A Good Piece of News, a Bad Piece of News

An hour later.

The purple-black patterns on Xu Huxiao's face gradually faded. He slowly opened his eyes, unable to hide the exhaustion in them, then exhaled a mouthful of foul air.

There was good news and bad news now.

The good news was that he had finally absorbed all the Soul Bone source energy and stored it within his body. Once he slowly refined it, he should be able to condense a second Flower of Vitality and Blood at his navel.

Moreover, because the Eight Extraordinary Meridians had shared the burden of storage, the unusual purple-black patterns on his body had disappeared as well.

The bad news was that because this energy was too immense, after completely absorbing it, his Twin Arms Martial Souls had been solidified by the energy.

Other than using Martial Soul Possession, he could not use any Soul Skills now.

Only after he had completely refined this energy and his Martial Souls were unsealed would he be able to use his two Soul Skills again.

Still, it was not too bad. Besides Soul Skills, he possessed considerable close-combat ability and the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms. Even if he could not avoid a Soul Battle, he still had the strength to fight.

In truth, this was also the first time he had used the Five-Colored Heavenly Pearl to absorb and refine Soul Bone source energy.

Next time, as long as he switched to either of his other two Martial Souls while absorbing it, he could completely avoid having his Twin Arms Soul Skills sealed.

After telling Yun Ji to keep tonight's events confidential and giving her a few instructions, Xu Huxiao took a bath, collapsed onto the soft, cool bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

After absorbing overloaded energy twice in one day, both his body and mind had undergone an enormous test.

He was so exhausted that he did not want to move even a finger. Only sleep could serve as the best tonic now.

That same night.

On Bright Island, within the core region of Thousand Islands Lake.

Although it was already late at night, the entire island glittered with the colorful, dazzling lights of illumination Soul Tools. It was even livelier than during the day.

Bhikkhu City, the capital of the Cupid Kingdom on the island, was even more prosperous and bustling.

Music, singing and dancing, acrobatics, Soul Battles, black-box gambling—everything could be found there. Thousand Islands Lake was known as Love Island, while Bhikkhu City was called Heaven Dou's only City of Romance.

Bhikkhu City was filled with domed castle-like buildings. These structures were not particularly tall, but their roofs were bright and vivid in color, creating a powerful visual impression.

There were also many perfectly proportioned sculptures throughout the city, each revealing exquisite and delicate ingenuity.

All of it displayed the free artistic atmosphere of the City of Romance.

At the center of the city, within the castle palace of the Cupid royal family, a lively noble banquet was underway beneath the statue of the naked and sacred Love Goddess Venus, accompanied by the dancing waters of an open-air musical fountain.

The host was the queen of the Cupid Kingdom, the most dazzling pearl of the City of Romance, Meriel Muse.

Meriel Muse appeared to be in her thirties. She had thick, long golden curls pinned up with a ruby hair ornament, revealing her slender and graceful neck. Her skin was as delicate and fair as a baby's, and her figure was voluptuous and full. Dressed in a low-cut, cinched-waist white evening gown of extravagant elegance, every movement she made exuded an intoxicating feminine beauty.

Ordinarily, a woman like her would be the center of any banquet or ball, surrounded by admirers like stars around the moon.

Yet Meriel was clearly somewhat absent-minded today, turning down every dance invitation from the refined nobles.

Halfway through the banquet, she came alone to the highest point of the palace pavilion, drinking by herself beneath the stars and moon.

As she savored the fragrance of the red wine in her glass, an alluring flush appeared on Meriel's beautiful face.

She was the queen of this kingdom, and also the only queen in the history of the Cupid Kingdom.

After her husband, the former king of the Cupid Kingdom, died ten years ago, Meriel Muse had forcefully seized royal power and swiftly suppressed every opposing voice with iron-blooded methods.

The Cupid Kingdom had not fallen into chaos after the old king's death. Instead, under Meriel's leadership, it had become even more prosperous, and in recent years it had gradually come close to breaking free from the Heaven Dou Empire's restrictive control.

Everything had seemed to be moving in a better and better direction, but now a crisis had emerged that Meriel could not resolve.

A crisis that, if handled poorly, would cause the kingdom to collapse and splinter apart!

Meriel had been able to swiftly seize royal power and suppress the restless old nobles because she had a Titled Douluo father, as well as her own strength.

But now, both of those had developed problems.

A few years ago, while traveling across the continent, her father had been injured by Dugu Bo, the Titled Douluo known as Poison, whose Martial Soul was the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor. Though the poison had been removed in time, lingering aftereffects remained that could not be cured.

Two days ago, her father, who was nearly a hundred years old, had told her that because of the poison's aftereffects, he did not have much time left. At most half a year, at least three months—his life would reach its end.

That was assuming he did not engage in intense combat.

As for Meriel herself, she had originally relied on the uniqueness of her Martial Soul and borrowed the Love Goddess Divine Power, allowing her lifelong cultivation to remain only at Rank 60 while temporarily displaying Titled-level strength after borrowing divine power.

But yesterday, the Love Goddess Divine Power within her had inexplicably vanished.

Unable to find any reason for it, Meriel had tried praying to the Love Goddess in every possible way, yet received not the slightest response from the statue of the Love Goddess.

Without the blessing of the Love Goddess Divine Power, she was merely an ordinary Soul Emperor.

Though the country currently appeared to be under her excellent leadership, with no apparent danger of rebellion, Meriel knew that the old nobles' power had not been completely eradicated. It could rise again at any time.

Those rotten old nobles could not stand seeing a woman become king.

