"Not an outsider?" Ye Xinglan's cherry lips parted as she murmured in bewilderment.
What would it take to stop being an outsider?
M-marriage?!
Those two words exploded like thunder in the girl's mind. An alluring blush instantly stained Ye Xinglan's fair little face, spreading from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. It felt as though a cloud of hot air was churning inside her head, ready to billow out as white steam.
Flustered, she abruptly raised her hand and pushed aside Xu Qingjia, who was still massaging her arm, like a kitten bristling after someone stepped on its tail. Ye Xinglan sprang up from the ground and pointed a trembling finger at him, her clear eyes filled with embarrassment and helplessness. "N-no! We're still so young!"
"Xu Qingjia, y-you have no shame!"
Ye Xinglan wished she could find a crack in the ground, crawl into it, and never come out to face anyone again.
She turned to flee in a blind panic, only to overlook the figure ahead and run straight into someone's arms.
"Hmm?" Shen Xi's gentle voice came from above her head. She steadied Ye Xinglan before the girl could fall, her gaze settling on the little face so red it looked ready to drip blood. A flicker of puzzlement crossed her eyes as she asked softly, "Little Xinglan, what's wrong? Why are you in such a panic?"
"Aunt Shen? I..." Ye Xinglan looked up at Shen Xi's gentle face and was about to complain indignantly, but the words suddenly caught in her throat. It abruptly dawned on her that this was Xu Qingjia's mother!
Then wasn't this practically... meeting her future mother-in-law?!
The panic she had only just managed to suppress surged back up.
Was she meeting her mother-in-law already?
She hadn't prepared anything yet!
Ye Xinglan instinctively tried to break free of Shen Xi's hands and flee, but Shen Xi had already caught the scent of juicy gossip from her bashful expression. She gently drew the girl into her arms, wrapping an arm around her slender waist. "Be good, little Xinglan. Tell Aunt Shen, did Qingjia bully you?"
With Shen Xi asking that, Ye Xinglan felt even more embarrassed about saying it in front of her "future mother-in-law"!
Just then, a gentle wave of spiritual power brushed across her soul, soothing the agitation and panic within her. Ye Xinglan took a deep breath and lowered her little head even further, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum. "Xu Qingjia... he said he wanted me to become his."
"Ohhh~" Shen Xi drew out the sound, a flash of understanding passing through her eyes. Then she looked toward Xu Qingjia, who was slowly approaching, a trace of barely perceptible approval hidden in her gaze. She had never expected her dear son to be quite so quick on the uptake in this regard.
Perhaps he could even win over both adorable little girls, Xinglan and Na'er, in one fell swoop.
"What are you talking about?" Xu Qingjia sighed helplessly.
Although Ye Xinglan's voice had been quiet, they were only ten meters apart. His spiritual power and physique had both improved enormously, and his perception now far surpassed an ordinary person's.
He walked over and patiently explained, "That's not what I meant. I wanted Xinglan to become my retainer."
In the past, even the Left and Right Guard Commanders had held the fourth rank.
Of course, this was no longer the Sun Moon Empire, but the Sun Moon Federation. Still, the Xu Family had consecrated elders, though most held the position in name only. His maternal grandfather, the Shen Family's Old Master, and Ye Xinglan's grandfather were examples... These families, which had once regarded themselves as the rightful heirs of the Sun Moon Empire, almost all held consecrated elder posts with the Xu Family to demonstrate their loyalty to the Sun Moon Empire.
But it was merely a gesture. When their help was needed, interests still had to drive them. Even the Xu Family's position as leader of this alliance was only a superficial formality.
However, if Xu Qingjia truly became a god in the future...
Don't ask. If you ask, it's loyalty!
"Huh?" Ye Xinglan abruptly raised her head, her eyes filled with astonishment. The crimson on her cheeks gradually faded, replaced by utter bewilderment.
So that was what he meant by "one of his own," not what she had imagined... that he wanted to marry her.
She quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. Otherwise, she really would not have known how to face her good friend Xu Qingjia from then on.
