Of the elders in the Worship Hall, only Qian Jun and Jiang Mo were blood brothers, but the brotherhood shared by all seven was already as close as that of blood brothers. There was no chance they would fall out over conflicting interests.
Including his dear son Qian Xunji, there were seven people in all.
"That's right, big brother! We're already more than satisfied that we can increase the ages of our soul rings." Azure Luan smiled.
"When the time comes, we might not have eight black and one red like big brother, but four purple and five black will still look impressive."
Jiang Mo was grinning cheerfully as well.
When Bibi Dong heard Jiang Mo say that her new teacher's soul ring configuration was eight black and one red, her beautiful eyes went wide.
Her new teacher was that powerful.
The other elders voiced their agreement. Each pill added a thousand years; they were already more than satisfied with an increase of a thousand years.
Hearing his brothers' words, Qian Daoliu shook his head helplessly. Meeting even one brother like this would have been enough to count his blessings, yet he had met six.
Guang Ling, the fifth eldest, who looked like a child, suddenly thought of something. His eyes lit up as he looked at the jade bottle. "Big brother, can we refine these pills ourselves?"
"I'll find a way to deal with that later. For now, focus on improving yourselves," Qian Daoliu said, shaking his head.
These were products of the system. Replicating them with the means available in Douluo was impossible, unless the system could provide a formula usable in Douluo.
That thought made Qian Daoliu look forward to his system's possibilities even more.
Then Qian Daoliu tossed the jade bottle to Golden Crocodile, signaling for him to divide up the pills.
Golden Crocodile caught the exquisite jade bottle and opened it. The medicinal fragrance released by seventy pills together was far richer than that of two. As everyone breathed it in, their bodies felt much more comfortable.
Each person received ten pills, and the jade bottle finally ended up in Qian Xunji's hands. The bedraggled Supreme Pontiff looked at the bottle. Merely smelling its medicinal fragrance seemed to ease his pain, but instead of taking the pills immediately, he looked at Qian Daoliu, a trace of guilt on his face.
"You little brat. If you're not going to take them, I'll feed them to the dogs." Qian Daoliu flicked Qian Xunji's swollen head.
"Hiss!" Qian Xunji sucked in a breath of cold air, his eyes widening in pain as he stared at Qian Daoliu.
"No, no, no! Father, if you're going to feed them to a dog, you might as well feed them to me. Hehehe." Qian Xunji wore an ingratiating smile.
Qian Daoliu shot Qian Xunji a glance and said irritably:
"I'll let you off this time. Don't let it happen again."
"Thank you, Father." Qian Xunji felt as though a great weight had been lifted from him. Qian Daoliu added:
"Leave Dong'er to me. From now on, focus on properly managing Spirit Hall from top to bottom, especially this matter with Yu Xiaogang."
Qian Xunji put away the jade bottle, then looked at his father before turning to Bibi Dong.
Then Qian Xunji circulated his soul power, and two yellow, two purple, and five black soul rings appeared around him. His sixth ring, a black one, flashed, and the injuries on his body vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye. After all, Golden Crocodile and the others had only inflicted superficial wounds. With his level ninety-five cultivation, Qian Xunji could still recover quickly.
Qian Xunji looked at Bibi Dong and instructed her:
"Dong'er, I was wrong before. I didn't teach you properly. Now that you're studying under my father, devote yourself to your cultivation."
"Yes, Tea... senior brother." Her teacher had become her senior brother, and Bibi Dong still wasn't used to it.
Qian Xunji waved a hand at Bibi Dong, his face full of emotion.
Apart from the state of his ceremonial pontiff robes, Qian Xunji had now regained the supremely noble bearing of the Supreme Pontiff.
"Father, about Yu Xiaogang, should we..." Looking at his imposing father, Qian Xunji drew a hand across his throat.
Though Qian Xunji hadn't said it outright, everyone present knew what he meant.
Yu Xiaogang...
Qian Daoliu frowned, unable to make up his mind for a moment.
[Congratulations, host. Successfully triggered the quest 'The ugliness of a scoundrel'] [Quest objective]: How could Spirit Hall's fruits of labor be stolen by a sanctimonious scoundrel like Yu Xiaogang? Exposing this scoundrel's ugliness to the world is an inescapable duty. [Quest reward]: Thousand-Year Soul Ring Pill formula
A quest suddenly appeared, interrupting Qian Daoliu's thoughts.
The ugliness of a scoundrel?
The formula for the Thousand-Year Soul Ring Pill. That's good. With this, Spirit Hall's overall strength could be greatly increased.
This is a pretty good quest.
Now that he had a quest, Qian Daoliu had no reason to hesitate. He waved a hand at Qian Xunji.
"No need. Those studies have already been published. Rather than kill a two-ring Soul Grandmaster, we should spare his life and let the world see that Spirit Hall has room to tolerate others."
"But the world must also learn what sort of person Yu Xiaogang truly is."
"Yes!"
As Qian Xunji listened, a few ideas formed in his mind. He then smiled at the elders and strode out of the hall.
Qian Daoliu watched Qian Xunji leave, then withdrew his gaze and turned to Bibi Dong beside him.
"Dong'er, come with me to the inner hall."
"The rest of you can go do whatever you like."
"Yes." Everyone answered. Qian Daoliu lingered no longer, and teacher and disciple turned toward the inner hall.
In the inner hall,
Bibi Dong followed behind Qian Daoliu, looking around curiously.
"Dong'er, you still remember the procedure for martial soul awakening, don't you?"
"Huh?" Bibi Dong snapped back to attention and gave her new teacher a puzzled look, not understanding why he would ask that.
Bonk!
Qian Daoliu rewarded Bibi Dong with a knuckle rap. A little head worked better after a good knock.
"What do you mean, 'huh'? I'm asking whether you remember."
"I... I think I remember, Teacher."
Bibi Dong rubbed her little head, feeling rather wronged.
"Low-ranking Soul Masters need martial soul stones to construct an awakening formation when helping others awaken their martial souls. But Dong'er is already a Soul Emperor, so you shouldn't need them anymore, should you?"
Qian Daoliu spoke calmly.
"Um, Teacher, I've never helped anyone awaken a martial soul before," Bibi Dong said quietly.
"It seems Dong'er still has a great deal to learn." Seeing Bibi Dong's expression, Qian Daoliu knew she probably wasn't very familiar with the process.
Bibi Dong looked at Qian Daoliu in confusion and finally asked, "But Teacher, haven't you already... awakened your martial soul?"
"My situation is rather special. Recently, I received help from the Angel God, and I felt an additional surge of energy within my body."
"I believe the goddess must have bestowed a martial soul upon me."
When Qian Daoliu mentioned the Angel God, even his gaze briefly turned reverent. After all, it was a habit formed over decades.
Whenever something couldn't be explained, attributing it to the goddess made everything fall into place.
"The goddess bestowed a martial soul upon Teacher."
Bibi Dong's beautiful eyes went wide. The goddess was so powerful that she could even bestow a martial soul.
Without giving Bibi Dong time to think further, Qian Daoliu pointed at her, and a strand of golden soul power flew into her.
"This is the martial soul awakening formation. Use it in a moment."
A little worried, Qian Daoliu had given Bibi Dong the Qian Family's martial soul awakening formation.
Sigh. If I'd known, I would have asked Golden Crocodile to come.
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