There are no trash martial souls! Only trash soul masters!

[Emergency! Bibi Dong is heading your way!]

Nahida hurriedly sent a warning through their mental link.

[Huh? How far away is she?! Didn't she have something to do and say she'd come find me in a week?]

[Ten o'clock, three hundred meters!]

Ji Feng sat up, and the moment he raised his head, he saw Bibi Dong's fair, flawless face, beautiful with a touch of noble, icy elegance. He couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

[You're a real god, all right! The God of Great Wisdom! Why not just wait until Bibi Dong is right in my face before telling me she's here?!]

Nahida stood her ground.

[How is that my fault? If you hadn't taken my mental power and Dream Authority, would I only have noticed Bibi Dong when she got this close?! You should have Soul Saint-level mental power now, and you've used my consciousness before. Can't you perform a mental scan yourself?!]

While the two exchanged thoughts, Bibi Dong had already reached Ah Yin and Ji Feng. She looked at Ah Yin with a dazzling smile that betrayed an almost irrepressible ecstasy, while Ah Yin blinked her sapphire eyes curiously, watching Bibi Dong approach with innocent interest.

Ji Feng found Bibi Dong's behavior rather strange. The look she gave Ah Yin was positively scorching. Bibi Dong wasn't a lesbian, so what was she trying to do?!

Smiling, he stepped in front of Ah Yin and said, "Are you perhaps here to see Sangonomiya Kokomi?"

Ji Feng thought Bibi Dong must have come for Sangonomiya Kokomi, so he simply asked her outright.

[Why would she be looking for me?]

Sangonomiya Kokomi voiced her confusion. She had no memories of the time Ji Feng had possessed her, so naturally, she didn't know he had used her body to fool Bibi Dong.

[Does someone who's possessed know absolutely nothing about what happens during the possession? In short, he used your body to claim you were Ji Feng's younger sister, that Ji Feng was dead, and so on. Bibi Dong agreed to take you to Spirit Hall in a week to be her maid.]

Nahida had shared Ji Feng's memories while granting him his martial soul, so she knew all about it.

[What a complete mess.]

Even after hearing that, Kokomi struggled to make sense of the situation.

While the three chatted in their minds, events continued unfolding in the real world.

Hearing Sangonomiya Kokomi's name suddenly come from the man before her, Bibi Dong grew wary inwardly. Without letting it show, she asked, "And you are?"

"I'm Ji Feng," he replied with an easy smile.

"What?!" Bibi Dong's pupils contracted slightly. This handsome man was Ji Feng?

The fellow who secretly harbored filthy thoughts about her?! He certainly looked respectable enough!

Embarrassed anger crept into her expression. Bibi Dong couldn't even spare a thought for the hundred-thousand-year soul beast anymore. Suppressing her fury, she folded her arms across her chest and tilted her waist slightly, radiating an oppressive air as she raised an eyebrow with apparent interest. "Oh? I've heard so much about you. Your works have certainly left quite an impression on me."

"I wonder, Mr. Ji Feng, do you know who I am?"

At her words, Ji Feng's expression shifted slightly, and he quietly took a step back.

[Shit! Why is she brimming with murderous intent? Should I not have revealed my identity?!]

Ji Feng grumbled inwardly.

[You didn't think she'd ask for your autograph once you gave her your name, did you? Are you human? Is your brain working properly? You wrote porn about her. Of course she should be brimming with murderous intent! Yet you just blurted that out without thinking. I thought you had something prepared!]

Kokomi couldn't help snarking.

[Strategist, save me!]

Ji Feng pleaded for rescue with those four words.

[Go carry a bundle of thorns on your back and beg her forgiveness!]

Seeing Ji Feng's reaction, Bibi Dong snorted coldly. "So you do know! That's right! I'm the heroine you wrote about, Bibi Dong, Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall!"

"Now that you've met your novel's heroine, shouldn't you look a little happier, esteemed author?"

She sneered.

"Wait! Let's talk this out! How about I give you money?"

"Do you think I, the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, lack money? Do you know what punishment you deserve for offending Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden?!"

Bibi Dong's voice grew colder as she stepped forward on one slender, long, fair leg. Ji Feng silently retreated another step. Ah Yin watched the two in confusion, unable to understand what was happening.

"Feng?" Ah Yin instinctively reached out to support Ji Feng's waist, steadying him. Her clear blue eyes turned toward Bibi Dong, and her voice remained gentle, though now tinged with wariness. "Miss, is something the matter?"

Only then did Bibi Dong shift her gaze away from Ji Feng and toward Ah Yin.

At such close range, her mental power silently extended like spider silk, settling over Ah Yin's entire body without a sound. How keen was the Soul Devouring Demon Spider's perception? In a single instant, she caught a faint, elusive fluctuation of a soul beast's essence coming from Ah Yin.

Just as I thought! A hundred-thousand-year soul beast!

An idea came to Bibi Dong. Suddenly, she looked at Ah Yin and smiled brightly. "You're his lover, aren't you? It seems you still don't know what he's done."

Bibi Dong proceeded to kindly enlighten Ah Yin. Yet although Ah Yin felt a little embarrassed after hearing it, she didn't think it was anything serious.

Meanwhile, Ji Feng's brain was working at a frantic pace!

Finally! My world-shaking wisdom has come into play! I've found a way out!

Sangonomiya Kokomi! Watch closely! Even without you, I, Ji Feng, am still an intellectual-type character!

At that moment, he seemed possessed by Yu Xiaogang!

