Xiao Xiao

"Could it be that it won't officially manifest until I break through the Soul Emperor and reach Dou Zong, or perhaps advance to Soul Saint and Soul Dourol and unlock Dou Zong and Dou Zun?"

Xiao Dong shook his head with some resignation. Without any clues for the moment, he could only temporarily shelve this lingering mystery deep in his heart. Anyway, relying on the invincible combat prowess of the Homelander Physique and the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, the lack of a cultivation technique had not caused any obstruction for him whatsoever.

"BOOM!"

Right at that moment, the massive torrent of information deep within his mind exploded once again, and a surge of pleasant surprise welled up in Xiao Dong's heart.

Sixth-grade alchemy technique, awaken!

Countless peerless sixth-grade pill recipes and methods for soul-based cauldron warming and fire control-capable of stirring up bloody storms across the Douluo Continent-were deeply imprinted into his Sea of Consciousness like instinct.

"Hoo..."

Stabilizing the violently surging Soul Power and alchemy mastery within his body, Xiao Dong finally slowly exhaled a breath of white air. The white air shot out like an arrow, lingering for a long time in the empty space before him.

Since the materials required for the breakthrough were already in hand, the next step was to return to the city and set about refining the pills.

"Rise!"

Xiao Dong casually waved his sleeve, and his figure lifted straight into the air. That deep, boundless spiritual power then surged out wildly from his Mud Pill Palace, transforming into several invisible giant hands that lifted and suspended the mountain-like corpse remains of the fierce beasts behind him.

A thirty-thousand-year Azure Flame Demon Eagle, a fifty-thousand-year Red-Armored Flame Crystal Turtle, a fifty-thousand-year Netherworld Demon-Eyed Lizard, and that Three-Eyed Purple Spirit Lynx King which had actually reached the eighty-thousand-year tier!

Such a miraculous and colossal feat, if witnessed by ordinary experts from the outside world, would probably cause them to gasp in shock on the spot.

"SWISH!"

A harsh, piercing sound of a-breaking wind rang out loudly. Xiao Dong's figure resembled a streak of black lightning tearing through the open sky, dragging those ferocious remains that radiated monstrous, baleful auras behind him as he rampaged across the sky above the vast sea of forests.

The dead aura of the massive, peerless high-tier soul beasts diffused outward. Wherever he passed, those fierce existences deep within the sea of forest that usually lorded over their domains were so terrified that their limbs went completely limp. They curled up tightly inside dark, damp dens and caves, shivering and not even daring to let out a single half-whimper or low roar!

Feeling the heavy drag like a mountain of flesh behind him, Xiao Dong's brows nevertheless furrowed slightly, and he muttered in his heart with some resignation.

"Flaunting oneself like this is certainly domineering, but dragging so many corpses around on one's person is still far too conspicuous after all. Ordinary low-tier storage soul tools simply cannot hold such behemoths. It seems I will inevitably have to look for some rare spatial-attribute items in the future, and take some time off to learn and refine an even higher-tier storage treasure..."

As this thought flashed through his mind, Xiao Dong's speed did not slow down by even the slightest fraction.

Yet in merely the span of half an incense stick, the outline of that towering, majestic ancient giant city ahead had already clearly printed itself into his view.

Deep within a secluded, desolate forest sitting several miles away from the city gates, Xiao Dong's figure slowly descended.

Naturally, he would not be foolish enough to swaggeringly carry these several small mountain-like ferocious beast remains straight into the city.

"Let's go see how those women, Zhou Yi and Ning Tian, handled the task of gathering medicinal herbs."

Xiao Dong leaned back against the thick branch of an ancient tree, spiritual essence quietly revolving in the depths of his dual pupils.

Mighty spiritual perception and X-ray vision crossed layer upon layer of obstructions, rapidly sweeping across the various official roads both inside and outside the city in an overbearing manner.

However, before Xiao Dong's sight could even probe into the city, a petite, graceful young maiden's figure beneath the leafy ancient trees of the official road abruptly crashed into his perception.