Beside them, the little white-haired fluffball, Na'er, silently munched on the potato chips Xu Qingjia had handed her. She tilted her little head, a hint of puzzlement flashing through her clear eyes. A retainer?
Was Xu Qingjia trying to turn this human cub into his underling?
A nearly imperceptible trace of regret flashed through Shen Xi's eyes. She had thought her precious son had caught on so early, but it turned out she had been overthinking things.
Her expression grew serious. "Becoming a retainer isn't some trivial matter you can casually throw around."
"Little Xinglan awakened the Stargod Sword, a top-tier tool martial soul, and she also has the gift of innate full soul power. In the future, she'll be qualified to compete for the position of the Ye Family's next family head."
Although the Ye Family had lost its former glory and fallen on somewhat hard times, with Ye Xinglan's grandfather the only Super Douluo left to hold the fort, it was still a family with a legacy stretching back over ten thousand years.
"Then just count it as owing me a favor," Xu Qingjia said calmly.
He did not particularly care about any of this. He simply wanted to find a reason for Ye Xinglan to accept it.
As long as Elder Yi permitted it, he was not worried about the cultivation technique spreading either, though the odds of that were very small. His goal was to become a god and live forever. If he became a god, anyone who cultivated his technique would naturally have to acknowledge that debt and automatically become his subordinate. Otherwise, they would be betraying their master and ancestors, and could take a trip through the Eighteen Levels of Hell. If he failed to attain godhood and immortality, then it would not matter anyway. After all, he himself would no longer be around.
More importantly, he was genuinely worried that his childhood sweetheart would pick up bad habits from the Tang Sect.
He briefly recounted what had happened earlier.
Shen Xi blinked. Having married into the Xu Family decades ago, she knew better than anyone that the family possessed no spiritual power cultivation technique. But her son had always been levelheaded and would never speak recklessly. This technique must have been connected to that extraordinary encounter involving the Underworld King's Envoy.
"That's fine," Shen Xi agreed at once, discreetly providing cover for her son.
Across the entire continent, the Tang Sect's Purple Demon Eye was the only method for cultivating spiritual power. Any family that obtained a similar cultivation technique would certainly treasure it and never share it with outsiders. But she already regarded Ye Xinglan as her future daughter-in-law, so naturally the girl did not count as an outsider. Besides, it belonged to her son, and no one else had the right to dictate how he handled it. As for the technique's origin, as his mother, she would naturally keep it tightly under wraps.
"Xu Qingjia!" The little white-haired fluffball finished the potato chips in a few bites and planted her chubby little hand on Xu Qingjia's shoulder. Na'er's exquisitely sculpted little face was full of pride. "I've already obtained a soul spirit. Fight me! If you lose, you have to call me Big Sister Na'er!"
"Oh?" Xu Qingjia raised an eyebrow at the supremely confident little girl, amusement in his eyes. "That sure of yourself?"
Before his words had even faded, a soul ring wreathed in purple light quietly lit up beside his hand.
"Of course!" The little white-haired fluffball proudly lifted her chin. The Silver Dragon Spear instantly appeared in her hand, while a slightly paler purple soul ring emerged around her. As its radiance flowed, it faintly exuded a dragon's might.
"A thousand-year soul ring?" Ye Xinglan covered her cherry lips in shock, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"It's an artificial soul spirit," Shen Xi added, unable to hide the admiration in her voice. "A silver dragon soul spirit of roughly twelve hundred years. Na'er's spiritual power has already reached 123 points."
When she had tested Na'er earlier, Shen Xi had also been utterly astonished.
Na'er's martial soul was not a spiritual-type martial soul, nor could it greatly enhance her body the way Xu Qingjia's body martial soul could. It was a tool martial soul, and she had not refined any soul bones either. Yet the tests had revealed that Na'er's spiritual power and physical strength were not the slightest bit inferior to those of an ordinary Soul Elder.
She was simply a super genius who might not appear once in ten thousand years!
Shen Xi completely set aside her doubts about Na'er's identity.
After all, what brilliant fool would send a genius like this to act as a spy?
Even if she really was a spy, it would not matter. Shen Xi secretly hoped a few more such "clever" enemies would appear and send over more young super geniuses.