"Wait! Bibi Dong, hear me out!" He interrupted her and looked straight into her eyes, utterly fearless, each word ringing with conviction. "There are no trash martial souls! Only trash soul masters!"

"Hm?" Bibi Dong raised her eyebrows, her pinkish-purple eyes filled with confusion.

She tilted her head, unable to understand the point of that statement, which had come completely out of nowhere.

Even Ah Yin gave Ji Feng an odd look.

Huh? This isn't the right reaction! Isn't this line supposed to win Bibi Dong's heart?

After analyzing the situation with his world-shaking wisdom, Ji Feng decided Bibi Dong hadn't heard him clearly. This time, he stepped forward and shouted at the top of his lungs, as though afraid she might miss it. "I said! There are no trash martial souls! Only trash soul masters!"

"Did you hear me?! If you heard me, say so!"

His shout sent Bibi Dong staggering back a step, even making her long pink hair sway. She looked as though the sheer stupidity blasting into her face had nearly knocked her over.

Frowning, she raised a delicate hand and lightly fanned the air before her face. Then she drew a deep breath, puffed out her cheeks, and roared back even louder than he had.

"Trash martial souls are everywhere! You idiot!"

She stared at Ji Feng with wide eyes, her chest heaving. A faint blush rose on her fair cheeks-from anger. In that moment, the normally pure and aloof young woman looked unexpectedly charming and endearingly petulant.

"That's not right! You're supposed to agree with that statement! You're not Bibi Dong!"

Ji Feng couldn't believe it. Bibi Dong had actually refuted that line!

"Has writing porn turned you stupid?! Is that the kind of idiot you think I am? Only a fool would believe that! I'm so sorry I didn't follow your script and throw myself into your arms!"

Recalling the information she had gathered on Ji Feng, Bibi Dong scoffed. "This nonsense about no trash martial souls, only trash soul masters-do you believe it yourself? Aren't you a textbook example of someone with a trash martial soul? Yours doesn't even manifest externally."

A flash of inspiration struck Bibi Dong. Suddenly, she felt she understood everything, and a trace of pity even entered her gaze as she looked at Ji Feng.

"In this world, the awakening at age six determines a person's entire destiny. Trash is trash. That won't change in a lifetime."

"Perhaps you think you're extraordinary and mistakenly believed you could attract my attention by writing novels like those, then use Spirit Hall's resources to defy heaven and change your fate."

"To plan this far ahead as an ordinary person is indeed remarkable. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to help you, Spirit Hall has no method that would allow someone with a trash martial soul like yours to cultivate."

At that point, she suddenly stopped.

A chill quietly crawled up her spine to the back of her neck.

She abruptly realized that everything happening now might have been within Ji Feng's predictions!

Ji Feng's scheming could be called wildly fanciful, yet it wasn't actually unrealistic. The more she considered it, the more alarmed she became. Almost every step linked seamlessly to the next.

He had written porn centered squarely on the naive, innocent young ladies of the major powers. These works were sold in the Heaven Dou Empire's Black Market, and their content involved sensitive figures from the major sects and Spirit Hall. Spirit Hall wanted to investigate? Certainly. But that was the Heaven Dou Empire's Black Market. If Spirit Hall openly investigated the source of the merchandise, or even exercised its judicial authority, it would be interfering in the Heaven Dou Empire's internal affairs-an unmistakable act of rebellion. The Heaven Dou Empire would never accept that.

Nor could Spirit Hall issue a declaration demanding that the Heaven Dou Empire investigate on its own-that would most likely backfire. Even if Spirit Hall swallowed its pride and condemned Heaven Dou, demanding an internal investigation, the Black Market's interests were tangled and the powers involved deeply intertwined. The Heaven Dou Empire might not be willing to make such a fuss over a "Black Market author of unknown origin." Besides, if the Heaven Dou Empire investigated, wouldn't that amount to admitting the matter was connected to it and that it bore responsibility? The imperial family would most likely be unwilling to shoulder that responsibility.

And the reason all his works revolved around major powers was probably to cast a wide net and catch more fish. For him, any chance to meet one of those naive young ladies from a major power offered a slender thread of hope.

Ji Feng was clever. He had written about so many powers, but all of them were sects. The main forces sects could mobilize were soul masters, making it difficult for them to influence the common people at the grassroots level. Even if they insisted on ordering soul masters to search, how many soul masters would willingly waste their energy tracking down an ordinary person?

But if Ji Feng had written about the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family, the situation would have been entirely different. If the Heaven Dou Empire mobilized its entire hierarchy, calling on local officials, city guards, and even civilian informants, it could probably drag him out of a crack in the ground within a few days.

Thus, Ji Feng had deliberately avoided the two great empires and written only about sects.

To put it plainly, the very idea of getting the major powers to openly investigate a porn author was laughable. Few would willingly suffer that humiliation. Moreover, works like these were countless in the Black Market, and after Ji Feng became popular, even more people had followed his lead. Sects were not nations, after all. Such an undertaking would only be futile.

Bibi Dong had found Ji Feng only through good luck, but the local Spirit Hall branch master had never intended to punish him at all. After all, this sort of thing was truly commonplace. For a dignified bishop like him, even being associated with such a matter would be embarrassing.

Of course, most importantly, for Ji Feng, this was a wager of something small for something great. Even the worst outcome would merely be death. Gambling a mortal's life for one chance to change his fate was well worth it.

Bibi Dong shook her head slightly inwardly.

Unfortunately, even Spirit Hall had no cultivation method that could turn an ordinary mortal into a soul master.

His scheming had been meaningless from the very beginning.

A trash martial soul for a day meant a trash martial soul for a lifetime.