A Stabilized Contract; Where the Hell Did This Send Me?

High in the sky, wild winds buffeted his face. Ye Chenxing beat his six wings, exhilaration surging through him.

In his life on Azure Star, humanity had dreamed of conquering the skies since ancient times, even researching it for thousands of years.

On the Douluo Continent, before flying soul tools were developed, the ability to fly had likewise been a privilege reserved for only a select few and Titled Douluo.

Now, he could fly through the air without relying on any external force. Honestly... it felt incredible!

Though Ye Chenxing wanted to scream like a tourist on a roller coaster, with an Angel God silently watching beside him, he could only hold it in.

As a Master, he had an image to maintain!

"Saber, how did you feel the first time you flew?"

Saber, following behind him, was slightly taken aback. She blinked her beautiful eyes, clearly not expecting her Master to ask that question.

Then she lowered her head in thought. Perhaps too much time had passed and she had forgotten her first flight, or perhaps flying held some special meaning for her. She remained silent for an unusually long time.

Just as Ye Chenxing began to wonder whether he had said something wrong, she finally raised her head and spoke with a serious expression.

"Master, I gained the ability to fly when my martial soul awakened at the age of six. To me, flight is merely a basic means of mobility. From a tactical perspective, it is indeed highly significant, but it does not evoke any particular emotional response."

"..."

Ye Chenxing suddenly felt uncertain.

From the moment he had met her, he had always had an answer in his heart regarding Saber's identity.

But why did this person seem a little different from the one in the original story he had read in his previous life?

He was no longer sure...

I need to check my cards!

"Come to think of it, it may be a little late to ask now." Ye Chenxing slowed down and asked Saber.

"What is your true name?"

The young woman was slightly stunned before softly answering.

"I am the Angel God of Spirit Hall from ten thousand years ago. My name is Qian Renxue."

So it really was Qian Renxue.

Hearing the answer he had expected, Ye Chenxing silently nodded, but his confusion did not lessen.

She felt completely unlike the Qian Renxue from the original story: the one with a tragic childhood in the early stages, who schemed and fought through palace intrigues in the middle, was set up by the Sea God later on, became lovestruck after ascending to godhood, and ultimately lost to Tang San.

"Ahem, enough of that. Saber, let's improve our contract." Ye Chenxing cleared his throat. "You should know that the soul power maintaining your peak condition is actually finite."

"As a product of my martial soul, since I am the one supplying your energy, your original rank naturally cannot exceed mine," Ye Chenxing explained. "What you are using now is surplus energy borrowed from the Golden Tree. It is not a solution to keep consuming it like this. Rather than wasting it, we should improve the contract and store the remaining energy for use at a critical moment."

After reaching an agreement, the two landed in a secluded valley below.

Qian Renxue circulated her soul power and slowly raised her hand. Ye Chenxing extended his right hand and gently took hers. The instant he touched it, he found it slightly cool, as delicate as the finest mutton-fat jade and soft bonelessly, stirring an unusual flutter in his heart.

As the soul power circuit fully connected, Saber's aura began to plummet rapidly.

From Limit Douluo, she dropped to an ordinary Titled Douluo, then Soul Douluo, Soul Saint, Spirit Emperor, Soul King... smoothly falling all the way before finally stabilizing at the same Great Spirit Master rank as Ye Chenxing.

At the same time, a burning pain seared the back of Ye Chenxing's hand. Something he had heard about countless times in his second life but was seeing for the first time slowly emerged.

Command Spells!

They were three crimson markings interwoven like sharp swords. At a critical moment, they could allow a contracted Heroic Spirit to briefly regain the strength of their peak. There were only three chances in total, a trump card reserved for saving his life.

Unfortunately, he could no longer take the civil service exam.

As he examined the markings on the back of his hand, Ye Chenxing's vision suddenly blurred, and the scene before him changed abruptly.

When his vision focused again, he found himself standing in the middle of a resplendent golden hall.

Directly ahead stood an angel statue more than ten meters tall, its six enormous wings spread behind it as though they could blanket the entire hall.

Beneath the statue stood two figures, one large and one small.

"Grandpa, why am I different from everyone else? They all have fathers and mothers. Where are my father and mother?"

"Xue'er, your parents both gave their lives for our Spirit Hall. But do not worry, they have both gone to the side of our great god. Once you become the Angel God, you will be able to see them."

"Mhm, Grandpa, then Xue'er will definitely work hard and become the Angel God very soon. Then our family of four can be together every day."

"Xue'er is such a good girl. Tomorrow is the day your martial soul awakens. This is the first step toward becoming the Angel God, so go rest early today..."

"Could these two be...?"

Just as Ye Chenxing was about to speak, footsteps sounded behind him.

He instinctively stepped aside to make way, but the person had no intention of going around him and walked straight toward him—then passed directly through him.

Ye Chenxing froze in place. He looked down at his chest, then at the other person. She was a maid, and she was now bowing to the old man before leading the little girl outside.

"What exactly is going on?"

Ye Chenxing tried to make sense of the situation, suddenly recalling how, when he watched anime in his first life, there had been that guy always shouting about freedom who took his brother to see their father's memories. It had probably been something like this.

"And I remember that old man from Einzbern seemed to have told me I would see a Heroic Spirit's experiences. I should have paid attention in class back then..."

Beneath the statue, the old man slowly spoke, his voice hoarse and weary. "Great God, please forgive me for deceiving little Xue. But the truth... is simply too cruel for her."

The moment he saw this place, Ye Chenxing had already formed a guess. Now, to Ye Chenxing, who knew the plot of Douluo Continent well, the old man's identity was obvious.

The old man was Qian Daoliu, the level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo of Spirit Hall and the Angel God's chief priest.

And the little girl called Little Xue was naturally his granddaughter, the future Angel God, Qian Renxue.

Now that he knew their identities, the truth Qian Daoliu spoke of was naturally no secret to Ye Chenxing, and his earlier guess had been confirmed.

This was most likely Qian Renxue's past.

But there were still some oddities. Bibi Dong was clearly still alive, so why had Qian Daoliu said she was dead?

Could it be because he feared that the young Qian Renxue would be unable to accept that her mother hated her? That did make sense.

As he pondered this, a voice from behind interrupted him.

"Big Brother, if Little Xue learns the truth, she will hate you."

An elderly man with white hair and beard, dressed in golden robes embroidered with silver, entered from outside the hall. Unlike Qian Daoliu's reserved bearing, this man carried more of an imposing aura, and his presence was only slightly weaker.

He was Golden Crocodile, the second priest and a level ninety-eight Super Douluo.

Qian Daoliu let out a long sigh, his voice filled with desolation.

"It does not matter. I simply do not want Xue'er to learn all this at such a young age."

"After all, Ji did wrong. He laid hands on his own disciple, causing a rising star of Spirit Hall to lose all desire to cultivate, languish in depression, and die in sorrow after giving birth to Xue'er."

"He himself was no better. His cultivation was inadequate, yet he coveted a hundred-thousand-year soul ring and was severely wounded to death by Tang Chen's grandson."

What the hell?

Ye Chenxing could not believe his ears.

Bibi Dong lost her will to cultivate and died of depression? Qian Xunji had not been finished off by Bibi Dong, but had instead been solo-killed by Tang Sledgehammer?

Did I transmigrate?

Oh, right. It seemed he had transmigrated to begin with.