These old nobles had made overthrowing her, the queen, their mission!

Now that she no longer had powerful strength as her guarantee, her path ahead would be exceedingly difficult as a woman leading this kingdom.

Meriel raised the glass of red wine in her hand and took another small sip.

The sweetness and sharpness of the wine clashed with and blended into each other, intertwining into a complex, unforgettable flavor that lingered in the mouth.

Meriel enjoyed the night sky alone until an aged sigh sounded behind her. An old man in gray robes appeared, holding a wooden staff, with snow-white hair and beard and a face like withered tree bark.

Only then did the queen emerge from her thoughts.

"Liel, my child, you have truly suffered for the sake of the kingdom."

Meriel concealed the worry in her eyes and smiled. "Father, this is what I should do as queen."

Then she asked, "How is the seal left behind by the Love Goddess on the deserted island now?"

The old man in gray fell silent for several seconds before saying, "It is bad news. Just as you said, the Love Goddess Divine Power has completely disappeared. The Soul Beast Snake Demon on the deserted island shows signs of a massive outbreak."

"However, as you know, Snake Demons are Soul Beasts with form but no substance. They will not cause much direct harm, only a brief period of unrest within the country."

"I am not worried about the Soul Beasts. I am worried that the old noble factions will take advantage of this unrest to make a move against you."

"Liel, leave this country. This is the calamity of the Cupid Kingdom. The chaos and slaughter to come are inevitable, and no one can avoid them. In my current condition, I can no longer protect you."

The old man spoke the final sentence softly, but it struck Meriel's heart like a boulder.

Leave?

Flee her own homeland like a homeless dog?

No.

Impossible!

Absolutely impossible!!

This kingdom was everything to her. It was the shared dream of her and the old king. She would never allow anyone to shatter that dream. No matter what means she had to use, she would never abandon her kingdom.

Nor would she allow the kingdom to fall into division and chaos.

Meriel set down her wineglass and looked at the old man resolutely. "Father, I will not leave. You do not need to protect me either. If things truly reach a critical point, I hope you will take little Yan and leave. He is still young. I will remain behind."

The old man in gray looked deeply at his daughter. After understanding Meriel's unwavering determination, he sighed once more.

"I understand. If it truly comes to that, I will protect Yan."

Having made up her mind, Meriel turned her beautiful eyes toward the island's exterior, in the direction of Returning Moon Island.

"The situation is indeed tense now, but it is not entirely hopeless. There is another piece of good news: that Demon Bear from Spirit Hall is on Returning Moon Island."

"As long as we can seize this opportunity, every difficulty will be resolved."

Hearing this, the old man in gray thought for a moment, and the wrinkles between his brows deepened.

"But we have no bargaining chip capable of moving him to offer us protection. Liel, you must understand that a Titled Douluo will not casually agree to requests for action. And that Demon Bear lacks neither power nor money."

Meriel curled her lips into a smile, raised her glass, and drained it in one gulp. Red wine stained her crimson lips, lending her an enchanting charm.

Her gaze was deep, like that of a skilled hunter.

"Father, do not worry. I have my own methods. However, I need to lay some groundwork before the Snake Demon beast tide erupts..."

If she could not rely on her own strength, then finding the Cupid Kingdom a powerful backer could solve the problem just as well. Meriel gazed at the full moon as it emerged from the dark clouds.

That was what she thought.

The next day, when dawn swept across the lake and broke the forest's silence.

Xu Huxiao's internal clock woke him right on time.

After sleeping soundly through the night, Xu Huxiao rose early feeling as though his body were filled with endless power, as if it contained a sun that would never go out.

No, it did not merely seem that way.

There are already "suns" condensed from Yang Origin Soul Power in my dantian, and there are two of them.

He had recovered quickly.

The formidable recovery and endurance of the Nine Yang Divine Skill had already begun to gradually reveal themselves.

The further he progressed, the stronger this effect would become as one Golden Sun after another condensed, until he broke through into the perfected realm of "Nine Yang Revolves, Life Eternal."

After imagining the future for a moment, Xu Huxiao began his unwavering daily cultivation, preparing to condense the third Golden Sun and advance toward Soul Elder.

But.

The moment he began cultivating, he discovered a problem.

Because his body's meridians were completely occupied by Soul Bone energy, his Yang Origin Soul Power could not circulate through a full cycle at all!

Only the two Golden Suns in his dantian rotated and refined intermittently beneath the wrapping of purple-black energy, like two rusted gears.

Xu Huxiao felt somewhat helpless. It seemed that having his Soul Skills sealed was not the only bad news.

Before this energy was refined, he would be unable to continue his previous rapid cultivation.

However.

Although he could not circulate his cultivation through a full cycle, he sensed that when he emptied his mind and sat in meditation, the two Golden Suns rotated noticeably faster within his inner vision.

Now that he could not circulate his cultivation, his body could only rely on the two Golden Suns in his dantian to refine this energy.

"Looks like until I find another way to speed up the refinement, I can only replace cultivation with meditation in the morning, noon, and evening."

Xu Huxiao sat down cross-legged and began meditating, not overly worried despite being unable to cultivate.

Because he could sense that while refining this Soul Bone energy, his body was not only absorbing it—part of it was also being converted into Yang Origin Soul Power.

Although his Martial Souls were currently frozen, preventing his Soul Power Level from showing, he knew that when the energy was fully refined and his Twin Arms Martial Souls were unsealed, his Soul Power would definitely experience explosive growth.

There was no need to worry. He only needed to focus on cultivation.