Fusion with the Wisdom Soul Bone

"Alright. From today onward, you are the Holy Son of Wuhun Hall!"

"Ye Hua, take Jiang Chen to stay at Autumn Pavilion, east of my chambers."

Ye Hua's body trembled. "Yes, Your Holiness."

The Pope was actually allowing Jiang Chen to stay within her chambers. Even Hu Liena, the Holy Maiden, only lived outside them!

"Jiang Chen, tomorrow I will personally guide your cultivation. Once your foundation is solid, I'll take you to obtain your first soul ring..."

Jiang Chen was secretly delighted. His bargain-bin master was actually letting him live inside her chambers. Didn't that mean...

"Ding! Congratulations, host, for successfully triggering a choice:

Choice One: The host boldly asks Bibi Dong, 'Will you teach me personally, hand in hand?' Reward: one Ten-Million-Year Soul Bone.

Choice Two: Display the strength of a Title Douluo and recklessly say, 'You are not qualified to teach me unless you become a god.' Reward: one Ten-Million-Year Soul Bone."

Jiang Chen looked at the two options. The rewards were truly tempting, but... System, were you trying to get him killed?

If Jiang Chen exposed his strength, wouldn't they capture him and study him like a lab rat? What kind of six-year-old was already a Title Douluo?

Even if he had innate full soul power at rank ninety, how was he supposed to explain those nine million-year soul rings?!

"System, I choose One."

"Congratulations, host, for making your choice. Reward: one Ten-Million-Year Soul Bone."

Jiang Chen looked at the breathtakingly beautiful Bibi Dong before him with an innocent expression and asked curiously, "Teacher, will you teach me personally, hand in hand?"

Bibi Dong was visibly taken aback, then smiled faintly and rubbed Jiang Chen's head.

Sigh~

What bad intentions could a child possibly have?

"Don't worry. Teacher will certainly teach you everything I know~"

In a quiet pavilion, Jiang Chen lay by the window, watching the soldiers patrol the palace grounds as he drifted into endless reverie.

"What is meant to be will come in time; what is not meant to be cannot be forced~"

"A free opportunity had just fallen right into my lap..."

Jiang Chen returned to the bed and sat cross-legged, using his thoughts to retrieve the Ten-Million-Year Soul Bone from the system space.

In Jiang Chen's hands rested a purple soul bone radiating a faint glow. It was a Wisdom Soul Bone that greatly enhanced spiritual power. It could launch spiritual attacks against enemies and even create illusions indistinguishable from reality!

That was the terror of a Ten-Million-Year Soul Bone!

Jiang Chen decided that from now on, if a soul bone was not ten million years old, he would not fuse with it!

Jiang Chen mobilized his soul power and began absorbing the Wisdom Soul Bone. Time passed bit by bit.

Moonlight streamed through the window.

"Phew~"

"I finally fused with it successfully. Is this the enhancement brought by a Ten-Million-Year Soul Bone?"

Jiang Chen felt as though everything in the world had become clearer. Even at night, he could sense the movements outside the pavilion through his naturally released spiritual power.

A breeze swept past. He could sense fallen leaves drifting from the trees, birds chirping on branches a hundred meters away, soldiers patrolling Wuhun Hall, and a stunningly beautiful woman in a grand pavilion... taking a bath!

"Holy shit... Bibi Dong!"

Jiang Chen could no longer remain calm. The spiritual enhancement granted by this soul bone was this insane?!

Jiang Chen could even see every single detail...

"Namo Glazed Amitabha... Sinful, sinful..."

"I am a gentleman!"

Jiang Chen immediately shifted his spiritual power elsewhere. In a residence outside the chambers, a girl about his age was still sitting in meditation and cultivating seriously, her brows filled with determination.

"Hu Liena, you can do it!"

"You have to prove through your actions that you are no worse than Teacher's newly accepted disciple!"

The orange-haired girl muttered to herself.

