A Chance Encounter with Qian Renxue

The Golden-Eyed Demon Wolf had been wounded by a weak human and then mocked. Rage surged through it.

It howled at the sky. Black Soul Power churned wildly as its body swelled by a full thirty percent. Its face twisted into a snarl, and madness filled its golden eyes.

The wound left by the Thunderblade Sword healed in an instant. A black Soul Power Barrier formed over its body again, denser than the one that had just been shattered.

This was the Golden-Eyed Demon Wolf's innate skill, Demonization.

Once activated, it increased its strength, speed, defense, and every other physical attribute by fifty percent. At the same time, its judgment deteriorated until it knew only slaughter. The effect lasted a full half hour.

The Golden-Eyed Demon Wolf was now moving even faster than Li Changqing had under the boost of his Soul Skill. It lunged straight at him.

Li Changqing dared not take it lightly. A pair of enormous golden Bone Wings appeared behind him.

He had obtained this External Soul Bone when acquiring his fourth Soul Ring. It had come from a Ten-Thousand-Year Dark-Gold Bone Eagle.

The golden Bone Wings swept forward, wrapping Li Changqing tightly within them.

The wolf's forepaw struck the wings with a bang. Li Changqing flew hundreds of meters, snapping several trees along the way before coming to a stop. Thanks to the wings' protection, he was barely hurt.

Li Changqing took flight on his Bone Wings. Looking down at the wolf charging toward him, he showed no trace of worry. "I thought I'd have to trade a few rounds with you before you used Demonization. Since you've already brought it out, I'm done playing."

The Demonized wolf was too frenzied to heed his words. It had only one thought left: tear Li Changqing apart.

When it was still nearly a hundred meters away, the wolf pushed off hard with all four limbs and leaped high into the air. Energy gathered in its maw, lined with black fangs, and it spat a black beam twice as thick as the last one at Li Changqing.

With a thought, Li Changqing unleashed the Yin-Yang Domain.

A black-and-white dome spread outward from his body. Inside it, falling leaves hung motionless, and branches stirred by the wind ceased to sway. Heaven and earth turned black and white, as though someone had pressed pause.

The moment the black beam entered the dome, the ceaselessly circulating Yin-Yang Qi wore it away until nothing remained.

The Yin-Yang Domain spread rapidly, engulfing the wolf while it was still airborne and greatly weakening it. Only its Demonized strength kept it moving. A weaker Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would have been frozen in place, then ground away by the Yin-Yang Qi within the domain.

Li Changqing moved and appeared above the wolf's head in an instant. He stamped down with crushing force. A sharp crack rang out as its skull fractured.

The wolf struck the ground with a muffled boom and let out a piercing howl.

Li Changqing gave it no chance to struggle. Hovering above it, he hurled the Thunderblade Sword. The blade plunged straight into the wolf's head. Its body went limp, and it stopped breathing.

It had all happened fast. Only a few seconds had passed between Li Changqing's activation of the Yin-Yang Domain and the wolf's death.

Li Changqing landed and withdrew the Yin-Yang Domain and his golden Bone Wings. The black and white faded, and the world regained its colors. Leaves resumed their fall, and branches swayed once more.

A pitch-black Soul Ring slowly appeared above the wolf's corpse, radiating an astonishing presence that spoke to its great age.

Li Changqing sat cross-legged and drew the Soul Ring toward him with his will, beginning to absorb it.

The absorption went smoothly, without the slightest discomfort.

Once he finished, Li Changqing stood. His Soul Power had reached level seventy-two. Feeling the abundant power within him, he nodded slightly. He could try forming a Soul Core next.

He walked over to the wolf's corpse and noticed a black glimmer near one of its hind legs.

Li Changqing smiled faintly. "Not bad. A Soul Bone dropped."

He drew the black-glowing Soul Bone into his hand with Soul Power. It was a right leg bone—a 90,000-Year right leg bone, extraordinarily rare. If it appeared in the Soul Master World, it would surely bring Titled Douluo flocking to fight over it.

He put the right leg bone into his ring, planning to absorb it after he returned.

The ring was a Storage Soul Tool that Wu Guangcai had helped him obtain.

He stored the entire wolf carcass in the ring as well. His purpose here was fulfilled, and he was in no hurry, so he strolled toward the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Along the way, Li Changqing encountered three people: two adults and a youth.

The youth wore exceedingly fine clothes and was most likely nobility. Li Changqing could also sense a sacred aura emanating from him.

Of the two adults, one was tall and thin, while the other was fat. Both had profound auras. They were undoubtedly Titled Douluo.

Li Changqing immediately worked out who they were: two Titled Douluo guarding a youth with a sacred aura.

He could have figured it out with his knees. The youth had to be Qian Renxue disguised as Xue Qinghe, First Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire. The other two were naturally Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupinefish Douluo. They had probably come to hunt a Soul Ring for Qian Renxue.

Still, Li Changqing was puzzled. Sunset Forest was much closer to Heaven Dou City, so why had Qian Renxue passed it by to come all the way to the Star Dou Great Forest?

Were the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul's requirements for a Soul Ring so exacting that Sunset Forest had none that qualified?

Li Changqing said nothing. After all, he had no intention of getting involved in the original story's plot.

Snake Lance and Pufferfish felt differently. The moment they spotted Li Changqing, they went on guard as if facing a formidable enemy. They did not relax until his aura had faded beyond their senses.

Xue Qinghe—or rather, Qian Renxue—asked, puzzled, "Uncles, you've both been tense ever since we met that young man. You seemed nervous. What's going on?"

The tall, thin Snake Lance Douluo said, still shaken, "Young Master, your strength isn't enough to sense it yet. That man may have been young, but his aura was terrifying. It felt like facing the elders of the Worship Hall."

The fat Porcupinefish Douluo nodded in firm agreement. "Snake Lance is right. It's hard to believe. He didn't even look twenty. When did someone like him appear on the continent?"

Qian Renxue was stunned. A Titled Douluo under twenty? Even with her Level Twenty Innate Soul Power and extraordinary talent, reaching Soul Saint by twenty would count as fast cultivation. Becoming a Titled Douluo at that age was beyond imagination.