"Brother Chu?"
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Chu Ge standing before her in a daze, taking so long to answer, Tang Ya looked bewildered. She waved a hand in front of him, thoroughly puzzled.
"Nothing, nothing. I have something else to take care of, so I probably won't be heading your way. I won't be joining you."
"If fate allows, we'll meet again."
Chu Ge quickly came back to his senses and shook his head.
With that, he had no intention of lingering and soon vanished from the spot.
"All right..."
Tang Ya nodded quietly, not particularly upset. People bound by fate would eventually meet again. If she and he shared such a bond, there was no need to rush things now.
She could always ask him the next time they met!
"Then let's keep looking for a Mandala Snake... Bei Bei, what's wrong? You look really unhappy."
Tang Ya turned around, only then noticing Bei Bei, who had brought her here to hunt soul beasts. His face had already turned livid.
"Nothing, nothing."
"I just remembered something unpleasant."
Bei Bei forced a smile onto his face and spoke, suppressing his displeasure.
His feelings for Tang Ya were still one-sided. Surely he couldn't tell her he had gotten jealous because she had spent all that time focusing on another man.
As the great-great-grandson of the Dragon God Douluo, he had his own pride. Getting jealous when he wasn't even her boyfriend... impossible!
"Come on. Let's keep looking for a Mandala Snake."
A moment later, he looked at the girl before him. The more he looked, the more he adored her, and he spoke with a gentle smile.
"Challenge..."
"A Wind Baboon."
"System, are you actually serious about this mission?"
Meanwhile, Chu Ge walked toward the outer edge of the forest, unable to keep himself from questioning it inwardly.
In his mind, the system was helpfully pointing out the location of the nearest Wind Baboon, which was also his destination.
[Of course I am serious, host.] [Does the host really think this system is some irresponsible, utterly heartless piece-of-trash system?] [Or does the rookie host think the Wind Baboon is too powerful and that he'll fail the challenge?]
"Uh..."
Chu Ge started to speak, then stopped. He understood the words "powerful soul beast" and "Wind Baboon" separately, but put together, they suddenly seemed utterly unfamiliar.
He really wasn't biased, but since when had Wind Baboons become synonymous with power?
"Still."
"The mission reward is double my soul ring's age, plus a guaranteed extra five hundred years. That's pretty good."
"At this rate, it should only take a few missions for all my earlier soul rings to advance."
The ages of the soul rings the system had given him were already far beyond the norm. With further enhancements from future mission rewards, they would surely climb to even greater heights.
At that thought, he picked up speed, and before long, he finally reached a spot very close to the forest's outer edge.
As bottom-rung soul beasts, ten-year Wind Baboons appeared this far out. Any farther inward, and their very presence would be an insult to the other soul beasts.
"The Wind Baboon's over there..."
"Huh?"
"Who's trying to steal my Wind Baboon?"
Chu Ge looked in that direction. Someone really was eyeing that Wind Baboon, leaving him momentarily stunned.
"Don't come any closer."
"If you take one more step toward me, you won't have a pleasant end..."
A blue-clad figure gritted her teeth as she watched the Wind Baboon baring its fangs and brandishing its claws before her. She quietly tightened her grip on the White Tiger Dagger. Though her entire body trembled, she remained ready to attack at any moment.
"Little brother, get out of the way!"
Just then, a startled shout rang out. She froze for a moment, then hurriedly stepped back.
And in the next instant, that Wind Baboon, so full of tactical wit and courage, was pulverized by the newcomer.
[Congratulations to the host on defeating the Wind Baboon.] [Age: ten years and one month.] [Mission complete.] [First challenge successful. Title obtained: Ape God.] [You will deal double damage when facing monkey, ape, or baboon soul beasts.] [Detected that the host has obtained a first soul ring over ten years old. Soul ring age doubled, with a guaranteed bonus of 500 years.] [First soul ring age: 6500.]
"Jokes are jokes, and fun is fun."
"The Wind Baboon really was weak, but the mission reward the system gave me really is sweet."
Sensing that his first soul ring's age had indeed increased considerably, Chu Ge's eyes shone with satisfaction.
His first soul ring had originally been 3000 years old. Now, with its age doubled and the guaranteed extra 500 years added, it had reached 6500 years-quite a substantial age.
After all, in this world, an ordinary person's first soul ring was only a hundred years old.
This was only his first mission. Who knew how powerful he would become in the future?
[Side mission unlocked.] [Rookie host, standing before you is Huo Yudie, the Douluo Continent's child of destiny, the Divine Realm's strongest being, and the God King of Emotions. Forge a positive bond with her, and you will reap tremendous benefits.]
"Huh?"
Hearing that, he finally lowered his head to look at the person beside him.
Looking at the little one before him, still so weak and gazing at him eagerly, Chu Ge grew thoughtful.
He could accept that this was the child of destiny. After all, Huo Yuhao had been the one to kill the Wind Baboon in the original story, a scene he remembered well. Only now, he had swooped in and stolen the fruit of that opportunity.
But...
Unless his eyes were deceiving him, wasn't this person wearing a braid? And what was this about Huo Yudie?
"Little sister, what's your relationship with Huo Yuhao?"
Bewildered, Chu Ge helped the nervous girl up from the ground and couldn't resist asking.
Yet the moment she heard that name, she froze, and her eyes visibly reddened in an instant.
"My brother."
"He's my brother..."
But as Chu Ge looked at the information panel appearing in his mind, he fell completely silent-
[Huo Yudie.] [Martial soul: Spirit Eyes.] [Huo Yuhao's younger fraternal twin sister. Because her elder brother has passed away, the Douluo Plane has made her take his place as the daughter of destiny who will protect Douluo.]
"Wait..."
"Huo Yuhao is dead?"
(End of chapter)
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