Welcome Ceremony?

"What is it? Let me see."

Hearing Jiang Li, Xiao Wu curiously leaned over and rummaged through him.

But when she saw Jiang Li dig a glowing Soul Bone out of the Shadow Wolf's corpse, she immediately lost interest. "Isn't it just a lousy bone? What's so surprising about it?"

"You really don't know how expensive daily necessities are until you have to run a household!" Jiang Li lightly tapped Xiao Wu on the forehead.

Xiao Wu hurriedly raised a hand to cover her forehead.

Qian Renxue chimed in, "Exactly. A Soul Bone from a Thousand-Year Soul Beast would fetch at least a hundred thousand gold soul coins at auction in Heaven Dou City. And it's the kind of thing money alone can't buy."

The crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire that Qian Renxue impersonated was of noble status, but she was not portrayed as someone detached from worldly affairs. She also had a certain understanding of the value of gold soul coins.

One gold soul coin was enough to cover the living expenses of an ordinary family of three on Douluo Continent for several months.

A hundred thousand gold soul coins was undoubtedly an enormous sum.

"Really? This piece of junk is worth that much?" Xiao Wu clicked her tongue slightly as she glanced at the Soul Bone in Jiang Li's hand.

Qian Renxue explained to Xiao Wu, "Of course. After all, aside from Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, killing a Soul Beast does not guarantee a Soul Bone."

"The lower a Soul Beast's cultivation, the lower its chances of producing a Soul Bone. On top of that, Soul Masters grow far faster than Soul Beasts, so indiscriminate slaughter is forbidden for Soul Masters. As a result, the chances of Soul Masters obtaining Soul Bones are even lower."

"I'm done for, I've lost out big time." After hearing Qian Renxue's explanation, Xiao Wu immediately thought of how much wealth she had missed over the years in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Although her true form, the Soft-Boned Rabbit, was indeed a herbivore, the Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape were not.

Over the past hundred thousand years, those two overlords of the Star Dou Great Forest had devoured countless Soul Beasts.

They had seen things like this before, but Soul Bones held no value for them, who were Soul Beasts themselves.

So they had either discarded them or eaten them along with the Soul Beast corpses—the Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape had swallowed them whole.

A Soul Bone was worth at least a hundred thousand gold soul coins, while with her Soul Power still below rank 30, she could only collect ten gold soul coins in Soul Master subsidies from Spirit Hall each month.

How many years of subsidies would she need to collect to afford a single Soul Bone?

"What did you lose out on?" Jiang Li put away the Soul Bone he had dug out of the Shadow Wolf and asked Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu answered gloomily, "N-Nothing."

She did not choose to tell Jiang Li what she had been thinking, because she was afraid that after hearing it, he would give her head another hard knock.

Seeing that Xiao Wu did not want to talk, Jiang Li did not press her. Their most important task now was to hunt a suitable Soul Beast for his Martial Soul's third Soul Ring.

So he nodded and said, "If it's nothing, then let's keep moving."

The moment he finished speaking, several Soul Beasts of different types sprang out of the bushes nearby.

And from the looks of it, they all seemed to be Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

"Dark Six-Winged Angel, Spirit Avatar!" Without another word, Jiang Li summoned the Summoning Grimoire and used Qian Renxue's Dark Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul.

"What is going on? So many Thousand-Year Soul Beasts have appeared at once? They're usually hard to find in the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest."

While fending off the several Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, Jiang Li asked in confusion, "Xiao Wu, do you know what's happening?"

Xiao Wu had been born in the Star Dou Great Forest and knew it well, so Jiang Li asked her directly.

At that, Xiao Wu shook her head. She was not very familiar with the situation in the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest either. She was completely baffled and had no idea what was going on.

As they spoke, several more Soul Beasts sprang out.

They were even stronger than the ones before. The oldest among them was likely close to two thousand years old.

"More?" Jiang Li cursed under his breath. "No, at this rate, they might never stop."

These Soul Beasts were no real threat to him, but who knew whether even stronger and more numerous Soul Beasts were waiting ahead?

A wise man did not stand beneath a crumbling wall. With that thought, Jiang Li hurriedly called out, "Xiao Wu!"

"Simulating the third Soul Skill, Angel Soaring!"

Soul Power immediately condensed behind him into six black wings.

This was Qian Renxue's third Martial Soul Soul Skill, a flight-type Soul Skill.

However, although Jiang Li's Soul Power had reached rank 30, he had not yet obtained his third Soul Ring, so he could only use Soul Power to simulate it briefly.

And this method consumed even more Soul Power, while the Soul Skill could only last for a shorter time.

But this was not the time to worry about such things. What mattered more was figuring out what exactly had happened in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Jiang Li rushed to Xiao Wu's side and wrapped both arms around her. Xiao Wu did not resist. Instead, she found a comfortable angle and nestled into Jiang Li's embrace.

The six black wings behind him flapped at once, and in the blink of an eye, Jiang Li carried Xiao Wu into the air.

"What's that?"

Once airborne, Jiang Li quickly spotted something farther away: a densely packed mass of Soul Beasts fleeing in his direction as though for their lives.

They formed a vast black tide, numbering at least several thousand Soul Beasts.

Every single one was at least a Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Jiang Li even spotted several that might have been Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts within the herd.

Jiang Li's scalp tingled. Fortunately, he had taken Xiao Wu into the air.

Otherwise, once the beast tide reached them, their only option would have been to hide in the Summoning Space.

And if they had been delayed by fighting the Soul Beasts that had appeared earlier, they might very well have been trampled into meat paste by the sudden beast tide.

Suddenly, a gigantic black ape, as enormous as a mountain, appeared from nowhere in the distance and leaped into the beast tide.

ROAR!!

A thunderous roar erupted from the black ape's mouth.

With a casual forceful slap at the ground, several Soul Beasts that failed to dodge were instantly crushed into pulp, leaving a huge palm print in the earth.

"Er Ming?!" Xiao Wu suddenly cried out from Jiang Li's arms.

"Er Ming? The Titan Giant Ape?"

Hearing that, Jiang Li's ears twitched. He lowered his head to glance at Xiao Wu, then turned his gaze back toward the black ape rampaging through the beast tide in the distance.

Well, damn. He had thought it was a Soul Beast riot, an ape uprising, a counterattack against the human world.

He had not expected this to be the Titan Giant Ape's welcome ceremony for Xiao Wu's return home.

Though wasn't this a little too extravagant?

Looking at the Titan Giant Ape, which stood at least forty meters tall and was comparable to the monsters from Ultraman, Jiang Li could not help sighing. "So this is the Titan Giant Ape, one of the overlord-class Soul Beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest? It really is worthy of being a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast."

Wait, what was the Titan Giant Ape trying to do?

Holy shit!

It grabbed a Soul Beast from the ground and hurled it like a cannonball at Jiang Li and Xiao Wu in the air!!!

At that moment, Jiang Li really wanted to lower his head and ask Xiao Wu: Is this how you Soul Beasts hold welcome ceremonies?