An Astonishing Secret! She Could Become My Soul Spirit!

"But you humans are different."

The Clouded Deer matriarch's voice echoed through the valley, carrying a distant sigh that seemed to pass through the dust of ages.

She paused. Her clear eyes, reflecting sky and cloud, slowly swept over Xiao Shenghe's young but resolute face, as though she meant to etch every contour of his soul into memory.

"Your soul circuits... the way you grow holds possibilities and uncertainties we could never hope for, even after ten thousand years."

She drew a deep breath.

The breeze in the valley fell still. The babble of the stream seemed to vanish beneath an unseen hand, leaving only the heavy, resolute resonance in her chest.

Every Soul Beast, along with Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, held their breath.

They knew every word the matriarch spoke next would carry the weight of a mountain.

"So,"

Her voice rose sharply, then settled at its peak into a calm that seemed ready to shatter jade and stone alike.

"I want to take a gamble."

She stepped forward. Her hoof touched the soft moss without a sound, yet every heart gave a heavy leap.

"Not as a mount, living at another's whim; nor as a servant, losing myself."

Her gaze burned like stars as it locked on Xiao Shenghe's eyes.

"But as a partner—the one person to whom I will entrust my soul, my strength, and every memory, joy, and lonely moment of my hundred thousand years... all of it."

As her words faded, a soft but unmistakable glow rose around her. Her Soul Origin was stirring.

"My body will dissolve here and return to the soil and breeze of Spirit Creek Valley."

The glow brightened, lending her graceful form an ethereal outline.

"But my soul will become a strand of light in the deepest part of your Soul Ring, bound to your blood and merged with your soul. I will share in every breath you take; in every battle you fight, my will shall stand beside yours."

A near-sacred tremor entered her voice.

"I will witness every breakthrough and feel every joy and hardship, as though I were living anew."

The glow began to draw inward, gathering into a blazing point of light near her heart. Her gaze pierced that light and grew searingly intense, scorching Xiao Shenghe's soul.

"And I have only one wish..."

The point of light flared.

"If one day you truly break through the shackles of mortal flesh and reach the divine realm we can only look up to in ancient songs—"

Her voice soared, full of longing, as though it would pierce the firmament.

"Take me with you."

"Let me see with my own eyes, in this other form... the world beyond those shackles."

The last few words were as light as a sigh and as weighty as an oath, striking the heart of everyone who heard them.

The light slowly faded. The fervor in the matriarch's eyes settled with it, becoming a lake of unfathomable stillness.

She tilted her head slightly and asked in a voice gentle yet heavy as a thousand jun:

"Will you carry my soul and walk with me... down this road whose end we may never see?"

Silence.

A deathly silence spread through the valley.

The wind dared not blow, the water dared not flow. Even time seemed frozen by the weight of her question.

Xiao Shenghe closed his eyes.

His lashes cast faint shadows on his cheeks. The rise and fall of his chest was barely visible.

After several breaths, he opened his eyes again. No trace of confusion or turmoil remained in them, only the resolve of tempered steel.

He did not answer at once. Slowly, with something close to reverence, he lowered himself onto one knee and rested his right fist lightly against his heart.

Then he raised his head. His gaze, sharp as an unsheathed sword, met the matriarch's waiting eyes.

"I am willing."

His voice was quiet, almost gentle.

But every word seemed forged in the deepest furnace of his soul, carrying the heat of his heart's blood and an unshakable will. Each rang out clear and steady, carving itself into the silent air.

"Thump."

The Clouded Deer matriarch seemed to hear her ancient heart pound.

The fierce light in her eyes trembled, like a red-hot iron dropped into a frozen lake, sending ripples of relief and gratitude bursting across its surface.

The burden of leading her kind, which had kept her taut for so long, seemed to ease a little at last.

She nodded gently, her slender neck bending in a graceful, kindly arc. Her voice regained the warmth of an elder, thoughtful and wise:

"Good child. Then our pact is sealed by an oath of the heart. We must consider the details carefully."

"Your Soul Power Level is still low. Your soul and body must grow stronger before they can bear this."

"When you pass level thirty and your Soul Power foundation is firmer, when your soul is more resilient, come back to Spirit Creek Valley. Then we can..."

"There's no need, Auntie."

Xiao Shenghe's voice cut across her orderly plans.

There was no disrespect in his tone, none of a young man's recklessness. Instead, it held a strange, all-seeing calm and a hint of... almost apologetic honesty.

He remained on one knee, but the right fist against his heart slowly opened.

Then, beneath the matriarch's suddenly arrested gaze, he extended his right hand.

Palm up, fingers slightly spread.

The simplest of gestures.

Yet every word the matriarch had left unsaid froze, along with the gentle plans that had just appeared in her eyes.

Her slender neck stiffened as she leaned forward slightly. For the first time, her crystal-clear eyes filled with pure, undisguised confusion.

She waited for an explanation, something that could make sense of his abrupt gesture.

Xiao Shenghe did not speak at once.

His gaze dropped to his empty palm.

At last, he slowly raised his head.

His eyes met the matriarch's again. The apology was gone, leaving only an open, almost cruel honesty.

He spoke one word at a time, his voice as steady as if he were describing the day's weather, though every syllable struck like a stone splitting open the sky:

"I still have nine Soul Ring Storage Spaces."

"..."

Silence swallowed the valley.

A dead silence deeper, heavier, and more absolute than all the silences before it combined.

The Clouded Deer matriarch seemed not to have heard him clearly.

Her elegant ears twitched almost imperceptibly, as though trying to catch the syllables still hanging in the air.

Or perhaps she had heard him, but her reason was desperately rejecting the information.

The confusion in her eyes rapidly gave way to shock, then to a tremor of disbelief.

Then—

Hum!

The glow around her, which had only just subsided, flashed uncontrollably!

Her tall, slender body went almost imperceptibly rigid, every line of it betraying utter shock.

For the first time, her ever-gentle, composed voice cracked. She blurted out, trembling openly:

"You... what did you say?!"