Strange Eyes

"Wound medicine, antidotes, Soul Power recovery pills." She took them out and lined them up one by one. "Three hundred li into the Sunset Forest, Soul Beasts are more than ten times as dense as they are at the outskirts. There are at least seven over fifty thousand years old, and one that's a hundred thousand years old."

Xiao Ran hadn't slept all night.

The Ultraman Tiga Card rested against his chest. Its heat had faded, but whenever he closed his eyes, he saw that open eye. A golden slit pupil, like the first glance some ancient creature had cast through the darkness. There had been no hostility in its gaze, no threat. Only a familiarity that sank into his bones.

As if it knew him.

At first light, Xiao Ran finally sat up in bed. He looked down at his hands, and silver-blue Soul Power swirled across his palms for an instant. He tried to draw on his Fifth Soul Ring. The moment lightning surged through his meridians, an image flashed through the depths of his mind—

A wasteland. A gray-white sky. A massive beast lay on the ground, its body covered in silver-blue scales with light flowing between them. It raised its head, its slit pupil fixed on him.

The image vanished, and Xiao Ran found himself on his feet. His heart hammered, and sweat had plastered his clothes to his back.

He took a deep breath and pushed the image down.

"A fifty-thousand-year Soul Beast leaving behind a trace of its mind is perfectly normal," he told himself.

But the Ultraman Tiga Card gave a faint tremor in his pocket, as if disagreeing.

Yan finally returned at breakfast. His hair was a mess, with dark circles under his eyes. He looked even more like he'd been up all night than Xiao Ran did. He froze when he saw Xiao Ran at the table, then grinned. "Hey, you made it back alive?"

"Where were you last night?"

"The Training Ground." Yan dropped into a seat, grabbed a steamed bun from in front of Xiao Ran, and took a huge bite. "Ghost Douluo dragged me off to be his sparring partner. Know what it's like fighting an agility-type Titled Douluo? You can't even touch the hem of his robe, but he can slam you into the ground whenever he wants."

Xiao Ran smiled. "Sounds rough."

"Rough?" Yan stared at him. "I swear he was messing with me on purpose. He's never done that before." He paused, then lowered his voice. "I heard you went to see the Pope yesterday?"

News traveled fast.

"Yeah."

"What did she say?"

"Not much." Xiao Ran stood. "She told me to stabilize my Soul Power and wait for an assignment."

Yan clicked his tongue. "An assignment. Nothing Bibi Dong assigns personally is ever easy." As Xiao Ran headed out, Yan called after him, "What's the story with that fifty-thousand-year Soul Beast of yours? I heard even Ghost Douluo looked shaken when he got back."

Xiao Ran waved without answering.

He went to the Training Ground.

The Training Ground was a clearing on Houshan, shielded from outside disturbances by a Soul Power barrier and reserved for the Golden Generation. Few people were there this early. Only Hu Liena was in a corner, working on the flexibility of her fox tail. When she saw him, she stopped and nodded from a distance.

Xiao Ran said nothing more and walked straight to the center. He closed his eyes and drew on each of his five Soul Rings in turn.

First Soul Skill, Light Pattern Slash. A silver-blue blade of light sprang from his palm, humming faintly as it cut through the air.

Second Soul Skill, Flowing Light Step. He flickered across the ground, leaving three afterimages behind. He was at least thirty percent faster than before.

Third Soul Skill, Light Prison.

Fourth Soul Skill, Light Burst.

He used all four Soul Skills in turn, consuming less than twenty percent of his Soul Power. The reserves he had at level fifty were in another league from those at level forty. But when he drew on his Fifth Soul Ring, everything changed.

The instant lightning surged out, the air across the Training Ground shuddered. Silver-blue arcs burst around him, crackling. He raised a hand, and a bolt shot from his palm into a target ten zhang away. Boom! The target shattered, and the blast gouged a shallow dent in the Soul Power barrier.

In the distance, Hu Liena straightened, her foxlike eyes narrowing slightly.

But Xiao Ran wore an odd expression. He looked down at his palm. Arcs danced between his fingers, and now and then, a hair-thin golden line flashed through the silver-blue light.

Gold.

The same color as that eye.

He withdrew his Soul Power and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Hu Liena came over and offered him a waterskin.

"That lightning just now," she said. "The last strike was the wrong color."

"I noticed."

"A fifty-thousand-year Soul Ring doesn't change the form of a Soul Skill for no reason." Hu Liena's tone was mild, but Xiao Ran could hear her probing. "Was there something unusual about that Soul Beast?"

Xiao Ran took the waterskin and drank. "I'm trying to find out too."

Hu Liena watched him for a moment but asked nothing more. When she turned to leave, though, her steps were a touch slower than usual.

Three days later, the assignment came.

Ghost Douluo delivered the order himself. He stood at the edge of the Training Ground, his gray-white robe snapping in the mountain wind, a sealed parchment scroll pinched between his bony fingers.

"An order from the Pope." He handed the parchment to Xiao Ran. "Read it yourself."

Xiao Ran unrolled it. There was only one line, its strokes sharp as knife cuts:

"Sunset Forest. Go three hundred li in and investigate the abnormal Soul Power fluctuations. Take Hu Liena. Seven-day limit."

The Pope's seal was stamped beneath it.

Ghost Douluo watched him finish reading. "Know why she's sending you?"

"Flowing Light Perception."

"Half right." Ghost Douluo turned, leaning on his cane as he walked. "When you absorbed your Soul Ring last time, someone was watching. This assignment is to see whether that watcher appears again."

Xiao Ran's grip tightened on the parchment.

"The Pope wants to draw them out?"

Ghost Douluo stopped and glanced back. Beneath his hood, the gaunt face seemed to hold the faintest smile.

"The Pope never puts everything she means on paper," he said. "Figure it out yourself."

His cane tapped the ground, and he walked away.

Xiao Ran stood where he was, looking down at the parchment in his hand. Three hundred li into the Sunset Forest—that was the direction of the light-aspected source he had sensed.

Forty li in lay that sealed presence.

And now he was being sent three hundred li in.

Were the two connected? How much did Bibi Dong know? Was she sending him to test him, or... to use him to accomplish something?

The Ultraman Tiga Card warmed faintly against his chest. Xiao Ran took it out. The golden line on its silver surface was clearer than it had been three days ago. Thin as a thread, it spread from the card's edge toward its center, like a bloodline awakening.

He took a deep breath and tucked the card away.

Whatever Bibi Dong was plotting, he was certain of one thing.

The sealed presence had been waiting for him all along.

And now he was heading toward it.

The night before they set out, Hu Liena knocked on Xiao Ran's door.

She had changed into a lightweight black outfit, her fox tail curled around her waist instead of displayed as usual. She carried a cloth bag, which clinked when she set it on the table.