Jing Hongchen looked at Xu Tianming and the other three.
"You are the same."
"No one is allowed to leave the range of the barrier without authorization."
Meng Hongchen immediately raised her hand.
"Grandfather, I promise I won't run around blindly."
Xiao Hongchen glanced at her.
"You'd better actually be able to do that."
"When have I ever lied to people?"
"Last time you said you would only eat one piece of beast meat jerky, but in the end you ate half a bag."
Meng Hongchen's cheeks flushed slightly.
"That's because the meat jerky itself was too fragrant."
Xu Tianming could not help laughing out loud, and the tense atmosphere also eased slightly as a result.
Jing Hongchen looked at the three children, his voice turning low.
"This is not an outing."
"Anything in the rift realm is likely to cause harm, do not casually touch the things in here."
"Wait for us to return."
"Understood."
Xu Tianming and the three nodded simultaneously. After giving his instructions, the two Titled Douluos did not delay.
A pair of metal wings unfolded behind Jing Hongchen, with dozens of soul guidance carved lines on the wings as well. A pair of silver-white wings immediately unfolded behind Shangguan Weier too. After soul power spewed out, the two of them flew up together.
"Grandfather, be a little careful!"
Meng Hongchen shouted into the sky. Jing Hongchen did not turn back, merely raising a hand to wave.
The next second.
Two rays of light streaked across the dark purple sky, galloping away toward the depths of the rift realm. Once their figures completely disappeared, the interior of the barrier returned to tranquility once more.
The soul guidance cannons on the outer side were still rotating, and dull sounds came from the distance from time to time—that was the sound of rift realm creations crushing crystal stones as they traveled through the forest.
Despite the situation being dangerous, these soul guidance cannons still brought people a certain degree of a sense of security.
Meng Hongchen had been very active earlier, but now she was very quiet. She sat on a flat stone with her arms hugging her knees, her water-blue eyes gazing in the direction her grandfather had left.
Xiao Hongchen sat beside her, holding a metal fragment in his hand and using his soul power to mold them into all sorts of shapes.
Ye Guyi stood in a relatively distant position. She leaned against the crystallized rock wall inside the barrier, and when the holy light short sword dissipated, she crossed her hands over her chest.
She did not know Xu Tianming, nor did she know Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen.
The disciples of the Ordinary Alliance were mostly female, and the people Ye Guyi normally interacted with were very few. Suddenly being dropped in the middle of a group of strangers, she also did not know what to say.
The atmosphere was very gloomy and somewhat awkward.
Xu Tianming glanced at Meng Hongchen. Judging from this girl's previous behavior, at this point she should have already sidled up and already asked what she liked to eat.
Yet Meng Hongchen merely peeked at Ye Guyi, looking as though she wanted to speak but did not know how to say it.
Xu Tianming muttered inwardly, Could it be because Ye Guyi is not a handsome guy? This girl has quite her own principles regarding interpersonal communication.
He shook his head and took the initiative to walk forward.
"Hello."
Ye Guyi raised her head.
"Hello."
Her voice was very crisp and slightly aloof. Xu Tianming did not mind, first pointing at himself.
"My name is Xu Tianming."
Ye Guyi answered earnestly, "My name is Ye Guyi."
"A person of the Ordinary Alliance."
Ye Guyi.
Hearing this name, Xu Tianming's pupils flickered slightly. It really was her, the Holy Angel martial soul possessor, born to restrain darkness and evil entities, who would inevitably become a powerhouse at the Titled Douluo level in the future.
Such a talent—if they could build a relationship earlier, her value would far exceed a batch of ordinary soul engineers.
He wanted to contend for the imperial throne in the future, and not just contend for the throne of the Sun Moon Empire either; his subordinates could not have only Karna alone.
A foundation, talents, and a sphere of influence.
Not a single one could be lacking.
However, these thoughts merely spun around in Xu Tianming's head for a moment before his face resumed a just-right smile.
"I heard just now that you have already obtained your second soul ring. How amazing."
Xu Tianming smiled.
"You guys are the same. Coming to this Jingyang Mountain Range is also to acquire soul rings, right?"
Ye Guyi glanced at Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen, who were of a similar age to her, and then looked at the slightly younger Xu Tianming.
From Xu Tianming's name, she guessed that Xu Tianming had a connection with the Sun Moon Empire imperial family, and being able to operate together with the master of the Hall of Virtue was enough to prove everything.
"Hello, my name is Meng Hongchen, and this is my older brother, Xiao Hongchen."
Meng Hongchen also sidled over at this moment, introducing herself and her brother. Xiao Hongchen also nodded politely toward Ye Guyi. Although he was arrogant, toward Ye Guyi—who was of a similar age to him yet already a second-ring soul grandmaster—he bestowed due respect.
There was a bit more laughter inside the barrier, and Ye Guyi's expression also softened somewhat. Xu Tianming stood to the side and watched the few of them gradually grow familiar with one another, his heart also relaxing a lot.
Ye Guyi was currently in the Ordinary Alliance, and things being like this was already very good. The relationship between people was not something that could be drawn closer with just a word or two; leaving a good impression today meant they would meet again in the future.
At that moment, a sharp screech suddenly came from outside the barrier, and the twelve soul guidance cannons also turned to the left together. The four children inside the barrier raised their heads as one, looking at the crystallized forest shrouded in dark purple mist.
The forest emitted faint, rustling friction sounds, as though many arthropods were scraping against rocks, or as though scales were sliding along the ground. The sounds came from far to near, growing increasingly dense and rapid, eventually merging into a single piece and converging into a tide that made one's teeth ache.
Xu Tianming stood in the middle of the barrier, raising his head to look in the direction the sounds came from. The tree line swayed, and many distorted figures drilled out from behind the crystallized dead trees.
The leading rift realm creation retained a large portion of the appearance of a Man Faced Demon Spider. All eight of its legs had dark purple star crystals, its joints were bent in reverse, and every step it dropped would leave a small pit on the ground.
Its abdomen bulged. After the originally pale human face pattern was eroded by rift realm energy, it turned into a distorted star-patterned face, and the place of its mouth split to the edge of its abdomen, continuously spewing light purple spider silk.
Once those spider silks landed on the ground, sizzling white smoke would immediately appear.
Beside it, three Mandala Snake replicas were winding and swimming. Their scales should have been colorful, but at this moment they were completely crystallized, and in the gaps between each scale armor, dark red lava-like liquid flowed out. Their venom fangs were turned outward, dripping with venom, and as their forked tongues flickered, what permeated the air was a putrid stench with a hint of cloying sweetness.
Further behind, seven wind baboons were on all fours with arms longer than their knees, bearing ragged crystallized flight membranes on their backs whose edges were as sharp as knives.
There were no pupils in their eyes, only two spinning dark purple balls of light. When running, their flight membranes would vibrate and emit piercing screeches.
Supplying the rear was a Dark Demon Tiger.
Its bulk was nearly double that of an ordinary demon tiger, and its entire body was covered in purple-black crystal armor, with two curved crystal horns growing at its shoulder blades. When its tiger jaws opened, black fog would spew from its throat, and wherever it passed, even the star crystal ground would melt.
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