Jiang Chen froze. This little girl was Hu Liena?

She had even regarded him as a rival?

Jiang Chen was speechless. Why bother?

He was a cheat-code player, not the hardworking type. Becoming a Title Douluo at six was not something effort alone could achieve.

Jiang Chen's spiritual power swept through Wuhun Hall once more before finally stopping beneath a relatively secluded palace.

A white-haired old man sat in a stone chair while a little golden-haired girl held a short sword, repeatedly slashing at the wooden post before her.

Drops of sweat slid from the golden-haired girl's forehead to her neck, soaking her collar. The speed and force of her swings gradually weakened until both hands gripping the short sword could no longer stop trembling.

Yet she still refused to give up. Clenching her teeth, she stared stubbornly at the wooden post as though it were a mortal enemy, slashing again and again, even as her strikes grew slower...

"One thousand and six..."

"One thousand... and nine."

"Sigh~ Xiaoxue, why put yourself through this?"

The white-haired old man spoke painfully.

Jiang Chen was deeply moved. It was not difficult to guess that this old man and child were Qian Daoliu and the Pope's daughter, Qian Renxue.

It seemed that Qian Renxue might already have known her fate by then. She wanted to work hard to escape her mother Bibi Dong's control and refused to become a mere chess piece, but in the end, she could not control her own destiny.

In the original novel and anime, Jiang Chen had seen how tragic the final fates of beauties like Qian Renxue and Hu Liena were, and that only made him feel even more that Tang San...

He clearly did not need to kill them, yet under the banner of justice, he committed every act that broke hearts.

"Once I have the strength to crush everything, I will definitely change your endings!"

"Whether the continent is unified or not, who wins and who loses does not matter. As long as the final outcome is good, that is enough."

"..."

The next day--

Jiang Chen arrived at the martial training grounds early and waited for his teacher, Bibi Dong.

After roughly the time it took to burn two sticks of incense, a woman in a pleated pinkish-purple gown appeared not far from Jiang Chen and walked toward him. Beside her was an orange-haired girl, naturally the Hu Liena Jiang Chen had seen the previous night.

"I didn't expect you to be such an eager learner. You must have waited a long time."

Jiang Chen spoke respectfully. "Teacher."

"This is my other disciple, Hu Liena."

Bibi Dong introduced her to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen forced out a smile. "Greetings, Senior Sister."

Hu Liena merely nodded in response, looking at Jiang Chen with hostility.

Jiang Chen silently complained, I didn't even provoke you. Why are you looking at me like that, as though I owe you money?

"Alright, today I will teach you some essential knowledge every soul master must possess."

"What do you think a soul master is?"

Jiang Chen pondered silently. What was a soul master?

"Teacher, I believe that becoming a soul master is a path of pursuing strength. Only those who press upstream with an unyielding heart can be called soul masters."

"Even if one is born as insignificant as an ant, one should still harbor lofty ambitions. Even if one's life is as worthless as grass, one should possess an unyielding heart."

Hu Liena was so shocked by Jiang Chen's few words that her mouth fell open. She could not speak. Resonance rose in her heart, and she developed a trace of admiration for Jiang Chen.

A flicker of surprise passed through Bibi Dong's eyes. She had not expected a six-year-old child like Jiang Chen to say such words.

"Only those who press upstream with an unyielding heart can be called soul masters." What immense spirit.

"When soul masters fight, what do you think is most important?"

Bibi Dong continued asking.

"Teacher, I think that when soul masters fight, the first thing is whether they possess a cautious heart. Even something as lowly as an ant can shake an elephant. Without caution, a thousand-mile dike will eventually collapse because of an ant hole."

"Second is the gap in strength. Sometimes, absolute strength can make up for the absence of strategy."

The more Bibi Dong looked at this disciple, the more pleasing he became. She had truly found a treasure.

"Why did you join Wuhun Hall?"