Deep within Martial Soul Hall stood a gigantic fleshball, its veins still throbbing as they transported some unknown liquid. Three people stood beside it: a youth, an adult, and an old man.
The white-haired, white-bearded old man asked the youth over and over, "Is she really going to be okay? If anything happens to Xue'er, I won't go on living either! I'll perish with you!"
The youth standing beside him, who had been spacing out, 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 young man beside them twitched at the corner of his eye. 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 grumble inwardly, Last time nearly hurt me to death. If my life hadn't been so tough, I'd have gone to see Dugu Yan's father long ago!
Last time, Qian Daoliu had happened to see Bai Xiao's Soul Ring configuration and had instantly been astounded beyond measure. After all, without God-Bestowed Soul Rings, it was nearly impossible to have a thousand-year second Soul Ring and a ten-thousand-year third Soul Ring.
Even someone like Qian Renxue, with Innate Soul Power at level twenty, could not accomplish that. Qian Daoliu was immensely curious, and since Qian Renxue needed to obtain her sixth Soul Ring, he cared deeply about the matter.
Thus, Qian Daoliu kept coming to drink tea with Bai Xiao and Dugu Bo, discussing along the way how Soul Rings should be matched.
Bai Xiao had originally refused, but Qian Daoliu would not stop pestering him. Besides, Bai Xiao and Martial Soul Hall were now on the same side, so Bai Xiao revealed his method to Qian Daoliu.
As a result, while Bai Xiao and Qian Daoliu were discussing things, Qian Renxue led people to Sunset Forest to hunt Soul Beasts. The two Title Douluo knocked down Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts one punch at a time, all the way into Bai Xiao's territory.
When Bai Xiao received the news and hurried back, he found that his Soul Beast underlings were either injured or maimed.
The Soul Beast underling chosen by Qian Renxue for her Soul Ring, "Mysterious Bird," had already had half its body severed and was on the brink of death.
Reality dealt Bai Xiao a cold slap across the face. He could only circulate life force to slow Mysterious Bird's death.
Bai Xiao mobilized his authority over the forest, pouring the life force stored by the plant Soul Beasts into Mysterious Bird's body.
Qian Daoliu sensed an immense surge of life force converging from every direction in the forest.
He used the Mental Power of a Limit Douluo to examine it, only to discover that this life force came from every living thing in the forest, whether it was the Blue Silver Grass by the roadside or towering ancient trees.
At that moment, he concluded that Bai Xiao's Martial Soul was definitely far from ordinary. With such an ability, its quality could not be beneath that of the Six-Winged Angel.
"A life-element God-Tier Martial Soul?" Qian Daoliu murmured.
Because the situation had been urgent, Qian Daoliu had brought Bai Xiao here first. After all, when a peerless Douluo's Martial Soul had wings, could anyone really say he was slow?
Dugu Bo, who had arrived later, instantly flew into a rage upon seeing the scene before him and shot Qian Renxue a fierce glare.
After all, with Qian Daoliu here, it was inconvenient for him to act.
Then Dugu Bo activated Martial Soul Possession and deployed the Toxic Dragon Bio-Armor that Bai Xiao had made for him!
He pounced on those two Title Douluo and unleashed a barrage of attacks.
After all, no matter what those Soul Beasts had been like before, after Bai Xiao and Dugu Yan modified them, they had never actively killed anyone or eaten human flesh.
After Bai Xiao catalyzed their intelligence, every one of them was like a child. Though they could be rather noisy and silly at times, there were feelings between them in the end.
After resolving his Martial Soul problem, Dugu Bo's personality had improved greatly. Moreover, he had experienced the pain of losing a son. Like any ordinary old man, he was willing to accept these "children."
Yet today, his own "children" had been beaten, and one of them had been beaten to the brink of death, leaving him able to do nothing but watch it die.
That made Dugu Bo remember once more how he had been able to do nothing but watch his son, utterly powerless. So he brought out his trump card directly, and his beating was truly vicious.
Qian Daoliu could neither stop him nor let him continue. 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 hunt Soul Beasts? Didn't I tell you to wait for Bai Xiao and the others to help you?"
Qian Renxue knew she had done something wrong. Her little face flushed red as she lowered her head, her small hands constantly rubbing 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 to "scold" 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 no longer stand watching this grandfather-granddaughter pair ease the atmosphere. He had probably figured out what was going on with Qian Renxue.
Qian Renxue had most likely seen that Bai Xiao's Soul Rings had higher ages than even her best Soul Ring. Coupled with how Bai Xiao had bullied her during the council meeting, she had wanted revenge on him. So she had deliberately come to Sunset Forest to hunt Soul Beasts, bringing two Title Douluo to suppress Bai Xiao while she was at it.
Bai Xiao felt utterly drunk. He had long felt that the emotions of people on Douluo Continent were somewhat extreme, stemming from their life experiences. 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. Bai Xiao recalled Qian Renxue's life: her father had been killed by her mother, though she did not know that now. Then Bibi Dong refused to acknowledge her. Her only relative was Qian Daoliu, who had raised her since 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 also a pitiful child and decided to save her.
Bai Xiao swung his arm in a full circle, and with a smack, struck Qian Renxue across the face!
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