You Don't Want It? Plenty of Soul Beasts Do

The surgery was a success? What surgery?

Listening to Jiang Li say things she could not understand right in front of her, Xiao Wu only felt her mind go a little blank.

"But I was already a girl!" Xiao Wu said blankly.

Congratulations, blind student. You had finally noticed the key point.

Jiang Li replied, "I never said you weren't."

"No, no. You just said the power of my Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast form was already yours. What did that mean?" Xiao Wu shook her head and hurriedly asked.

"What was the problem?" Jiang Li asked in return.

"Of course there's a problem!" Xiao Wu suddenly stood up, planted her hands on her hips, and raised her voice so sharply that she nearly made Jiang Li jump. "That's power I cultivated painstakingly for a hundred thousand years! What gives you the right to say it's yours?"

"So what?" Jiang Li raised an eyebrow, then said righteously, "Did signing a contract with me mistreat you?"

"Do you know how dangerous it is for a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that has taken human form to stay in human society before reaching Level 70?"

"And I only took power you couldn't use in the first place. I even turned you into a real girl, so you wouldn't have to fear Soul Masters discovering your identity."

"You can ask other Soul Beasts. If losing all their power meant they could become true humans and avoid being discovered by human Soul Masters, how many of them do you think would be willing?"

"You don't want it? Plenty of Soul Beasts do!"

At that, Jiang Li paused before continuing, "Besides, it's not like I won't return it to you. As long as you stay by my side, every time you advance a Soul Power Level, my Martial Soul can return part of your power to you in the form of Soul Rings through our contract."

"How is that any different from before you made the contract? It can even keep Title Douluo from discovering your true identity. You've struck it rich, okay?"

Jiang Li had not lied to her. Everything he said was true.

He had only discovered this after contracting Xiao Wu. If the contracted target was an ordinary Soul Master or Soul Beast, this function of the Summoning Grimoire could not forcibly take the other party's power.

It could only borrow the other party's power when Jiang Li used his Martial Soul in battle. But if the contracted target was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form like Xiao Wu—

Then the power hidden within Xiao Wu's body, which she could not control on her own, would be seized by his Martial Soul, the Summoning Grimoire.

Only by staying beside him and slowly leveling up could she gradually reclaim her own power.

Still, this was not without benefits for Xiao Wu.

The benefit was that even if Xiao Wu's true identity as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form was discovered someday and she was killed, she would not drop a Soul Ring or Soul Bone.

Instead, she would become like Qian Renxue and thereafter attach herself to Jiang Li's Martial Soul, the Summoning Grimoire, in the form of a soul.

However, Jiang Li had no intention of telling Xiao Wu about that.

"No, no..."

Xiao Wu kept shaking her head. What Jiang Li said seemed perfectly reasonable, but she still felt that something was wrong.

Yet she simply could not say what exactly was wrong.

So she could only keep shaking her head.

"Tell me yourself, what's wrong with it? You want to gain something without giving anything in return? How could there be such a good deal in this world? Don't you agree?" Jiang Li asked when he saw this.

"Th-this..."

Xiao Wu stammered, unable to say a single sentence. She could only put both hands on her head and scratch furiously.

Her scalp felt so itchy, as if something was about to grow out of it!

Unfortunately, although Xiao Wu was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form, she had never communicated with humans before.

From childhood to adulthood, the only ones around her she could communicate with were her mother, Da Ming, the Sky Azure Bull Python, and Er Ming, the Titan Giant Ape.

How could someone as innocent as her possibly see through the trap hidden in Jiang Li's words?

If Xiao Wu had been a transmigrator like Jiang Li, she would have understood that his words were much like a boss making empty promises to manipulate employees.

"Alright, we've finished eating. I cooked, so it's perfectly reasonable for you to wash the dishes, right?"

"If you still can't figure it out, go wash the dishes in the kitchen and think while you wash. Tell me once you've figured it out," Jiang Li said.

Although Xiao Wu's mind was still a little muddled, she listened to Jiang Li and gathered the bowls and chopsticks before heading into the kitchen.

Jiang Li, who watched Xiao Wu enter the kitchen, did not remain idle. He raised his hand and summoned his Martial Soul, the Summoning Grimoire, then called into the air, "Xiao Xue!"

A black figure floated out of the Summoning Grimoire like a ghost and drifted behind Jiang Li.

"Xiao Xue?"

Jiang Li turned his head to the left, and Qian Renxue hid to his right. He turned his head to the right, and Qian Renxue hid to his left. In the end, Jiang Li still could not catch sight of her.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Li simply tilted his head back and bent his body backward.

"Hehe."

At once, an upside-down pretty face came into view. Her bright eyes and white teeth, her delicate features like carved jade—even seen upside down, Qian Renxue's beautiful face lost none of its charm.

Qian Renxue bent down close to Jiang Li. Her light-purple eyes were inches away, clear enough for him to see every detail.

Faintly, it even seemed as though an inexplicable girlish fragrance had drifted into Jiang Li's nose.

Jiang Li hurriedly straightened up, rubbed the tip of his slightly itchy nose, then turned to look at Qian Renxue.

"Is little Jiang Li feeling shy?" Qian Renxue teased.

"Shy my ass!"

Naturally, Jiang Li would never admit it. He merely brushed it off before saying, "Stop fooling around. Let's continue today's training."

"Little Jiang Li is still so interesting. No matter how much I tease you, I never get tired of it."

Qian Renxue looked at Jiang Li with smiling eyes, but when she saw his gaze growing increasingly unfriendly, she immediately swallowed the rest of her words.

She raised her hands in surrender toward Jiang Li. "Alright, alright, I'll stop, okay?"

"Fine. Then let's begin today's training."

With that, she had Jiang Li sit on the bed and began guiding him through that day's training.

However, what he trained was not some powerful Self-Created Soul Skill, but an inconspicuous Self-Created Soul Skill unique to Spirit Hall, one that was barely mentioned even in the original work of Douluo Continent.

It was also the foundation that allowed Qian Renxue to assume Xue Qinghe's identity and impersonate the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire.

It was a Self-Created Soul Skill that could Disguise one's Soul Power Level, the appearance of one's Martial Soul, and even the age of one's Soul Rings.

Although achieving the best results required the aid of certain precious medicines—

Jiang Li did not need the best results. It was enough for him to Disguise his Soul Power Level and Soul Ring ages to a certain extent.

As for his Martial Soul, he had already registered it with Spirit Hall to receive the Soul Master subsidy, so there was no point in hiding it anymore.