Bai Xiao in Progress

Deep within Martial Soul Hall stood an enormous fleshy mass. The blood vessels on its surface pulsed constantly, transporting an unknown fluid. Three people stood beside it: a youth, an adult, and an old man.

The elderly man, whose hair and beard were both white, asked the youth over and over, "Is she really going to be alright? If anything happens to Xue'er, I won't go on living either. I'll perish together with you!"

The youth, who had been spacing out nearby, calmly replied, "You've already said that one thousand and sixty times. I told you she's safe. Look, isn't Dugu Bo still alive and well?"

The adult's eye twitched. With the old man present, it was inconvenient for him to make a move. Otherwise, he would have long since rewarded Bai Xiao with a slap. He could only curse inwardly, Last time, the pain nearly killed me. If I hadn't been tough as nails, I'd have gone to see Dugu Yan's father already!

The last time Qian Daoliu had happened to see Bai Xiao's Soul Ring configuration, he had been instantly struck dumb with amazement. After all, without God-Bestowed Soul Rings, it was almost impossible for one's second Soul Ring to be a thousand-year ring and the third a ten-thousand-year ring.

Even Qian Renxue, with Innate Soul Power at level twenty, could not accomplish that. Qian Daoliu had been extremely curious. Besides, Qian Renxue needed to obtain her sixth Soul Ring, and he cared deeply about that matter as well.

Thus, Qian Daoliu had kept coming to drink tea with Bai Xiao and Dugu Bo, discussing along the way how Soul Rings should be configured.

Bai Xiao had initially refused, but Qian Daoliu would not stop pestering him. Since Bai Xiao and Martial Soul Hall were now in the same camp, Bai Xiao ultimately revealed his method to Qian Daoliu.

As a result, while Bai Xiao and Qian Daoliu had been discussing matters, Qian Renxue led people to Sunset Forest to hunt Soul Beasts. The two Title Douluo had knocked out Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts one punch at a time, fighting their way straight into Bai Xiao's lair.

When Bai Xiao received the news and rushed back, he found his Soul Beast underlings injured and crippled, a miserable sight all around.

The Soul Beast underling Qian Renxue had chosen for her Soul Ring, "Mysterious Bird," had already had half its body severed and was on the brink of death.

Reality gave Bai Xiao a cold slap across the face. All he could do now was stimulate its vitality to slow Mysterious Bird's death.

Bai Xiao mobilized his authority over the forest, pouring the vitality stored by the plant Soul Beasts into Mysterious Bird's body.

Qian Daoliu sensed an immense surge of life force rushing in from every corner of the forest.

He used the spiritual power of a Limit Douluo to investigate, only to discover that this life force came from every living thing in the forest, whether roadside Blue Silver Grass or towering ancient trees.

At that moment, he concluded that Bai Xiao's Martial Soul was anything but simple. With such an ability, its quality could not be inferior to the Six-Winged Angel.

"A life-attribute God-Tier Martial Soul?" Qian Daoliu muttered.

Because the situation had been urgent, Qian Daoliu had brought Bai Xiao over first. After all, for a peerless Douluo whose Martial Soul had wings, could anyone say he was not fast?

Dugu Bo, who arrived later, instantly flew into a rage when he saw the scene before him, glaring fiercely at Qian Renxue.

After all, with Qian Daoliu present, it was inconvenient for him to make a move.

Then Dugu Bo activated Martial Soul Possession and launched the Toxic Dragon Bio-Armor Bai Xiao had made for him!

He pounced on those two Title Douluo and unleashed a storm of attacks.

After all, no matter what these Soul Beasts had been like before, ever since Bai Xiao and Dugu Yan modified them, they had never actively killed anyone or eaten human flesh.

After Bai Xiao catalyzed their intelligence, each of them had become like a child. Though they could be rowdy and silly at times, feelings had grown between them in the end.

After resolving his Martial Soul problem, Dugu Bo's temperament had improved greatly as well. Moreover, he had experienced the pain of losing a son. Like any ordinary old man, he was willing to accept these "children."

Yet today, one of his own "children" had been beaten, and another had been beaten to the point of near death, leaving him only able to watch it die.

This made Dugu Bo recall the scene of being able to do nothing but watch his son with his eyes wide open, utterly powerless. So he directly brought out his trump card, and the beating he delivered was truly vicious.

Qian Daoliu could neither stop him nor leave him alone. After all, he still needed Bai Xiao and Dugu Bo to help him with something. He could only tell Dugu Bo not to beat them to death before going to speak with Qian Renxue. "Xue'er, didn't I tell you not to go hunting Soul Beasts? To wait for Bai Xiao and the others to help you?"

Qian Renxue knew she had done something wrong. Her little face turned crimson as she lowered her head, her small hands constantly twisting the corner of her clothes. In a soft, sticky voice, she said, "Didn't I just want to get a Soul Ring sooner, so I could show that bastard Bai Xinghe? His Soul Rings are all older than mine!"

Qian Daoliu continued "scolding" Qian Renxue. "Even so, you couldn't go to Sunset Forest! Didn't Bai Xinghe tell you that Sunset Forest was his territory?"

Qian Renxue said guiltily, "I didn't know."

Bai Xiao could not stand watching this grandfather-granddaughter pair ease the tension any longer. He had roughly figured out what was going on with Qian Renxue.

Qian Renxue had most likely seen that Bai Xiao's Soul Rings had a higher age than even her best Soul Ring. Combined with Bai Xiao bullying her at the council meeting before, it had made her want revenge on him. So she had specifically come to Sunset Forest to hunt Soul Beasts, bringing two Title Douluo along to suppress Bai Xiao while she was at it.

Bai Xiao felt like he was truly drunk. He had long felt that emotions on Douluo Continent were somewhat extreme, born from the experiences of their lives. Dugu Bo had already been corrected quite a bit by Bai Xiao; usually, he raised Soul Beasts and did experiments.

Yet today, Bai Xiao had stumbled over Qian Renxue. He recalled Qian Renxue's life: her father had been killed by her mother, though she did not know it yet. Bibi Dong still refused to acknowledge her, and her only family was Qian Daoliu. Qian Daoliu had raised her from childhood, yet before her childhood had even ended, she had been sent to the Heaven Dou Empire to impersonate someone else... all the way until now.

Bai Xiao felt that Qian Renxue was a pitiful child too, and decided to save her.

Bai Xiao swung his arm in a full circle, and with a smack, struck Qian Renxue across the face!