She was a cute maiden dressed in a light-green short skirt, wearing her hair in two spirited twin ponytails. As she jogged all the way, they bounced up and down in the breeze, appearing exceptionally lively and naive.

The maiden's delicate little face appeared exceptionally round, her big eyes blinking and flashing as they exuded a quirky spiritual energy.

"Huffed, puffed..."

At that moment, the maiden was hurriedly making her way forward while holding up the hem of her skirt, patting her chest which still appeared somewhat tender and unripe, while muttering to herself in a small voice.

"Heaven protect me, when Xiao Xiao goes to report in today and is assigned to classes after the examination, she must absolutely, absolutely not be unlucky enough to get assigned under that old hag Zhou Yi!"

"I hear that old hag is vicious as can be, breaking people's legs and expelling them on a whim. If I fall into her hands, this delicate little body of mine is bound to be shaken to pieces..."

Hearing the maiden's naive self-talk tinged with a slight sob, Xiao Dong, who was up on the tree branch, could not help but twitch his brows slightly as a rich look of surprise and amusement swept across his eyes.

Xiao Xiao.

Now that was a familiar name, the genius maiden possessing the twin martial souls of the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron and the Nine-Phoenix Ceremonial Flute. He had not expected to run into her out here in the wilderness outside the city.

Looking down from his elevated vantage point at the maiden jogging all the way below, the corners of Xiao Dong's mouth also curled into a playful arc. Such a naive and spirited appearance truly made her a rare beauty indeed. Compared to Zhou Yi's ripe seductiveness and Wu Feng's wildness, the little girl before his eyes instead possessed an added touch of greenness that made one unable to help but wish to bully her a little.

With a flick of his thought, the X-ray Divine Gaze within Xiao Dong's eyes silently pierced through the thin, light-green short skirt on the maiden's body.

Where his gaze landed, smooth and tender snow-white skin akin to mutton-fat jade dazzled the eyes. Beneath a dainty, slender waist too slim to span, was a pair of straight, plump, and fair little short legs.

And upon that slightly swelling, alluring, unripe curve, she was tightly wrapped in a pure cotton, pale-toned little bustier embroidered with a cute pink strawberry pattern. That close-fitting fabric was propped up by that tender swell into an alluring, undulating contour, exuding the pure, tempting aura of spring unique to a maiden in her adolescent years.

"Tsk tsk, looking at her age, she's actually developed quite well underneath. A little strawberry-patterned underwear, truly cute enough..."

"Tramp, tramp, tramp..."

Xiao Xiao, who was jogging along on her journey, apparently failed to notice the gaze resting upon the tree branch. Having just breathlessly rounded the corner of this secluded hillside, the maiden's footsteps abruptly froze right where they stood as if struck by lightning!

"Ah..."

Xiao Xiao's pair of spirited, large eyes instantly widened to their absolute limit, her tender little hands flusteredly and frantically covering her mouth, and her entire delicate little face turning as pale as paper almost instantly!

Directly in front of her, there was not only a black-robed youth with folded arms staring at her with a half-smile, but what made her heart quake even more were the mountain-like piles of massive beast remains stacked up behind the youth!

Those ferocious beast heads, the cold, iron-like scales, and that baleful aura of death-which remained so thick it was somewhat suffocating even though they were completely dead-caused the inexperienced maiden's legs to violently tremble.

"Little girl, running so eagerly, where are you off to?"

Just as Xiao Xiao trembled in fright and was on the verge of collapsing limply to the ground, a youthful voice carrying a faint smile quietly rang out through the forest.

Xiao Dong moved his stride, slowly emerging from that patch of shadows with a harmless, gentle smile hanging on his face.

However, that kind of smile, falling into the eyes of Xiao Xiao-whose nerves were taut to the absolute extreme at that moment-was just as terrifying as an unparalled fiend.

"Y-You don't come closer!"

Amidst extreme terror, Xiao Xiao's delicate body violently shuddered. Two yellow spirit rings rapidly ascended from beneath her feet, and a thick, solid fluctuation spread outward. An entire pitch-black, ancient-looking three-legged, dual-eared giant cauldron phantom instantly shielded her in front.

Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron!