"This..."
Lu Yuan stared at the blonde girl, entranced. Her flawless face surpassed even Bibi Dong's beauty.
"Meow!"
With narrowed eyes and a blushing little face, Meowmeow mewed at the blonde goddess, bounding left and right before running over to rub against her feet.
The blonde girl picked Meowmeow up and held it in her arms, scratching its chin.
"This little green kitten... is it... a soul beast you're raising?"
As the blonde goddess played with Meowmeow, her beautiful eyes turned to Lu Yuan again. He shook his head, only leaving her more puzzled.
"Its name is Meowmeow. It isn't a soul beast. It's my martial soul."
"So its name is Meowmeow. That's just as cute as it is. Wait!" The blonde girl seemed to notice something. Her brows twitched as she stared at Lu Yuan in shock.
"You said it's your martial soul. Does that mean you awakened... an external martial soul?!"
Lu Yuan nodded. The blonde girl before him actually knew about external martial souls, a type of martial soul rarely seen even once in ten thousand years.
"Yes. What's wrong?"
"Nothing." The blonde girl's brows drew together slightly, and her expression darkened.
"My mo... ah... my older sister once had a friend with an external martial soul."
The blonde girl played with Meowmeow, her voice cold and powerless.
Was it her mother or her older sister? And at this point in the Douluo Continent's timeline, besides me, only Yu Xiaogang should have an external martial soul, Luo Sanpao. Wait!
Lu Yuan shuddered, then turned to stone on the spot.
His mind raced, frantically linking together all the clues he had gathered.
If I remember correctly, in the original timeline, the only person connected to Yu Xiaogang who was called both an older sister and a mother was Bibi Dong, who treated her daughter so heartlessly.
And isn't She Long the real name of Snake Lance Douluo, the Titled Douluo from Spirit Hall working undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire's capital? Then wouldn't the woman before me, whom he called Young Mistress, be the legitimate heir to Spirit Hall's Six-Winged Angel lineage, one of the highest-ranking people in the world today...
Qian Renxue!
An hour earlier, Qian Renxue had made the rare decision to remove her disguise as Xue Qinghe, the Heaven Dou Empire's crown prince, and let another Spirit Hall expert with disguise abilities take her place.
With Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupinefish Douluo accompanying her, Qian Renxue had secretly left Heaven Dou City and returned to Spirit City to visit her grandfather, Angel Douluo Qian Daoliu, one of Spirit Hall's strongest living experts.
"Mmm~ It's been so long since I came back to Spirit City. It's still as lively as ever."
Seated by the window, Qian Renxue took a sip of tea and gazed out at Spirit City's bustling streets, filled with people coming and going.
Suddenly, Snake Lance Douluo appeared and walked over to Qian Renxue.
"Uncle She, did something happen?" Qian Renxue asked Snake Lance Douluo in puzzlement.
"Young Mistress, it seems a soul beast has followed a scent here."
"Hmm?" Qian Renxue followed Snake Lance Douluo's gaze out the window.
Meowmeow had climbed a lush tree beside the restaurant. Its eyes were narrowed and its nose stretched forward, as though sniffing some delicious aroma.
Following the scent of the cake Qian Renxue had ordered, Meowmeow jumped onto the restaurant's eaves and gradually made its way along the aroma to her window.
"What an adorable feline soul beast. With that leaf tail, it must be a plant-attribute feline soul beast, too. But why have I never seen or even heard of a soul beast like this?"
Constantly trapped in her identity as Xue Qinghe, Qian Renxue rarely had a chance to show her true self. She had always kept herself hidden, wanting to prove her strength to Bibi Dong.
Long weighed down by unhappiness, and even somewhat depressed, Qian Renxue had few genuine friends.
Whether before the age of nine, when she openly held her rightful position as Spirit Hall's young mistress, or now, disguised as Heaven Dou Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, most of those surrounding Qian Renxue were hypocrites who flocked to power and cared only about profit.
A little kitten that knew nothing of any of this, neither feared Qian Renxue's status nor knew she had a Titled Douluo guarding her, suddenly ran toward her out of curiosity. She found it wonderfully novel.
"Meow?"
Smelling the wonderful aroma of food right before it, Meowmeow suddenly opened its eyes and immediately spotted the mouthwatering pastries on Qian Renxue's table.
Meowmeow's watery eyes instantly widened, and its mouth fell open, drool spilling out.
But when it noticed figures nearby, it looked up and saw the powerful Qian Renxue and Snake Lance Douluo.
"Meow~"
Meowmeow's ears drooped and its tail sagged. Hunching its back and squinting, it trembled as it retreated a few steps.
"I really don't know what Spirit Hall's Enforcement Corps is doing. They're actually letting stray soul beasts roam openly through Spirit City's streets instead of promptly sending them into the Soul Hunting Forest. I'll have to speak to Grandfather about this when I get back."
Seeing Meowmeow all alone, Qian Renxue's first impression was that it was a soul beast wandering alone through Spirit City.
"Are you hungry? Would you like to try this?"
Having been alone since childhood, Qian Renxue mistakenly assumed Meowmeow was also a stray cat struggling to survive on its own. Taking pity on it, she speared a piece with her fork and held it out before Meowmeow.
"Meow!" (Is this for me, meow?)
Meowmeow instantly perked up. Looking at the cake Qian Renxue held before it, its ears and tail no longer drooped. It excitedly stretched out its little paws to take the cake, plopped down on its bottom, and ate with happy contentment.
This kitten acts just like a person. If only I could pet it. But it seems to know how powerful Uncle She and I are, so it's too frightened to come closer.
Qian Renxue watched Meowmeow, murmuring to herself.
After smacking its lips and finishing the cake in a few bites, Meowmeow ran toward Qian Renxue with smiling, narrowed eyes.
"Young Mistress, be careful!" Snake Lance Douluo warned, worried for Qian Renxue.
Yet as Qian Renxue watched Meowmeow rush toward her with a blissful expression, she felt no fear at all.
Meowmeow took a great leap onto Qian Renxue's lap, buried its broad, round green face against her chest, and affectionately nuzzled into her full, snowy-white curves.
"What an affectionate soul beast."
Qian Renxue lowered her head to look at Meowmeow in her arms. "Are you... letting me pet you?"
Meowmeow raised its head and gave Qian Renxue a goofy smile.
"Meow~" (She gave Meowmeow food. This super-duper pretty big sister definitely can't be a bad person.)
Qian Renxue was instantly overjoyed, smiling as she stroked Meowmeow all over.
"You seem to understand what I'm saying?"
When Qian Renxue asked, Meowmeow lifted its head again and nodded at her. Utterly delighted, she exchanged a glance with Snake Lance Douluo.
Among soul beasts, only a tiny number of thousand-year soul beasts with racial advantages could understand human speech.
More commonly, only ten-thousand-year soul beasts could accurately understand human language and respond, but those soul beasts were already equivalent to human Soul Kings or even stronger Soul Masters.
They were difficult to restrain, let alone train and work with on various tasks.
Yet judging by Meowmeow's current appearance, it was clearly still a tiny little soul beast. The fact that it could already understand Qian Renxue's words made it an outstanding student among soul beasts.
Qian Renxue immediately took an immense interest in the affectionate, endearing Meowmeow. She truly wondered what scoundrel had abandoned such an adorable, charming kitten that understood people so well.
If Qian Renxue ever met that person, she would give them a thorough beating.
"Little cutie, would you like to come home with big sister?"