefore, since they shared the same origin, it was only natural that the power of The Hunt would be directly incorporated into his soul power cultivation, which represented Permanence.

But then again, Qian Mo thought, Honkai: Star Rail was ultimately just a game. How could it possibly display every mystery of an entire universe?

Perhaps in some remote corner of the Honkai: Star Rail universe, there was an ordinary dragon descendant who, by following a Path, had reached the level of an Emanator through self-coronation like Acheron.

After that bout of frantic thinking, Qian Mo was filled with lingering fear.

Among all the Aeons, Lan of The Hunt was undoubtedly one of the most hands-on.

And every time he acted, it inevitably resulted in disasters that made no distinction between friend and foe.

Anyone who had read Douluo Continent understood.

Setting aside the fact that soul beasts could easily live for tens of thousands of years, the supposedly immortal gods of the God Realm would absolutely count as Abominations of Abundance before the great god Lan!

But the gap between them was simply too vast. Qian Mo could only sigh helplessly and pray.

"Reignbow, please do not lower your gaze and unleash your arrows of light.

The people here may live a little long, but 99.99 percent of them have not committed any utterly heinous crimes. They do not count as Abominations of Abundance..."

At this point, Qian Mo thought for a moment and made a small vow.

"Give me a thousand years—"

He had barely begun before Qian Mo choked on the words.

Because he remembered that a thousand years was practically the limit before a Xianzhou long-life species became Mara-Struck.

Making such a vow to Lan, who hailed from the Xianzhou, felt like he was brushing him off, so Qian Mo hurriedly changed his wording.

"Give me at most a hundred years—no, no more than five hundred years. I will definitely wipe out those parasites in the God Realm and restore peace to this universe."

Though he did not know whether Lan had heard his vow, Qian Mo felt somewhat more at ease.

However, all of that was merely Qian Mo's own speculation. Without firsthand evidence of others gaining power by following Paths, he did not dare jump to conclusions.

Now that Ye Lulu's cultivation had soared, Qian Mo finally relaxed, his eyes brimming with confidence.

It was settled, it was settled. As long as I hold this card firmly, whether it is Bishop Raine or that damned Earl Jack—

Not one of them will get away!

At that moment, Ye Lulu finally recovered from the joy of her cultivation increase. She looked at Qian Mo with delight and said.

"Qian Mo, your idea was right! If this information is sent back to the clan, everyone will definitely be thrilled!"

At this point, Ye Lulu's beautiful eyes flickered, and her tone became meaningful.

"And your previous request should no longer be a problem.

"For an important figure like Earl Jack, if it is confirmed that he was the principal culprit behind this incident, I do not think any Angel would pass up the chance to judge him.

"After all, judging by the feedback from the small fry I killed, Earl Jack's sins may well be effective even for a Soul Douluo."

After giving Qian Mo her answer, Ye Lulu first wrote an urgent official document and sent it off into the distance once more.

Then, together with her team, she began a second, in-depth investigation into the evidence of their crimes based on the information Qian Mo had provided.

During that time, Bishop Raine was effortlessly and silently suppressed by Ye Lulu.

Qian Mo was not surprised. Though both were Soul Emperors, there was clearly far too great a gap between them, whether in Martial Soul quality or soul skills.

Moreover, Qian Mo had deliberately lured him into a secret chamber and sprung an ambush.

If they could still mess up under those circumstances, Qian Mo felt he should hurry up and make a run for it. This team was beyond saving—truly beyond saving.

After capturing Bishop Raine, Qian Mo had originally intended to use Attunement again to extract intelligence from him.

Unfortunately, the difference in strength between them was too great, and Qian Mo's Attunement failed.

Would using his full power to summon the Heaven Ring expose the secret of his twin Martial Souls?

Qian Mo was not worried about that.

Twin Martial Souls were simply too rare. Even ordinary scholars knew little about them, let alone common people. At most, ordinary Soul Masters would regard the appearance of the Heaven Ring as an accompanying trait when Qian Mo used his innate ability.

However, although Qian Mo had failed, the people Ye Lulu had brought with her were professionals.